rad jan issue

JAN 2011

SHEPARD FAIREY’S

OBAMA CAMPAIGN THE SECOND FALCON UNVEILED THE FIRST BANKSY FILM

HYPER-REALS WITH VICTOR ROGRIGUEZ

SPACE INVADED

UP AND DOWN WITH KLEPTONES

SUPER HEROES OF AGAN HARAHAP

PAGE FOR RENT Contact - rmagofficial@gmail.com

Editors’ note

An abbreviation of ‘radical’- Still primarily used by people who find words like ‘cool’, ‘awesome’, and ‘tight’ to be tired and overused; ‘rad’ is generally considered to be a much higher praise than the aforementioned superlatives. Also used as a general expression of awe.

We are grphic artists, product designers, notorious graffiti artists, photographers, poets and writers. In this era where you have to follow a system, we doubt that.

At rad we try to bring you uncut, crude, out of the streets art, design and fashion.

Tell you a story, make you dream higher and aspire more.

We like people who speak out there minds, so if you can make the people go ‘awe’, just drop in your post and we’ll give you some extra gloss shine. Cheers from rad.

Thanks to a bunch of people to make this happen. You guys are dope.

W!NK WANKAI MAR<3R CODE RED THE SPADE GUY *.PSD MY DAD MY BROTHER

Contents pg 5 pg 9 pg 19 pg 21 pg 25 pg 32 pg 37

customs clicks graffiti pixels print & paint sounds visuals

take a deep breath...

CUSTOMS

The Kestrel was unveiled for the very first time at Quail where it won the Best Custom Motorcycle award. But the funny thing is, it was not competing in the competition.

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CUSTOMS

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Apart from a few original lugs, the girder forks were made from scratch on a custom made cast iron jig table. The brake is a heavily modified and reshaped Triumph item, mated to a modified BSA brake drum.

The oil tank was made entirely out of aluminium, and shaped around a carved wooden mould, to mirror the curve of the back wheel. Half of the final gas tank was shaped on an 'English Wheel' which Barry made from a salvaged piece of industrial equipment. ->

CUSTOMS

6 The Kestrel is the second of Falcon’s Concept Ten, a series of custom motorcycles designed around the engines of iconic pre- and post-War British motorcycles. The third, the Black Falcon, is already under construction with its 1951 Vincent Black Shadow engine with distinguished California racing history.

Next in line is a 1967 Velocette Thruxton, one of only seven very special “Squish Head” engines made

by Veloce Ltd, which led from start to finish and won the 60th anniversary Diamond Jubilee Isle of Man Production TT race. Next in line are the Falcon versions of a 1936 Ariel Square Four with OverHead Cams, a BSA, a Rudge, a Norton Cammy, and a Brough Superior.

For Falcon, the Kestrel is an evolutionary leap from the Bullet, with the level of sophistication and build quality elevated to an entirely new level. Ian Barry has outgrown the customization of existing vintage motorcycles and is now designing and fabricating motorcycles from start to finish, with only a few parts not made from scratch.

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PEOPLE AND PLACES

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BY JASPER JAMES

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asper James is a Beijing based photographer originating from the UK and a graduate of photography from Londonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s College of Printing. He shoots a mixture of editorial, design and advertising work for clients like Ferrari, Wallpaper, Dwell, Travel and Leisure, Monocle and Traveler (U.K). This series is from a personal body of work shot in Tokyo, Japan and Shenzhen, China. These gorgeous overviews of the city life reflect interesting layers of construction and open narratives through silhouetted onlookers.

It is very delightful to see how a silhouette can be so clear and still be able to have a powerful affect on the surface. Jasper James photography is simply breathtaking because it combines society and humans in a way that have never been seen before.

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I LOVE HISTORY

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BY AGAN HARAHAP

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hat would it have been like if our superheroes had fought during wartime? Would our wars have been cut short? Would innocent civilian lives have been saved? Step into the world of Agan Harahap and you might just find out. Using some clever photoshopping techniques he places our superheroes in interesting scenarios.

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Above scenario: Greenham Airfield, June 5, 1944 He gives the order of the Day : 'Full victory-nothing else !' to paratroopers in England, just before they board their airplanes to participate in the first assault in the invasion of the continent of Europe.

Below scenario: Cherbourg 1944 Unclear how Spiderman was involved here but if everyone is running away, that is a good thing.

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CLICKED

WET DREAMS

BY ALIX MALKA

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arisian born, Alix Malka is a highly sought after fashion photographer whose work shows his obsession with colour and his flair for original and sophisticated styles. The absolutely stunning pictures were taken for a Japanese magazine, Numero Tokyo.

Since his childhood, Alix Malka was interested in graphics and fashion. He studied art deco in Aix-en-Provence and after graduating in 1985, he made a place for himself in Thierry Mugler’s design studio. He eventually became artistic director of the company. His incredible visuals, form the Grand canyon to the sand dunes of the Sahara, made him a household name all over the world.

Later, after a brief career in publicity, he dedicated himself entirely to photography. This gave him the opportunity to share his incredible talent as both a graphics and a stylist, producing colourful and lively pictures that are always bursting with movement. His first collaboration was with International Citizen K magazine. It was a huge success, and threw Alix Malka into the spotlight of the national and international press.

