Street Art Inspirations

Spring 2012 Issue
Street Art Inspirations
in New York City
Charles Danziger:
Lawyer/Animator
Using Both Sides of His Brain
Recommended Books
on Street Art and Culture
Matt Litwack
with an Entrepreneurial
Mural Painting Business
Fashion, Social Agenda & Facts:
The Truth 1585 Collection
FREE
1
TABLE OF CONTENTS
4-5
8-9
6-7
10 - 11
3.
Dear Readers
4.-5.
Street Art Inspirations
in New York City
6.-7.
Matt Litwack: Graffiti Artist
with an Entrepreneurial
Mural Painting Business
8.-9.
Collaborations between
Schools and Fashion Industry
10.-11.
Fashion, Social Agenda &
Facts: The Truth 1585 Collection
12.-13.
Charles Danziger:
Lawyer/Animator Using Both
Sides of His Brain
14.
Recommended Books on
Street Art and Culture
15.
Fashioning Japanese
Subcultures
(Berg/Bloomsbury 2012)
Front Cover Photo by NY Street Fashion
Back Cover Photo by YOYA
11 - 12
Editorial Team
Editor-in-Chief/Publisher: Yuniya Kawamura
Senior Editor: Maya Kawamura
Contributing Writer: Jennifer Davis
Graphic Designer: Terry Prideaux
Intern: Jasmine Lee
Photographer: YOYA
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Please e-mail us your CV to [email protected]
Photo By NY Street Fashion
Dear NY Street Fashion Magazine Readers,
The Spring 2012 Issue of NY Street Fashion Magazine is taking you around the city of New York to show you some incredible works of street artists that you may have missed.
I have my background in sociology, which is the study of society, so I am always interested in people, especially artists
and creators, and what they do. This issue focuses on inspirational artists who express their passion for life through their
artwork. Matt Litwack, with much business acumen, is able to earn his living painting murals for corporations while Charles
Danziger has his own law firm that specializes in art and is also an animator/cartoonist.
We are seeing more and more schools collaborating with the industry these days, which is beneficial to both parties involved, and a number of schools are organizing events and projects during New York’s semiannual fashion week. In the
TRUTH 1585 project, there are eight streetwear companies that design T-shirts with a great deal of social awareness, and
this time, it is about educating the public about smoking.
I hope you will enjoy this issue. We welcome feedbacks from you at [email protected]
Sincerely,
Yuniya (Yuni) Kawamura
Editor-in-Chief/Publisher
NY Street Fashion Magazine
Subscription Rates for NY Street Fashion Magazine:
USA $7/issue; International $25/issue
For more information, contact us at [email protected]
Spring 2012 NY Street Fashion issued by NY Fashion Research Company, Forest Hills, NY.
E-mail: [email protected]
Our deepest gratitude to those who agreed to be photographed for NY Street Fashion Magazine.
©2012 NY Street Fashion Magazine
All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited.
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Street Art Inspirations
We, New Yorkers, are always busy and walk
incredibly fast. But if you stop for a moment and look
around, you will realize that there are lots of street art
and installations around us. Spring is here. We should
take full advantage of what this city has to offer us.
Art Installation by Rafael Barrios, “Obtusa” (2011) on Park Ave at 55th St
Art Installation by Rafael Barrios, “Triphasique” (2011),
on on Park Ave at 57th St
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PS140 Nathan Straus Middle School
in Lower East Side
PS140 Nathan Straus Middle School
in Lower East Side
In New York City
Mosaic Art at 81st St
Subway Station on B Train
Mosaic Art at 81st St
Subway Station on B Train
Mosaic Art at Court Square Subway Station on G Train
Mosaic Art at 81st St Subway Station on B Train
Mural on Rivington St.
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Matt Litwack:
Graffiti Artist with
an Entrepreneurial Mural Painting Business
Community Mural in Lublin, Poland
M
att Litwack became interested in
graffiti art in highschool. It was
just a way to have fun. But while
he was attending college, he was more
involved in the world of graffiti and was
beginning to perfect his skills with his mentor. In the world of graffiti, it is customary
to work with a mentor who takes beginners
under his wing. Matt, now an experienced
artist, also has a couple of guys that he
trains.
Matt holds a B.A. in Anthropology from
SUNY Purchase which has strong art-related courses, but he did not take any of them
thinking that work is something that is not
supposed to be fun. “Art is too much fun.
It couldn’t possibly be my occupation,” he
says. But his senior thesis was appropriately titled “Female Graffiti Artists”, and he
conducted ethnography on female graffiti
artists that are very marginal in the graffiti
community.
