Today’s Saturday edition of the “Favorites
of 2004” come to you from a terrific group - Urban Medium in Atlanta, Medium in
Canada, Pure Evil in London, Mark Pollard in Sydney, Bill Griffin (not sure
where Bill Griffin is) and Calma in Sao Paulo Brazil.

Enjoy….
/>
Favorite Event of
2004:

Urban Medium
(artists): Moving cross country from Los Angeles to Atlanta, hoping all of our
shit would arrive in one piece. Toy2r expo events in London and NYC…it was
great to meet up with so many like-minded artists.

href="http://www.mediumphobic.com">Medium (artist): I know that it would
have been the Pictoplasma Conference or the Hollywood Remix Show, but I’m as
broke as a joke and don’t get out of the Canada much. I was in NYC in January
though, and blindly stumbled that warehouse show with Dalek and Ewok and Doze
Green (and others), and had a great time!

Bill Griffin ( href="http://www.socialpest.com">Social Pest): Woodstock Tattoo & Body Arts
Festival - reminded me that the swell of democratic art is not just limited to
toys and the street.

Pure
Evil: PARIS STENCIL PROJECT This had been planned about a year ago, with
artists from France, Great Britain, Italy, USA, Denmark, Portugal, and Spain in
attendance…The artists who made the weekend were Blek le Rat, Jef Aerosol,
Mosoko, Epsylon Pointpoch, Gil Bensmana (poster), Silencio, Taksi, Spliff, Pure
Evil (me) and a whole lot more who I cant remember…. check href="http://www.steal-life.com/features/75pureevil.htm"> this link for a
slideshow…  and the DEATH ON KINGSLAND ROAD show in London…..

href="http://www.stephandoit.com.br/">Calma: Coletivo Rua

/>Mark Pollard (Stealth Magazine):
Celebrating the 5th Anniversary of Stealth Magazine in true Boogie Down style -
steady pimpin’ in Sydney’s red light district listening to supreme hip hop. Also
seeing Sage Francis live - few can rock a show solo like this kid can.

/>Favorite Artist of 2004:

/>Urban Medium:  [derek] My wife, heather [heather] Awwwww shucks!

/>Medium: Doze Green and Mysterious Al

Bill: Takashi Murakami - I
know it may be a lame answer but this guy really is an inspiration for so many
artists with an aspiration to get their work seen by the masses. When you read
about the messages behind his work it is quite poignant and sad.

Pure
Evil: Blek le rat in London ..... The last time he was here was 1989… he
RULES.

/>SWOON comes a close second… she’s a smart cookie….

/>Calma: Coletivo Upgrade do
Macaco from Porto Alegre.

Mark: DASH - originally from Perth, and now spending a bit of time
in Melbourne
(Australia). This guy is incredible. Also love href="http://www.burncrew.com">BurnCrew - FLIQ and PUZLE, and href="http://www.atome.com.au">ATOME. Ah, and my mate Aaron Turk at href="http://www.tribalddb.com.au">www.tribalddb.com.au - the man has some
crazy Flash skills.

Favorite New
Artist of 2004 (an artist who you did not know of last year):

/>Urban Medium: Sergio Hernandez - down with Workhorse.

Medium: Toss up between Mr. Brown here in T.O. and 7teen from
Detroit, I can’t decide. Although I have these two kids who help me out in the
studio Curmbox and 5, and they are both very dope, watch out…

Bill:
D*Face - This guy is fun with a capital F.
It’s gotta be hard for UK street artists in the shadow of the Banksy but there
are a hell of a lot of very talented folks coming through and D*Face is a
shining example. Also, I love Roadsworth from Montreal - check out this great href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/zekesgallery/sets/13388/">gallery of his
stuff

Pure Evil: Elenas mum and dad (see the photo of Elena below)
/>
Calma: Ermerson Pingarilho

Mark: Ferry Halim -
Well, he’s new to me!


Favorite
Single Piece of Art in 2004:

Urban Medium: Walking through
SOHO and stumbling across this massive piece from WK. Photo’s don’t do it any
justice…looking at it just makes you want to kill someone.

Medium: One of Doze Green’s pieces at the NYC show that I can’t
remember the name of, I had my beer goggles on…

Bill: Banksy’s 6
metre, 3.5 ton monument in Clerkenwell Green. The publicity this thing generated
was phenomenal.

Pure Evil: Elena my flat-mate…. she’s a work of
art. Too bad she went back to Galicia….

Calma: The Clayton
Brothers - I Come From Here

/>Mark: DASH’s artwork for the cover of Australian hip hop group Downsyde’s
album.

Favorite New Product of
2004:

Urban Medium: [derek] T-Mobile Sidekick II [heather] Our
dog, Max

Medium: The ‘Gel Thickener’ for the Chromacolour paint I
use, new to me anyway…

Bill: Gotta be my iPod

Pure Evil:
Kangol Pure Evil Laser Etched Nubuck hat…

Calma: Dont know of any good product.

Mark: I
don’t get out enough or consume enough. Dammit… Do PS2 games count? FIFA
2005… Oh, and the following supreme Korean DVDs: Silmido, Old Boy and
Taeguki.

Favorite CD/Song of
2004:

Urban Medium:  [derek] Masta Ace // Long Hot Summer
[heather] William Shatner // Has Been

Medium: The new Death From
Above cd, a really good T.O. band.

