Birdcap, Nosey42, and many others have been painting Memphis transforming our spaces into works of beauty as opposed to vacant properties. They came into the studio to chat about the journey from drawing nonstop to painting under bridges, yelling about people or life, running the letter game, and making a dream happen.

Birdcap FB
Birdcap.net

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Memphis Brooks – Buggin’ and Shurggin: A glitched history of gaming culture
June – September 2015
birdcap, nosey42, lance turner, c.michael andrews, tad lauritzen wright, k.p.

Paint Memphis ioby
Open july 18th. The wall starts at the Chelsea trailhead, at North Evergreen and Chelsea and goes west for .3 miles.

DIGITAL-ROCK | Bboy Jam | Hip-Hop Party | Gaming Tournament
Saturday, July 18, 5:00pm – 9:00pm at Memphis Brooks

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MCA
Holtermonster – Lauren Rae Holtermann
Rozelle Artists Guild (R.A.G.)
Mark Nowell

Escatawpa, MS
Biloxi, MS
Pascagoula, MS

MCA Horn Island

Mississippi School of the arts
magnet high school

University of Memphis

Seoul, South Korea

Pokemon

Egyptian mythology

They saw each other’s work through Faceobok and meet through that.

Adam Farmer
Glitch

Revid
Loeb

Their creative process:
Get real drunk under a bridge
Yell about people
[creation happens]
That’s it. Go home.

How do you make it happen?
Don’t be a dick and draw a lot.
Be okay with being poor too.

Tony Dinolfo
Andrew J. Breig
Derrick “Sweet Dick” Dent
Toby

The letter game

JoJo
Zeh Palito

Rule of street art
Don’t paint over anything, unless you can put something better than it.

Al Town

Kyle Taylor

Clarksdale, MS

Shaq Fu

Spiralman
inattentive blindess

Greely Myatt
Tad Lauritzen wright

Selective indignation

Dave Hickey

Zinnie’s East

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QUOTES

That’s a hell of a haggle #artlife @witzcreative

I started drawing when everyone else did, I just wasn’t mature enough to stop drawing, so I committed myself to it  – @michaelroyart

I remember seeing graffiti when I was 8 years old  – #Nosey42

I was able to get more serious about painting goofy monsters  – @michaelroyart

Gallery art is kind of like being really into pokemon, if other people are into it it’s cool, but if they’re not it’s hard to relate  – @michaelroyart

In school It starts to become all about the process, and aesthetics are really played down  – #Nosey42

I messaged  – @michaelroyart out of the blue and I was like, let’s paint  – #Nosey42

I was trying to find the elusive  #Nosey42 since I got back to the states  – @michaelroyart

Pineapples were like 50¢ and I like pineapples so I was like I’ll just retire here  – @michaelroyart

It was a small room, and it was that memphis heat and  #Nosey42 just pissed in the corner. it smelled like bourbon street the whole time  – @michaelroyart

I was always working illegally from like 16 til college  – #Nosey42

The street is my sketchbook. You don’t have to worry about your audience.  – #Nosey42

When I started to work for magazines I liked that everything had a use  – @michaelroyart

If there’s an abandoned building and you can throw something up to make it more appealing I think that’s ok  – @michaelroyart

I’m not very deep or thoughtful, I just want people to enjoy it  – @michaelroyart

We’ve been fortunate the past year to not have real day jobs  – @michaelroyart

Memphis is extremely proud of itself #itsagoodthing  – @michaelroyart

It’s a good time to be in Memphis  – @michaelroyart

It’s good to have two hands on something and I trust  #Nosey42 so it works well  – @michaelroyart

We’re still climbing. I hope we don’t fall  – @michaelroyart

Work all the time. Your dream is silly, go ahead and work as hard as you can  – @michaelroyart

We don’t have money, we’re surviving, but that’s about it.  – #Nosey42

whatever we skimp on, we’re ok with being poor.  – #Nosey42

you can’t argue with the cost of living here  – #Nosey42

my goal is not to be a mural celebrity, it’s just to continue making work  – #Nosey42

if I could get murals everywhere, that’s my goal. But Memphis is good place to come back to  – @michaelroyart

you see some weird homeless oral sex  – #Nosey42

Rule #1: Don’t cover something unless you can do better #StreetLetteringGame  – #Nosey42

Rule #2: There are repercussions. Some are more serious than others  – #Nosey42

Rule #3: Better to ask for forgiveness than permission  – #Nosey42

You’re not gonna have a board of directors for a skate park  – #Nosey42

#Altown they’re not telling us what to do and they’re so appreciative  – #Nosey42

When you’re taking a paid gig, you’re endorsing your bank account, when you paint your own piece you’re endorsing your idea  – #Nosey42

in memphis there are less walls to paint on every month, but that’s becuase they’re doing cool stuff  – @michaelroyart

i don’t like how the parts of town that don’t have a lot of money don’t get a lot of art  – #Nosey42