No blog posts from me for a while, I’ve been extremely busy on an exponentially expanding project which actually seems to be going covertly viral pre-release, radicalising the unlikeliest sources to far reaching effect!!! Stay tuned…..
More on that to come, I’ve been painting some new canvas that I’m delighted with in ‘break times’ so some glimpses of that here soon too…… but in the meantime here’s the brand new issue of LSD magazine, there’s comparatively small contributions from myself, compared to previous issues, due to time constraints on my part, but there’s plenty of great art to feast on, some extremely interesting words to read, a poem from Prem Nick of The Disrupters and a few giggles too…
Enjoy ‘Walls of Perception’ with love from Team LSD…..
We’re at the Royal Festival Hall this weekend…..apart from the other attractions from the Festival of Britain there will be breakers, deejays, mc battles, the lot…..
Leading on from its premiere show The Architects, Atom Rooms presents an exhibition showcasing the work of some of the pioneers of the graff movement. The exhibition is accompanied by live spray presentations throughout the weekend, offering a unique opportunity to witness the greatest artists of the emerging movement create their masterpieces in public. Leaders of Graff-Futurism, including Pride (Errol Donald), Prime (Mark Sinckler), Inkie, Fuel (Matthew Bradford), SheOne (James Choules), Duncan Jago, James Starr, Junior Tomlin, James Cochran, Augustine Kofie, Andrew McAttee, Phil Ashcroft, Jon Hammer, Steve Moore, Robbo and DonOne are featured throughout the exhibition.
When the blind lead the blind all will fall into a ditch."— Matthew 15:13-14,
Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power. -Abraham Lincoln
The truest characters of ignorance are vanity, and pride and arrogance. Samuel Butler
It is possible to lead astray an entire generation, to strike it blind, to drive it insane, to direct it towards a false goal. Napoleon proved this. -Alexander Herzen
Getting rid of a delusion makes us wiser than getting hold of a truth.-Ludwig Borne
Curst greed of gold, what crimes thy tyrant power has cause. Virgil
…no drug, not even alcohol, causes the fundamental ills of society. If we’re looking for the source of our troubles, we shouldn’t test people for drugs, we should test them for stupidity, ignorance, greed and love of power. PJ O’Rourke
Painting ‘The Parable of the Blind leading the Blind’ by Peter Breughel the Elder 1568 Tempera on Canvas
When I was a young kid I lived in Norwich and spent virtually all my pocket money in Backs Records, Norwich’s legendary independent record shop, in the City’s famous Swan Lane, now occupied by the Whiskey Shop.
There I was first thunderstruck by the stark graphic and image of anarcho punk and indie/protest.
The seven inch record covers were displayed behind the counter in an enormous and ever changing grid of the most potent, political, graphic and human distillation of anger, wry humour, irony and revolt I had ever witnessed.
On my Saturday visits I would stand gawping for ages in the middle of the shop, entranced at the artwork that completely covered the walls, lost in an alternative world of hope, humour, anguish and rebellion, a million miles from school, home and the doom laden news of riots and impending nuclear war.
After choosing one or two, often based on the artwork, I would rush home to play them. The first anarcho-record I bought was Bloody Revolution/Persons Unknown by Crass and the Poison Girls in 1980, then Reality Asylum by Crass and onto bands like Zounds, Conflict, Flux of Pink Indians, Dirt, the Dead Kennedys etc.
I had previously gone for the UK Subs, the Pistols and the Clash as well as more commercial stuff but when I started shopping in Backs it didn’t take long to work out that I could get more from my quid or two pocket money if I bought records on the Crass label.
They were 70p or even 45p when other singles were at least a quid, sometimes as much as £1.20,
With CRASS I could sometimes even afford two singles a week and would get a couple of amazing nihilistic monochrome posters by Gee Vaucher & co to stick on my wall, (which grew week by week to look more and more like the shop) plus the music was brilliant and educational and I could read the backs of the poster and read loads of amazing info exposing the bullshit of the system, which started me reading about politics, greed, history, genocide, state violence, control techniques, brainwashing, propaganda, direct action methods etc. and led to my humble but inspired origins as a graffiti writer.
Then one Saturday I went into Backs with my pocket money and saw a WHOLE ALBUM for £1.75!!!
