MONTANA-CANS Your backgrounds are of the most well rounded a graffiti artist or fine artist could ask for. Your involvement in graffiti alone has led you to tick just about every box a writer(s) could want to tick. But how do you view yourselves? Is there words or a preference of descriptive words that you would use to describe yourselves to those not in the know? HOWNOSM (Laugh), I don’t know, we don’t see ourselves better than other graffiti artists or artists, we just have done maybe a little bit more than others, and we have been painting for almost thirty years now, so it speaks for itself that we have a large body of work but, I mean, that’s just what we do, that’s just one part of who we are, it doesn’t make us just writers you know, I don’t know it’s… I know what you are talking about, back in the days we painted the trains and then we started to do walls and legal walls and big productions and then we started to do our art and the transition of what we were doing from the streets into canvas so… But we’re not the only ones, there is a lot of people who do that, I don’t know. Maybe we stand out because our style is very original and unique and, you know, and we are twins. But I don’t know how I would to describe myself (laugh) in that case, I never thought about it you know what I mean? I like what I do, I’m glad that I can live of what I’m doing and what I love and I never take it for granted you know. we don’t see ourselves better than other graffiti artists or artists, we just have done maybe a little bit more than others MC We as keen observers have followed the development of your work for many years. Your achievements aboveground and underground have been prolific and inspiring. Do you still get to dabble in all disciplines of your graffiti heritage? Or has your international exposure meant your anonymity has become difficult? Do you even still have the itch to do something under the radar or is it »been there done that« for you? HN No, not really, I mean we’ve done our first year of illegal graffiti all over the world and we’ve been in many places like maybe like seventy countries, before many other people we were doing graffiti there, before there was Montana spray cans there so we got our itch out of the system really. I mean yeah, it’s always nice when we came over here, we were riding in the subway and we see graffiti on the Paris subway, of course, we love that and we look at it, we take some pictures of it but we almost forty four years old now and have kids and we’re focusing on our work. ↑ There is no scale too big or small. It‘s all just another day out of the office for HOW and NOSM. MC We understand the move to use only Black, White and Red (and tones thereof), was born out of necessity while travelling through South American countries. But what was the catalyst to stay within this color spectrum and was it a conscious decision? For example, was there a day when you said »OK, let’s now only use these three colors and any we create from mixing them«? Or was it a gradual process? HN I guess we were doing it for so long in south America and specially these three that at some point people recognized so fast our style and the kind of palette that we decided to stick with it so people can still keep recognizing the work we paint, and after a while we just added like different shades of paint and greys to it and now a little bit more like purple ich into it. It’s still 36 Interview HowNOSM IN PARIS
the same type of colors, it’s developing slowly but it’s still the same. MC For anyone that looks closely, there are a lot of individual symbols, icons and re-occurring images in your artworks. Are these design decisions, or is there a dialogue happening within each painting, or with the works as a series? you have to paint not only like four, five hours a day, because then it takes forever and then, you get more tired of it. So, we usually knock of ten hours a day you know. Plus you have to also look at the weather condition you know, if it’s windy or if it’s gonna rain a lot, you can’t be out there it’s too dangerous, it’s too slippery, so on this particular wall we saw that it was gonna start raining Wednesday, so we tried to finished by Tuesday (laugh). HN I mean our work always as certain messages and we use different imageries to bring their messages over to the public. And obviously there is some imagery that would be used just out of decorative purposes. I mean, we use the bottle for example as, you know, as a reference to message in the bottle so it’s a scenery, let’s say like a couple arguing each other that we could put it in the bottle as a message in the bottle, and hearts or for example re-occurring arrows, and keys, all kinds of different images that not always have to have a specific purpose you know. MC Do you prefer to create one-off work like walls, canvases that can be reproduced like prints, or digitally created works? HN Most of the work we do is drawn out on paper first so the fine art line work is sketch on paper and usually transferred onto the canvas or a template for working on a building for example, so we know how to size the mural. But usually everything is handmade you know, some computer work when it comes to laying out big buildings so we know where the colors go and where looking for to save time. Yeah the most of it is free hand and we take a picture of it and layered out of photoshop if we wanna use a certain canvas or sketch on a mural, it’s mainly how we do stuff, by drawing it by hand (laugh). because then it takes forever and then, you get more tired of it. So, we usually knock of ten hours a day, you know MC Your ability to move from large to small and all scales in between is astonishing. While standing here looking at this massive project in Paris, did you get nervous or was it just another day in the office for you both? HN It’s just another day out of the office! Yeah, we don’t get nervous, we just make sure that we are well rested the days before, because it’s very physical you know, it’s not like it’s a small wall, you have to crank it out, ↑ Red, black and white. Re-occurring in every possible tone and shape. ↓ Well defined shapes are outlined in black as soft and hard work hand in hand. Interview HowNOSM IN PARIS 37
