Visual Resistance

Positive reinforcement through the

visual underground culture.

by Mitchell Weaver

Murals

Conzo ThrobDaneloDxtr The WeirdHow&NosmLowbrosMonorexNychosRetnaRoaStohead

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9-1011-1213-1415-1617-1819-2021-22

Contents

¢¢¢

Note: All images and artwork used are subject to copyright and belong

to the artists. Unless stated otherwise.

This creative capability almost defied all consumerist mass culture as it

enabled the normal person build and create a talent with no restrictions

involved. This furthered a refusal to comply, with a rebellious resist-

ance dominating the entire culture creating a problem for mass culture.

They had to even adopt it into the mainstream, or face the uncertain fact

that this was going to be an on-going problematic effect. Unfortunately

for Punk, this was the case as the 70’s proved an entire culture being

taken from the underground and forced into the masses. Political agendas

did formulate the expression of hate, but ultimately this was still being

filtered through a skeletal platform, built by the consumerist organisa-

tions. Hardcore prevailed as a dominant philosophy, undermining the very

foundations of the government’s structure. Taking back what they were

forced to give up of have controlled. Although this only lasted a few years

back in the 80’s it has developed worldwide into an underground culture

once again. The advent of technological advances has proven to be the

most effective method of communication for this.

DIY Hardcore and Punk has undoubtedly became one of the most

important subcultural movements throughout modern day history. The

principles, ethics and moral platforms allowed the normal person to speak

their own voices. Against the odds of consumerism, it has allowed to suc-

cessfully develop due to communication through an encouraged volume of

individuals within the scenes. They stand united.

Conzo Throb

3

http://www.conzo.co.uk/

4

I am a Scottish based Artist / Illustrator who originally chased ice cream vans in a small mining town

with missing green lights outside of Glasgow. Easier to describe me as coming from the (just turned

adult) jackass generation, never raised on the four elements associated with graffiti. Instead Tv, vide-

ogames and a good upbringing accompanied by the daily intake of ‘Ren and Stimpy’ ‘South Park’ and

‘Johnny Knoxville’ were my Alibi.I have been doodling my whole life, but I have been more focussed in

the last seven years now. Dabbling in Graffiti, Illustration and Digital Design, my work and style is

usually character based and influenced by the retro / vintage / fat & ugly. If you have a bit of humour and

Danleo

6

Uncontrollably doodling my way through the schooling system I went on to study Animation

and Graphic design. I now spend my time perusing all things creative regardless of it being

digital, hand painted, 3D or outside for the world to see. I like them all. Most of my work is

centred around an organic, fictitious world where the grotesque sits content along side beauty.

I try to produce pieces that are clean, bold and colourful. The aim is to create works that look as

if they were created using vector software but have been painted by hand. Inspiration can come

from anywhere and anything, however I owe a lot to the cartoons and comic books of the early

nineties as these where the things that led me in this direction.

6

http://danleodesign.com/

7

Based in Dusseldorf, DXTR is a member of the

German-Austrian crew The Weird, a talented in-

ternational street art / graffiti group known for their

warped and imaginative characters. Members of The

Weird don’t seem to distinguish between large walls

and smaller illustrations; their imagination runs

wild in any available space. Global Street Art caught

up with him to talk about his art and the art of not

getting arrested.

Inside Dxtr’s Laboratory

My flat always looked like a laboratory, paint kettles

and cans everywhere. So some friends called it Dex-

ter‘s Laboratory, thats where the name comes from.

I have been drawing since my childhood. In 1999,

at the age of 16 I got into illegal graffiti, introduced

by some friends of mine – classical stuff. I really

liked painting at night, but I also always focused on

sketches and character based things since the begin-

ning. Hanging out at my friends house and sketch-

ing in blackbooks was my daily routine.

http://verynearlyalmost.com/dev/2013/03/dxtr-the-

Dxtr The Weird

8

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dxtrs/

9 http://www.howandnosm.com/

How&Nosm

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How and Nosm (Raoul and Davide Perre) are identical twin brothers

known for their large scale graffiti based murals that adorn city walls

around the world. The red, black, and white-based imagery is instantly

recognizable and commands attention through the impressive size and

the intricate detail. Initially the color palette was limited for practicality

but instead has become a distinct calling card and formal choice that has

allowed these artists to push spray paint to a new level.

Born in Spain, German in heritage, and currently residing in New

York, their influence appropriately extends internationally. Whether

you visit South America, Europe, Asia, or cities around the U.S. you

will be likely to encounter their work. Commissioned and facilitated,

they have become sought after artists, an ironic progression, where the

outsiders have become insiders and are currently redefining what con-

stitutes graffiti and public art.

The closeness between the brothers is inspiring. They finish one

another’s sentences much like they continue their lines on mural walls

and work in sync without hesitation. One ends and the other begins,

their complicated yet effortless contours twist and turn like a three-di-

mensional maze. There is a flow present that is part of this process that

allows their individuality to merge for a unified statement. Something

that seems essential for artists who work on a large scale.

