When you think of the west coast, more often than not 2 names come to mind. SHIME and DASH. As soldiers from the beginning of the Perth scene, both have contributed more than most would be aware of and or more than most could even imagine. Widely acknowledged globally for their amazing painting skills, Shime has also put together a crew: Twenty first Century: that as you will see and hear do some pretty exciting things.
Twenty First Century is
Shime, Dash, Poise, Kane, Thief, Mistery, Kab, Darco, Buen
First and foremost, do you want to tell us a little bit about you, the TFC crew and why how and where it all comes from.
I got involved in the bboy scene in high school in 1984. At the time their was a coke ad on TV with a bboy doing all these amazing moves. It got me pretty hyped to have a go. A group of us would hang out at school and practice during lunch and after school. On Saturday afternoons we would rock into the city and watch the other crews around Perth practice. One afternoon while on a staircase just off one of the city malls I watched a guy make a move into a headspin. He was really close to a plate glass window. Sure enough his foot came spinning around and smashed the window. In about 3 seconds flat the 30 or so guys sitting their watching got up and bolted while shards of glass flew though the air. Shop keepers came running out trying to stop people running off. Everyone got away. After that I started thinking that breaking was too dangerous. So I started playing around with markers. First I started with the local bustops in my neighbourhood. I was putting up our breaking crew "ABC" which loosely stood for "Asian Boy Crew" and a few other terms at the time. The following year was more drawing on paper and our beige canvas school bags. Another guy at school started checking out what I was doing and wanted to know about this crazy writing of letters. After awhile we would both skip school and go for a launch around all the bustops in the area. He put up "Dragon 169" and we put up the crew name "Da Vinci Kids"
A small while later... I was cruising home on the bus and saw a whole pile of signatures on a bus stop by someone else. I thought holy shit someone else is doing this writing stuff as well. I told Dragon the next day and later that afternoon we both went to check it out. About 20 minutes after getting their and reading all the names two other guys rocked up. I knew these guys from primary school days. But more spun out was the fact that it was them that had been putting signatures up on the bustop. The next couple of weeks we all hooked up and traded outlines. That Easter break we jumped on the train to see if any other writers were about. Sure enough we came across unbelievable pieces by the writers 'BJ', 'Dolby' and 'Dele106'. Now knowing their were other guys into writing I got more hooked.
I was in a crew from 86-87 called 'Art-Inc' with Dragon169, Wizard69, Artline & Ratt. Very early 87, Artline and I got charged with dropping a piece at the central train station. And the rest of the Art Inc crew slowed down except myself and dragon 169. Mid 87 their wasn't a lot of people painting. Dele 106 changed his name to Buen and was doing a bit of stuff and 'Showbiz' was starting to come up though the ranks. The three of us met up a few times to talk about starting a new crew... But at the time we couldn't come up with a final name. We would meet on Saturday mornings in the city at pretty much the only McDonalds store in Perth and try and thrash out names. Then one afternoon (27th September 1987) we where sitting their and I said ...what about "21st Century" It sounded futuristic... And was a name that didn't have a set pre thought about it. And we could use numbers and a letter in the short of it. "21C" was born. That night Buen and Showbiz launched the first ever 21C piece in Bassendean and the crew was born.
A few weeks later Buen came up with the letters TFC and over the years we have used both for piecing. Not at any stage did we ever think that we would still be around painting well into the 21st Century.
Now a few years later .... I am still painting. And instead of just catching the bus down the highway, I am going a little further and and painting in places were I can't even read the street signs any more... Graffiti changed how I see the world and how the world would see me. As small as the world is sometimes..... It is a big, big place at the same time. I have been lucky to see what I have seen, but more grateful for seeing the things I never knew existed. I have learnt that as human beings we can create some amazing things. At the same time we can do some fairly evil fucked up things as well.
Back in the day you also had a magazine going - Bitz and Pieces - tell us a bit about that.
Bitz and Pieces was a black and white magazine. Super cramp packed with photos from each state in Australia plus some overseas stuff. We even had a few colour pages in the last issue that we did. The last issue that was put together came out in 1989. It was an effect in which writers Bjay, Dash, High 5, Thief and myself, all got involved in. It was good for its time. But we moved onto other things and decided not to release any more.
Then there was the amazing Aeroglyphics. How did that all come about.
Aeroglyphics came out as an idea from Thief and myself very late one night/ early morning after talking about it would be cool to try and put a paint festival on with a jam as well... We had Mad writers from Around Australia and Mode 2, Darco, Loomit and Sky one from overseas. It started unofficially just before New Years 1995 with most guest turning up. Then officially the Aeroglyphics BBQ launched for the artists. For the public it was a gallery exhibition that launched the show. The gallery show was followed by 4 day long intense 40º plus days of painting the outside of a large warehouse. Everybody got Burned.... Sun Burn that is. It was hot... Damn Hot. Big buckets of ice and trips to the pool or beach happened a lot over the couple of days. On the very last night , Aussie Hip Hop crew "Def Wish Cast" headed up the jam for the closing of the event. Anyone that was their would still say it was the best show in Perth and has been still since the event finished almost 8 years ago. It was a good time in the Perth scene. Unity, Mad styles and growth all round for the graffiti art scene.
Thief and I looked at doing another event somewhere in the Eastern states. Lack of funding is one of the issues holding us back at this stage. B-Jay has already painted a mad poster up for the event. If the timing is right and the funds come in and we get the right people in for the job, then we sure will put it on.
And another.....
