NAME: MICHI MEKO
COUNTRY: USA
CITY/STATE: ATLANTA, GA
WEBSITE: http://www.facebook.com/l/679c59ZhT2WEg6x_VZfBE9XhKBg;MICHIMEKO.COM

1)What Purpose is your message and/or purpose of your art?
To encourage dialog,to question social and political constructs and move forward into a better future. The work is to inspire.

2) How did you choose the media and materials you create with?
I think all the materials and media i work with are part of a natural progression. I choose materials according to the project. I consider myself a multi disciplinary artist. I have interest in many different materials and process. I don’t really want to be packaged, labeled, and boxed to one material or look. I have a style you know it. People tend to want that for artist. They want series or bodys of work, i have those too but i dont wanna become known for doing this one thing. For me its about Freshness, the complete dialog, follow my works journey and progression.

3) What is the hardest part in your creative process?
The hardest part is sticking to an idea. I don’t usually work from sketches.I prefer my work exist in the moment. Its a spiritual feeling for me. Its listing to a greater power inside yourself. Its hard to work in my studio in the summer its about 90 plus degrees in there and the opposite in winter that’s hard.One day I have a nice big studio with AC/heat and roll down doors and skylights …..

4)Who( or What) inspires your work, messages and imagery?
There are to many to list. I’m inspired by images of Peru and history of Africa, Images of chickens and wall street investors. My inspirations usually mash up like a GrandMaster Flash/Diplo mix. I’m pulling from so many histories and philosophies at once, but its all some how is linked to Identity, political voice, Black Southern culture, global culture , Hip hop and punk. I work in a double consciousness, what I call the Double Double. This allows me to time travel and remix cultures.

5) What personality traits are reflected most in your work?
The narrative. My work has a certain narrative element to it. I speak in stories. I was recently elevated by Christopher Hutchinson to Griot status. Griots are African story tellers they know the oral traditions the spoken history. That is me, The street version The Urban type. MICHI MEKO, Griot. Feel me!!!

**BONUS**
Do you ever think of the moral implications of a particular message and images you may put out?

Like I said the work is to encourage dialog.Thats the issue we dont address the really hard issues like race or sexuality.We don’t truly engage our political system. There is a finger pointing blame game high school mentality with our politics. Its sad because it trickles down to the people, the citizens who repeat from the talking heads,not trully questioning motives or forming ideas or opinions that haven’t been guided. We have become fearful. Knowing our nations history with false flag ops and racial turbulence. How can you not question it. I’m on some fuck the system..PEOPLE POWER Revolution. I’m concerned about Black youth esp males.One has to question why more Black males and Hispanics are locked up than white males when we are the “minority”. Why prisons are private businesses. You have to question why Brown and Black People all over the world are fucked up. You got to question why cops shoot more black males by accident and get off with no jail time. Question it all and I do Ive been call CHE MEKO. So i believe its up to artist to put those messages out there. To challenge the viewer, be the voice of descent, to be outside the popular. To lead the way and be fearless.

LIVING WALLS INTERVIEWS - EVEREMAN - Atlanta

1)What Purpose is your message and/or purpose of your art?
The purpose of this art is to connect, in a positive way, with others.

2) How did you choose the media and materials you create with?
I am a furniture designer/maker and have lots of wood, scrap and otherwise, to paint on.

3) What is the hardest part in your creative process?
Having enough time to make and distribute as many EVEREMAN pieces as possible. I am considering taking on an EVEREMAN apprentice. Somebody get at me.

4)Who( or What) inspires your work ,messages and imagery?
The positive interaction I get from those who appreciate EVEREMAN is most inspirational.

5)What personality traits are reflected most in your work?
I believe there is power in giving and that cooperation yields better results than competition. I hope that comes through in what I do.

***BONUS QUESTION***
Do you ever think of the moral implications of a particular message and images you may put out?
Always. Most of what I do is “friendly”. In other words, I use magnets, wire hangers, stakes driven into the ground etc. Ways of being out and in that street that leave no trace. Street art, in itself, is a form of civil disobedience. Mine is a peaceful revolution.

