I have been watching Futura’s Flickr page for awhile and was immediately hooked. We all know the painter that is Futura the Graffiti Legend the Prestigious Artist, many of us weren’t aware of Futura the Photographer. Futura’s Flickr is a hidden goldmine of photographs that document Futura 2000. You get glimpses of his travels, his passions, his ability through a camera to paint a picture as good as anything he paints. As you see through the eyes of the artist through his photography you are allowed into his world one frame at a time. I got to catch up with Futura and here is our brief conversation.
GF: So being a painter for so long, how did these pictures start to play there role in your palette of all things Futura,also how would you describe the recent photos?
FUTURA: Props to ART CRIMES for that initial interview. NINETEEN NINETY SIX©
www.graffiti.org/futura/futura.html
In the MID NINETIES when I gravitated to the INTERNET . . . I had two objectives.
ONE: create maintain produce and upload all content on that ORIGINAL domain.
Learning HTML at that time was easy. if you know how to copy&paste . . . anything is possible. of course I’m not saying looking at some other existing site and CLONING that; I’m saying understanding the most generic embedding code; which is all you need. At such point simply insert (your own) media and MARKINGUP all the necessary text&images. The personal propaganda can revolve around any subject you like. Most from our culture show images of work and extend the VIRTUAL GRAFFITI experience. I say that’s cornball. I mean I get that, that’s always what the community will do. It’s the PROTOCOL. But I’m different. By NINETY FIVE it had all been done. The entire journey from toys to trophies. So there’s a desire to move on; and the INTERNET was a massive highway. I got in the fast lane. Even back then I understood the power of personal publishing. Not having to depend on someone else’s knowledge to enable you to do what you want. You must be empowered; you must learn. You must be AUTONOMOUS.
TWO: in the process of doing all that . . . I am trying to communicate with the END USER but not on a ONE DIMENSIONAL level. On a MULTIDIMENSIONAL one. Make people think and possible even confuse them in the process. hahaha. A psychological experiment with over a HUNDRED pages of a internal extremities. That site is the architectural template for the FUTURA book released in TWOTHOUSAND.
Cut to the chase . . . in the past few years I have reCONNECTED with IMAGES and INFORMATIONS. My personal donation to the WORLD at LARGE. My voyages and experiences;
The last THREE years archived here:
I’ve only been on FLICKR for little over a year; but I like this application. Real comments; not GENERIC ones. My only complaint is FLICKRGROUPS. That world is just too artificial. Visually I prefer FLICKRIVER:
www.flickriver.com/photos/futuradosmil/
Because who doesn’t love a BLACKGROUND now I’m into FLUIDR:
www.fluidr.com/photos/futuradosmil
Because I like some DATA with the DATABASE.
GF: I remember Buying your book and being blown away. Not in the respect that hey this is a good book great archive of flicks, but in the way that you see for the first time what is possible with print, What is able to be done in a medium that you thought had already been established. I think in the Last 20 years still only Damien Hirst’s book “I Want to Spend the Rest of My Life Everywhere, with Everyone, One to One, Always, Forever, Now” was even close to as groundbreaking and that was almost 6 years after yours had dropped.
I had the same experience when visiting your website for the first time, i don’t think i had the same experience once visiting that site. Coming back to your site was like viewing a new site, it was as if you had rearranged things. I can see where you are coming from with that as far as thinking outside the box and beyond anything that is considered normal. The problem is and I include myself, is that we approach a wall or canvas we are about to paint with the thought of creating something that is fresh and new, but rarely do we do this in all aspects of what we make public. For Example blogs websites, books etc. I feel you are the true definition of a way to look at progression, it is seeing it before it comes and already moving on. With Social Media being now fed to the public it constitutes once again a new shift. I guess i will be watching you closely as I am sure you have already devised a plan for something that will be beyond social media.
I also agree with your take on Flickr it is the most direct way to interact and get genuine feedback from people that are watching you. The groups section is OK as a default tool, but i do like the other applications you mentioned. Most websites default tools now days pale in comparison to 3rd party applications that utilize them. To me these applications are the next level of digital tailoring. If your Web experience doesn’t fit you, developers out there are tailoring specialized applications to suck you in even deeper. Now with the launch of the ipad and the paradigm shit to digital books/videos such as new medium such vook.com , I can only imagine what you will come up with in these new mediums in the future.
You talked about personal publishing which in essence now is Blogs. To me great sites and blogs fill a void that is not well represented, the real long tail so to speak of. Watching your flickr pics is like seeing glimpses of a legend that are real hidden treasures through your eyes. You give us enough to want to keep coming back for more telling stories without words, and yet still capturing with the nuances and manipulation of colors, angles, cropping. We can still see the painter that is Futura aka Futuradosmil even in photography.
Thanks for taking the time to talk with me and allowing me to publish some of your work on the site.
Any last words or topics you want to mention.
FUTURA: Thank you very much. you seem to be an extremely bright individual. that’s very IMPORTANT. there are definitely too many QUASIMODO’s in the MIX. I wanted to finish by mentioning a few things (obviously, I’m a list maker) first and FOREMOST; don’t ever allow anyone to dictate what you’re not capable of (personal peeps or professional participants) because only you control the MASTERPROGRAM. secondly and then seriously; don’t think too much of yourself. in the larger scheme of time&space (you must have realized) we are utterly insignificant. therefore; have alot of fun doing your thing (however bizarre that might be) while you try and micromanage emotions&economics.
The serious part. If you are prepared to or have taken a larger step at creativity; as in motherhood/fatherhood then I commend you. Nothing I have ever done or will ever do; will be as BRILLIANT as the TWO stars in my life. TIMOTHY&TABATHA will forever be works in progression.
THE RIDDLER
You can view Futura’s Flickr Page here