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In addition to various government grants
he was awarded for his graffiti work on
community murals in New York, he also
received funding from the Taube Foundation at Stanford University to visit Lublin,
Poland, to conduct a mural program run
by Walls That Teach (www.wallsthatteach.
org), an organization that educates youth
through art programs. Matt painted “Memories Give Life” Holocaust Remembrance
Mural, with Polish teenagers from the local
highschool, which commemorated the
massacre of an entire school of orphans
who died with their teachers in a shallow
grave at the hands of Nazi soldiers.
Summer 2009 silver truck
Auckland, New Zealand - August 2010
Graffiti often carries with it a negative image, but the concept of
vandalism or illegality is not in Matt’s dictionary. He is legit and
abides by the rule of law. However, it is no secret that many of
them value the spirit of breaking the law, such as sneaking into
the abandoned subway tunnel in the middle of the night. Painting graffiti for commercial purposes is sometimes considered
“a sell out”. Matt is very much aware of the stigma attached to
graffiti and graffiti artists so he occasionally avoids the term
“graffiti”, and instead, uses the term “urban art” or “street art”.
Using his graffiti network, Matt has traveled all over the world
(New Zealand, France, Hungary, Slovakia, Poland, Holland,
Denmark, etc.). There are still places in Eastern Europe where
buildings are dilapidated, and there are fewer restrictions on
graffiti.
“When you go to a new place or a country, you always have
someone who is also a graffiti artist, and he would let you sleep
on his couch, take you to a nearby store or restaurant, and we
pick a location and paint graffiti together. When he comes to
your place, you do the same for him. It’s always reciprocated.”
The global network of graffiti artists is tight and expansive.
“You cannot be a good or great graffiti artist just by painting casually. You need a lot of passion to do this,” he says. For many,
it is an obsession, not a hobby. Whether creativity is inborn or
learnt is much debated, and if it is the latter, one can be trained
to be a great artist.
Matt Litwack
But the artists themselves say otherwise. “If someone who is
trained in fine arts was painting graffiti, you can tell his background just by looking at his work. There is no passion or less
passion, I would say. His work is too structured and organized.”
Education and training mold people in a certain frame of mind,
and that may not be all that useful in the world of graffiti art.
Those who become successful in the creative field almost
always have the combined talent of artistic creativity and entrepreneurial/business acumen. Undoubtedly, Matt Litwack is one
of them. He attracts clients from major corporations through his
website www.intelligentgraffiti.com. But Matt admits, “When it’s
commercial, you lose passion. The intensity is not there, and I
know that.”
Matt has lectured on graffiti art in different schools, such as
Parsons The New School for Design, Sarah Lawrence College,
and the Neuberger Museum of Art.
You can reach Matt
at Tel: 917-583-1985
or [email protected]
Xena’s Beauty Salon - Feb 2011
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Collborations between
S
ome educational institutions, such as the Vantan Design
Institute of Tokyo, LIM College of New York, the Academy of Art
University of San Francisco, and the Fashion Law Institute in
New York, are collaborating with and taking advantage of New York’s
semiannual Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week to present their students’
and graduates’ collections and host fashion-related events during the
week. This is a new dimension of New York’s Fashion Week.
Vantan Design Institute, Tokyo/Japan.
Vantan Design Institute is a well-known fashion school in Tokyo, and
their incubation project called Vantan Tokyo began in 2009 creating a
platform for the advanced students in the X-SEED program
(international design courses) to launch their professional career. The
selected four students, Cheryl Chee, Yuya Kubohara, mi_s by Masato
Miyata, and SWANZI by Cheung Siu Yan, took part in New York’s
Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in February 2012. Vantan is the first
and the only design school in Japan to take part in the event. These
emerging designers are certainly the future generation of
Japanese fashion.
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Academy of Art University, San Francisco.
It was Dr. Elisa Stephens, the President of San Francisco’s world
renowned Academy of Art University, who in 2005 decided to bring
her students from the fashion graduate school to take part during the
Fashion Week twice a year in February and September. This year
marks the sixth year for them. Her goal was to expose her students’
collections in the city where there is a great deal of attention by the
international and national media, and where the most powerful
fashion professionals, such as retail buyers and merchandisers,
mobilize looking for creative talents. The Academy is the only fashion
graduate school invited to present during the Fashion Week.
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3
8
4
5
Schools and Fashion Industry
LIM College, New York.