Websites:
www.evereman.com
www.flickr.com/photos/evereman/

Interview by Dave Combs
Photos courtesy of Abe Lincoln Jr.

Founding member of Endless Love Crew, Abe Lincoln Jr, perhaps best known in the world of street art as purveyor of pooping poultry is dropping new ish on the streets once again after declaring retirement a few years ago. In addition to his aforementioned character Char, Abe also brought to life Taqueria Pendejo (loosely translated, Dumbass Taco Shop), a fictional restaurant-cum-artshow with menu items such as Pollo La Puta, and Quesadilla Mierda (and don’t forget to try the Pico de Culo.) and delightfully disgusting selections from the cantina like “Damn, I Slept with My Fat Coworker”, “My Other Car is Impounded”, as well as their trademark “Chargaritas”. Abe has remained active co-hosting art events with other members of ELC as well as showing his own art in both group and solo gallery shows. Now that he’s back on the streets it seemed a good time to catch up with Abe and ask him how he’s enjoying un-retirement.

So, how long has it been since you “retired” from the street work, and what made you decide to hit the streets again?
Well, I kinda got bored doing street art around 2005, the scene had changed and a lot of erstwhile banksys decided to try their hand at street art. Street Art gossip started showing up on regular blogs. The whole Splasher story seemed like it was something that regular blogs made a big deal about so they could seem like they had cutting edge coverage of the Street Art scene. I mean it was news to people who did street art, sure, but to the average joe I cant imagine anything more tepid to read.
So I had to take a break. I never officially retired but out of respect for people who are crushing it I’d mention that I stopped doing street art in interviews so some dude in brussels wasnt thinking I was the king of ny or anything.
Anyways, ffwd to now. I’d started noticing some artists that were new to me crushing the streets in NYC. Overconsume, Cabashasm, and Kosbe were really killing it with their stickers on newspaper boxes all over NYC. These 3 guys kind of made me remember that stickers were still a potent medium for art and you could do a lot of sick work on them.

Even though until recently you hadn’t been getting up for a while, I know you’ve been paying attention to the scene and have remained active in the street art community. What are a couple of the most evident changes or developments you’ve noticed since your retirement?
Well hopefully the Street Art as Gold Rush era is over. So many people flocked to doing street art once it became fairly well known that you might be able to make some dough with it that NYC (and the rest of the world it seems) got saturated with a lot of crap work, I think this is why there is so much acrimony between Graff heads and Street Art peoples now. A lot of noobs went out and went over writers without even thinking about it because they didn’t know the rules or didn’t care.

Stickers totally rule. Your new stickers I’ve seen are hand-drawn with mostly solid colors and fun characters. What made you decide to go hand-drawn as opposed to getting commercially printed stickers or mass-producing in some other way?
I started out as a sticker guy it seemed logical just to start doing postal stickers again. I also decided to go with hand drawn sticks because 1) Postals are free 2) I have markers laying around gathering dust and 3) Im not so interested in going big or making a “come back”. I just want to do them for fun and have a good time with them. When I get bored I’ll stop again.

What’s the inspiration for those characters?
Well I’ve been a big fan of mid century illustration for a long time and these started out as a combination of my style fused with a mid century simplicity and then they’re all basically the same shape with different heads so theres an element of toy design in there too.

Are you hinting at maybe having some of these characters appear in 3D as toys at some point in the future?
maybe… hehehe

Are you doing other street stuff besides stickers?
Just stickers. I did my thing staying up a while back and I don’t really feel the need to reprove myself or anything. I’m just having fun.

Despite what some of the kids might think, getting paid to do your art can be kickass. You recently did an event with Converse that involved
a lot of painting, tell us about that.
I just did an in store thing where I drew on Chuck Taylors for Converse. I had a great time and drew for a marathon 9 hours straight. Due to the timing of the event it was mostly back to school kids so I was executing a lot of designs that they had planned well in advance. Kids have such great ideas and art and to help them realize those designs made me super stoked. They were all really excited that I was able to take their ideas and rock them.

