Magazine Contributers Harry Hussein:www.harryhussein.co.ukharryhussein.co.uk

Anonymous:Graphiti artist

Why do you like to paint letters in particular?

While I do appreciate some elements of what I would call accepted art, it really doesn’t move me in anyway, I find gallery environments to be stagnant and pretentious, created for arrogant people to gloat, boast and generally swallow any old rubbish that’s peddled to them as the next big thing. I see graffiti that isn’t created to be sold (legal or illegal) as more honest than any art created for a monetary purpose as it is done for no other reason than self-satisfaction. Above all of that I just like seeing my name up. I should also pick up on the D.I.Y culture, not waiting around for someone else to give you the go ahead or do it for you. The world we live in is governed by people who say submit yourself to a higher power because they know best, they can market it better, water it down, strip any meaning from it and feed from it’s soul. But what do we get at the end of that? A product that means as little to me as a Justin Bieber song or a coca-cola advert. I’m not saying graffiti is a protest movement in the slightest but so long as people are out there dropping tags, throws and painting trains it can’t be completely co-opted by big business using legal pieces and “celebrity” writers like Cope to sell products to the youth market as being cool.

How did you get into graffiti? What made you pick up a can?

I always liked drawing, I was habitually writing on walls. As a kid I was somewhat of a little shit that pushed boundaries to see how far I could go. So the whole stigma surrounding graffiti was attractive – doing something that you’re not sup-posed to be doing.I started to notice all the tags on the streets which made me more aware, but it just happened, I didn’t consciously think ‘I’m going to get into graffiti’ I just fell into it alongside skateboarding. I picked up a can from my grand-dad’s garage and wrote on the wall aged 13/14 and that was it. Tags came first, the more I looked at graff – this was before I had access to the internet – the more differ-ent elements of it I noticed. Tags, dubs, throw-ups. Then pieces just followed on from that. It’s been an on/off love affair ever since.

How does it make you feel when you’re out painting?

It’s pure escapism. I don’t think about anything else when I’m painting. I focus my energies on it. I paint in a dyslexic way, my head is occupied with confusion trying to get everything done as quickly as possible so my mind is really jum-bled. It’s like the world has stopped and this makes me feel alive and at one with myself. When the madness of the world stops it gives you time to relax.

Pure Escapism

Graffiti is a style of typography in itself so everyone has a style within a style effectively, how do you find yours and do you have any influences and inspirations?

By sketching and developing upon sketches. You analyse your sketch, turn your letters upside down and back to front. Play around with the structure, add bits or take bits off.You soon see what works for you and what doesn’t. You have to get it all to balance so it fits like a jigsaw or not depending what you want to do. There are no boundaries contrary to what some people in the scene will tell you.Inspiration comes from anywhere and everywhere. I’m influenced by what’s going on around me. By graffiti from abroad and the different way in which they do things. Conversations, jokes, music anything can spark it. I’m influenced by train writers and their ability to utilise relatively simple colour schemes and letter forms in comparison with legal wall writers, because they have to get it done quickly and in a pressured environment but still get the piece to burn.

What do you make of the general public view that illegal graffiti is anti-social and criminal behaviour?

I do it for myself because it makes me

feel good. I don’t care for the majority of people’s opinions, law makers or the so called moral majority of society – it’s all hypocritical, the farce surrounding the whole street art is ok and writing will not be tolerated highlights this. I don’t feel what I do is actually that wrong in comparison to half of the stuff that’s permitted by these so called law abiding citizens and as far as the government and police go, I have absolutely no respect for them, they’re parasites protecting and flourishing in positions of privilege at the expense of the working class. If anyone dares to question or step out of line they are demonised, ridiculed and scapegoated for all the ills created by capitalism, society isn’t breaking down because people are painting on walls and trains, it’s breaking down because of nefarious politicians and this disgusting economic shit system we’re forced to exist in. I also fail to see any justice being done when writers are serving longer sentences in prison than some paedophiles, violent offenders, and manslaughter cases when graffiti is a non-violent offence. So why should I respect people that put the value of property ahead of human life? If you like what I do, it’s a bonus, but if you don’t, I don’t care.

Any last words?

FREE ORGIE!!!

Free Orgie

This City is what it is because our citizens are what they are.Plato

Birmingham is know as the cultural city within the UK, and walking around

you can really see why. Thousands of different people, of different creeds, from different countries all around the world, grouped together in one city. It isfascinating to walk around the city centre and see what sorts of cultures have had an influence on the surrounding area. For example, a short walk past the Bull Ring will take you to China Town. You will immediately know that you are in China Town because the surrounding buildings take a sudden dramatic change in their architectural design. They stick to the traditional oriental themed buildings, with copper blue, sweeping roofs and wooden frames. The signs around the area also change, and the exciting form of Chinese text replaces that of the stereotypical bold words in English. Shop windows, street signs, posters, flyers even food labels in the area suddenly become illegible to someone who is not fluent in mandarin. In another area of the city centre, called Victoria Square, the theme is

rather grand victorian buildings. The Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery is the pinnacle of this type of architectural design and it is an impressive sight to say the least. Next to the BMAG building there is the Town Hall, which seems to remarkably resemble the Pantheon in Athens. The pillar type structure is very similar to its counterpart in Greece, but this is not a bad thing, it is a beautiful building. Everything else changes in this square too, the type face of the sign posts changes to that of a serif font, and there are beautiful mosaic patterned floors. So yet another different design theme, from another time period, and country within the city centre. However, I personally think that all of these design styles and different cultures coming together in one place is what makes Birmingham such a marvelous place. The world has always been fighting about who lives where and who is allowed to live where. I think that Birmingham is leading the way in its tolerance of many different cultures coming to live under one roof.

