TROUBLEMAKERS MAKE THE WORLD GO ROUND LASER 314 UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL

Photo by Catherina Gerritsen

LASER 314@ THE GARAGE AMSTERDAM

"HELLO TROUBLE"

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

By Hudson Zuma

So psyched to be interviewing Laser 314 on our sister site GRAFF-IC DESIGN and a special thanks for the exclusive interview. I am a big fan of The Garage in Amsterdam and the artists they are in collaboration with. Big ups to Mark Chalmers for creating such an amazing space!  Let's jump right into it. So we are proud to say you had a great show at the Garage called Hello Trouble featuring the piece "Troublemakers Make The World Go Round"  Tell me, growing up in the 80's and influenced highly at an early age, what differences do you see in the world of graffiti now, that you didn't see then?

L314:
One of the huge differences I've noticed, is that when I started there wasn't the
internet, so to get your street cred you had to do the work and go out and make art mostly illegally, in the dark of night, and at dangerous spots instead of mainly talking about it online. If the amount of time people spent talking about it on the internet was equal to the action they took, the city would be covered top to bottom with great graffiti. There's a lot of talk these days but it doesn't really seem to correlate with the action.
What I also notice now is that styles have evolved a lot. I like the way a lot of aerosol artists have taken spray techniques to another level. It's pretty impressive that there are some out there who have the same quality in techniques as the old master painters.

HZ:
 I am so amazed at some of the textures people are now using and the various forms and styles that are emerging as I scout around the globe...
The work has truly taken on a life of it's own.
Tell me a bit about how Harakiri inspired you, your style and your passion for your art?



L314:
Harakiri and many other early Amsterdam bombers like Dr Air, Dr Smurry, Ego, Tarantula, and Walking Joint inspired me because there was something really magical and unique about their tags that vibrates through the work I do today. Their tags were all unique and you could recognize each and every one of them separately from miles away. That's what makes their work so good and important in my eyes. To be honest I really think that the Amsterdam tag styles of the first half of the 80's are the best we ever had and will have in this city. Actually the Laser 3.14 tagstyle I use now, is directly inspired by Dr Air and Futura 2000.

Another major influence from those days that is still a part of my work were the squatter, anarchistic, protest quotes I saw painted, mostly in big letters, when I walked around the city. When I started doing the poetry on the streets I always had those images in the back of my head because when I was a kid I always felt something powerful emanated from them. And of course graffiti artists like Delta, Shoe, Joker and Nar had a great influence on me too.

HZ:
I have read that in the 90's, you moved into other diverse works such as comics
illustrations and into developing your poetry.. what influenced the growth??? How did you emerge into the other forms??

L314:
At the time, I consciously wanted to move away from traditional graffiti and explore other ideas, possibilities and techniques, and although I wanted to move away from graffiti, I still learned a lot from it and integrated some of it into my early work. One of the first things I explored, and always had a great love for, were comics. It was a great way to develop my skills further. From that I started to create in the same style that I drew my comic canvasses in. What I used to do was add written lines under the images, which I lifted from the poems I was experimenting with, and at some point I started to find the written lines pull interest rather than the images above or under them. So I started to write poetry like crazy.

HZ:
So awesome!!!  I love how the transition occurs in many artists and I find that, in itself to be so fascinating.  As many artists do, you hit a "lost spark" period..how did you cope with or should I say move through it? What catapulted you forward?

L314:
Well, I had worked for a a long time on painting canvasses and at the end I got slower and slower and it became more difficult. The interest I had in the beginning was waning and at some point I was staring at an empty white canvas and thought I need to stop for a while and reset myself. So I decided to put drawing and painting on hold for a moment till I felt it again, but kept on experimenting with lines and writing poems.
One day I was cleaning out stuff and found a couple of old spray cans and thought why not go back to the basics and go out on the street again and do graffiti.  Which I did.  I started out doing my old style Lazer tags, which later became Laser, and then Laser 3.14, but soon had the feeling that I wanted to get more out of it than just doing my tag, and thought it might be a good idea to add lines from my poetry just to see how it looked and felt. I did that a couple of times and it just clicked, so I started to do it a lot from that point. It was the spark I wanted to feel again.

