))
Last year when a leading turntable cartridge manufacturer launched their advertising
campaign depicting Mickey Finn with his arm a vivid extension of his life as a DJ, the
needle his weapon of choice, it rang true to millions of DJs out there. In the same way
graffiti artists all over the world might consider the spray can a natural extension of their
being and the phatcap their preferred weapon of choice.
Meet Kelzo: Born and bred Mancunian with a prolific history as a graffiti artist. When hip
hop culture dropped on these shores back in 1984 and, “European youth fell in love with
New York City street culture,” [www.at149st.com] Kelzo buzzed off the alternative
lifestyle and jumped onboard. In 1989 at 19 years old he thought he, “was getting a bit
old for it all.” Subsequently, he spent more time in what is known as the city’s
‘Madchester Years’. Based around clubs like the Hacienda and Conspiracy the city
boomed and he revelled in his hedonistic lifestyle. Come 1992 he had ‘a lapse’ that made
him give up his vices. Returning to do damage on the streets with his spar Tags under
the Urban Damage moniker, they happened to do a piece in Hulme: “We did one wall
and kept painting. There were times when the police would come down, take our paint
and give us hassles but by the time we had done about 15-20 pieces down there the
council had taken notice and gave us the OK.”
They continued their visual assault on precinct M15 with Kelzo notching an astonishing
tally of over 400 pieces. As the demolition crews moved in, Hulme had one of the biggest
Hall Of Fame’s this country has ever witnessed. “More and more people came down
nationally and from Europe,” Kelzo fondly remembers. “We had what were known as
Smear Jams which attracted a really good mix of alternative people and mad artists from
all over Europe. We knew if we got the artists and DJs it would work, in 1995 we had a
wild Jam with DJ First Rate from Scratch Perverts and the Desert Storm soundsystem.”
Time was up for old Hulme but Kelzo had made his mark all over the city and further
afield gaining exposure in some heavyweight graf mags along the way. A short time later
on a trip to the States, like many UK headz he, “thirsted to paint in the birthplace of the
art” [www.at149st.com]. It involves quite a story, as he explains: “I went out in 1995 to
New Jersey to meet up with a friend. We travelled to Philly then back to a RockSteady
party in Harlem. I needed to paint in NY! There was this shop called XL (formerly owned
by The Beastie Boys). I went into shop and asked if I could paint the front of the shop,
there was a piece on it already but it was a bit dated. I was lucky because in this shop
was a magazine called Crazy Kings Forever and one of my pieces was in it. So I said to
the guy ‘I did that’ and he was like ‘cool’ and gave me the all clear.”
The adventure continued the next day: “I got there the next day at 8am pissed out of my
mind and it was baking hot. A guy passed by called Stak and told me the piece I was
painting over was a memorial for a dead writer called Foe. I thought ‘fuck, I am in
trouble now’ and made sure I dedicated it to Foe and a couple of friends of mine that
have passed away. It’s gone now but it was there for five or six years.”
Back in the UK, work has been rolling in. An auspicious link up with the program
‘everybody talks about’, Eastenders, showcased two pieces. Organised by a girl who
had remembered his work from the Hulme days he, “originally did the ‘Inner
City Damage’ piece and then went into the studio again to do the ‘Millennium’ piece that
was on the club wall last New Year.” A local production of Prime Suspect in Hulme
offered more TV exposure and Kelzo is a regular fixture at the Board X festival in London
and Glastonbury. Other commissions have seen him doing portraits of Ali G,
Eric Cantona, Jeru The Damaja and he has done many canvas pieces including
community work with local kids.
A couple of years ago Kelzo started his official business: “A lot of people were asking
about my work and I had a lot of crazy new ideas for clothing. Out of this equation came
the sum total of Urban Damage. It’s been doing really well all over the UK and in one
outlet in Japan. I am really focussed on the clothing and bringing out a new range of
designs. We already have hooded tops, t-shirts with baseball caps and other things on
the way and I am in discussion with a female student who is going to design a proper
textile style... a whole female range that girls will like.” Genuinely grateful for the
opportunities that have emerged, Kelzo has now got the luxury of having room to
manoeuvre. “Being respected as a graf artist you can take on other projects,” he outlines.
I have seen Kelzo go to work as an artist. Visualising the piece is essential: “When I go
to a wall, I can already see it done. This goes back to the use of hallucinogenics
something that a lot of classic artists have admitted to. The 3D style and ladders (a
trademark of his work) are based on personal progression in life, the fact that I am
moving on as a person. My attitude is to always look up never down. Nowadays I only
paint once a month, I am not going to stop doing graf, it’s always something I am going
to do.” And as every man of the can would agree, “there is always one more painting to
be done and why should you give up something u love anyway?”
Manchester can be the most exciting city in the world and the most shocking but anyone
who has lived there will have their own story to tell. Kelzo has many; enough for a book
including stuff touched on in this piece and more extreme tales! Ultimately, like any real
graffiti artist, the walls and streets are his gallery but now his work is to be recognised
on a different scale and will be immortalised in the redevelopment of the City Gallery
which gives him tremendous satisfaction: “I have been commissioned to paint a piece for
the new City Gallery alongside the classic oil paintings. It will be in the Manchester room
that includes a historic view of the city and is scheduled for viewing in March 2002.”
Local boy does good... real good.
Check out www.urban-damage.co.uk / kelzo2001@hotmail.com
KNOWLEDGE 53
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