Art Crimes Interview with Kasino

I tagged my first passenger train when I was 13 or 14. That was in 1984. I had stolen two cans of the super small TESTOR model paints the day before and I was on my way to school. The trains in Brisbane were still made of wood back then and no one had really seen much graf except for television. I dropped two tags on the inside, one on the side and one on a seat. A business man not thinking about it being wet sat on it. I was still in the car and I freaked. I messed around for a few years tagging copying stuff that I had seen in BEAT STREET and BREAKDANCE the movie. My first panel was in 1986. So I got serious from then.

I started because I was a bored anti-social creep who dreamt of bigger and better things.

There have been writers [in Australia] and by this I meant those who follow the New York style since the early 1980's. It is impossible to pinpoint an exact date [that writing started in Australia], history is never like that. There was a famous tagger in Sydney that was writing in the 40's and 50's. He wasn't on the style trip, more of a mission from God. He wrote the word ETERNITY after a vision. You could even consider the Aboriginal painting as part of an Australian tradition.

The greatest influence on the various lettering styles found in Australia is New York. This is true of every country that has writers. Each particular region has its own nuance. Perhaps the best example of the tribal influence can be seen in the work of PRINS (HARO) from Sydney. He is of Maori descent and motifs and letterstyles that he uses come from that tradition. A friend of mine paints traditional Aboriginal designs with spray enamels. I think that each region develops its own feel even if they don't want to. Although most writers, myself included, cling to heavily to the NY formulae. Regional styles such as color choices in Australia have been enforced for the first few years to poor quality paints with limited color ranges. This is due to our remote location, and for a while the only paint we could get was shit that was locally produced.

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You ask is writing political? I believe everything is Political. The stress is capital P. I have little interest in local politics. I think that most writers are aware of the political impact of their work but most prefer not to discuss it out of a frustration with small p politics. I guess for most writers, and it holds true for me, that if you wanted to talk about politics you would join a Marxist discussion group and attend an occasional rally rather than conflict regularly and directly with the powers that be. More interesting for me is the politics of everyday life i.e.: you are at a pedestrian crossing, the sign says "DON'T WALK," you look for yourself see no cars and cross. That I believe is an act of anarchy. You assert your own ability to think over that of the State and it usually creates in others the desire to do so themselves. The simple act creates ripples.

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Legals versus illegals is like comparing a pin-up poster to penetration. It does not matter how ugly she is, penetration still feels better. For me, and I paint and like both, to only paint legals is to concern yourself with style with no regard for content. There is no commitment to the political implications of an illegal piece. I feel a necessity to give something back to the movement. I did a piece in the Institute of Modern Art in Brisbane. The next day I did an illegal piece in a spillway. The drain was painted as a representation of a gallery. This created a dialogue between the two spaces. I want to embrace as many spaces and audiences as possible.

Other writers are content to be style technicians that like the way it looks but aren't prepared to lay it on the line. Well-known writers painting dead trains and playing it off. I feel it lowers the standard and reduces the movement to a fashion scene. A concern only with appearances. That is their path and it is not my concern.

If however, too many writers work towards making the public think that writers are peachy-keen nice boys who just want to paint murals, it will take off the very special edge this movement has. It will turn writing into sweet old mural painting rather than an attack on capitalist society and hierarchies contained within the written letterform and public space.

I have this idea and I had it from the start that I wanted my name to be etched into the general public's consciousness. COST and REVS have pulled it off in New York. So in accordance with this idea I select certain styles for different sites. There are freight cars that carry coal that run through most of the city I live in. I have painted a lot of these cars with clean large and simple blockbusters and other simple styles. Anyone that lives near or travels past these freights knows the word KASINO. Some people don't even realize its illegal because they are painted so much and so clean.

I once spoke with a flight sergeant from a nearby airforce base. He saw the coalies and told me that his favourite car was a married couple that said "NO MAN MY MASTER". It had two characters a cop and a army guy with a gun. I didn't tell him I had done it, but it made me smile to realize how through using a simple public style I was able to communicate with this man. It doesn't change much, but it marks resistance.

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The second day I was in New York I did a train with POEM UA. For me it was a very cool moment. When I first got next to that train I realized that I had reached a certain point, a marker in my life. It was very important to me as I felt I was giving something back to the movement. They will never keep writers off trains. As for the question of the death of writing when not on trains I can only say it certainly comes to life when it rocks past you. A steel injection of funk.

I always wanted to paint in Grant, the underground yard that MIN 1, IZ THE WIZ etc. were hanging out in in the movie STYLE WARS. It took a few goes, but when I did a panel there it was very satisfying. I did a KAS with an American flag stuck into the piece. Just like Joseph Beuys I wrote "America loves me and I love America". In fact every train I have done in NY has been satisfying. I have completed degrees in visual arts at university. This direction was taken after six or seven years of painting. The finish [of my style] is a result of considering the piece as a whole. The site, audience, letterform and the background are all considered. I work towards a unity and clarity which is revealed in all good works of art. In a sense my installation work in gallery environments has contributed to this. Just as important though, is the time I have spent with writers such as SENTO TFP who go the extra distance.

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The innovations I see at the moment tend to be the stuff that doesn't look like graf is supposed to. In Australia, DEPHI from Sydney is doing work that I really like. MERDA from Melbourne consistently breaks ground. TWIST and REM, the woman that does the horses from S.F. push it in a different direction. My friends from Dortmund push it in a different way, too. One of the best cars I have seen in ages was a car done by CHINTZ. It said "READ SHIT". It was not completely filled in (on purpose) and in some parts of the fill he stuck newspaper onto the wet paint as a form of fill. Similar to what Picasso and Braque had done in the start of this century. This idea works on some many levels.

Check out Brisbane pages 4, 5 & 7 on Art Crimes for more of Kasino's work