ColourToday colour is used in a variety of

different ways. It can be a powerful psychological tool, a means of conveying a message or even just a way of expressing yourself. It is also widely used in fashion, logo design and merchandising, and a specific colour can make a company recognisable instantly, it can even make a product sell instantly. Different companies have different methods to make people buy their products and colour is one of them.

So why do people like certain colours? Why do they prefer different colours than other people? There are some people who would turn the world upside down just to find a red car, and others who would hate the idea of having one. It is very important to understand that the psychological perception of colour is subjective, for example what appeals to various cultures is different. The sense of self

preservation in humans is a survival instinct which has been with us probably since the beginning of our existence. In the past humans had no knowledge of the food that we have now, so when they found a new source of food they were relying on their senses. If the food looked bad for example in the shades of dark brown or blue it might be rotten or mouldy. Brown also evokes the feeling of dirt and faeces and there is a dip in preferences of that colour in countries around the world. So this shows that different colours evoke different reactions and feelings, not only in obvious ways but in more meaningful yet subtle ways.

To investigate this more I have decided to ask some of the leading creatives in Birmingham to tell me what they think about colours, and how they think different colours affect different people.

ColourSarah aged 25, a designer from

Barques Design, loves turquoise, blue and green. Those typical colours remind her of the sea and her childhood memories where she spent her days in the seaside with her friends. Her room is decorated in a turquoise theme, with complementary colours such as blue and green. The ocean plays a large part in her love of that specific colour pallet, and as tribute, she has many pictures and memorabilia from her days spent at the beech.

Sophie aged 27, an illustrator from Barques Design, loves red. The majority of her clothes and clothing accessories are red and she is often drawn to buy red things over any other colour. She says that she loves red because it stands out amongst other colours, especially in daily life. She also feels that it is a very passionate and romantic colour, and to tip it off,

it also reminds her of pin up pictures which she also collects.

After talking to both artists I reached the conclusion that sometimes our love for a certain colour is unconscious and lies deep in our minds. We can be unaware that we enjoy a certain colour more than an other. At other times we just like a particular colour because it evokes pleasant feelings of a past experience, or dislike it because it forces us to remember incidents in our lives that we wish to forget. Colour is the visual aid that works in a similar way to smell or sound, that recalls memories and brings them back to life.

Harry Hussein

Harry Hussein is a freelance photographer and re-toucher living in Birmingham. He is originally from Reading where he grew up and had a very keen interest in illustration. “I have always been fascinated with the weird and wonderful and it was from my early illustration practices that I have developed a very keen eye for composition and colour and was later taught haw to use those same techniques in my photography when i went to college.”He says “All things - music, events, paintings but mainly cinema, inspire me; I try to fo to the cinema once a week and I have an ever growing DVD collection that I always have on whilst editing my work for inspiration. Some inspirations are clear to see and some I just take morals or messages from.”

An example of quite an obvious inspiration is his ‘When Animals Ruled the World’ project being heavily inspired by the Planet of the Apes film.“Ive always found the juxtaposition of animals having the power over humans and being our master to be quite a terrifying concept, as well as a very exciting one for an image construction project. There are so many issues that can be addressed with this project like the illegal bear dancing that goes on in russia, testing on animals, issues that vegetarians have, all these things that can and have ben turned on their heads to make people stop and see the wrong in them, and to think, would they do it to us? For the project i did with model Jason king, the obvious inspiration was the film Phantom Of The Opera.”

“The equipment I used to use was the Nikon D90 with the 18-105 lens, but now I use the Nikon D7000 with the 18-105 and 60mm macro lens, which is a lot better for low light shots and amazing quality on close up surreal subjects.”

Harry has had work shown at several exhibitions. One at Boxxed in Digbeth, Birmingham, called ‘I AM CAMERA’, One at the Mac in Canon Hill park called ‘ANTICURATE’ and some of hi work had been published in Cannonball bikers magazine.“Both of these exhibitions were very helpful in putting my work out there for people to see. I sold some work at the ‘I AM CAMERA’ exhibition. which was brilliant and I managed to give out a lot of business cards to people. Since then I have been commissioned to give a two hour lecture to Yardley Photographic Society about myself and my work and have been asked to go back.”“I have also been asked to do photography for two weddings - one this year and one next year, which is something I never thought I’d get into but will be taking on the challenge to gain more experience.”“My future plans are more collaborations with creative people to expand our portfolios as much as possible, and also to continue my serach for a job in the photo re-touching industry.”

Visit Harry’s website at www.harryhussein.co.ukEmail Harry at harryhussein@hotmail.co.uk