B EAST Magazine website

April 11, 2010
By Vijai

It’s Malcolm Gladwellian tipping-point-time in Ukraine’s capital, Kiev, which is on the cusp of a street fashion revolution. The T-shirt & hoodie crowd, the emo & punk kids, the hip indie chicks and the stylish mods are gaining in numbers with each spring, and plotting to topple the Versace-wearing status quo. Hipsters are setting up their own T-shirt labels like Frequency, whose iconic T-shirts and sleeveless hoodies variously read ‘Jesus Also Loves Gangsters’ or ‘FFFFFUUU’; little clothing & record stores are popping up in obscure courtyards in the city’s historic center; while new bars like Korol I Kapusta (King & Cabbages), Palatka No. 6, Backstreet and others funnel the energies of this new generation.

I walked around Kiev’s center this Friday, facehunting for the Bread&Butter crowd. They’re here, they’re out in force, and, hey, you wanna invite them back to your flat, blast the Cure on the stereo, and stop the world and melt with them.

By Joel Alas

On a narrow street in Budapest’s vibrant Jewish Quarter, a new design shop offers a glimpse beneath the city’s cultural radar. It invites local street artists to display their designs on the wall, then echoes the motifs across clothing and furniture. Called Printa, the shop is a mix of gallery, café, boutique and screen printing workshop.

A palate of black and white dominates the store. It’s a start-yet-effective colour scheme that allows the art and products to stand out. The clothing range, too, is primarily a two-tone selection, and it works perfectly for the style of design favoured by artists here.

From the clothing racks hang edgy t-shirts, dresses, scarves and even aprons, while around the shop are second-hand furniture items, re-upholstered with smartly printed fabrics. There’s lots of textile recycling going on here: bicycle tubes turned into bags and purses, old washing machine drums revived as cushion-covered foot stools.

Printa opened in November 2009, offering an outlet for Budapest’s dynamic street artists. The city hosts a number of talented designers who began in the medium of graffiti, and have moved toward paper, canvas and sketchbook work. Printa’s founder is Claudia Martins, a Brazilian photographer disillusioned with her medium, who turned to screen printing as a new outlet.

“I always question: Do we need so many images? In photography we are overexposing the world,” Martins says over a café latte in Printa’s coffee corner. “Screen printing is pretty much the same technique as photography. Print shows the internal processes of each person. I’m totally in love with screen printing.”

The engine of the store is the printing workshop at the rear, with a rotating screen printing tree, rinsing basins, work benches, and shelves of old screens in their wooden frames. Here artists create their designs, then copy them by hand onto t-shirts and other fabrics.

There’s a small gallery space at the front of the shop where the designs are displayed in their original form – on paper or canvas, hung on the wall. The same patterns can be seen throughout the shop. As well as walking away with a canvas, you can take the design on a limited-run t-shirt.

Looking out onto the street is a small café area with an adjoining shelf of locally produced art books, plus editions from the ubiquitous Taschen design library and an obligatory Tom of Finland hardcover.

You’ll find Printa at Rumbach Sebestyen utca 10, almost directly opposite the ornately-decorated Status Quo synagogue.

Nearby, in the busy shopping district around the Vorosmarty Square, another creative clothing concept is taking shape. A group of young fashion design students have renovated a cheap apartment space overlooking the busy square, and have transformed it into an atelier and private clothing showroom. Called Kepp, the space is another example of initiative projected by the young creatives of Budapest.

A rack of fashion samples greets the visitor as they enter the small apartment, with designs ranging from simple to experimental. The designers here are all still studying at the local art university, and their ideas about material, texture and shape are fresh and exciting.

Kepp is a private showroom, so you’ll have to arrange a visit. E-mail info(a)keppshowroom.com to make an appointment.

Printa
www.printa.hu
Rumbach Sebestyen utca 10, Budapest VII

Kepp Showroom
www.keppshowroom.com
Vorosmarty ter 3

– by Al Jackson

Doing the viral rounds here in London this month is the frankly brilliant official website of pro footballer Andrey Arshavin.

‘Shava’ has become a cult hero to those on Arsenal FC’s terraces, with his scampish energy, oft-protruding tongue and his superlative hairstyle – and now he is delighting us all with little nuggets of Russian-ness on arshavin.eu where in the “Ask Andrey” section he answers all of life’s big questions and some (ok, quite a lot) of the small one’s too, sent in by fans, in an inimitable, matter-of-fact though largely unhelpful manner.

Russian-ness and the Russian soul, of course, are crucial to understand if one wants to understand Russian art at all, but it’s is usually frustratingly elusive, according to art-history wonks anyway. So really, then, Shava is gifting us an all too rare opportunity to help understand his art (which, seemingly, is as much Surrealism as it is footy) and life as seen by a Russian genius, and we here at BEast encourage you to get enlightened.

TALKING OUT HIS ARSH — a collection of our favourites:

Andrey, what do you think people need pain for?
AA: For people not to forget that they are mere mortals. Some people say that suffering purifies the soul.

What color is your bath sponge?
AA: Blue.

What do you think about piercing?
AA: I disapprove of it.

I would like to know whether you like cactuses (sic)?
AA: They are prickly; I remember we had them in kindergarten. We also had some at home. I didn’t like them then and I don’t like them now.

Andrey, do you need apples? We’ve harvested a lot of them this year! My friends also have a lot of apples and they don’t take mine. But they are so tasty and sweet, especially “white juice”. It is a pity that they’ll go bad…
AA: I love apples, but on the other hand, I think there are many other deserving people who will accept your apples.

Hi, Andrey, in what order would you place the following animals: a tiger, a cow, a pig, a horse, a sheep?
AA: A pig – it will always get the last place! A tiger, a cow, a horse, a sheep. And I’ll repeat that a pig is always the last one, because it is a pig.

What do you think of ideological anarchism?
AA: In order to give you an exhaustive explanation, I should thoroughly study this subject. So far I can’t say anything.

Hi Andrey! Please tell me, in your opinion, what is the most important thing for a footballer these days?
AA: I think the most important thing is a head, not only for a footballer but for any person.

Hi, Andrey, I love arsenal and helicopters. My friend, Steve, said that he met you once and he said you were very nice but you smelt of coffee. Do you like coffee? He also said that he held your hand. If I met you please could I hold your hand, I promise it will be no longer than for 3 minutes.
AA: I don’t drink coffee at all.

How do you see yourself in 50 years?
AA: 78-year old man, with aching legs and a glamorous walking stick

Hello Andrey! You supported Nike and (RED) partner project, aimed at combating HIV / AIDS in Africa. In the video you took part in, you ate shoelaces for some reason! I want to know why you ate red shoelaces? You are not fed at home?
AA: At home I’m fed only with blue ones.

Hello Andrey, I’ve been playing football half a year now. All this time I played the field and now I begin to wonder maybe I should become a goalie. What would you recommend?
AA: To think about it.

Have you ever been to Stavropol?
AA: No

Hi, Andrey! Some people say that the rain comes when the angels cry; some people say that it is a natural process. What do you think? Do you like rain??
Arshavin: No, I do not think that it’s angels’ tears. It’s simply a natural phenomenon.

Hi! I’m overweight. What shall I do?
AA: Lose weight