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.
130
SOME QUESTIONS FOR 1010 Q: In the art world where your identity is often your business card, what actually brought you to the decision to stay anonymous? Is it working and do you still have your private sphere? A: I just want to do art and show the results, not to share my private life online. I’m not too worried though about people coming up to me while I’m painting at a wall and having a chat. Q: Does this effect the success of your artistic career path?A: No idea, I haven´t tried the opposite! Q: Was there a single moment in 2012 where you had a break through that led to the path of creating the illusionary portals that you are now famous for (if we may call them that)? If yes, what was the context of that moment? Do you ever feel trapped in this decision or even without experiencing success with this concept, would you be painting this idea anyway?A: No special moment. But a period of time where I’ve shifted from describing in paintings, to searching through paintings. I started painting in 1994, so its not the first time I shifted. Coming from classic graffiti characters with their 15 standard expressions, the first bigger change in my works was to reduce the color palette and also to get rid of every kind of face, or easy to interpret pose… Over time, I also got rid of characters and my main focus at the moment is perception. Basically as an artistic method I add or I take away. I check if the opposite of what I think is right or functions best might also work. If something works or something doesn´t work, I would just try the opposite to find out if it maybe works too? From there you just take the next step. Q: Montana Cans prides itself on making world class tools for creating. And in this case as you are a world classed artist, we were wondering what is your favorite Montana Cans product and why? How did you come to this conclusion.A: For outside: The calligraphy and flat jet caps, some of the Montana GOLD transparent tones. For Inside: Since I work with an airbrush in my studio and I mix most of my colors myself, I really got hooked on the ACRYLIC 180ml refill bottles, especially also the empty ones.Q: Is there any place, space or substrate on your artistic wish list that you would love to paint one of your designs on? If so which/where?A: Yes, a ton of them… Q: Do you first create designs that you execute large scale on walls and then get inspired to make smaller studio works from this experience? Is it a classic draw first, expand and paint later? Or do all projects studio/ street/festival all mix into each other?A: It goes all the different ways. Q: How many coffee’s do you need to finish one painting? A: Usually I drink around 2 coffees a day. So mannheim took me 10 coffees and 8 Club Mate’s It is safe to say that it doesn’t really matter who 1010 the person is. His art work amazes and has the ability to invite any viewer, of any experience level, in any language, to stop and contemplate what they are looking at. More often than not also offering a positive experience while doing it. This is a skill that not all artists possess. www.stadt-wand-kunst.de/1010 www.montana-cans.blog/murals @stadtwandkunst @1010zzz 131