What’s new and coming soon from Endless Love Crew?
The ELC is always into something. Theres a constant stream of opportunities coming in and out so its hard to say whats happening at any given moment. But there’s ALWAYS something going down.

What can we expect to see in the future from you in “un-retirement”?
As far as non street stuff Ive been busy as I’ve ever been and hadnt retired from gallery stuff and design. As far as street art I dunno I guess it depends on what I’m feelin at the moment. I post everything to my site or my flickr so you can check those out… girlsbike.com or flickr.com/photos/abejr

Interview by MEG DUFFY (illicitexhibitions.blogspot.com)
Photos by Andrew Tonkery (bunnyblood.com)

Magnet Mafia is the friendliest mob around. They’re not out to murder your family or hustle drugs. They just want to stick magnets on your city’s metal bits. In an age where urban areas are increasingly metallic, dumpsters, light poles, utility boxes, and I-beams are all fair game. Armed with industrial grade magnetic sheeting, the Mafia is coming soon to a ‘hood near you.

Mafia founders Harrison Nealey and Matt Feeney go back like wildstyle and Krylon. After meeting in middle school, the pair bonded over their obsession with graffiti and kept in touch to eventually create the Mafia. Since early 2006, the duo has slapped thousands of pieces on anything with magnetic properties. I caught up with the pair to talk about art exchanges, collaborations, and how to join the team (Don’t worry, you don’t have to whack anyone).

What prompted you to start working with magnets? Did you have any prior graffiti experience?
M: Harrison and I have always been really interested in street art. Magnets were just the first project we made a big priority. It was a medium that gave us a lot of options for sharing our work with people.

What kind of feedback did you get from the community when you started this?
M: The community has been pretty open with it. Everyone we’ve worked with has been really excited about the medium and the community enjoys collecting our magnets.

Describe your early days. Were you working other jobs and tagging on the side?
H: When we first got started, we had a mortgage company to deal with and our day jobs were filled with paperwork. It was only after hours that we had time to work on Magnet Mafia. We conceptualized it for about a month before we started putting stuff up.

M: We’ve been involved in so many types of things because so many people are involved with our project.

How many magnets do you think you’ve put up to date?
H: Just us? Probably 10,000.

M: With everyone involved, it could be close to 20,000. Harrison and I tend to do bigger stuff and we’ve done about 20 really huge projects with lots of small stuff on the side.

Where have you tagged besides Denver?
H: We’re pretty much coast to coast in the US: California, South Dakota, Florida, New York.

M: Those are just the places we know magnets have made it to. Overseas, we’ve got stuff in Australia, Austria, England, France, Egypt…We like to network and spread work around whether it’s our own or some of our friends’.

What kind of mediums do you use to decorate the magnets?
M: Magnets take all sorts of paints really well. Harrison and I do a lot of acrylic.

H: Yeah, you can use spray paint, acrylic, stencil, Sharpie, drip markers, whatever. It’s a melting pot on that magnet.

Explain to me how you developed your trademark style.
M: Harrison and I developed our style because we’ve known each other for a while. I think elements of our style come from live painting and interacting with people. Magnet Mafia keeps progressing because there are more artists involved.

Street art is transient, but magnets can be moved, tweaked, and taken. Was it difficult to leave a magnet behind? Do you document your sites and peace?
H: It’s been tough to put some of them out. If we like it and we have a special bond with it, we try to put it up high or in a difficult to reach place.

M: I’m gonna say no. I think it’s cool to think people pick them up. I love to pick stuff up off the street, so I hope other people do, too.

Tell me a bit about your art exchanges and when the next one is coming.
M: The Austria project was really cool. The ladies from Spondere really liked our concept and they approached us about doing an art exchange. We were already sharing our work on a small scale, but they wanted to do something worldwide. We sent 50 square feet of finished magnets from Denver artists and 50 square feet of unfinished magnet to Austria. When it got there, the ladies hosted two days of workshops one day for adults and one for kids so they could produce their own magnets. The Denver magnets were displayed in Austria and the Austrian magnets were sent back here for a show. Finally, all the work got dispersed into the streets. We want to do another exchange, but we want to wait for a big one. Hopefully, we’ll have one at the end of this year or the beginning of next year.

