one of the great things about street art for me
is that it has a way of democratizing the space of the city, the walls become
available for all kinds of divergent uses,  so that along side the advertising
and the no parking signs you get people declaring their love to eachother,
pasting up their alter egos, or using the space to communicate something that
they believe is really important, but for which there are not many other
outlets—josh who runs the “celebtrate people’s history”  project out of
chicago is a great example of using the street as a medium for education.
/>
The Celebrate People’s History poster series is an on-going project
producing posters that focus around important moments in “people’s history.”
These are events, groups, and individuals that we should celebrate because of
their importance in the struggle for social justice and freedom, but are
instead buried or erased by dominant history.  Posters celebrate important acts
of resistance, those who fought tirelessly for justice and truth, and the days
on which we can claim victories for the forces of freedom.  In the past 5 years
over a dozen posters have been produced on a variety of subjects, from the
Battle of Homestead to Fred Hampton, Malcolm X to Jane, an underground abortion
collective.

These posters have been and will continue to be posted
publicly (i.e. wheatpasted on the street, put up in peoples’ home and storefront
windows, and used in classrooms) in an attempt to help generate a discussion
about our radical past, a discussion that is vital in preparing us to create a
radical future.  I have also been using this project to create a loose network
of artists interested in creating radical public art and showcasing the work of
unknown artists that want to create art that is functional, carries a social
message, and doesn’t get buried at the bottom of the heap of the capitalist
“art world.”

/>Age: 30
Hometown: Holliston, MA (small towns in the
house!)
Where do you now live? Chicago, IL (big towns in the
house!)
How long have you been creating street art? 13 or 14
years

What did you do last night?
Went to a see a movie
about Venezuela but it was sold out so I ate a little with some friends.
/>
What is your favorite thing to eat for dinner?
Depends on my
mood

Who is your favorite fictional character?:
Antonio
Amador, the anarchist journalist in Paco Ignacio Taibo II’s “Leonardo’s
Bicycle”

What do you currently have in your pockets?
a
dirty hankerchief and an empty wallet

If you were given “more
time,” what would you do with it?
more work! more stencils! more
posters! Who do you love?: dara

/>Wooster: How did you get started in creating art for the street?
I
had friends who were into graffiti and I stumbled upon World War 3 Illustrated
and the stencil art of Seth Tobocman and Anton Van Dalen.  These guys are the
foundation.

Wooster: What other street artists do you most admire
and why?
Anyone that gets up in the insanity of Chicago (spraypaint is
illegal to buy, sell, or possess here-no shit!), Shygirl and Heart 101’s
amazing stencils for pushing the artform, my friend Claude’s giant hero
stencils (Malcolm X, Emma Goldman, Zapata) in SF for size and doing it in broad
daylight and Sevenist’s giant stencil portraits and self-portraits on freights
cuz you can’t ignore them.

Wooster: What’s your favorite city,
neighborhood, or block, to post and/or to see street art?
I like
wandering around in just about any city, the art in San Francisco usually warms
my heart

Wooster: What inspires you now?
Global
resistance to capitalism.  The history of radical culture and art, from Soviet
constructivism to Mexican muralism to John Heartsfield to anarchist poster art
during the Spanish revolution to the Atelar Popular in Paris 68 to the posters
of the Cuban group OSPAAL.  This history instructs so much street art but most
kids have never heard of any of it.  On that note, anyone trying to bring a
social consciousness to the street inspires me.

Wooster: What are
you currently working on? Can you give us a sneak peek?
Just finished a
big book on street stenciling that will be out in March 2004 on Soft Skull
Press, it’s called Stencil Pirates, 196 pages, 12 cardstock stencil templates,
over a thousand flics from all over the world…I want to get 10 more People’s
History Posters out in the next year and I want to get them posted up in 10-20
more cities, I’m always looking for artists to design ‘em, all the posters so
far can be seen at www.justseeds.org/posters/cph