Tuesday's Underground Lowdown

This documentary held up to its magazines well known organization and professionalism. A real breath of fresh air, definitely not another 'drugs, sex, graffiti, violence' ...a true documentary on the art of graffiti.  I really enjoyed the 'down to Earth' - nothing but love for
graffiti interviews and commentaries from the real street artists and hardcore graffiti writers. Chock full insane on the edge of your seat bombing with the writer giving commentary on their own thoughts and feelings about who, what, why they do, what they do! With so many dope writers this flick was really well organized and had an awesome and original soundtrack.

(9 out of 10)

Tuesday's Underground Lowdown

Did you know we've been around since 2001?  We've been reviewing underground graffiti movies for over a decade.  This week, we're starting with a European movie called, Dirty Handz.

I was not expecting such a sick video to come out of Europe, but I seriously underestimated the European creativity and style. This dude narrates as he goes to most major European cities and destroys passenger trains after passenger trains! The narrator and the artists he meets up with puts most U.S. writers to shame especially when they travel to New York City and destroy the subway cars there and even do 4 whole cars! This video was really well put together and organized and I will watch this video again and again. Along with their graffiti Euro styles, the soundtrack in this video has European style too it, but that should be a given and is definitely not a minus.
(8 out of 10)

The Art of Streaking

'Streaks' or 'monikers' is a unique form of graffiti as the only people that really see them are graffiti writers and railroaders.  This form of graffiti started as early as the 30's and was used by railroaders and hobos.  They were mainly messages with solid paint sticks in North America.  As the graffiti artists gravitated towards the freight trains in the late 80's and early 90's, they slowly adopted this art form.  You can now you find streaks being done with the paint sticks or paint markers.

This form of graffiti really doesn't get the respect that it deserves.  They are small and easy to get dozens up quickly however it is an artform and dates way before graffiti ever hit a subway car in New York City.  Steaks are unique and mainly feature some kind of a design and at times are dated or have a location where they're from.  Railroaders continue this tradition as well, but not as much as they used to.

Streaks get covered all the time by graffiti writers painting, bombing and tagging freight trains.  I dont know any that could about a streak on a car.  We're not trying to debate the importance or hierarchy of graffiti on trains.  We just feel that streaks deserve more recognition and we try to flick and post as much as we can.  Some are very elaborate like the piece below and are less likely to get covered but it all depends on the writer.

Among the full color pieces, tags and freight stenciling it's easy to understand how streaks can get lost and not much attention.  Many streaks fade but their outlines remain like a ghost.  The streaks preserve the color of the car as the rest of it fade away by the elements and sunlight.




Here are a few more streaks,

#PANELPIECES

  GraffInc Trades proudly brings you, #PANELPIECES.  It's a photography/art exhibit by one of the founders of graffinc.com and the new company, graffinctrades.com.  Rolling Stock Gallery is the venue holding this event.  The gallery is located in Fort Lauderdale at 506 NW 1st Ave.  The event will take place on March 29th from 7-11p.  For more information, please visit our event page on facebook at the following link, #PANELPIECES.  You can also e-mail us for more information at sales@graffinctrades.com.

We sat down with Todd briefly and asked him why he wanted to do this.  He simply replied, "I've always wanted to do my own gallery event".  He continued to say, "I'm very grateful for Rolling Stock Gallery to allow me to hold this event".  He explains that all work will have something to do with trains and many will be of tight squared up shots on freight train cars.  We had to ask why freight train cars and he explained that freight trains hold so much art in and on itself and are so photogenic.  The photo below is a sample collage of what visitors can expect to see at the show.

The one catch is that this event is currently tentative.  Rolling Stock's lease is up this monday and may not renew.  Todd and GraffInc Trades is fully aware of this stipulation however are moving forward as if it's a guarantee.  In the unfortunate event that this event is to be cancelled, we will be sure to notify everyone promptly.

We hope to see you there and remember to post your visit with the hashtag, #PANELPIECES.