Tell us a bit about the TFC crew. Its now got members from all over Australia along with a "few" (?) international's - tell us about the crew... the peeps in the crew and the mindset behind a TFC soldier!
The crew has gone though a few changes since it's beginnings. But right now it has got the right mix of attitude between the members. No one in the crew holds themselves higher than anyone else in the crew. Every one is on the same level of understanding and on the same wavelength of thinking. A solid mix.... But we are always looking for new talent. Without new blood you can die as a crew. You have the danger of getting too set in your style and ways and came become stagnate.
One cool thing about TFC is not only do we have graffiti writers, also members that are Illustrators, Graphic Designers, Tattoo Artists, Youth Officers, Business Operators, Parents, Teachers ,Clothing Designers and Music Performers. We have different religious and or non-religious backgrounds. Some of the crew is married and some are close to getting married. It has developed into a family.
Most of the TFC members are from Perth. But in the past few years' members have come from the other capital cities in Australia. And overseas !!. We are hoping that one-day we will all be in the same place at the same time to rock a mad production. Whether it is here in Perth or somewhere on the planet.
The things that make up a TFC Member.....
First and foremost is having the right level headed cool attitude. Open to new ideas and concepts on graffiti. Having the drawing and painting skills to back you up.
And every now and then as a throw back to the early days of graffiti ...... being ready for a graff battle at any point in time. If you don't want to battle and rock tags, throw-ups, pieces, productions then step off the graff tip and go and do your 'Art' somewhere else.
During all this time you've also managed to travel quite extensively. You've been and seen a lot more than most. Do you want to tell us a bit about your travels...
Travelling is mad fun...Going different places opens your eyes up to what is really happening in the world. But the best part is always hooking up with like minded people that want to get down and paint. It doesn't matter whether you can speak the same language or not. If you can rattle a can and spray it cool then the fun begins.
Of course anywhere in the world has more graff than Perth..... So you have to get out of Perth often to see live artwork on the cities.
Other good things is that you can see how systems work around the world and be prepared for when the authorities try the same crap here in Australia (often years later).
But I still have many places to go that I haven't been yet. I have found that the most important things you need when travelling are 1) your passport ( to get in and out of countries) and 2) your photos of past pieces. Everyone likes to see what is going on in different parts of the world. And as most people have never heard of Perth, then it is cool to show them something of the city you live in. A lot of people spin out to discover that graff started in Australia sooner than it did in most major European countries did.
Last year I was lucky enough to paint for a few months in Northern Greece, Ireland, Untied Kingdom and North America. This year I have a few places planned already. Japan, Russia and hopefully the Middle East (If shit doesn't hit too hard their).
And bringing it back home.... What's going on the West Coast these days?
Perth art suffered an Anti graffiti campaign for about 8 years via the government of the day and added to that a lot of negative media press. Those in power would constantly promote the 'evils' of the art form. They didn't care if the work was commissioned or not. They just buffed anything in sight. Some buffers got sued for removing legals but you would have to catch them in the act. They had teams of (weird) people that drove around in vans painting over anything and everything that they thought may have been done in Aerosol paint. It was really sad to see. These 'Buffers' really thought they were doing the right thing. But to try and talk to them you would often wonder what planet did they just arrive from. But then when you scrape the bottom of the barrel to get workers for buff duty you often come up with the dregs of sociality.
The west coast scene survived the vandalism from the government. And today a whole new crew of dedicated artists are out and about. The government when about trying to destroy an artform but totally ignored the ideals of the artform which kept the artform alive.
Perth has lost many artists moving interstate or overseas to further there art work.... But luckily enough, a lot have stayed to keep the flag flying. The scene does tend to go quiet in winter, but comes back around for the summer. Perth is just small enough to be able to get around and have plenty of painting space.... And big enough to hold a lot of cool writers...
And you personally. You also paint a lot of different surfaces and interesting things.
Lately I have been working on 2 projects
The first is a set of about 15 canvases for a exhibition with a few other crew members . I have been doing a shit load of drawings of nice looking females with tattoos and shime printed clothing. Most of the drawing are of friends or people I know. I still have a fair way to go on this project... but it is looking good. Most of the painting will not be seen until the show is on.
The second project is a TFC crew book that all members are putting in their work for.
I have been going thought heaps and heaps of pictures. Culling them back so only the better ones are shown. Each crew member is also designing 12 pages of their own work to reflect their own style. There is sketchbook pages taken straight out of members black books. High end Illustration. Train pages. And a few others. Over the last couple of years all of us have refrained from sending images to magazines so that when this book drops it should have a lot of unseen pictures (hopefully) The book should be out by the end of this year... It is looking to be in 3 languages (hopefully 4 If we can)
I have also been studying bronze casting which is something I have always like.
and the future..... whats the plan.....
Keep on painting... Poise just moved back to Perth and a few of us have just lined up a number of walls. Plus I have 2 to finish some stuff from a few years ago so I am going to get stuck into them to finish them of.... Well I have to ..... I am moving out of Perth towards the end of the year for a while so I have heaps to do.... I am looking at opening a paint store in the Eastern states.
Shouts etc
The TFC Crew, The FBI Crew, The JUGS Crew...Bjay, Buen, Showbiz, Dable, Grump, Scope....
Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brissy Boys
Sonia, Solo1, Stylo, Busk, Smith & Pink, Adam D, Webs, Fury
The Kalamusta Massive.....Voltures Crew.....
And of course the writers out their busting a nut to keep the artform rolling.....
Shime..... tfc, fbi, jugs
