Today, street art and graffiti is more popular and accepted than ever, bombing however, has been overshadowed. But, not anymore. With already several hundred daily visitors on TagsAndThrows.com and almost 6000 followers on Instagram (wow!) not to mention being acknowledged as the ‘Best graffiti website seen in ages‘ by Complex Magazine – the people behind this growing project have now released a short-doc aimed to document the bombing scene from all cities around the globe. Their objective is to raise awareness and educate the public on bombing as a phenomenon, and to shed some light on the people behind bombing.
Stocktown is proud and stoked to present the exclusive premiere for “Daytime bombing with HNR’ by TagsAndThrows. A short-doc portraying one of Stockholm’s most notorious bombers ever: HNR. Guaranteed the ultimate bombing connoisseur’s guide to tags and throws. We met up with TagsAndThrows to find out more.
Give us some ABC’s on tags and throw-ups please!
Well, first off- to all those future bombing connoisseurs out there- a tag is your ‘name’ in graffiti culture – your name on the street. It is then up to the artist to gain attention with the ‘tag’ and to write this name on as many spots possible, city walls, gearboxes, trains, you name it. The first step from a tag to a painting is a throw-up, a simple painting that usually consists of two colors. Your tag is your trademark, the name you should make sure to be known by. Putting a tag somewhere is often called tagging or bombing.
Thanks, so what is Tags&Throws all about?
We’ve always been interested in graffiti and tags, since forever it seems. After a couple of previous photo projects shot in NYC, we had collected a set of photos of tags and throws. We decided to launch a website exclusively focusing on tags which we filled with photos from the previous NY trip and from our hometown Stockholm, from there on it just progressed. It’s not about documenting street art, nor paintings, but about documenting tags, which is something unique.
So, where are the best tags/bombings at? And who should we keep an eye out for?
There is plenty of good bombing to be seen in most major cities in the world, some of the cities that stand out in Europe, in particular, are cities such as Berlin, Paris and Barcelona. But then again, its difficult to top the rich quality of the New York graffiti culture prevalent since the 70’s.
If you’re in Stockholm (and have checked out our first film “Daytime bombing with HNR”) you should keep an eye out for HNR tags. An interesting detail about HNR’s tags is that they often include the year when the tag was written (e.g for tags done this year ‘HNR12’). Otherwise, all Stockholmers ought to keep their eyes open for tags by Venom, a classic bomber, and Honey & Gimp currently manically refining Stockholm with beautiful tags just about everywhere.
What do you hope people take away from this project?
We want people to understand why people create graffiti, and to make people gain interest in this artistic expression. We also want to get people to take that step from perceiving tags as ‘dirt’ and to learn to distinguish the different artworks from each other, and thus follow the artists work around town. Our hope is to convey a more nuanced picture of the bombing culture, and to make more people get some insight and take part of this movement and learn to appreciate it, rather than to dissociate from it. After all, at the end of the day- the more things you appreciate in life and enjoy- the more fun life becomes. Same goes for appreciating bombing – people should be able to walk the streets of any city and actually appreciate and enjoy the graffiti, instead of getting irritated and angry.
Titel: TagsAndThrows.com – Daytime Bombing with HNR (2012)
By: TagsAndThrows and RMH Sweden.
For more on the project visit:TagsAndThrows.com//Facebook//Vimeo//@TagsAndThrows//#WeLoveBombing
TagsAndThrows will also be featured in Show & Tell at Barbro (Hornstulls Strand 13) on Thursday 27th of September to talk about TagsAndThrows.com – ‘Daytime Bombing with HNR’. Stay tuned via the website, to find out more on the event…. more info coming soon!