Bill: Dub Side of the Moon by the
Easy Star All Stars

Pure Evil: Cassetteboy Vs DJ Rubbish from
‘Inside a whales cock Vol.1’ a skiffle version of J-lo;s href="http://images.clickmusic.co.uk/stream/jlo_from_the_block.mp3">‘Jenny from
the Block’

Calma: John Frusciante - “The Will To Death”

/>Mark: Immortal Technique “Revolutionary 2”

Favorite “Moment” (memory) of 2004:

Urban
Medium: It was the most stressful at the time…yet looking back - is now our
favorite moment. Closing the deal on our first house, never signed so much
paperwork in our lives.

Medium: The night of the opening of my show
here in Toronto, the pressure was off, nothing left to do but drink whisky.
/>
Bill: Being interviewed by MTV Japan - probably the most bizarre
experience ever.

Pure Evil: Painting the piece below for my first
show “death on kingsland rd”. The best moment of it all was being up a 20 foot
ladder painting the ceiling inna rubba-dub ‘Charlton Heston in Michaelangelo’
stylee listening to Led Zeppelin singing ‘Valhalla I am coming’ while watching a
big blob of red paint form on the ceiling and then drop into my eye. IT WAS
INTENSE !!! Getting down the ladder with one eye with the other eye feeling like
it was on fire was pretty intense too.

Mark: Releasing our 5th Anniversary issue, celebrating my
one-year anniversary with my wife, watching my oldest mate get married… Other
than that, Foxnews provided countless amusing moments throughout 2004. I’d like
to thank them for that…

Favorite
Toy of 2004:

Urban Medium:  [derek] AD-AT from Span of
Sunset/Bill McMullen [heather] My Windows laptop…goodbye Apple!

/>Medium: The new Dalek Dunny’s.

Bill: I love the three new toys just
released by StrangeCo, from Bigfoot One, Jeremy Fish and Sam Flores. Bill
McMullen’s AD-AT is great too. Oh crap that’s four…

/>Pure Evil: BUSH !!!!!  WHAT A FRICKEN TOY !!!!!

Mark: The one Oz (Force Feed Swede: href="http://www.forcefeedswede.com">www.forcefeedswede.com) did that
exhibited around the place (Collett’s in Paris etc). I forget what the
exhibition was called now. My tip for 2005 is the Bizmarkie toy/doll that href="http://www.paulnice.com">DJ Paul Nice is currently manufacturing in
Hong Kong.

Favorite Website of
2004:

Urban Medium: Shouts out to href="http://www.boingboing.ne">boingboing.net…and wooster of course!
/>
Medium: www.Magic-Pony.com
Toronto based toy and merch store, lots of great stuff to look at. I swear this
isn’t just a plug, the only one of its type here in Toronto!

Bill:
Wooster Collective is the most inspiring web site ever. Gigposters.com is gold
mine too.

Pure Evil: href="http://www.fotolog.ne">www.fotolog.net   after
www.woostercollective.com of course !

Calma: Wooster Collective
/>
Mark: Just one? href="http://www.korealife.blogspot.com">www.korealife.blogspot.com, href="http://www.theonion.com">www.theonion.com, href="http://www.yetisports.com">www.yetisports.com

style="font-weight: bold;">What do you most want for Christmas?

/>Urban Medium:  A show in Japan

Medium: A new pair of glasses cause
mine have been broken for a while, or a cheese basket, cause I love cheese
almost as much as life itself.

/>Bill: A new wok.

Pure Evil: World Peace and for George Bush to be
Impeached… oh and the new Nirvana Box set please

Calma: A house in
the seaside.


What is your New Year’s wish?

Urban
Medium:  That artists who label other artists as “sell-outs” for making money
doing what they love, show less hate.

Medium: That the cheese basket
won’t give me a heart-attack.

Bill: President Bush’s pretzel does the
job properly this time.

Pure Evil: I wanna find a girlfriend sometime
soon…. being a batchelor is cool but it aint all that…. Monica Bellucci if
you’re reading this, get in touch.

Mark: More hours in the day and
less ways to spend them. To be surrounded by
family and friends.

/>How will you be spending the Holidays this
year? What will you be doing on New
Years Eve?

Urban Medium: For the first time in 8 years, not
travel anywhere - just sit back, take some time off - paint the walls in the
studio, plot and scheme for 2005.

Medium: On Christmas, going to my
sister’s house to see the folks. On New Year’s eve.. I think I’m going to throw
a house party, lots of booze, and if I am really lucky maybe a tiny bit of
lovin’.

Bill: First spending time with the family in the UK then for
New Year watching the Northern Lights in the far North of Norway with friends in
a small cottage. Hopefully, there’ll be enough snow to build a little kicker to
mess around on with the snowboards.

Pure Evil: Back to Wales for
Christmas with the PURE EVIL clan… hanging out with my dad, he wants me to
bring my stencils so I can do some painting with him…

Calma: Not
sure yet

Mark: Enjoying the Australian summer - heading to the beach,
lighting up a BBQ, cracking open a cold one, watching the fireworks on Sydney
Harbour on NYE with mates, wearing thongs (flip flops) and singlets… The usual
Aussie way.