VNA will be moving headquarters in the next few weeks so we’ve done a big clear out and are offering you, the VNA readers, some big discounts of back issues of the magazine, t-shirts, keyrings and stickers.
Issue 17, 18 & 19 are now £2.99 down from £5
Issue 20 & 21 are now £4.99 down from £5.99
Lamp-post tee now £9.99 down from £15
Dapper to Death tee now £17.99 down from £24.99
Johnny Crap tee now £17.99 down from £24.99
Keyrings now £2 from £3
Stickers now £1 from £2
We had a great time launching issue 22 of VNA on Thursday at The Outsiders Gallery, a huge thank you to everyone who came down grabbed a mag, drank plenty of Desperados and provided good company. Big thanks to the extended VNA crew for all their help, and to the Lazarides team, especially Alex Smith for organising it all and then of course we must thanks our drinks sponsor for the event… Desperados for keeping our thirst quenched and our evening merry. This is how it went down…
Sydney-based artist, SMC3 opens his latest show, Upside-Down Underground, at M2 Gallery, Surry Hills on Friday 3rd May.
Part book launch, part art show, the event is an exploration of the Rat Race through geometry, imagery, symbolism and icons, accompanied by a 36-page black & white zine.
Opening at:
M2 Gallery,
4/450 Elizabeth St,
Surry Hills,
Sydney,
NSW
6pm Friday 3rd May
Soundscape provided by Ears.
VNA 22 screen printed mag with artwork designed by Vhils, an edition of 150, packaged in a screen printed envelope with four limited edition post cards.
These are available to buy at our London launch tonight at The Outsiders, Greek Street. 20 will also be available to purchase via an online lottery so please email LTD@verynearlyalmost.com before 6pm to register your interest.
VNA issue 22 launches tomorrow, so here is a sneak peak of what you can expect to find inside. With interviews from Vhils, Aj Fosik, Blaine Fontana, Tizer, Etam Cru, Moneyless, Miss Led, Vexta, Cranio, Soker, Cryptik, Husk Mit Navn & Look.
You can pre-order your copy of the mag now, with an artwork cover exclusively available through our webshop and for subscribers. All pre-orders will be posted out tomorrow and come with a limited edition Vhils postcard!
The latest issue of VNA is released this Thursday 18th April and you can pre-order your copy now, which means if you’re in the UK it will land on your doorstep on Friday morning, ready to be devoured on the weekend.
All pre-orders will come with a limited edition postcard designed by the cover artist Vhils and be sent out on 18th April. This issue is a killer and features interviews with Vhils, Aj Fosik, Tizer, Etam Cru, Blaine Fontana, Moneyless, Miss Led, Vexta, Cranio, Soker, Cryptik, Husk Mit Navn, Look and more.
The artwork cover is exclusive to our online shop and subscribers and you can get your hands on it
Sunday was kinda struggle street, hanging out with Days, Steve Cross, Dboe and the Phable jeans guys on Saturday night took it’s toll after we blazed through the Adidas party. There were a bunch of internationals in the house, including the 1xRun guys from the States and the UK’s very own Insa, who seemed pretty happy to scribble in Martha Cooper’s black book…
Andrew Montell kicked off the days proceedings with an account of his student-style living during the formative years of Acclaim and the subsequent trials and errors in the production process. It was interesting to see how he refined the product and led on well to Jeff Hamada’s speech about appealing to markets. Hamada was funny, inspiring and brilliant, giving a great insight into his creative ideas and personality, which is probably one of the main reasons for www.booooooom.com’s huge success.
Eddie Huang’s presentation was lively, informed and political. He came through with a few resonating messages about people power and disarming corporations through the removal of support – i.e. voting with your feet. His intelligent voice cut through a lot of the fluff that surrounded some of the other speakers, even if it did get a little Black Panthers at times.
The final forum of the weekend included two of the most hotly anticipated guests of the weekend, Martha Cooper and Henry Chalfant. The seminal duo were joined by Crack & Shine’s Will Robson-Scott. The photographic trio were a great finale for the event and Robson-Scott really held his own against Martha and Henry.
