MontanaCans LOOKBOOK 2023 Issue #8
It's that time again to welcome the release of the Montana Cans Lookbook 2023 edition #8. There is no rewind button on life, making it all the more important to reflect on the year that was, and the things that happened during that period. The Montana-Cans Lookbook does just that and reflects on some of the highlights from the year prior. A moment to reflect on those things that may not have received as much shine as they deserved while being "in the moment".
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MCYour pieces carry a
MCYour pieces carry a lot of traditional graffiti elementslike illustrative drips, bubbles, stars, and fat highlights.What elements do you like using the most and why?LAIAI like to use a thousand things and at the same time mypieces look “simple.” Sometimes it is difficult to knowwhen I have to stop adding things. I love using fathighlights. I love everything that shines a lot. The dropstoo. They make me see my pieces as if they weresomething sweet and edible like cake or ice cream.Something that you will never see me doing is a classicbubble background!MCWait a minute… Did you just say you wouldn’t do acloud/bubble background? This is interesting. Why isthat? These are fundamentals of graffiti, like arrows,shadows, and outlines.LAIAI know, but I prefer to paint backgrounds that look likeslime, bricks, stars, or whatever. I don’t know why but Idon’t like the classic bubble background with bigbubbles, small bubbles, and millions of bubbles of allsizes mixed. I think it reminds me of the kind of elementsyou use in your first pieces. Don’t get me wrong, Ihave full respect for those who do bubbles! Especially ifthey do them well. But they are not for me.↑ Always ready, LAIAcan proudly carry herArtist Edition MontanaBLACK cans in herown design “TakeAway” Montana CottonBag.↘ LAIA has perfectedthe “less is more”technique and chosenblack, yellow, andwhite to achieve it.I like to use a thousand things andat the same time my pieces look“simple.” Sometimes it is difficultto know when I have to stop addingthings.direction when I go to paint. Normally when I preparesketches, in the end, I always end up doing other things.I think my head is made to enjoy the act of painting, let itflow freely, and in terms of graffiti, it does not acceptmuch preparation in advance.MCWhich comics would we find on your bookshelf?LAIAYou would find many old Hanna-barbera or Disneycomics and books from the 70s and 80s for example.That kind of drawing fascinates me.24 Black Artist Edition/Interview Laia
MCHow did the design for the Montana BLACK ArtistEdition can come about, and is there a back story to whyit is as it is?LAIAYes, I always thought that if one day I was going todesign a spray can, everyone would believe I would do itwith a thousand beautiful and fun colors. I wanted tobreak that mold. Simplicity is sometimes better! Ieventually decided to design it with some very traditionalgraffiti elements, such as the Throw-Up. I combinedthat with my “quiet” approach when I paint murals. Forthis, I chose the combination of two colors that to merepresent classic in the street graffiti. Those colorswere black and yellow. I did not want to fall into thetypical stigma of “Oh, she is a girl and does beautifulthings that look feminine” (how horrible). I paint graffiti,all types, and in all its modalities. So I made a mix.It is like collecting, I need to collectmemories of places that I havevisited and after visiting one place,I need another, and another, andanother.↑ In all there glory, adisplay box full of LAIAArtist Edition cansmoonlighting in frontof her work in the MontanaStore Vienna.↓ Not to mention thelimited edition MontanaBLACK LAIA t-shirtdesign that was releasedin an exclusiveprint run to celebratethe release of the can.MCAnd what made you choose the color Yellow overanother variation of the color yellow?LAIAAs I said, sometimes simplicity is better! Why choose avariant of yellow when you can have the king of yellows?Black Artist Edition/Interview Laia25
