Interview by Meg Duffy
Images courtesy of Soft Skull Press

USPS labels are the perfect pocket canvas. With their blank fronts and sticky backs, you can collage, doodle, and paint to your heart’s content. When you’re finished, they’ll stay wherever you slap them. Plus, it’s rumored that online you can get 3,000 of them delivered to you just for the asking. Hmmm…free canvas anyone?
Camden Noir knows a good label when he sees one. He’s compiled the best of the best into one volume of pure street art goodness. Label 228 drops in September, so getting a copy should be your number one priority. Last week, Camden and I sat down to chat about the process.

What inspired you to create the book?

I got some stickers from Mecro. He’s all over the place and they were pretty awesome. Everywhere I went, I saw the labels. I also read a lot, so I’ve read all the graffiti books out there. I noticed that there wasn’t a book specifically featuring the labels. I did some research and found that there weren’t even any books coming out that dealt with the medium. So I thought, “I want to try it!” I started a MySpace page and e-mailed everybody. Through word of mouth, it spread.

How many people ended up sending you stuff? Did you have to cut it down? Did everybody that sent stickers get in?

I started out with just the artists I preferred. Then it was word of mouth: they told artists they liked, etc. The MySpace kicked it off, too. I want to say I got labels from over 600 plus artists. Pretty much every person that contributed got in. Unfortunately, the art director overlooked a few. Sket1 was one of the main ones. I’m a huge fan of his and his stuff never should’ve been left out. This guy Jamus sent in ten of them that were all awesome. Penloon got in under a different alias. They’re amazing artists and shouldn’t have been overlooked. But for the most part, everyone who sent in labels got in.

Did you have any hometown favorites or stickers that really stood out?

My stickers weren’t even supposed to be in the book. I didn’t want to be in the book as an artist. I wanted to be the compiler or author. As far as local people, that was why I started it. I live in Wilmington, N.C., right now. It’s an art town but everybody’s kind of lazy. The book was a reason for them to get off the couch and stop watching reruns of “Flava Flav.” My main intention was to get artists inspired again. There are a couple people from Wilmington who did it. I’m from New York originally, so it was also cool to see a lot of New York artists get in.

Are there many street artists in Wilmington or did gallery artists contribute stickers to the book?

I wish there was more street art here. I put up two pieces and they were taken down immediately. Graffiti doesn’t last long in this town, so I think that keeps people from trying. There are some small stencils but they’re not very adventurous. Kids try, but it’s not very Banksy-esque.

Lots of local folks contributed stuff. I had an art show where I had 3,000 labels just laying on a table. There wasn’t a sign saying what they were for. A couple people came up, asked what they were for, and made a couple labels. Some kid played tic tac toe and I think that sticker made it into the book.

Since I’ve never put a book together, could you explain what the process is like? How do you translate 600 labels into a book format? Did you get software? Did you work with the publisher?

Initially, I had to go through a lot of rejection. I sent the book out to Mark Batty, Ginko, and a bunch of other publishers. There were about six or seven where I just got rejected. I didn’t want to self-publish, but I was getting ready to do so. I started working on the book myself and put some pages together, but I’m not as technologically advanced as other people. It took me about twelve days to do six pages. Finally, I found Soft Skull on MySpace, so I sent them a message explaining my project. They wanted to know more, so I sent them the proposal. David Janik, the guy who’s doing the book now, put it together really quickly and it looks beautiful. Once Soft Skull accepted it, everything moved really fast. The book is bound right now; we’re just waiting for the finishing touches.

How long of a wait did you have between finishing the book and looking for publishers to actually getting accepted?

I’ve moved three times in the time it took to get the book published. It probably took a little over two years to get to where I am now.

Did you receive any kind of feedback as to why publishers weren’t accepting it or did you just get a form letter?

A couple of them did. They said things like, “We appreciate what you’re doing, but we can’t accept any books right now. Ginko said they loved the project but that they were doing Martha Cooper’s book, Going Postal. There were a couple of companies who told me the project was awesome even though they couldn’t take me. Some companies steered me in the right direction and gave me the names of people to speak to. But once I called Soft Skull, it was smooth sailing from there. Those guys are awesome.

Why did you fight so hard to get this book published? What are you trying to accomplish through it? Why are you so committed to it?

I just want artists to be inspired again. I’m an artist myself, so I need some inspiration and something to motivate me. Initially, my goal was to get unknown artists published. That way, they could say, “Hey, I’m at Barnes and Noble. I’m on Amazon.com. You can buy a book that I’m published in.” Then the bigger artists could put the book on their resumés. But it was always for the artists; it was never for me. If I gave up on the project, I would be giving up on them, not myself. They contributed their work and their time.

What’s the next step? Will you be throwing any release parties once the book comes out?

I’d love to. I talked to Adam over at Soft Skull and we’re trying to put together an East Coast book-signing trip. I have friends in Raleigh, DC, Philly, NYC, and Syracuse. I figure I could just fly up to Syracuse and work my way down. School is going to be a complication since it starts on August 28. That might get in the way of things, but I’m willing to give up November or Christmas break to go on a trip.