 
HZ:
Yes! Sounds like a natural creative progression...Props on that! Can you give few words on the photo piece with you carrying the red lighted cross on your site? What was the intention?  I am intrigued..such a powerful image!

Photo: Anne Barlinckhoff

L314:
Anne Barlinckhoff did that pic and she did great. The cross is actually a neon piece by UK artist Andy Doig. It was in the studio and Anne came up with the idea on the spot of using it. We really love how it turned out because the symbol of the cross is so embedded in our collective consciousness that an image with it gets a layered meaning.

HZ:
Whats coming up for you next?

L314:

Next I'll be working on a new self-published Laser 3.14 book and ideas for some possible exhibitions. I'm also looking forward to experimenting with some new ideas.  I just released a new fluorescent print edition "You Wanted Fame Now Fame Wants You" that ended up looking totally different than any prints I've done before. There's something about the vibrancy and weightiness of them that keeps coming back to me, so I'm excited to think about alternate ways to work with prints. 

HZ:

Super great I am looking forward to peeping those out! about the "Nike Real Hero" project can you tell me a bit about it and how it was working for such a big name project??

L314:

It was a charity project from Nike and War Child, where artists were asked to celebrate what it means to be a hero. For me there are many heroes and heroic deeds that happen on a daily basis that we hardly talk about. I don't really mind working with big name brands once in a while, but I think as an artist you have to be a bit careful about the projects you take on with them because you want to make sure you don't get swallowed up. And of course you should be very protective of your artistic integrity. It's definitely happened with many artists, whether musicians or filmmakers etc, who lose this, themselves and their connection to their art in the process of trying to get money or exposure. But this project was one I could stand behind.

HZ:
You know Laser, I have seen it witnessed in so many mediums  everywhere from film, to art, to music and even my own personal friends.  I have seen them caught up in the machine and swallowed up leaving their art high and dry, but also I have seen the very careful, who on the other hand, have done quite well in collaborations with the bigger companies so, yes I am in agreement with you on that one.. keep a careful eye but don't cut yourself off from something that can be potentially a great cause supported by great people..
The "White Phosphorous" poetry book, a few words on that?


L314:
White Phosphorus is a poetry book I put out in 2013, but the words that appear in it were written over the course of 15 years. Ever since I started writing poetry I dreamt of one day releasing a poetry book, so White Phosphorous is the realization of that dream. It's something I'm very proud of.



HZ:
The garage exhibit looks to be a great success..how did it come about ..what was the intention concept..

L314:
I work with The Garage in Amsterdam (theagarageamsterdam.com) and Mark Chalmers from it really liked Bart Invites, the gallery where the exhibition is on, so we approached them to do a show and they were into it. So that's how it got started. For the show's concept I wanted to play around with the dark side of celebrity culture and the innate pleasure-seeking behavior of humans, so made and brought together work that could act as a kind of open "conversation" about it. It's been a really interesting experience and I think has to be one of my favorite shows I've done.

HZ:
Any thoughts of coming west, NY and/or LA exhibits?


L314:

Doing a show in the US is really one of my biggest dreams. A lot of the things I've loved all my life, like graffiti, music, movies, art, writers, comics and subcultures originated in the states, so it would be amazing to one day be able to bring my art over there. Definitely a dream come true.

HZ:

Alright, well I am hoping to make that dream come true for you thanks a lot for the interview and letting us inside your head for a few! 

Check out Laser in the links below and stay tuned for upcoming shows books and other great jewels from Laser 314.

signing off again. HZ

laser314.com

laser314.tictail.com

Photos Courtesy of Laser 314