6
7
LIM College’s Visual Merchandising
Department has partnered with DHL,
a world market leader in sea and air
mail, for a unique fashion competition.
Four students under the supervision of
Department Chair Eric Feigenbaum,
and Associate Chair Marjorie Lee Woo,
styled and dressed four mannequins
using DHL’s shipping and packing
materials. After an online competition,
the top two mannequins, designed and
created by the two students, Vinessa
Soluri and Carinne Cusanelli, were
selected and displayed at DHL’s booth
in the lobby of Mercedes-Benz Fashion
Week at
Lincoln Center last February.
Fordham Fashion Law Institute,
New York.
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Photos 1 - 3
Models walk the runway at the Vantan Tokyo Fall
2012 fashion show during Mercedes-Benz Fashion
Week at The Studio at Lincoln Center on February 11, 2012 in New York City. (Photo by Frazer
Harrison/Getty Images for Mercedes-Benz Fashion
Week)
The Fashion Law Institute at Fordham
University, headed by Professor Susan
Scafidi, is a non-profit organization created with the support of the Council of
Fashion Designers of America (CFDA).
It is the world’s first center dedicated
to the emerging legal field in fashion.
During New York’s Fashion Week in
February, the Institute hosted a “Law
of the Fashion Show” panel with some
of the fashion industry’s legal experts.
The speakers were invited from Steven
Gordon Law, Wilhelmina International,
EMC2, and Tory Burch, and Milk
Studios among others, and they talked
about various legal issues surrounding
the fashion industry and runway shows,
such as copyrights, trademarks, import/
export, labor relations (no one has the
right to tell models to lose weight!) and
so on.
(By Maya Kawamura)
Photos 4 - 7
Models walk the runway at the Academy Of
Art University Fall 2012 fashion show during
Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at Lincoln Center
on February 10, 2012 in New York City. (Photo by
Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for Mercedes-Benz
Fashion Week)
Photos 8 - 9
Designed and created by Vinessa Soluri and
Carinne Cusanelli at Lim College in New York.
Photo by Maya Kawamura
Photos by Maya Kawamura 9
Fashion, Social Agenda & Facts:
The Truth 1585 Collection
T-shirt which is a raw material of clothing can function as a non-verbal mode of communication. It can make a very strong statement to
society simply by wearing it. Some designers with much social awareness use it as a tool to send a message. For the Truth1585 project,
Staple Design headed by jeff staple worked with eight well-known streetwear boutiques around the country to design exclusive T-shirts so
that they can educate the public, the youth in particular, about tobacco by providing them with facts. This is a youth smoking prevention
campaign. At the same time, aspiring young creators can learn from these designers the significance of social contribution they can make
through fashion. For more info, go to www.truth1585.com or follow on Twitter (@truthorange).
”Champs” by Bodega
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1
3
“Minty” by Goliath
”8 Ball” by Ubiq
2
4
All photos courtesy of Staple Design.
“Arsenic” by Burn Rubber
Quotes retrieved from www.stapledesign.com
(By Maya Kawamura)
(Photo 1) “Arsenic” by Burn Rubber - burnrubberdetroit.com, 202 West Fourth Street, Royal Oak, MI 48067, Tel: 248-543-3000
“The shirt that Burn Rubber has created portrays an under aged kid drinking the liquid equivalent to a poisonous cigarette.”
(Photo 2) “Minty” by Goliath - goliathny.com, 175 E 105th St, New York, NY 10029, Tel: 212-360-7683
(Photo 3) ”Champs” by Bodega - Bdgastore.com, 6 Clearway St, Boston, MA 02115, Tel: 617-421-1550
(Photo 4) ”8 Ball” by Ubiq - ubiqlife.com, 1509 Walnut St, Philadelphia, PA 19102, Tel: 215-988-0194
(Photo 5) ”Gold Teeth” by Reed Space - thereedspace.com, 156 Allen St, New York, NY 10002, Tel: 212-253-0588
“We did a slight ‘Play’ off of a popular tee to create this message about what smoking does to your breath and teeth.”
(Photo 6) “Delirious” by ALIFE - alifenyc.com, 158 Rivington St, New York, NY
, Tel: 212-375-8116
“…The Truth’s mission is…to expose the tobacco industry’s manipulation of the truth about the health impact of their product…. cigarettes made us
smell like sh*t, they were turning our skin grey, weakening our teeth, shortening our breath, yellowing our walls and artwork, they were burning holes in
our clothes and in our wallets…”
(Photo 7) “Tag” by TRUE - www.trueclothing.net, 1415 Haight St, San Francisco, CA 94117, Tel: 415-626-2882
(Photo 8) “Bipartisan” by Major - majordc.com, 1426 Wisconsin Ave, NW, Washington, DC 20007, Tel: 202-625-6732
“…both parties don’t mind the money that Big Tobacco provides for their campaigns or pre/post political careers, and advocacy for the tobacco
companies are spread throughout Capitol Hill. So why not expose that truth with a t-shirt design that depicts both party mascots blowing smokes?”