You’ve participated in gallery shows like May Magnet Month in Scottsdale, Arizona. How does your work differ in an indoor setting?
M: Even though it’s a different environment, we’re searching just as hard for a little piece of metal indoors. We still have to be creative about where to put our magnets. There isn’t much metal on the inside of places. What’s different inside is that you can plan something that you couldn’t get away with in the streets. It’s similar in the sense that you’re using the building but different if you bring your own elements.

Who would you love to collaborate with in the future?
H: We’ve been in Paul Notzold from TXTual Healing. He works with laser projections and cell phone texting combined. Also, we’d love to work with Graffiti Research Lab.

Your website says that your crew is growing daily; are you experiencing rapid growth? How are people finding you? Is it growing just in Denver or are you worldwide? How do you keep in contact with your crew?
M: We go by word of mouth and lots of people find us that way. We’re proud of Magnet Mafia and we talk to people about it. If we find an artist that we like, we ask them to join. In the future, we’d like to get everyone in a forum situation so we can know who everyone is. I’d say there’s about a few hundred people in the Mafia that we know of.

H: There are about 10-20 hardcore artists who make magnets on a regular basis. We’re building pockets in California, Washington DC, and South Dakota. Outside of the US, it’s hard to tell.

How do I become part of the crew? Is there an initiation? Do I have to drink a case of beer or put up 1,000 magnets everywhere?
M: A case of beer and 1,000 magnets! The Mafia is for people who want to use magnets as another part of their artistic arsenal. At the end of the year, we’d like to connect our members more. We’d love to have an online hub where people can log on and check out different missions. Ultimately, we’d love to be bigger and more organized.

H: Like a real mafia.

M & H: We need to say thanks to the heads that have supported us and have directly helped the movement grow. And peace to the Magnet Mafia fam, especially zombie 138, reak havok, caul, dmure, boost, and some guy named Eric. We love you guys.

With new missions and projects, Magnet Mafia is growing and changing constantly. Stay in the loop by checking their website, MagnetMafia.com, on a regular basis.

Interview by Evilos

I first started to recognize Bytedust’s work when I was doing my maddstickers thing; early in my sticker trading days. I remember getting these really cool vinyl black and white gas mask’s things from Europe. Which by the way, im a sucker for vinyl stickers. So I started to get into contact with this artist because I always found his work stylish and interesting.

So I have known Bytedust’s work for about 2 years now. In this time he has surely evolved from those black and white gas mask stickers; into a vector master. I’m glad to say I have every one of his stickers in my blackbook collection and I get excited when a new one comes out.

Not too many people know this but Bytedust has designed two of my sticker pack headers. Which is the card stock paper that gets stapled to the sticker baggie. With very limited input he has masterfully designed the “Artist Pack #1″ and “Posse Pack” headers. I can’t thank him enough for all the work he has put into these.

So I felt it was due that I virtually sit down with Bytedust and ask him a few questions about himself and his work:

Most people might not know that you are not located the USA. What part of the world do you reside in?

I’m from Utrecht, the Netherlands (Holland). Utrecht is one of the major cities from Holland and is 30 minutes from Amsterdam by train. The Netherlands counts approx. 16 million citizens.

The USA scene is hit and miss sometimes. How is the sticker scene there?

The street art scene in Holland is comparable with the scene in the USA. Especially Amsterdam has lots of art on the streets. You will find sticker art in all other major cities as well. The biggest difference with the US is we don’t have postal stickers to play with. In Holland we find less hand drawn and more printed stickers on the streets.

Everyone starts from zero. How did you first get into making stickers?

I started in 2002 with making stickers. During this period I visited underground rave parties (in the Netherlands and some other parts of Europe), which setup was often simple, but very creative. I started Bytedust.net for hosting my photos I made during the parties.

The past few years my interest changed and through message boards (like Slaps) I came into contact with artists creating stickers. I enjoyed getting involved in design contests and collaborations and more of my designs were printed on clothing and stickers. A personal interpretation about sticker art gradually changed into Bytedust/ Hazchem.net

How have you evolved since you started?