They were normally at least three or four quid which meant saving up or birthdays. It was a compilation called Bullshit Detector, on CRASS of course and had an amazing 25 tracks on it, all by different artists when most albums had nine or ten. I bought it on the spot.
When I got it home and put it on the record player and started reading the massive fold out cover I was quite amazed by the variety of tracks screaming, poetry, the Jazz 78 gramophone manipulation and drunken ranting, and home taped weirdness and guttural snarling, there were some absolutely great tracks on it, some were pretty awful but one of my favourites was Napalm by the Disrupters from (incredibly, as I thought at the time) Norwich.
Me and my pals soon found out from their elder brothers who were ‘proper punks’ (unlike us snotty part-time herberts) that the Disrupters were releasing their first single ‘Young Offender’ which we all went and bought from Backs.
I carried on buying their vinyl through the eighties long after I moved near London; just in time to catch the birth of UK hip hop and London train graffiti.
Anyway……thirty one years after Bullshit Detector, I discovered they’ve reformed, still sound amazing, still writing great songs, sounding as tight as ever, have lost none of their morality or venom and are back out gigging and with a new album, so they were kind enough to do to an in depth interview for the current issue of LSD magazine, along with loads of artwork, and their in-house poet Prem Nick did an interview also and kindly contributed some poems and rantings for the piece!
It’s great, not only to read all about such a brilliant, honest and dedicated band, but to have a reminder of the grass-roots spirit ‘urban art’ actually came from, as narcissism, privilege, profits, con-tricks and posturing, festooned with false flags and propped up by censorship and control that would leave Stalin reeling, leave us with a corporate phenomenon which may well prove to be regarded as the single most outstanding example of hypocrisy and mass manipulation in human history.
I haven’t been out and about much lately as I’ve been squirreled away working on something major and also painting some fresh new canvases….so it was nice to see my Elate tumbling stone blockbuster on the Brick Lane secondhand furniture shack and Victorian door emporium is still intact over two years after it was painted….
The primary evolution of the piece (apart from the remains of a ‘paste-up’) would appear to be where the original brickwork underneath is coming through the painted brickwork enhancing the trompe l’oiel effect of the hand-painted brick.
It is great to see the natural wabi sabi of nature take its effect on a piece of street art.
Many thanks to Fuel for the shot, excuse his hand but it was raining.
Small natures require despotism to exercise their sinews, as great souls thirst for equality to give play to their heart. Honore de Balzac
All power to the brave people of Egypt. Watch uncensored live footage of this amazing time on Aljazeera
Give them hope, give them strength, give them life Like a candle burning in the black of night We are with you in our hearts and in our minds And we’ll pray for a nation through it’s darkest times
Angelic Upstarts- Solidarity 1983 originally written in support of the Solidarity trade union as it fought a similar battle for freedom of Poland from the Soviet regime, it’s now become a timeless folk song, by one of the best UK punk bands of the early eighties…..
and if you liked that this is the ‘Lost and Found’ version…..
I’d like to say a massive thank you to everyone who has shown me support and encouragement during the ongoing campaign of stalking, harrassment, threats and intimidation, which began shortly after I announced my plans to open a new art gallery in East London.
These events seem to infer that certain people in the ‘street art’ establishment are prepared to use thugs, threats, hackers and dirty tricks. You can read all about this here.
I have had many messages of kindness and support from readers of my blog and people in the art world which have given me great comfort at this difficult time. Thanks to those people.
Thanks also to my family and friends and the bloggers and websites who published the events, put out calls for information, expressed their outrage or linked to the article describing the events including Fatcap, Canned Goods, London Street Art Design, Vandalog, Graphotism, Artshout, Graffiti Spotting and many more…
Thanks to all the guys from London’s graffiti writing and broader art communities who have lifted my spirits with their kindness and support.
Thanks also to the police who have been kind and understanding, know what’s been going on and are taking it seriously.
I have to admit I was a bit apprehensive to go to the police with news of developments, but to their credit, they were very interested in what I had to say and seem to be taking it very seriously.
They requested I keep a log recording any information including unusual sightings and descriptions of people I believe may be involved, events, photos of the threatening artworks which have been appearing from various sources; anything in fact, which could be seen as aggressive or a warning and could possibly be directed against me.
