Static Interview
Street art duo open up on debut solo show
Dynamic UK urban art duo Static have caught the attention and imagination of London’s art world with their humour and satirical approach to the hypocrisy that surrounds us on a day-to-day basis.
Chinook Chandelier, one of their most recognizable images to date, was created in response to the Ministry of Defence’s £500 million purchase of 8 useless MK3 Chinook helicopters.
Setting up their own studio five years ago, after meeting on an art foundation course, Craig and Tom’s work has become so popular that savvy collectors regularly ‘liberate’ pieces from the walls they’ve been posted on around the city.
Similarly Anarchy, featuring Scarlett Johansson wielding a leather Luxury Vandals branded aerosol can, fetched more than double the expected sales price at the recent Dreweatts Urban Contemporary Art Auction.
Their eagerly awaited first solo show, New Ways of Seeing, opening at artrepublic in Soho on May 28, is curated around two themes. The 'Fight for the Right' series, focuses on the eternal struggle to be seen and heard when confronted with social, political and economic injustice, while ‘The Luxury Vandals' collection explores the idea of street art’s desirability and commercialisation within the consumer market.
The mix of fine art and street style has never looked so good. Don’t Panic interrupted the pair’s last minute preparations to ask them a few questions.
This exhibition is named after John Berger's 1970s polemic, which influenced the themes around which the show is curated, but do you think that street art has begun to straddle the line that Berger drew to distinguish between fine art and commerce?
We wouldn’t say Berger’s essays influenced the concepts behind the pieces – it’s more that we wanted to hijack the idea of changing public perception and exposure to our work and this term ‘street art’.
We wouldn’t say Berger’s essays influenced the concepts behind the pieces – it’s more that we wanted to hijack the idea of changing public perception and exposure to our work and this term ‘street art’.
We draw references from a wide variety of sources. Inevitably there’s been crossover as graffiti and ‘urban art’ are used as cultural signifiers to give credibility to brands and ‘connect’ them with their intended audience. That’s elevated it from something that has its origins in the counter culture, to something that’s much more mainstream and accessible.
Street art was once a democratic subversive movement but has become 'enviable' in the Berger sense i.e. it has significant commercial currency itself now; does that help or hinder your agenda to highlight hypocrisy and double standards through your art?
Yeah, it’s an interesting phenomenon – if that’s the right word – to see ideas and images that in the past you would have had to pick up a copy of Adbusters to be exposed to, being hung in galleries.
In our ‘Luxury Vandals’ series we took this idea of packaging ‘street art’ as a commodity and used a very stylized approach, echoing Murakami’s recent collaborations with Louis Vuitton, to create our own ‘brand’ that has since become desirable in its own right. This self-referential approach has definitely influenced our work and led us into new directions that continue to evolve.
Two themes, two floors of the gallery, 'Two Heads Are Better Than One'... Your philosophy of collaboration gives an additional dimension to your work but do you find you ever have to compromise to get on or are you always in alignment?
Naturally, there are pieces we are working on where one of us feels it should look slightly different, but the process in which we work normally allows for each of us to get our point across and end up with something we are both happy with. Usually, once an image or idea has been brought into the studio and thrown around, the process moves to the computer, then stencils are cut and sprayed, layers are screen printed and then elements are hand painted (depending on the piece). Various stages will be repeated before the final piece is judged complete and it’s on to the next idea…
You're also working with the Non-Violence foundation and artrepublic on the Knot Violence: Futbol for Peace campaign, how did you get involved in that?
We were asked to get involved in their World Cup campaign. It’s a great opportunity for them to reach a global audience and promote their message and despite the fact we were really busy working towards our show, we agreed to help them out any way we could. This resulted in us doing 2 pieces, with footballers Aaron Mokoena and Wilson Palacios, which are being flown out to South Africa next month. It’s a great cause and we only wish we could be joining them!
What's next in line for you both after the show?
Even more hard work preparing for our solo show in Japan, which opens in August.
Also, we’ve been approached by Combat Communications about a very unusual project taking place in a very unique location later in the year. It’s all top secret right now so we can’t really say much more…
Your work gets nicked from public spaces all the time. What do you reckon to the Paris Museum of Modern Art heist? Greedy? Or fair play for pulling it off?
It’s not exactly the Pink Panther or ‘fair’ play either, although we’re sure Hollywood will be scripting the next Ocean’s film as we speak!
The pieces we put up in the street are in the public domain, we don’t expect them to be there forever and don’t mind that they often disappear within hours of us dropping them. We’re going out with a modified version next week! These ones are smaller, a larger variety of colours and will be popping up all over London in the run up to the show, so be on the lookout…
New Ways of Seeing is at artrepublic Soho, 42 New Compton Street, from May 28 to June 18. For all future Static news and releases, keep an eye on their website.
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