I was an advanced user of Photoshop when I started making stickers, so I made my first stickers in Photoshop. Later on I teached myself the ins and outs of Illustrator. This is a very powerful tool for making vector graphics.

I’m much better with the computer mouse, than drawing by hand (I never have practiced my hand drawn skills a lot). I’m quite a perfectionist and the computer makes is possible to change things real time, without messing up my graphics.

What kinds of methods or programs do you use to create your stickers?

I’m using Adobe Photoshop CS2 and Illustrator CS2

You have some good quality paper sticker made. Where do you get your sticker made from?

I printed them at http://www.cromatics.co.uk. This is a good company from Germany (not the UK) who print full color stickers for a good price.

What was the first sticker you could remember making?

My first sticker was a black and white gasmask illustration:

This image is made in Photoshop. I cleaned it up and vectorized this image a while ago using Illustrator.

How did you come up with the whole haz-chem imagery?

The reason why I’m using the Hazardous chemical (Hazchem) imagery will be obvious when I tell you that I passed for my Master of Science (biomolecular sciences) in 2002 at the University of Utrecht. This study in Science inspired me a lot in my recent work.

How did you hear of PEEL Magazine?

Mmh… I’m not sure; I think I found the website of PEEL Magazine during a Google search in 2005.

I see that you have started to produce some plush toys. How did you start getting into this line of artistic expression?

Besides sticker art I’m also very passionate about art toys (designer toys). These highly collectible, but limited numbered toys, designed by (famous) artists, encouraged me to get one of my 2D characters transformed into a 3D figure.

I transformed two of my characters into plush and a third Cloud-X plush is coming up in summer 2007.

I really like when a character is entering the world with a story, so most of my characters are carrying a story or message…

“Cloud-X” (little factory) is an environmentally conscious character. The red sign on the clouds chest (the place where the heart belongs to be) stands for Toxicity and Pain. The sad expression of this design is intended to be elicited and subversive.

“Hazmate’s” cute face expression and the red sign of “extreme danger” have to induce confusion and curiosity (like a bitter pill that looks like an attractive sweet candy).

Do you sell your plush? If so where could someone find these?

Yep, I do sell them at my website http://www.bytedust.net

Everyone has a certain spark which enables them to achieve great things. What drives you most to do what you do?

I like to be creative and I like to work out some ideas I’ve in mind. Sticker art is a nice way to express myself to the world, and to communicate anonymously with people or other artists.

On every path there is fork in the road, what goals do you have for the future?

At the moment I’m quite busy with setting up an one-man business in visual design. My business is called Bytedust. I’m following a few courses at the moment in graphic design and how to setup a business in the design sector. I suppose I’ll only use my master study as a source of inspiration, instead of a source of income.

It has a couple of reasons I’m not working as a scientist at the moment, which are some health problems and a reduced motivation in doing research at a laboratory.

Of course I will also continue creating stickers, t-shirts, toys etc. And hopefully I’ll have some more time for creating some more collaborations as well.

Any last words, thanks or advice?

I learned many techniques by looking at work from other artists. So I’ll thank all artists who has been a source of inspiration for me.
Imitating (techniques) is good for your skills, but always be an original copy cat. Most simple and great ideas are coming from ‘out of the box’…

More at: bytedust.com

Interview by Evilos

In a world of endless talent emerges the light and it appears to be unusually animated. Bright with reflected light bouncing off chrome at 187,000 miles a second; the world of shinex. Better known as Jshine, his talent for hand drawn madness is uncanny. The incomprehensively depth of his soul is untold; but I dare to explore:

First off I must say I love your hand drawn stuff, very clean and original. Ok everyone wants to know. What does your artist handle mean or stand for?

Thank you ST - much appreciated. Artist handle = JShine / Actual name = Josh Sunshine. Minimal riddles to this one =)!

Does your skull character have a name? or meaning? How did you come up with this guy?

Indeed he does = Shiz is the skull characters name and he is of the chubbyskull breed. The creation of this character was somewhat influenced by character simplicity and replication ability by some other active artists. Once the character was established, its entire universe was born.

