Tuesday, April 24, 2007


The Magnet Mafia Interview by bruiser

Bruiser vs. The Magnet Mafia


The world of street art has been one of our few mediums that has continually evolved since its inception. From grand mural illustrations to simple tagging, the proliferation of artists and its subversive nature has created such need for evolution. The internet (dare I give props to Myspace) has created a fairly safe haven for street artists to share their works worldwide while still giving the artist a pretty reasonable shake at maintaining their anonimity.

Every once in a while an artist may come along, be stumbled upon, through keywords or just plain ole trolling the depths of time and space. An artist or group of artists that just shakes you as you sit there going numb. The artists that shook up Bruiser's world are comin' straight outta Denver, yeah that's right, the Earth home of Mork. A place where the air is a little thinner, so thoughts of something else might just occur every once in a while.

They took an already nomadic scene and made it move. Creating a totally shifting and collectible niche inside the scene itself – with MAGNETS. The art is painted, markered, crayoned or whatnotted onto sheets of magnet. The medium is protected, battle gear is then adorned and the streets become a playground. All that is left is finding those places that scream to be accessorized, some places deemed impossible for those carrying spray cans or their assortment of markers have been conquered, others, more in your face, I mean, how you gonna collect the magents if you can't get to them. The art is done.

Bruiser has been fortunate enough to have made aquaintance with these street art revolutionaries/visionaries and all around decent dudes, and was allowed to ask them a few questions. So without further ado…

Ladies and Gentlemen, Bruiser is proud to give you THE MAGNET MAFIA.

We are the Magnet Mafia... Harrison and Matt

Bruiser: How did the Genesis of the Magnet Mafia come to fruition?

H: well we actually discussed a handful of ideas for different street art
projects before we came up with magnets... those are all still top secret
too, but the magnets seemed to just stick out more to us because of the
non-permanence/collectiblity aspect. basically it all boils down to the
fact that we have been brainstorming together creatively for about 8 years,
we have a lot of good ideas!
M: the idea also evolved from other areas of interest to us. we do a lot
of design of spatial objects and furniture and Harrison has worked for a
sign company. I have always designed things with metal features that could
have magnets on them and Harrison had worked a lot with roll magnets from
the sign company.



Bruiser: Does the act of magnet tagging get labeled as vandalism or defacing of
properties?

H: the time i did get arrested for magneteering, the charge was posting on
private property, basically unauthorized propaganda i suppose. it's a
pretty weird story why i was arrested, the thing that actually sent me to
jail was the trespassing charge on top of it... and of course being black
after midnight! if you're doing magnets or any other street stuffs, don't
trust people that look like they're homeless, cuz they're cops!
M: I think people have different opinions on it, but for the most part
people who end up realizing that it's a magnet do not seem to mind or
consider it defacement.



Bruiser: The "Extend-A-Matic" is the bomb, how many times of climbing up crazy-ass
facades did it take for this brilliant idea to occur, and would you mind
elaborating on the tool itself?

H: we've actually only used it a few times. it's pretty squirrely and
requires both of us to operate when fully extended, it's sort of like deep
sea fishing.
M: It took a few climbs but we mostly noticed metal spots up high that
there wasn't even a way to climb to. It works with two pressure clamps that
have been modified. There are hair triggers attached to long strings and
when we place the magnet, we are able to "let go" of it by yanking on the
strings - that's why we need two people - one to fish it and one to release
it.



Bruiser: With hand made and printed magnets at large and actually for sale...What can we expect for the future of the Magnet Mafia?

H: other than rockin it at events? that's a secret... but future projects
will be bigger, better, and have more dimension.
M: working with kids and youth programs, multi-media project coverage,
really insane magnet placement, and more access to magnet art for sale by
lots o' great artists.



Bruiser: The addition of other artist's work on the magnet canvas has created
quite a network, do you truly know just how large the Magnet Mafia is? and
do you think that there may be bands of magnet taggers worldwide?

H: i suppose there's no way to say for sure how many other cats are
following our lead, but we are in contact with artists everywhere. our good
friend travis will be catching a flight to australia before the end of the
month, he'll be reppin huge for us out there!
M: There is no way to tell how large it is, but that is definitely a focus
of ours is to keep improving the system for the "tracking" of pieces around
the world and ways for people to be involved and be informed.



Bruiser: How does one officially become part of The Family? any gift giving or
ring kissing involved?

H: we'll have to invest in some gold oversized pinky rings soon! really
all anybody has to do is just rock artwork on magnets and put our web addy
on them. we post pics of people's fridges along with all of the work put in
the streets, the idea is really for everyone.
M: Visit our website/blog to find out information on getting magnet
material - then trick out that magnet material and put it in the streets, or
on a friend's fridge, or in the office, etc, and take picture to send back
to us!



Bruiser: Are there more parties in the work for the Magnet Mafia?

H: and ya don't stop...
M: and we don't quit!! The are going to be some epic parties this year -
watch out for the password party - visit our website for details!



Bruiser: What would you say is, if you had one, the mission statement of the
Magnet Mafia?

H: have fun being artists and make the streets our gallery.
M: to share and learn with artists from all over the world.



Bruiser: Lastly, with our love of fashion and music here at Bruiser...What are you
cats rockin', as far as clothes and tunes, when you sit down to bang out
some magnet art?

H: i like to window shop... but when i get gear it's usually from digital
gravel; crooks and castles, sam flores, foreign family (xxl). and of course
our own design shit... MAFIA!!
M: A lot of our stuff as well as a lot of my clothing line, parka. As far
as music, I tread the genres - a lot of metal, 70's & 80's, and a lot of
house/techno.

xtra? anybody that want's to get down with us just hit us up and we'll get
em started... magnets are fun and everyone can enjoy them. hit us up at
hello@magnetmafia.com.
notes: we like all kinds of street art, so any pictures sent to us have a
chance to get posted. recycle magnets from overgrown corporate companies
(pushing their products on you) and turn them into unique art pieces! we're
selling magnet prints 'for fridge-use only' online now! hand painted
magnets will be for sale some time next month. visit magnetmafia.com
frequently to stay up on all our shenanigans. most importantly: TELL YOUR
FRIENDS!!!



So there we go, Magnet Mafia and Bruisermag representin' all Voltron and shit. Peep these boys, and if'n your moved like the bruiser was moved tell them so.


Contacting Magnet Mafia

myspace.com/magnetmafiosos

magnetmafia.com