”Gold Teeth” by Reed Space
“Tag” by TRUE
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7
“Delirious” by ALIFE
“Bipartisan” by Major
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Charles Danziger:
Lawyer/Animator
Using Both Sides of His Brain
C
harles Danziger is a multi-talented individual
who uses both sides of his brain, i.e. the left
side for his legal work and the right side for his
creative work.
He is a lawyer who specializes in art law as well
as corporate law, real estate law, and intellectual
property law. Many of his clients include world famous
artists and musicians, and Japanese companies and
individuals. He has his B.A. in Art History from Yale
University. He then went to pursue his law degree at
New York University to become a lawyer. He worked
at a U.S. law firm on Wall Street, at a Japanese law
firm in Tokyo, and inside The Museum of Modern
Art (MOMA), where he served as Assistant General
Counsel.
He is a trustee of The Miyake Design Foundation
(established by Issey Miyake) and Partners in
Performance (established by the violinist Midori). He
has lectured at the University of Chicago Law School,
and at Tokyo University and Keio University in Japan.
He is now a partner at Danziger, Danziger, & Muro,
LLP in New York.
In addition to all of his impressive accomplishments
as a lawyer, he converts himself into a cartoonist and
an animator when he lets his left side of the brain rest
and has his right side function at a full speed! He has
been drawing cartoons as long as he can remember.
Many of his law clients appreciate his creative talent
as a cartoonist/animator.
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He wrote and illustrated “Harvey and
Etsuko’s Manga Guide to Japan”
(2007) in collaboration with a Japanese manga artist, Mimei Sakamoto.
Since Western cartoons are different
from Japanese manga, Charles drew
Harvey, a mouse, who is unemployed
in the U.S. and goes to Japan looking
for a job, while Mimei drew Etsuko, a
Japanese agent, who helped Harvey
find a job. The book, which combined
Japanese manga illustrations with
American comic strips, introduces
some aspects of Japanese culture
and customs that maybe unfamiliar to
non-Japanese. The book was turned
into an animated movie that was
broadcast on NHK Television.
All of Charles’ work can be found on
his website “Crunchyworld” (www.
crunchyworld.com) which he created
about fifteen years ago. His adorable
characters are imaginary creatures
often inspired by animals, fish, birds,
and insects. “There’s nothing mean
about the world I create. No character is malicious,” he says. His use of
bright colors gives us a sense of comfort and warm feelings. He also draws
his characters on furniture which he
hopes to commercialize in the future.
His current work involves creating
animation videos for children (posted
also on his website). They can be appropriately used for medical purposes
and are introduced to hospitals and
dental offices to calm down and ease
the anxiety of children before they
undergo medical or dental procedures. These videos make the whole
process more efficient and easier for
the doctor as well as the patient. He
plans to market and promote his work
to various hospitals and dental offices
around the country and in Japan.
Anyone who meets Charles for the
first time would be surprised to find
out that he is fluent in Japanese. He
started taking Japanese classes immediately after graduating from Yale,
he continued his studies at Nanzan
University in Nagoya, and is now an
English-Japanese bilingual. Japanese
is a difficult language to master, but
he is one of the few foreigners who
is able to speak and write formal
Japanese.
What an inspiration to people who
only use one side of the brain! We all
have two sides so we might as well
use both of them like Charles does!
Harvey and Etsuko’s Manga Guide to Japan (2007).
Story/Art by Charles Danziger,
and Manga Art by Mimei Sakamoto.
Charles Danziger, esq.
Danziger, Danziger & Muro, LLP
405 Park Avenue, Suite 502
New York, NY 10022
Tel: 212-754-7000
www.danziger.com
E-mail: [email protected]
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Recommended Books
on Street Art and Culture
The Graffiti Wall: Street Art
from Around the World
(Promopress 2012)
edited by Cristian Campos.
This book includes a wide-ranging
survey featuring three hundred
photographs of urban art from the
most innovative graffiti and street
artists around the globe as well as
never-before-seen graffiti artwork,
stencils, and murals, making it an important
source of visual inspiration to graphic designers,
typographers, and street art aficionados.