You have done a shit load of colab’s, how many do you think you have done and what is the best thing that comes out of it?

Yessss a metric ton of collabs or at least a kilo. I would guess at approx 80-100 collabs in the past year or so - on various items using various mediums. The best thing to materialize from these collaborations is 100% exclusive, beyond imaginative, totally outrageous, stunningly insane originality. Once two or more humans begin to embellish the same item, it takes on new form and allows it to be accepted from many angles.

*image from POE

Whats up with the Tarot cards? are you a wizard of some sort?

The tarot cards are one of my ongoing projects that I began as a test to increase my digital drawing abilities. I located all different types of card designs and thought - “…hmmm why not take one group of these and hook them up shinestyle tripto ???” And so now they are in the makings. Honestly I knew nothing of the tarot before I began this project, but the concept is quite intriguing.
Once i graduate from tarot school I will be known as Shinex the Stylus Wizard.

You put up alot of combos, how you do complete this task? Any prep work involved?

Combos Yess. Always a very very beautiful thing. Completing this task is not easy - And to anyone attempting such tasks = preperation is a must. I cannot divulge any shinex industry secrets as to application, but do know that one rule always remains no matter what the task at hand = dont get caught =)

Whats the craziest thing you ever saw?

Ive seen a few crazy crazy things - but from what I can remember, The craziest thing ive ever seen was while waiting in line for an IMAX movie at Pointe Orlando. I witnessed a dead woman buying a ticket for the 3d IMAX Simpsons themed movie back in the day. (Homer goes into a worm hole feat. Steven Hawking) She appeared to be wearing a black nomad-esque cloak - and she had all grey straightened hair. She appeared extremely frail - and didnt appear to have feet or even legs. Perhaps she was afloat.There was a 2 foot radius of forcefield around here where no humans could stand. I looked for her reflection in the ticket window as I stood back, but saw only blur. The ticket taker acted totally normally as if this dead woman was a regular paying customer.Finally I got a glimpse of her face - and I can say I have seen the face of death.

You draw some colorful creations all the time. Everyone has there favorite markers in the sticker making process, whats yours?

Yes colors are key to life. I really dig sharpies - spefivally black and red sharpies. I totally think I should be sponsered by sharpie and get sharpie sweatshirts and stuff.
I also really dig the decos for certain things - they smell all nice and flowery.
there are these refillable woodpaint pens that are about an inch thick - they are pretty pretty good.

Any hand drawn tips for the puppies?

Tips and Tricks - shinex style = I would reccomend to only go with the flow. I usually have an idea for what I want to create before I even uncap the ink. Sketch books or any kinda book with pages you wish to embellish is an awesome way to practice designs, texts, and linework techniques before u begin inking a piece you wish to be released.

What do you hate the most?

Above all things, as of right now, I hate headaches the most.

What kinds of things push you as an artist to come up with new ideas or projects?

The things that push me are simple feelings that come from within that enable me to continue doing what im doing. I try to make it so that everyday, I come up with something new or original, an idea or a sketch, something or anything for my collection. Also, I am occasionaly inspired by other artists and their actions and expressions.

How did you hear about PEEL Magazine?

I heard of Peel Mag on the net - And until then, I’d not heard of the magazine. I learned quickly of the magazine’s strength in the stickering community- I was honored I was chosen by Mister BKB to have our collab sticker grace the glossy pages of PEEL 8 along with a little interview by J&K on collabing.

Do you have any crazy sticker stories?

The craziest sticker story has to be the ‘travel thousands of miles to the other side of the world and embellish the streets’ sticker story. Recently I went to Israel to chill with Inspire and Poe, and get a tour of the art covered streets of Jerusalem. We took part in a solution through stickering workshop at a homeless protest camp. This was a really really great experience and I am so glad I was able to partake!

Sometimes I just want to punch Rosie O’doughnuthead in the face, do you ever get this feeling too?

Sure ST this is a natural feeling. Usually I just want to slap her face with a postal tho.

I just got into making shirts this year with Evilos, have you ever thought about making some tee’s with your art on it?