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The Montana-Cans LOOKBOOK 2020 – Looking back to move forward to a new generation Seeing 2019 come to end was a particularly exciting thing. Not only were we the team at Montana-Cans excited by the things to come, but we also enjoyed the chance to reflect and pay tribute to all the creators, partners and supporters that helped make all we achieved possible. Ending 2019 was also joined with the realization that we had just ended a decade and started a new generation. For this very reason, the Montana-Cans LOOKBOOK 2020 is jammed packed with exceptional content. Available now in limited hard copies and digitally in the link below, we took time to revisit some of the pivotal moments, like the progress of the Montana BLACK Artist Can Series featuring DEMS and RAGE, the biggest ever Montana Cans logo mural in the LA spray day. We took a peek at the lives of the movers and shakers like Odeith and his very unique take on painting, the LOW BROS at METROPOLINK. We took some time to see the world at the home of SOBEKCIS. We shared some words with HOW & NOSM while they were working on an epic mural for the Boulevard 13 project in Paris. Artists such as Amber Vittoria and DMOTE let us into their studios to share some of their more private works. For the more under the radar artworks, we featured some of the works of veterans of steel in the form of the U.S TCI crew and their efforts on the freight trains. While OSMAN flew the European flag for innovative commuter train artwork. And while in Europe (or at least for now still in Europe), we put the magnifying glass on the UK exposing some refreshing approaches to graffiti by VOYDER, 45RPM, and PREF. "Bring The Paint" beeped heavily on the international event radar, bringing world-class graffiti art and muralism together in one space. While far away over the ocean the team at POW! WOW! and the GREETINGS TOUR teams moved from strength to strength making the international art calendar a monumental one. All this and more. With a big THANK YOU we invite you to spend some time and take a look at the Montana-Cans LOOKBOOK 2020. https://www.montana-cans.com/
Every organisation that was built up on passion and a love of what they do, finds themselves more and more pro-active in their work each year. Montana Cans is no exception as we strive to make the best cans on earth. But that is no excuse to reflect on all the extra curriculum activities like collaborations, festival, project and artist support that happen through the year as well. After all this helped create history. The Montana Cans LOOKBOOK gives an outlet to remember, reflect and reward those who deserve a little extra attention with some extra glow of the spotlight. With great pleasure, we announce the online release of the Montana Cans LOOKBOOK 2019, looking back at some of the highlights of 2019. This edition delves into many projects such as the Montana Cans limited edition cans that featured Mina & Bruce (plus interview), Felipe Pantone, Most and Flying Förtress. We reminisce on the cool collabo's we were involved in with Happy Socks, Good Guy Boris and Reebok Sneakers. We get re-inspired by feature articles on artists IMAGINE, THE LONDON POLICE, FRAU ISA, 1010 and 1UP CREW. We take a look at some of the urban art festivals that raised the bar even higher like METROPOLINK, POW!WOW ROTTERDAM and the THE BERLIN MURAL FESTIVAL. With eyes wide open we scratch under the surface of some alternative disciplines within graffiti culture. The spotlight gets turned on ABSTRACT LETTERING, GRAFFITI ON FREIGHTS and CALLIGRAFFITI. We share some knowledge on the new products like the Montana BLACK INFRA colors and Montana BOLD marker line, which took the industry by storm. Just as the special moment that was the grand opening of the MONTANA STORE VIENNA with our industry partners CONCRETE, did. All this and more over 160 enthralling full color pages.
The new MONTANA-CANS LOOKBOOK 2018 out now featuring special MONTANA-CANS products, brand collaborations, events and artists. At MONTANA-CANS we benefit, as a team and as company, from working closely with creative heads, our friends and partners. In return, it is our pleasure to support events, projects and artists. In our opinion, a fruitful cooperation is the source for creativity, development and growth on all levels. We are fortunate and grateful for the fact that we are approached by artists and collaboration partners alike, who have incredible ideas and inspirations, is something that we are very thankful for. Also check the previous issues MONTANA-CANS LOOKBOOK 2016 and 2017
MONTANA-CANS LOOKBOOK 2017 featuring special MONTANA-CANS products, brand collaborations, events and artists. WWW.MONTANA-CANS.BLOG
For us at MONTANA-CANS, it is immeasurably important to have a close connection to our friends and partners who use our tools. This need for a close correlation has led us to support and sponsor an amazing amount of incredible events and projects, and helped us to establish collaborations with numerous artists, brands and partners. We are grateful to be in a position to be able to provide this kind of support, and thankful for the abundance of inspirations and ideas that artists and collaboration partners from all across the world share with us. We make it a point to feature these projects and collaborations on our blog and and social media channels, but because of the fast-paced hustle and bustle of the internet, we have decided it was time to create a printed collection which contains merely a small fraction of the creative work we have been involved in over the past years. WWW.MONTANA-CANS.COM
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