Wait, do you teach or are you still in school?

I’m still in school training to teach.

Wow, that’s a pretty serious commitment! You’re doing all that school stuff and the book stuff on top of it? I salute you!

Ha ha, thank you! It’s difficult to juggle it all, but it’s not as difficult as you think. I love what I’m doing.

What are you doing now that the project is over?

I was going to do a Hello, My Name Is Book. Huck Gee did some demos of the “Hello, My Name Is” stickers and I thought, “Same thing, different concept.” But once word got out on MySpace, three books popped up. But I have some ideas that I pitched to Adam about Priority Mail boxes. You could do a two-page layout where the box is in 3D form and another with the flat box. It would test people to do a 3D object and see what they could come up with on all sides. Or, the USPS came out with new January 2008 labels. They’re a little bit smaller but it’s still the same format. Plus, I could get new artists, new labels, new everything. I just don’t want it to be redundant. But if you think about it, Post Secret sold so well and all those books are the same concept. It’s about what in the book, not the idea.

To pre-order a copy of the book, visit Camden’s MySpace and throw your name on the list. While waiting is great, a signed copy is fine and dandy. For more info on Soft Skull Press, check out their site as well.

Klebstoff is a sticker fiend’s wet dream. All the pages in this magazine contain full-color kisscut stickers which beg to be peeled and stuck. Even the front and back covers are stickers! Opposite each page of stickers is a short bio or graphic from the artists who created the sticker designs. The text is in English so the international community can enjoy it. Conceived and produced in Germany by some of the great peeps who created International Sticker Awards, we imported Klebstoff so you could get your sticky fingers on it lickety split. The first issue is limited to only 1,000 hand-numbered copies produced, so don’t sleep.

The featured artists in Klebstoff #1 are:
Bang (ITA), Finsta (SWE), On_ly (Venezuela), BTSA (GER), Marcel Tasler (GER), Shaf (GER), Waakabund (GER), Pixelpopulation (GER), Edjinn, Ibie & UiU (SPA), Turbo (FRA), Kid Gringo (GER), ttursk & rusack (FIN), Zonenkinder (GER), Doppeldenk (GER), ZEK Crew (SLO), Endtrend (GER), Saner & Mookiena (MEX), Thomas & Martin Poschauko (GER), Dirk Sandbaumhüter (GER).

“Klebstoff” could be loosely translated as “Stick Stuff”, and this mag has tons of stuff to stick. Check out the pics and click the link at the bottom to score your copy…

Now on our shop: Klebstoff #1

For more info, or for European orders: www.stickermag.com

There’s doubtless no one in the world more widely recognized for graffiti photography than American photojournalist Martha Cooper. She has been photographing graffiti and hip-hop culture since the late 1970’s. Her early 1980’s photos in Subway Art, soon to be released in a 25th Anniversary Edition, have remained a major source of inspiration for each new generation of writers. Subway Art is often referred to as the Graffiti Bible, and is the definitive book on early New York graffiti. Her latest book Going Postal from Mark Batty Publisher is a 96 page photographic exploration of artwork on mailing labels such as USPS 228’s, UPS, DHL, FedEx, and international mailing labels mostly seen in New York and Philly. The title suggests the notion of going crazy and sticking labels everywhere, and the book presents a photographic collection of the work of street artists who are doing just that.

The introduction includes Cooper’s thoughts on street stickers and their relationship to traditional aerosol graffiti all the way through the posting of images on photo sharing sites like Flickr. The introduction includes quotes from several sticker artists such as C.DAMAGE, OVERCONSUME, STAIN, COSBE, GET2, and FAUST sharing their thoughts on stickers as a medium. I would have liked to have had more words from even more artists interspersed throughout but as a primer on the subject the book does a great job of introducing mailing label art.

One of the first things I noticed about the book is its smaller size, which is perfectly fitting for the subject matter. The experience of holding the book in one hand and initially flipping through its square, colorful, matte pages with the other reminded me of what I like about holding a stack of stickers and going through them one by one. Through Cooper’s beautiful photography the book surveys the gamut of techniques and subject matter from hand-drawn characters and tagged handstyles to laser printed booty girls (with barcoded butts!) to multi-layer stencils to political and social messages. Her photographs present the labels in all their adhesive glory in various stages of their lives on the street from freshly slapped and sharp-cornered to heavily weathered, crackled, faded, torn, and peeling. As GET2 put it, “Seeing a hand drawn sticker is an experience,” and flipping though Going Postal is a lot like the experience of walking down an average city street minus all the visual noise and other distractions that might cause you to miss all the good stickers.

In general postal stickers are miniature works of art that can be enjoyed quickly and without a great deal of effort or investment on the part of the viewer, and this book does an excellent job of capturing the essence of the medium. In her own words, “looking for stickers is an on-going treasure hunt”, and Going Postal is Martha Cooper’s way of sharing the wealth. Thanks, Martha!

Order Going Postal