His photographs are extremely popular, both colourful and graphic. They are very original in their style, which helps them to stand out from other popular fashion pictures. Alix Malka’s clients now include Vogue, L’Officiel, Numero, Sunday Times Magazine, Tetu and Flair.

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CLICKED

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grass is always greener where you water it...

GRAFFITTI 18

GRAFFITI

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OB(ey)AMA SHEPARD FAIREY TALKS ABOUT HIS CONTRIBUTION TO THE OBAMA CAMPAIGN. WORDS BY SHEPARD FAIREY

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hen I met Obama he said “Thanks for creating that image and i love it and how did u make it spread so quickly ?” I said well there's the internet and u r a popular guy. Time was running out and I had to get an image out quickly so I looked through bazillion photos, selected one, illustrated it, and got it into production as a poster the very next day. I think my role within Obama's campaign was to provide a portrait that gives a human connection, it's not just a logo not just a word. I think when people identify with how someone looks like; the association with all of their action, their gestures has an instant connection which I think is very powerful. ->

GRAFFITI

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One of the things that I was trying to do with the Obey campaign was to get people to question everything that they are in dated with. So some people see the Obama poster as me switching to just creating straight forward propaganda. However my other idea was to share my political ideas with people as I see Obama as the antidote to those issues that I was critiquing under bush and I’ll be the first person to critique him as well.

I see a lot of people don’t participate in politics or empower themselves cause they think it won’t matter, they feel powerless. But it’s important to see that change is possible. Change happens from the bottom up and I really believe that. I think without hope people are demotivated but with optimism people will act. I think my journey should give people some optimism to what’s possible.

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byroglyphics

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BY RUSS MILLS

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raduated from Leeds Metropolitan University in 1995 after completing a BA in Graphic Art and Design, specialising in Experimental Film and Animation. After finding gainful employment in various non-creative institutions went back to basics and began work with pen, pencil and computer.

Has spent almost 20 years crafting skills, absorbing influences from every facet of visual culture and archiving found objects and ephemera to substantiate his work.

His current work is a clash of styles from classical to pop surrealism, focusing predominantly on the human form, though also abstracting elements from nature and the animal kingdom.

Covering subjects such as superficiality and isolation progressing into more socio-political expressions.

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WE COULD BE JPEGS

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HOUSE ANTHEMS '99'

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LUCI FOUR

I live in the clouds. Reality is not for me. People say i should come down. That the clouds are not a place for grownups to be. I smile at them. Maybe one day, I say maybe one day i will come down.

But I neverwill.

Reality is not for me. I shall stay up here. The view is quite breathtaking.

SOUNDS

KLEP TONES

UPTIME/ DOWNTIME

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he Kleptones understand that recycling musical styles is a pop tradition that's older than the blues.

But times have changed.

Never before has a band taken as many chances in the studio as The Kleptones. These guys are apparently very sensitive. Then again, we wouldn't have it any other way. Most of the time, The Kleptones can't shake their reputation. Call it a tragical history tour.

There's plenty of lyrical mumbo-jumbo about the group confronting its demons and pretending to be a pirate.

Underneath their antics lies a compelling artistic maturity that reveals how they have grown since they were young punks. Imagine the aching walls of sound of Bob Seger's "Night Moves" grafted, as if by a mad scientist from the bayou, to the crass hip-hop assault of the No Limit Tank Soldiers, and you haven't even come close.

All of that exposition aside, how is the newest release by The Kleptones, Uptime/Downtime?

What I like best about this release is that it is a double album with both sides having unique personalities. Upside is the upbeat night on the town while Downtime plays the role of a chill out afterparty. Upside is a fun romp that sees the Beastie Boys marry Prodigy, Aretha Franklin flirt with Metallica, and Bruce Springsteen, New Order, Nirvana, and The Cure indulge in a total musical orgy.

The Kleptones also stand apart for the constant use of film clips to tie tracks together.

While the technology that makes the whole thing possible is still new and being adapted the julienned sound bites and samples are pure nostalgia. It begs the question, are mash-ups really the future or are they simply recycling the past? Either way, the journey through Uptime/Downtime is what makes the whole thing worth absorbing.

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random

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FIN

visuals

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I

t figures that you won't get quite the whole story from someone who needs to hide his identity, so it's no surprise that Exit Through the Gift Shop is slightly opaque. Directed

by Banksy but focused for long periods on amateur documentarian Thierry Guetta, the quasi-documentary includes spurts with Space Invader, Shepard Fairey, and Banksy himself, serving as a portrait of street art and its importance while making fun of the very people that revere it. Which is fitting, we guess, for a guy that wears his hoodie like a Jedi wears his robe.

As Banksy describes it, “It’s basically the story of how one man set out to film the un-filmable.

And failed.”

Since Thierry spent so much time involved in the process of street art, Banksy convinces Thierry to become a street artist himself. Thierry reinvents himself as street artist MBW, an acronym for “Mr. Brainwash”. Its hilarious to see how people actually buy Thierry’s work and praise it. It mocksthe art sensibility among the people and how propleare just mislead by the grandeur of a particular event more than the art.

Banksy is a graffiti artist with a global reputation whose work can be seen on the walls from post-hurricane New Orleans to the separation barrier on the Palestinian West Bank. He fiercely guards his anonymity to avoid prosecution.

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coming up

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