Classic Hits: New York’s Pioneering
Subway Graffiti Writers
(Dokument Press 2012)
by Alan Fleisher and Paul Iovino.
This book consists of first-hand story
accounts of pioneer graffiti artists of the
early 1970s in pictures and text. 1970s was the
growth of a new graffiti phenomenon in New York
City, which is also its birth place. The authors were
themselves artists and maintained photo archives of
the time.
Hall of Fame: New York City
(From Here to Fame: Collector’s
edition 2012)
by Alain KET Maridueña
This book documents the exciting
artwork that was created in a small school on the
106th Street and Park Avenue in East Harlem that
became known as the legendary Hall of Fame, one
of the most famous and important schoolyards used
by graffiti artists to preserve their artworks when they
were quickly being destroyed by authorities in the
1980s.
Graffiti and Street Art
(Thames and Hudson 2011)
by Anna Waclawek.
This is the first comprehensive
survey and explains the origin of
the graffiti and street art
movement around the world,
and a wide range of artists
working in different media and
styles are discussed. It also
explores the relationship
between street art and the urban
environment, its interactions
with the market and the world
of commercial galleries, and the
culture of street art online.
(Compiled By Jasmine Lee)
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Fashioning Japanese Subcultures
By Yuniya Kawamura
Contents:
Part I---Introduction
Chapter 1
Understanding Subcultural Studies: Dick
Hebdige Revisited
Chapter 2
Placing Tokyo on the Fashion Map: From
Catwalk to Streetstyle
Chapter 3
Japanese Youth in a Changing Society
Part II---Geographically and Stylistically Defined Japanese
Subcultures
Fashioning Japanese Subcultures
(Berg/Bloomsbury, forthcoming July 2012)
Cover Photo: Momo Matsuura
Models in Twin Lolita: Zuki (left) and Haru (right)
Abstract:
T
okyo as a fashion city is still marginal from a global
perspective, but it is no longer merely a city in which
Western fashion is widely appreciated and consumed. Since
the mid-1990s, Japanese youth have been playing a crucial role
in forming unique fashion communities and producing creative
styles which reflect their subcultural affiliation and identity. The
youth subcultures in Tokyo are geographically and stylistically
defined, such as Lolita in Harajuku, Gyaru and Gyaru-o in
Shibuya, Agejo in Shinjuku and Mori Girl in Kouenji among others.
The Japanese subcultural phenomena that blur the boundary
between professionals and amateurs for models, photographers,
merchandisers and designers, are drawing attention and gaining
popularity, and they are spreading worldwide through individual
and institutional networks. This insightful research, based on the
author’s thorough ethnographical fieldwork in Tokyo, is the first
theoretical and analytical study on Japan’s contemporary youth
subcultures and their stylistic expressions.
Chapter 4
Shibuya: the Youth in Outspoken Rebellion
Chapter 5
Harajuku: the Youth in Silent Rebellion
Chapter 6
Akihabara and Ikebukuro: Playing with
Costume as an Entertainment
Chapter 7
Shinjuku: Girls of the Nightlife Using Beauty
and Youth as Weapons
Chapter 8
Kouenji and Other Fashion Districts: From
Secondhand Clothing Lovers to Fast Fashion
Followers
Chapter 9
Individual and Institutional Networks within
a Subcultural System: Efforts to Validate and
Valorize New Tastes in Fashion
Part III---The Power of the Youth: Trickle-up/ Bubble-up Theory
Revisited
Chapter 10
The De-professionalization of Fashion
Chapter 11
The Globalization of Japanese Fashion
Subcultures: Future Possibilities and
Limitations
Conclusion: The Future of Japanese Subcultures
(Fashioning Japanese Subcultures is published by Berg/
Bloomsbury in UK and is available at amazon.com)
About the Author:
Yuniya Kawamura is associate professor of sociology at the Fashion Institute of Technology/State University of NY. She is the author of TheJapaneseRevolutioninParisFashion (Berg 2004) and
DoingResearchinFashionandDress:AnIntroductiontoQualitativeMethods (Berg 2011). Her second book Fashion-ology:An
Introduction to Fashion Studies has been translated into Italian,
Swedish, Chinese and Russian. She is currently working on her
fifth book on youth subcultures in New York.
DistributioninNorthAmerica:
BloomsburyUSA
c/oMPSFulfillment
16365JamesMadisonHighway
Gordonsville,VA22942-8501
Tel:+18883308477
Fax:+18006722054
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Spring 2012 Issue
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