Street Art has a rich history. There is a primo article on smashingmag about the development of street art in Berlin. The image below was taken by us while visiting mates in a student town in Germany. The council understands culture.
Check the recent over size “unlike” facebook hands in response to a grey’d wall near K’road in Auckland.
Nothing beats hanging out with our favourite artists in their element producing artwork. We were at Karousel in Grey Lynn where Ean Dog works part time and prints his art & t-shirt brand Dog Brothers. You don’t realise the skill these artists have until you spend time with them doing this kind of thing. We chatted with Ean while he printed his first commercially available print “True Loathing“, a mix of stencil and screen and a super short run of just 30 (Interview continues below print making medley shoot…)
Where has your creative career taken you so far?
So far too here. …Thanks endemic, and anyone who so far has bought a Dog brothers T-shirt… but the future is a very big space.
Can you pass on any advice for others pursuing a similar career?
The T-shirt and design business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There’s also a negative side! ! Keep it small one design at a time and most of all have fun.
Who are some of your favourite artists & designers?
This may be a long list sorry ahead of time…the late great Martin “FUCKIN” Emond, Broadmore, Dan Tippett and DLT, Otis Frizzel and Mark Weston, Trust Me also Banksy (especially the paris Hilton album rework) and anything he does that makes you think !, Obey, 3D, Vhils, Antony Micallef, Mode 2, Seen, Futura 2000, Jr, Connor Harrington, Zevs, Misery, Askew , TMD, Enu, Little Elliot and my mate Quink.
Describe your dream job?
Mmmm Fluffer on female porn sets ! (You asked).
What are you currently working on? Do you have any new and exciting projects coming up?
Slowly (ha ha) working on more limited edition prints (some may make it to T-shirts) the theme is New Zealand icons and music so watch this space.
Where did the name Dog Brothers come from?
We were looking around on you tube and found a fighting group called Dog brothers there main thing was about self defense but when you looked closer it was brother hood and about respecting your opponent so we thought the last bit was a bit of us, so part of our aim is to help promote other would be artist such as Dj’s or graphic, clothing labels etc, so on our web site we post other peoples work and links. ”Even cage fighters who beat the living shit out of each other, still hug the looser and respect there efforts” a bit like how life should be.
What do you like most about being an artist/designer/making prints?
The free time.
What else do you do?
I am currently employed part time at Karousel screen printers, printing textile i.e. T-shirts etc for bands like Fat Freddy’s , Tiki and the list goes on etc etc.
What are your 5 favourite things?
My girlfriend my major support unit (couldn’t do half of it with out her x)
My art print collection, Obey, Otis Frizzell, Martin “F” Emond, Misery, Coop etc
Music at the mo Dj Dub Head, Dj Printor and J-Star
Italian home cooked food
Red Wine mmmmmm
What website do you spend most of your web time on?
www.dogbrothers.co.nz
What are your tools? black fine tip biro pen/ 21″mac/ go pro?
Start’s in my head then Pencils or Pen rough as sketches (which to most would make no sense) then talking to friends they listen and help me see the bigger picture and then my trusty 17” power book oh and now stencils and spray paint and lots of ink…
All orders to NZ addresses from today until the 4th of July are shipped for free. So grab your favourite nz print or your sisters bday present and save $5.
THE BIG PRINT
Use the code “noshipsbro” during checkout. You can pass the code to friends and use it as often as you like. Chur!
NYC artist Eric Orrs’ second home is New Zealand, he is often down in Aotearoa painting, organising music events, and collaborating with local artists. This time it was with Indigo Michael on their Z-Tshirt. This is your chance to get hold of a unique t-shirt that comes with a hand drawn hang tag by Eric.
Straight from the Bronx his style is not like anything you see here. After catching up with him over the last few years each time he visited we thought it was about time we got him to put together a limited edition tee and artwork just for the endemicworld.com fans. Enjoy.
This is a limited edition of 100, every t-shirt comes with an original hand drawn hang tag.
The Z screen
Print master Ben Tippet of Karousel.
Eric & Indigo with some tees and individual hang tag drawings.
Photos: Greg Straight (pimp leather jacket) being interviewed by Elliot in the studio library.
How and when did you become interested in art?
From year dot really. I can’t remember not drawing! I’d spend hours sketching space ships and army soldiers, monsters and cars. It was like a bit of an obsession, a healthy one and I just had to fill every sheet of paper in the house with some crazy scribble.
My father was a graphic designer so there was always access to different pens, brushes, art books and paper stocks. Growing up I loved spending time in the art room, my only other passion at school was surfing Takapuna stormies and rolling around the bright lights of Glenfield on my Edwards Samurai skateboard!
Yeah nothing beats a Taka stormy, is it true you did some work for Huffer, how did that come about?
I was always a big Huffer fan so when I came back from living in London (about 5 years ago) I thought I’d get in touch and submit some graphics. Dan really liked my style of illustration and they used about 8 or 9 across a couple of seasons. They were super clean, quite hard edged images, bright, colourful and simple. I did the record with the hand, the grizzly bear face, the magpies and the spag bol logo ones and was asked to draw up some artwork to use on their ‘Made from New Zealand’ campaign thingy that went to L.A.
Can you pass on any advice for others pursuing a similar career?
