"You can't steal everything," Craig Costello says, as he recounts his years in both Queens and San Francisco in the 1980s and 1990s. In many ways, Costello is right. As a graffiti writer, photographer and all around innovator, Costello, also known as KR and, of course, now known as the man behind the KRINK brand of markers and inks for not only graffiti, but fine art practices as well, has been at the forefront of multiple ways of underground culture emerging into public consciousness. These moments and stories are captured in the new book, KRINK: Graffiti, Art, and Invention, and in many ways, the title says it all.
Radio Juxtapoz caught up with Costello from his home on Long Island in the midst of a pandemic, but a moment where all of us are being a bit nostalgic and mindful. Costello talked about the intricacies of NYC graffiti in the 1980s, the early rise of Mission School artists out of SFAI in San Francisco in the early 1990s and the slow evolution of his own practice that led to the now famous drip aesthetic he would go on to perfect in NYC back in the early 2000s. There is so much history in this talk; from subway cars to Barry McGee's innovative street work, a love of photography to early beginnings of ALIFE on the Lower East Side. ESPO, IRAK, Os Gemeos, KAWS, Revs + Cost... the stories, the materials, the style... it's all here.
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The Radio Juxtapoz podcast is hosted by FIFTH WALL TV's Doug Gillen and Juxtapoz editor, Evan Pricco. Episode 042 was recorded via Skype from San Francisco/London/NY, April 8, 2020. KRINK: Graffiti, Art, and Invention is published by Rizzoli, and available now.
KR for Juxtapoz, 2011