Below is a brand new art work I commissioned from UK Graf legend Mark Astley (a.k.a KSD Ken Sniff Didler). It is 4.5m x 1.5m total size and will take pride of place on the studio wall once it arrives in Australia.  Double click this image to see a detailed version.... Below is the front side of the flyer for the MMM Studio I commissioned from Sye Reedman. This postcard size advert was distributed all around Sheffield in the year 2000   For those Sheffield trainspotters out there....see if you recognise our MMM logo on an Arctic Monkeys video "When the sun goes down". The single cover (below) was the entrance to our studio's courtyard. The Arctic Monkeys rehearsed at Yellow Arch Studios in Neepsend, round the corner from us.... The flyer (above) has a a coded message next to the telephone number. Mowbray street was a local haunt for prostitutes (the theme of When the sun goes down). So ... we always asked newcomers to call us (for initial meeting) before they arrived .... if they hung around outside for too long they would be propositioned....not a good look for new visitors to our community studio facility....  |
Here is what KSD has to say about graf...
My interest in street art all began back in 1988 influenced by my love for hiphop culture and djing. As a youth i worked out of town at a resturant which funded my habit of vinyl and aerosol cans along with a few freebee's from the motor spare shops(hmmmm). I constantly doodled in classes at school, before long i began to paint, nervous as i was putting paint to walls in the streets i continued to express myself via Graffm also known by councils as vandalism, the buzz would stand the hairs on my arms. Subways, railways anywhere which would shadow me and my partner in crime at the time.
Eventually i started to move away from the dangers of being caught after some close calls with the transport police running down lines and across motorways to escape capture. The buzz was too much and i started only doing "pieces" as community projects or for friends, this came to a halt along with my third year in graphic design at college as i progressed into music and the rave scene, my djing was getting technical and scratching on the turntables became my new love.. i became the member of a sheffield band (MOMO) and Dj'ed as the "unusual suspects" alongside playin in the band, we started to rehearse at Andy's studio in sheffield. The atmosphere in the studio was always fantastic as we jammed for 3 hrs each session. As bands do we split and my djing took a back seat and i took various career moves.
Ten years on now to 2009, i dj for my hobby at home, annoying neighbours! i am still awesome if not better on the one's and two's than i was before. I picked the aerosol cans up once again three years ago just before i lost my eyesight in one eye in an accident at home, just before me and my wife now, got married. When i recovered i immediatley turned on my turntables to make sure i could beat juggle and scratch and also picked up the spray cans, i believe to proove to myself i could still be creative the way i was. Well, i now stretch canvass to any size and put my expressive graffiti to work in a legal way.
Andy's 4.5 x 1.5m piece is the biggest as yet but plans for three dimensional canvasses are my next project. i have over thirty seperate cavasses hung within our home and continue to have working projects in the uk, now internationally thanks to andy. this piece is dedicated to Andy & Tara the MAU-TIN-HAUS and my love for street art and still being able to see the beautiful colours of what aerosol cans can do.... peace Ksd.. aka mark..