I don’t really feel I’m at that stage yet, I think I’m about half way there. Saying that it does feel like my career has started to take off, so I’m heading in the right direction. I still have a full time job but there are some really exciting projects in the pipeline. I have started thinking BIG!
What I would say is keep doing it. Don’t stop and work hard. Someone once said if you want to be the best, work 3 times harder than anyone else and I think that’s true. It’s easy to make excuses. I have 2 kids Chloe 4 and Leo who is 9 months, so I’m busy with the family in the morning and at night, during the day I am at work and after 8 I work on new illustrations and freelance work. Pretty much all the work on my website (www.gregstraight.com) has been produced after normal working hours. I could easily watch TV after a day in the office but I’m feeling focused, I want to turn all my rough sketches into completed artworks.
When it comes to advice everyone’s got some, some good and some bad, you need to listen to the right people and make up your own mind. Drawing is key, never stop jotting down ideas and try and stay as original as possible.
Oh and never trust a skinny designer!
Who are your favourite artists and designers?
There quite a few. Recently I started a Cargocollective website and started following some other illustrators, not in a creepy I’m going through your garbage late at night, stalking you on facebook sort of way more a mutual respect like what you are doing sort of way. Fernando Volken Togni, Mauro Gatti and Malika Favre all do mind blowing work, lots of it and its outstanding.
I’ve been a big fan of Mike Perry for a while now, since his book ‘Hand Job, A Catalog of Type’ came out. The mans a creative god. He produces so much work its enough to make you faint. I recently bought a small limited edition screen print from him and a couple of his Zines. Pretty bloody cool.
Another designer/illustrator who I have a lot of respect for and recent met is Eleanor Grosch. Her site is super slick and her nature inspired prints are both minimal and beautiful. I have 3 of her screen prints on my wall, my favourite is a Cobra in gold ink on a black base. Rock n Roll.
Last year when I produced the downloadable desktops for Microsoft I started looking at other artists working in a similar way or on a similar theme, this is when I was first indroduced to the granddaddy of illustration Charley Harper. I have his book Charley Harper An Illustrated Life, it’s a big book and totally inspiring. The dude was producing modernist artworks back in the late 40s that would look fresh produced today. Check his work out its damn good.
NZ wise I like what Cut Collective and Flox are doing and I’m always interested in what Dick Frizzell and Paul Hartigan are working on, both make great work.
What are you currently working on? Anything exciting you’d like to share?
I’ve just completed 4 illustrations for Auckland Zoo raising awareness about Palm Oil, a repeat print for Adidas for the rugby World Cup, a series of mobile phone and laptop skins for Fuji (you can check them out at www.wrappz.co.nz) these are currently sold online but will soon go into stores nationwide and then be available internationally.
Westpac have just released a new Eftpos card with my Tui at dusk on the front, I am stoked because it has my website on the back, over 1 million will be made over 5 years. AirNZ have just featured me in their June edition of KiaOra magazine with a 3 page article and my Neon Tiki on the cover.
Last week I got some more retailers for my artwork Auckland Airport (Artport), Hamilton, New Plymouth, Nelson and Queenstown have now come onboard and Repetitive Beats is available from Conch records in Ponsonby Road. I have been asked to have 3 new exhibitions in the next 6 months.
I have a meeting with 2Degrees this Friday with Fuji about creating a custom image for their stores and have been put forward for the cover of an international fashion magazine, fingers crossed because if that one comes through the milky bars are on me!
So busy times for sure. I am also just about to develop a bunch of New Zealand inspired screen prints and bring to life some crazy characters as large digital prints and stickers.
So not much then, next question… What are your 10 favourite things?
1 – My wife Hannah, daughter Chloe and son Leo (is that 3?)
2 – Friends
3 – My Mike Perry screen print
4 – Clean white paper and nice black pens
5 – Surfing in good waves
6 – www.ffffound.com
7 – Art & Design books/magazine
8 – Chilly flakes and any kind of curry
9 – The Mighty Boosh & The Office
10 – Coffee
Thanks Greg, been a pleasure talking to you as always. I bet our readers will really dig getting to hear what its like pursuing a creative career in Aotearoa, from the horses mouth. We will have to catch up again in a few months to see how your going with all those projects. Check out Greg Straights limited edition prints.
Photo: Some past, recent and new work…
Photo: Repetitive Beats, Limited Edition of 100, signed and numbered.
Last Friday night saw the end and wrap up shin dig for the 100 Days of Design Project. For 100 days, designers had to repeat a design operation of their choice. The ‘operation’ had to be repeated in some form everyday, and every iteration had to be documented for eventual presentation. The medium was open.
One of our fav’s was Sam & Zoe’s “Letter form a day”. They ended up producing a big A0 poster too, get in touch with Zoe if you want to get your hands on one. Photos courtesy of Sam & Zoe.
This new documentary about graffiti artists gets the industry talking about what is “fine art”. We have never really understood the term “fine art” either. Who gets to say if art is “fine” or not. Maybe the price tag decides, surely not as Banksy destroyed that myth. It’s a theme that probably wont stop being debated.
In our books it’s all art. You can choose yourself if it’s “fine” or “tight as” or “off the hook” or “epic” or “mega fine as”. That should be the only rule about art, call it what you want. Just like whisky.
Get fresh New Zealand design
to your inbox every week