Indeed friend..Indeed! I have thought of it for a long time - and acting upong it only recently. Currently I have capabilities of creating 100% custom threads no matter the garmet. I dabbled in screening and other methods - and Im fond of a few methods moreso than others. Screening is dope but I never want so many of a design - I try to keep everything ultra limited , and exclusive 1/1 style.

Tell us something we might not know about you.

Piano for 10+ years at all kinds of performances and competitions. Also, I took a single art class post Highschool … I got a C.

As an artist what kinds of goals do you want to achive?

For me - Its about notoriety = For gen. pop. to know your name whether they want to or not, is a pretty honest goal. Since life can sometimes rest on who you know, I think that notoriety could be key.

Any last words before the death card comes up?

Haaa the death card is complete - and actually has tons of detail that remains unseen untill the Tarots go to print. My final words here are short and sweet= ENJOY YOUR LIFE - do things that make you feel good - and never stop persuing your goals no matter what anyone says. Shine.

Thank u ST for the opportunity to do this interview!

More at: joshsunshine.com

by Dave Combs

StickerTraders Big Sticker Board

Going to the mailbox and finding an envelope filled with cool stickers is one of those little joys in life that always brings a smile. As much fun as it can be to trade stickers through the mail, the down side is that artists are notorious for being forgetful and disorganized. For this reason many trades are never completed when one artist misplaces an envelope, or simply forgets to send their stickers in return. StickerTraders has found a solution to this problem by creating a central trading point where artists can send and receive stickers. StickerTraders has been down with PEEL for a while now, so it seemed a good time to dig a little deeper and find out more about this great concept…

Why did you start StickerTraders.com?

I started the project because of my love of stickers. I’ve been trading for awhile and was not truly happy with the path I was going down, so I re-invented who I was as a sticker artist. I started checking out different sticker sites. Came across sticker switch, then the ideas started to flow. I wanted to provide a dependable medium for artists to send in their stickers into a central hub, where their stickers could be distributed all over the world. So I picked up where stickerswitch.com left off and here I am. I feel so blessed with all the support and friendships that have developed in this time frame.

How long have you been doing it?

I bought the dot com name in September 2005, so a year and a half we have been trading with the global sticker community. I enjoy every piece of adhesive that comes through my door.

Have there been many surprises so far along the way, things you didn’t expect?

Many, but there has been a great amount of diversity among the stickers that we have received. But the most surprising things would be the amount of well known artists that have sent in their stickers. I’m excited by this fact. This makes me more motivated to become better and push my own art to the next level.

How many trades have you done so far?

I wish I keep track of everything that came in from the beginning, but I only started to document stuff some months after we started. But I would say we have completed over 500 trades and around 300 or more artists. Anyone could check out my flickr.com page to see the 500 photos of stickers we have received. http://flickr.com/photos/maddstickers

Where’s the most remote location with which you’ve traded stickers?
(furthest away/most obscure)

At one point I thought it was insane to get stuff from Italy or Spain, but I would have to say the most obscure would have to be some little town in Africa, I can’t even remember the name. But it was fun getting some twigs and berries.

Does the postage get expensive? How do you finance it? Can people help with the cost by sending stamps or donations when they send their stickers?

Postage does add up very fast. I started this project with the notion of paying for all the shipping, But I have implemented a guideline where if someone does not send postage with their stickers, it might take a month for stickers to get back to them. I still will pay the shipping, it just might take longer than artists may like. If you want to help, just throw some stamps in there or buy some sticker packs from the PEEL shop.

What is it for you personally that makes sticker art so interesting?

The fact that we live in a world so rich in culture and diversity. Then seeing what artists create on stickers from their own unique environments. Then seeing that creativity on a daily basis from the packs and stickers I receive.

What are some of your favorite stickers that have been traded through StickerTraders.com?

There has been a lot, I really don’t want to say or talk about my favorites. It’s just unfair to the people I don’t mention that do incredible work. I will say I prefer vinyl stickers over any other kind out there. If you have the extra $20, get some vinyl stickers printed.