This log remains in my possession and has, of course been backed up and passed to trusted allies but will hopefully never see the light of day.
I had assumed the police would not be interested in veiled and ambiguous threats.
However I have been informed by officers that taking into account the circumstances (especially if these threats continue or anything ‘untoward’ or ‘unusual’ happens to me); that these would become a basis for an investigation.
I was no angel in my youth but it’s at times like this that you realise there are a great many kind, good hearted officers on the force who are genuinely doing a great job for the right reasons and are the last resort when people find themselves the innocent victim of attack, intimidation and harrassment.
These basic tenets of our society is what our proud British freedom of expression and human rights is built on.
All I want is to get on with my life and let other people get on with theirs with no hassle or problems.
I haven’t posted on my blog for a few months, here’s why.
I have been subject to a campaign of intimidation and aggression after announcing plans to open a gallery at Brick Lane and painting legal graffiti on prized spots. Now I realise I have unwittingly been put in an unthinkable situation.
I would be happy to engage in healthy competition of innovation, skills, banter and wit, but whoever is opposed to my plans chose the way of the bully. Now the situation has got so bad that I am going public with the information.
Let’s start at the beginning…..I painted anti-war slogans and punk logos since ‘82, then in the New York style from ‘84.
Being from a working class background I left school aged 16 in ‘86. I didn’t have the privilege of an art education so worked as a messenger boy in the City of London just as the Underground railway was overrun with graffiti for the first time.
My passion for graffiti got me fired from my round in early ‘87 and I continued writing on trains through London’s graffiti heyday until 1989 when I stopped illegal work and taught myself to paint classically in oil, continuing to paint graffiti legally.
When Banksy and others recently enabled vandalism to be accepted as an art form, and visionary painting by untrained outsiders was finally acknowledged, I thought my time for recognition was here. My calculation didn’t take into account the carefully controlled hierarchy that exists in the London scene.
I had no intent to subvert anyone’s status and only wished to embrace diversity in all its forms and participate in the community. So after being completely ignored by the major players in the ‘Street Art’ establishment I decided to go it alone in 2009 and curate my own space in a Georgian warehouse at the top of Brick Lane, the hub of the art community, specialising in work by oldskool graffiti writers and intuitive visionaries.
I told many in the neighbourhood about my plans. This news was met with a sign posted on my wall at the beginning of August 09 “Art Gallery Not Needed- London…Breathe/Stretch/Relax/Perforate”and signed ‘Sinom de Plume’
Sinom de Plume is a corruption of the French ‘Nom de Plume’ meaning Pen Name or literary double, a fake name adopted by an author.
“Breathe/Stretch/Relax/Perforate” is a corruption of the Yoga instruction ‘Breathe/Stretch/Relax/Rejuvenate’. In that simple substitution of one word for another the author turns an instruction in transcendence, humanity and hope into a tool of censorship, oppression and threat.
I was shocked that anyone could feel such a way against me for doing something so creative and positive but was even more determined to continue with my plans.
By late September 2009 I began to paint with the infamous and upcoming MuTate Britain Collective who embraced my art and long history in the scene , welcomed me with open arms, gave me enormous walls to paint and hung my work in some of the best spots in their ‘One Foot in the Grove’ show under the Westway in Ladbroke Grove. I was asked to invite some oldskool legends from London’s ‘Golden Age’ to come and paint their perimeter wall, which was delivered in fine style.
It’s all detailed on the previous posts on my blog. I felt delighted to be recognised at last. As the MuTate Britain extravaganza was going on in Portobello Road, West London, building work was being done on our proposed gallery in Shoreditch, indicating to people, I presume, that we had ignored the warning notice.
The work was finished in late 2009 and myself and my girlfriend went for a well deserved holiday over Christmas. As soon as we got back in late December, refreshed, invigorated and excited about the year ahead, the real intimidation started.
I began to notice an old car decked out in tinsel and driven by a very large man hanging around our building.