Lowbros

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The Urban Art team Low Bros consists of two brothers, Qbrk and Nerd, born in Ham-

burg, northern Germany. They currently live and work in Berlin. When they were children

the two brothers loved to draw and invented their own little stories and fantasy worlds while

playing in the backyard or being in the countryside. You’ll still find both influences, the

urban and natural in their work today. Later they started to paint graffiti and where also

co-founders of “The Weird”, which was founded together with Nychos, Cone, Hr. v. Bias,

Dxtr, Rookie, Look and Vidam from Peachbeach and Frau Isa. The brothers have always

painted together, but it took while before they began to create their characters together and

develop their own common, geometric style. Ever since, they have gone by the name Low

Bros.

www.facebook.com/lowbros

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Monorex

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Founded in 2004, Monorex is an award winning unique multi-disci-

plinary design boutique. Based in London, England. Monorex HQ is

located in the creative epicenter that is East London and has satellite

offices strategically placed in culturally influential cities from NYC to

Toronto. This allows Monorex to keep its finger firmly on the pulse of

all things artistic and original.

Ethos

Monorex assembles bespoke creative teams for each project commis-

sioned, with operatives being chosen on merit and skill rather than age

or location. Through the day-to-day lifestyles, travels and activities of

its core crew, Monorex is an active participant in its key target mar-

kets – unlike most other trend, strategy and design labels. We rely on

practical first-hand experience rather than theory or guesswork to reach

solutions, engaging audiences with innovative ideas and concepts. Our

consistent interaction with core youth markets has led to greater insight

than can be had from the occasional focus group.

http://monorex.com/

Nychos

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Rabbit Eye Movement, REM, started as a Streetart concept, based in Vienna,

founded by the urban/graffiti artist and illustrator Nychos in 2005 and still has a

big impact in the Urban Art World.

Nychos: “I always saw the Rabbit Eye Movement as an Homage to all the

“Rabbits” out there being active in the Urban art Movement doesn’t matter what

kind of Mission they are following.”

The Movement grew and REM has now expanded to establish the REM ART-

SPACE. A place that addresses national and international artists from different

genres like graffiti, urban illustration, street art, lowbrow and pop culture imagery

and gives room for individual, but also collective creativity, open minds and pas-

sionate inspiration.

http://www.rabbiteyemovement.at/

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Retna

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At first glance, the work of the artist Retna looks

like an undiscovered ancient script: a series of hyp-

notic symbols—complex, beautiful and captivating.

But Retna has created an original alphabet, fusing

together influences from ancient Incan and Egyptian

hieroglyphics, Arabic, Hebrew, Asian calligraphy,

and graffiti. Each piece carries meaning, conveying

an event or dialogue that the artist experienced.

As a youth of African-American, El Salvadorian

and Cherokee descent growing up in Los Angeles,

Retna (real name Marquis Lewis) was mesmerized

by the gang graffiti that surrounded him. He began

practicing the art form, and adopted the name Retna

from a Wu-Tang Clan song. In the mid-nineties he

began making murals on walls, trains and freeway

overpasses throughout the city.

http://moreintelligentlife.co.uk/blog/qa-retna

Roa

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ROA (born c. 1975) is the pseudonym of a graffiti artist from Ghent, Belgium. He has created

works on the streets of cities across Europe and the United States.

ROA generally paints wild animals (such as rats) or birds (such as crows) in black and white.

His work refers to taxonomy and the classification of species, but in a way that is a meditation on

social stratification, urban decay and renewal and the possibility that inner cities are only passing

forms of civilization. The skeletons, deserts, anatomical dissection are topoi and reminders of the

transience of life. In this respect his work connects to artists like Georgia O’Keefe, Cormac Mc-

Carthy and Audubon.

In 2010 ROA came to particular notice in the UK when Hackney council threatened to paint

over one of his paintings, a 3.5m high rabbit. The rabbit had been legally painted on the wall of a

recording studio in Hackney Road, London. A campaign was launched to keep the mural, by the

building’s owners and local residents, forcing the council to change its mind.

In August 2012 ROA took part in the See No Evil street art festival in Bristol, England,

creating a two-storey high fox on the side of a building.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ROA_(artist)

20http://roaweb.tumblr.com/

21

In the work of Stohead shows very clearly his passion - the font. Scripture is the

carrier of information, writing it allows to capture thoughts and feelings in a form

and preserve writing can be an aesthetic masterpiece, if it is for calligraphy. And here

Stohead linked to what it impressed with what moves him. The code of the streets

Extracted Lyrics, song lyrics and passages from tags of current social issues are

often mathematically broken down and arranged by the artist. This calligraphic ar-

rangements of oversubscribed to abstraction letters escape at first glance readability

and let the untrained eye first with the effect of color and form alone in einhäm-

mernder repeat uncompromising lined up as a pattern or sculptural transferred into a

three-dimensional viewing plane. In the process of spiritual meditative work sheet is

stretched, its stored power is then discharged on the painting surface physically and

fierce determination. The large-format images that give the seemingly disorderly a

structure, this energy transport particularly haunting and transfer them visually to

the viewer whose eyes are entrained in the “Word of storms.”

Stohead

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http://www.stohead.com/

Forever Selfless