NAME: Askew One.

CREW: TMD Family and the world wide Stick Up Kids.

STARTED GRAFFITI: Started admiring graffiti at a very young age, growing up in the right place at the right time. First started tagging in 1993, more or less as an extension of my interest in HIP HOP, namely MCing. It was never the obsession it became in the start, it was a drunken act of marking my A to B after cyphers with the crew on a Friday night. In late 1994 I came up with 'Askew' and tried to work on my style from there. by 1996 I was painting more in full swing, but back in those days in Auckland you only had to do a few pieces a year to be famous. Heaps has changed now haha!
photo: Josh Robenstone


HEROES: For Style, in no particular order, Old school writers like, P.Nut, Butch,Slave, Phase2, Billy, Cliff, Part TDS, Noc, Dondi, Doc TC5 and Skeme. I love the keepers of tradition like Wane and Dash and pretty much all of TC5, FC and IBM. I love the new generation of FC/IBM writers it's so dope to see that incredible lineage of true NYC style painting kept in tact. I am lucky enough to have painted with a good number of my heroes, many are good friends or in the same crews as me. I have to give props to Can2, Atom, Wow123 and Smash137. Also there are a lot of people in TMD in NZ that style wise really inspire/push and school me. Acre for example is one of NZ's most underrated writers, Exist is a king in my eyes, Ryze is the mad scientist, Phat1 is the Don, Dyle aka Saves in making it move..Damn I could say all of the TMD's really keep me painting. Mostly I'd have to say Phat1's wife Lady Diva should be an inspiration to everyone. Four kids and still holding it all down. I find it hard enough to babysit my puppy and paint at the same time!

FAVOURITE COLOUR: Every colour has it's right occasion, It's hard to say a favourite. But maybe Black is the most essential so let's say Roarke! Put a NY fat cap on that and watch it blast out that line with substance!

WHY IS IRONLAK YOUR WEAPON OF CHOICE? I support Ironlak firstly because they support me. That's a sign of faith that is so humbling and I'm totally honoured. Secondly I like what Heath and Levi stand for, they have their heads and hearts in the right place and it's so refreshing to meet people who go so out of their way to make sure the product is dope and the punters are happy. Their motivations are really true and they have done something that has needed to happen for the longest time, they have made a top quality product locally, thus cutting the price dramatically and making it more accessible to the people. No disrespect to the European brands or their local distributors, but by the time the paint reaches this part of the earth it's been through so many sets of hands, so much added tax and handling it's ridiculous. Plus I don't know how it is in Australia but we can go up to 2 months sometimes with no decent paint because of shipping delays or sometimes the local distro guys just having a hard time predicting so far in advance what will sell and at what pace. I feel for them, I seriously do, it's a hard business with small margins and a high retail price. Aside from all of that, I use Ironlak because it's dope paint. I like the pressure, the cover, the line and the finish. It suits what i do. Big and bold.

HISTORY: Started writing in 1993 as stated above. I'm from Morningside and Kingsland in Auckland's inner city. Got put down in TMD in 2000 and SUK in 2002.

Have painted NZ from top to bottom and have painted in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, throughout Germany, London, Dublin, Basel and Paris. I used to organise Disrupt The System as part of the Aotearoa Hip Hop Summit and Co-founded Disruptiv Ltd, Disrupt magazine, Disrupt gallery and Disruptiv Music. Recently I have stepped away to focus on my own path as an artist and run gallery with no name in Grey Lynn, Auckland.

PAINTINGS: *4 new paintings added 17.06.08