Issue 10
Subcultures come and go and the zeitgeist always morphs into something new. It is up to the writers and photographers and documentarians to record the evolution—and big chunks of the story inevitably get left out. But SWINDLE's here to fill in the blanks. Washington, D.C.'s Bad Brains are widely considered the first all-Black American punk band. But SWINDLE knows better: Pure Hell was. We all know about Japanese anime, but Koreanimation? Only SWINDLE gives you a feature on Korean animation and its complex patchwork of Western and Asian iconography. There are more missing links from the evolution of pop culture: Philippe Starck, a legendary designer—and a legendary character. Before Target became a household name, he pioneered the idea that beautiful, functional design didn't have to be for the elite. We revisit the Bones Brigade—the proto-type skate team from the 1980's, featuring a teenaged Tony Hawk. And finally, because SWINDLE knows that pop culture is a surface reflection of deeper social issues, we follow Matt Kettmann to war-torn Northern Uganda where he reports on the IDP camp Pader Town Council. Don't worry. SWINDLE is here to tell you the whole story.
Pader - Northern Uganda
By Matt Kettmann
Photography By Connie Aramaki
Illustration By Matthew Goldman
In war-torn Northern Uganda, the Acholi tribespeople who reside in the squalid Internally Displaced Person (IDP) camps worry every morning about filling their yellow jerry cans with barely potable water from the few wells that dot the landscape. They worry every mealtime about getting enough basic grains and desiccated vegetables to occupy their swollen bellies.
Women in Art
By Sara Jane Sluke
Photos By Morgan Slade
Los Angeles has long been a favorite whipping boy of intelligentsia and hipsters alike. It is an easy target, with its plastic population, smog choked horizon, and lack of hoity toity culture. A closer look, for those who dare peek below the botoxed facade, reveals a swollen underbelly of creative types who live by their [...]
Henry Rollins
By Anne Keehn
Illustration By Shepard Fairey
Henry Rollins stands in front of a black backdrop set up for him by a photographer. He is inside his office, a converted fixer-upper house in the residential area of Hollywood. It is modest and tasteful—the kind of place one can imagine curling up with a thick book and hot cocoa. Framed photographs and mementos [...]
Bones Brigade
By Caleb Neelon
Illustration By Jason Filipow
What cheesy lines are you talking about? We were serious about our acting roles!” barks Bones Brigade skateboarder Steve Caballero. “I never thought that anyone saw it as anything short of fantastic acting,” muses former teammate Lance Mountain. Neither is serious. The Search for Animal Chin. The name itself sounds like a porno. The fact [...]
Pure Hell
By Yosuke Kitazawa and Yosuke Kitazawa
Photos By Pure Hell/Welfar Records
New York City in the 1970s was a place and time of new possibilities—a Renaissance of sorts. A natural extension of the artists, writers, and musicians that came to fruition around Andy Warhol in the 1960s, the decade brought together a group of like-minded individuals aiming for something new.
Beards
By Anne Keehn
Photos By Nikolaus Jung
The competition was thick—and hairy—at the 2005 World Beard and Moustache Championships (WBMC) in Berlin. The Germans, as usual, made a near clean sweep of the competition. They won the gold in 14 of 17 categories—including the “Dali moustache,” “wild west moustache” and “freestyle goatee.”
Behind Bars
By Jason Filipow and Anne Keehn
Illustration By Scott Blake
In 1998, a 22-year-old Scott Blake was in San Francisco, smack in the middle of the youth-centric dot-com boom. It was the era of twentysomething techie millionaires. Fueled by coffee (the ‘90s saw the rise of the Starbucks-led coffee culture) and the prospect of striking Internet gold, generation X’ers in flip-flops and t-shirts buzzed around
El Vez
By Heather Murphy
Photos By Jeremy and Claire Weiss
Illustration By Zootszoff
Elvis impersonators come a dime a dozen, but Robert Lopez, aka El Vez, the “Mexican Elvis,” is no imitator. He infiltrates Elvis songs with a blend of kitschy Las Vegas-style glitz and Chicano-power performance art. “I don’t think I have an original bone in my body,” he claims.
Mascots
By Joe Seagraves
Illustration By Kristel Brinshot
Fast food mascots have become an enduring part of our cultural landscape. They are the byproducts of a consumer culture that is drawn inexplicably toward novelty. By bridging the distance between the consumer and the company, mascots have the ability to make real and lasting connections with people—something a burger could never do.
Morning at the Los Angeles Fruit Terminal
By Saskia Vogel
Illustration By Holly Wales
“Que onda, my brother?” Felipe, the Mexican produce salesman says to the Chinese wholesaler who sits in front of his warehouse, surrounded by piles of chiles. “’Sta ‘ueno, guey,” replies the wholesaler in produce industry Spanglish, and slaps Filipe a high five.
The Art of Ear Picking
By Laura Fumiko Keehn
Photos By Aaron Farley
It’s sensitive, private and very personal. A part of the body you would only share with someone you trust and love. That’s right, I’m talking about…your ears.
Emek
By Zio
Artwork By Emek
Emek had an unconventionally wholesome upbringing—think less Cleavers, and more Swiss Family Robinson. He was raised in a fixed-up horse stable, where his parents would clear the dinner table for family art time.
Wrappers Delight
By Caleb Neelon
Photos By Darlene Waddington
Illustration By Ernesto Yerena
Growing up in the California desert 30 years ago, Darlene Waddington decided that she wanted to start a roadside attraction for a time, as she calls it, “when I inevitably turned into a mentally questionable old lady.” Cement dinosaur was taken, so was fiberglass gorilla, baby doll collection and rocks from famous places.
Philippe Starck
By Justine Suzanne Jones
Portrait By Dan Monick
Illustration By Travis Stearns
A born and bred Parisian, Philippe Starck, who has been accused by more than a few commentators of being the “world’s most famous designer,” announces that he is “a little sleepy because of cocktails yesterday. A little jet lag, a little work and the cocktails— and perhaps too much sex.”
Korean Animation
By Alex J. Powell
Illustration By Kristian Henson
If Saturday morning cartoons were a childhood staple for you, they may well have been your earliest exposure to art. Judging by what cinemagoers are flocking to these days, cartoon images have shaped the artistic tastes of a generation.