Besides documenting trades on Flickr, do you have plans to document your trades in print? Maybe a StickerTraders zine or book?

Some day I would like to have my blackbook printed. I put almost one sticker out of all the 500+ packs I have received in. It’s something to see, I’ve only posted a few pages of it on flickr. This is something I will be looking into in the next year or two.

Pages From StickerTraders Blackbook

In addition to trading stickers, you’ve also organized some multi-artist sticker packs. Do you want to talk about those projects, and do you have plans for more packs?

I have to start by saying when the first pack was completed (Artist Pack #1), I felt like stickertraders really reached a milestone with the creation of this sticker pack. It also validated in my eyes that stickertraders.com was serious in its goals of spreading others sticker art all over the world. These packs were also created to help raise funds to help with the costs of postage to send stickers all over the world. I really owe a lot of thanks to the artists who provided images for these packs. A lot of thanks to Bytedust who made the header designs for all the stickertraders packs.

StickerTraders Artist Pack #1
http://peelmagazine.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=86

Where do you see StickerTraders going in the future?

I want to produce more artist sticker packs; I love to bring different artists together on themes or general ideas. The Posse Pack was an example of how diverse artists could get together with an idea and put out some designs with their own perspectives. I also just want to keep everything fresh with the project and always to come up with different idea’s on how to spread sticker art for others to enjoy.

StickerTraders OYCFUMF Shirt

Get your trade on at: www.stickertraders.com

by Evilos

Please tell us what the heck “Eyeformation” is.

In simple terms eyeformation is just a studio. I like to complicate it’s meaning by referring to it as an umbrella that houses a variety of art related projects. I have been working at and as eyeformation for the past six years. In this time the meaning has often changed for me and that’s the way
I like.

Tell us some background eyeformation on yourself as an artist.

I have been doing art for as long as I can remember. I was always told that every artist needs to do one thing that they are recognized for. I do everything I can to defy that logic. Why limit the potential or possibilities? It seems to go against the very nature of creativity. These beliefs have led me down paths that I never would have found. My work history is all over the place. A few stops along the way include, Pulse, XXL, Elemental Magazine and Tower Records. My adhesives have appeared in PEEL #2 and The Stencil Pirates Book. I have participated in mostly group shows such as The Wurst Gallery’s “Vintage Vandals”, The Independent Arts Festival and “Sticker Throw”, with some personal exhibits mixed in.

You sent me some of the best black, red and white vinyl designs ive
Seen in a while. How many designs did you have printed?

First off I have to say I love stickers! I have had over 50 different design printed in the past few years. I really enjoy creating sets. Things that work in a series have always appealed to me.

Who do you have print your vinyls?

I have utilized the services of Sticker Guy, With Remote and a few local printers. Recently I have settled into using 123-stickers.com I feel they have the best deals with a fine balance of quality, quantity and price. The turn around on a job is pretty quick.

Your site looks killer, how long have you been working on it?

The site was developed over the past few months. It’s a rather simple format and I like to think that anyone can navigate it with ease. The products were designed during the past winter and then packaged in the spring.

You sell all kinds of goodies, what is your favorite item you have for sale?

I’d have to say it’s the Sleep Walkers line. Seeing a concept develop from it’s first stages to store shelves is quite cool.

I saw a prototype foam robot on there, tell me some more about those?

The foam prototypes are models, created for the Tripod stickers. I wanted to take a random approach to designing these characters. I sculpted them into foam with a hot knife and then painted them with acrylic. After this, I scan and redraw them as vectors. It’s sort of a backwards manner for a character design.

Do you have a vinyl toy collection?

Nope, the only toys I have are one’s that survived from my childhood. I enjoy every element of the current toy industry, with the exception of collecting.

What do you have planned for in the future?

I’m working with ReMind Studio on the production of a plush line called “Sleep Walkers”. These will be available in the summer. In the future,
we plan on developing a line of inflatable characters and vinyl designs. We are currently sourcing full color stickers and KING SIZED di-cuts.

Any last words before you walk the plank?

Live life the way you want…. And thanks for the opportunity.

Check out Eyeformation’s site here: eyeformation.net