One quiet evening, the 2nd January 2010, I was putting out the rubbish in the bin on the street corner; his car, which had been waiting in a side road, performed a reverse handbrake turn at high speed and then drove straight at me down the dark and empty street at full speed with hazard lights flashing. He screeched to a halt inches from my feet, I thought I was going to get run over and managed to stumble out of his path to my gates and get in, terrified and shaking as he sat parked outside the gates.
At this point I knew something was seriously wrong.
I needed a drink and had nothing in the building so after 20 minutes left cautiously for the nearest pub after checking out of the window that he had gone. As I was drinking my pint and to my horror, the driver of the car walked up to the window, stared at me then turned on and disappeared into the night. I got home and called the police who said it was a rare and exceptional incident and gave me a crime number.
Two mornings later I awoke and looked out of the window, the barbed wire preventing access to our building had been pulled aside and the grey slate tiles leading to our windows were broken as if they had been walked across, even the roofing felt was ripped. The damage was verified as new by the caretaker so I called the police who attended and registered it as an attempted burglary.
Three weeks after it had been repaired, the barbed wire was ripped aside yet again, with fresh marks on the tiles.
On Sunday 7th March 2010 I found that my computer had been hacked. I consulted my IT guy who told me that it was an attack by professional hackers. They had installed a ‘Trojan’ and ‘key loggers’ (devices which record every stroke of the keypad) set up multiple user accounts with full privileges including ‘impersonate user privilege’ ‘’modify firmware privilege’ among countless other stuff including a ‘tunnelling proxy’ and encrypted zones, things I knew nothing about and had hardly even heard of.
They have ignored multiple opportunities to steal money from paypal accounts, preferring to access my emails.
This was repeatedly listed in my PC’s ‘Events Log’ as Outlook Events-
‘”C:Users\Me\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook\Outlook.pst The store was last opened on a different machine”
…but I have only ever accessed my mail from my own PC; I am convinced this carefully targeted hacking is linked to the previous incidents. Any hacker who installs key loggers then ignores constant access to cash would probably be after something else,as is indicated in my events log.
They have also had access to…
My writing and rants, directed at an art scene which ignore myself and countless talented others while celebrating ‘instant artists’ and hype.
My personal emails to my girlfriend full of pet names, secrets of our personal life and ‘coochie coo’ sweetness.
My gallery plans, manifesto, logos, and communications with artists I was planning to show when we opened; and confidential website information.
Personal private photos of my family
Shots from my girlfriend’s modelling portfolio.
Intimate photos of myself and my girlfriend.
My broad collection of ‘adult movies’ of multiple genres; classic hardcore, roleplay, lesbian, ‘Barely Legal’ and JAV (Japanese Adult Video) always verifiably legal and taken from carefully moderated sites.
My archive of graffiti and art photos and scans of my sketches of future works.
Intimate details of my illnesses, medications and medical conditions.
Details of my history of substance misuse, now seven years clean.
Highly personal emails to family members in times of illness, joy, distress and even argument.
The vast variety of websites I read when trying to understand political and religious points of view from all ends of the spectrum when researching topics current in the media.
My unpublished writing analysing the meanings behind mine and others’ work, written in the context of the history of art and civilisation.
After discovering and eventually putting a stop to the attack by shutting off my system I left the building next morning and was followed yet again, this time onto a train.
I cannot see what I could possibly have done to warrant this attention and threat; I am a good, kind and honest man who has done no-one any wrong, have tirelessly helped others throughout my life and have countless people who will happily vouch for my character and personality.
All I have done is paint legal walls with the owners’ permission according to the rules of graffiti, make a few impassioned comments about art on the web, and try to open a gallery in East London that gives a platform for highly talented and innovative artists excluded by the establishment.
I ask nothing except to be allowed to live my life in peace. I am reconsidering my plans to open the gallery in the face of these experiences. It seems I have ‘ruffled feathers’ for whatever reason.
I send out this statement to raise awareness so that people know what is going on. I re-entered the scene full of optimism ideas, and happiness which I have shared with all who let me participate. I thought things would be very different to this.
Thanks to all who enjoy my art, have shared good times and given me support and encouragement. I hope my next communication will be on a happier note.
Elate / Jon
18th March 2010
Additional note: Comments accusing me of being Schizophrenic and imagining the whole thing have already appeared on a well known graffiti site, in an obvious attempt to discredit me.
