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.
