Portfolio Review: Graffiti Artist KATSU Takes Us Through His Recent Works

From tagging MoCA to getting up with his fake ad series in NYC, KATSU is on the come up. Check out some of his work by clicking in.

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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Katsu

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Fake Ads

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Fake Ads

"I had fucked around with the phone booths a tiny bit while promoting a

show in Dumbo, and I received some positive feedback so i began plotting my next move. I spent about 10% of my time and energy conceptualizing and laying out the art and 90% printing, cutting, and racking to buy ink and paper. The idea with the posters was to maximize my "FAME TOKENS" using celebrities'

pretty faces and two ill art/design related institution/companies to

boost up KATSU the word. I chose a range of celebrities that I appreciated and knew people would like. I wanted to primarily target Graffiti writers, and people working in Advertising. The plan was that the ads went up all at once. They'd have little effect if they were placed a few here and a few there. I got up about 100 posters in my target areas in NYC: DELANCEY, BOWERY, WEST BROADWAY, BROOME, and UNION SQUARE. It was hella funny because I kept running into other writers throughout the day. I remember GUSTO yelling to a big group of tourists being lead by a tour guide "HEY THAT'S KATSU HE'S A FAMOUS STREET ARTIST HAHAHAHA". I had to chase him

off the the block for that one." Check out the KATSU tumblr of the prints by clicking here.

Fat Tag App

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"Fat Tag" iPhone/iPad App

"Before the iPhone came out I heard of graffiti writers using palm pilots to doodle tags on the train. Once I got an iPhone, one of the first apps I got was some scribble app. I used it at least 10 times a day, catching tag after tag, and saving the ones I liked. The app was cool but didn't register strokes fast enough, and didn't offer the right pen shapes. Around this time I was working with Graffiti Research Lab and they hooked me up with the program gurus, Theo Watson, who created the app with me. I had no intention of using it to promote KATSU, I really wanted it to use for myself. I use it daily, though, and now my tag/app icon is on thousands of iPhones worldwide."

Extinguisher

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Extinguisher Video

"Graffiti videos are my favorite because there's nothing more satisfying than watching someone execute a tag or a fill-in on film. I've watched every video out there but found none that focused on extinguishers. I was getting really into experimenting with them, seeing how many i could carry at once and trying to climb structures with them. I was filming all of this and decided to put it together and get it out there so that little graffiti babies worldwide could get motivated. The video became popular and I was asked by the Fondation Cartier in Paris to put it in a graffiti exhibition a few summers ago. The show was ill and I remember Barry McGee, who was also in the show, telling me the video gave him goose bumps and that he really felt it."

Fill In

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Extinguisher Fill In Video

"Many many people before me had done extinguisher tags, people have also done hollows, but I felt like I hadn't seen anyone do a fill in with extinguisher. After fucking around a little I decided to steal a bunch of extinguishers when I was in Seattle, and try the idea out in a train tunnel in Olympia. I ended up using like 4-5 for the sketch and fill and another 3-4 for the outline and shadow. I was pretty bummed when I reviewed the footage because the kid filming thought it would be smart to use a fish eye lens so it came out looking about 50% of the actual size that it was. 'Run This Town' was all over the radio so I felt like going a little mainstream. My intention was to make a video to get kids motivated. Not necessarily a perfect video but I think it worked out well."

Whitehoue

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Whitehouse

"I was in DC taking things in with a fellow BTM'r and we were near the Whitehouse. I thought how funny would it be if I had homie film me while I motioned a tag on the gate, and later in after effects edit it to look like I actually did it. I got the footage and spent the next month going frame by frame editing in the tag. It was harder than I

thought and I ended up learning a lot about superimposing footage. The video got a good amount of hype, or what I like to call 'fame tokens', and got me thinking about how I could get up in the streets and online to create awareness of my graffiti."

Picaso

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Picasso

"After completing the Whitehouse video, I felt like making my homies and other writers get extra annoyed by making one in a museum. I walked around MoMA acting like i was tagging on different paintings. I had security running up on me and yelling,"you just don't do that!". It's really funny how offended people get when you pretend to do graffiti. I reviewed the footage and felt that the woman in the mirror was the most iconic of the paintings i had 'tagged'. I completed this vid in about half the time as the Whitehouse and did it mostly on airplanes and in bed next to my passed out female love machine. It was a success! Hella haters, hella laughter. I still do want to actually deface a priceless work of art though."

MoCA

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MoCA

"Jeffrey Deitch wanted to have the world's largest graffiti exhibition. Sounded like a perfect opportunity to reap some fame tokens and anger the authorities. I tried weaseling my way into the show to blast an extinguisher but after being denied from every angle I decided to fly down and install my addition without permission. I linked with some BTM's in LA and scoped it out. The homie definitely pulled off the epic distraction. I had about 1 min to make it happen and I took it. I knew that they'd buff it so i had it filmed. I learned from my prior pieces that it was all about documentation and leaking it to the web. I couldn't have asked for more. Seeing KATSU

on the ARTINFO.COM homepage definitely was a good thing."

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