His talk was lively, amusing and socially critical – touching on themes of unfair jail time for graffiti writers and an interesting take on film vs. digital photography: “It’s like the vinyl versus cd debate…” he quipped, when Martha tried to put him in his place with her obvious experience and current preference for digital (most notably her recent instagram addiction).
All in, Andrew and the rest of the Carbon crew did an amazing job pulling in such a great line-up and putting on an awesome event. Massive respect and big ups to Bella, Edwina and the guys for all their hard work. Definitely one for the diary next year.
Barry McGee was possibly the highlight of the day; after bailing on everyone (including Acclaim) for his press appointments in order to get his daily dose of surf, the reclusive artist came through with a somewhat unorthodox presentation. Predictably focusing on graffiti, he skittered through a slide show that was basically the equivalent of a graff-heads porn collection, interspersed with wavy anecdotes and comments from an alternate reality.
The Q&A for Forum B raised some interesting notions on social media and new technology from Geoffrey Lillernon, which made his actual seminar presentation seem washy and self-indulgent in its focus, which was primarily aimed at his own personal, whimsically rebellious art-house projects.
Mark Drew’s passion for hip hop and little insights into his own personal life made for an entertaining show, focusing on his recent ‘Deez Nuts’ project and zine and the subsequent ongoing legal fallout – offering to give us some creative input further down the line, ‘from jail’.
Shawn Stussy was the star of the show in Forum A, with pretty much the entire room bowing in deference to one of the self-acknowledged O.G.’s of the streetwear. His verbose concerns of anyone wanting to be involved with his new S-Double label seemed to ring a little hollow. Like, I’m pretty sure it’s a safe bet NO-ONE will be interested in any new projects from one of the forefathers of the scene. After a 15 year break. It’s not like that’s a fashionista’s wet dream or anything…
We caught up with Booooooom.com founder, Jeff Hamada for a little sociological take on his own particular platform (more to come on this one)
Ronnie Fieg provided an amusingly anecdotal floor with his stories about growing up as a young, jewish kid from Queens, who now champions Asics after his mother failed to buy him the trendiest kicks of which he dreamed. The 30 year-old has sacrificed marriage and kids to follow his dream (but probably not skimped on fun and girls along the way, one suspects…)
x
Sneaker Freaker founder, Simon ‘Woody’ Wood, was probably the most legit talker of the day. No doubt this guy has one of the most prodigiously in-depth knowledges of trainers in the world – both Ronnie Fieg and PM Tenore asked for his confirmation during their speeches – and his chat was definitely on point today; the main message being do what you love, the rest will follow…
Dabs Myla, the sole incarnation of two souls bound in love and creativity, were the epitome of a duo so profoundly intertwined, they made Batman and Robin look like enemies. The cute couple spent their time finishing each others sentences and providing an insight into what really makes a partnership tick – trust, honesty, hard work and knowledge. Keep it locked for a more in-depth update from these guys.
Tonight marks the start of Carbon Festival in Melbourne. Kicking things into play for the weekend comes a special 30th Anniversary screening of seminal hip hop documentary, Style Wars – a movie that switched a world full of rebellious teenagers on to the expressive artform of graffiti.
Original documenters of the scene, Martha Cooper and Henry Chalfant will be in attendance (if they’ve recovered from jetlag in time) to host a Q&A session on the movie. The screening, which itself is presented by Aussie paint brand, Ironlak, is exclusive to Carbon ticket holders.
The rest of the weekend encompasses a series of talks from the top independent creative minds from around the globe. Forums focus on four main areas of discussion:
Building a Brand, Contemporary Art & Design, New Media, Film & Photography
Other highlights include the Adidas’ Colliderscope on the Saturday – a chance for creatives to collide under the influence of music from Swick (Mad Decent) and visuals from Eness – and New Era are hosting a Sneaker Freaker swap meet on the Sunday.