Welcome to a spot on ironlak.com called ‘Your Favourite Writer’s Favourite Writers’. The concept is super simple – we’re talking to some of the best in the game and asking them to list writers or artists who they consider some of their favourites.
ASKEW from Auckland, New Zealand is up next sharing his favourites. We’ll let him take it from here…
“Before I get into it, I have to start by saying, this is really hard for me to limit it to only five writers. I’m a huge fan of so many writers and I could easily list 50 that have impacted me profoundly in some way. I’m going to do this a little differently because nothing happens in a vacuum, styles have their lineages and specific eras that need acknowledging too.” –ASKEW`
Daim & Loomit (3D/large production era)
When I was about 16 years old, I made friends with a guy from West Auckland that writes Truce. He connected a lot of us Central and West Auckland writers which is a really significant part of how TMD came to be. This was right at the start of the internet era and generally, any graffiti media was few and far between. Truce used to compile all the graffiti pages from various places like The Source and HHC magazine in a clear folder and one time he loaned it to me. I remember pouring over these early Daim and Hesh productions and just being blown away by seeing realism techniques applied to lettering. From that point it’s literally all I wanted to do – it was the benchmark I wanted to reach and this gave me inspiration to push myself and practice constantly. I drew and painted every free moment I had.
Around that time Chintz and Loomit had passed through NZ and then I became aware of Loomit’s work. Now don’t get me wrong, Chintz is an absolute king, but my more illustrative sensibilities drew me more to Loomit and Daim and the guys from that era that were doing the big wall stuff with themes. In 2000 I ended up inviting Loomit to NZ for my first event and a few months later he returned again with Daim. I was like a sponge for every single bit of knowledge I could get from them. I think this interaction completely changed the course of my life and injected a new energy into the Auckland scene. It also taught us a lot about planning, working collaboratively, and thinking beyond the limits of the traditional rectangular composition.
Smash 137
I’m sure a lot of people will be surprised I’m saying this (due to our personal history) but let’s be real, this guy made a real impact in first decade of the 2000’s. It’s sometimes hard to explain it, in say the US context, where graffiti, for the most part, stayed looking pretty much like graffiti the whole time – but due to the aforementioned era of European graffiti, 3D pieces floating in scenic backgrounds or looking like animals or spaceships I think Smash brought a focus back for our generation to the possibilities of how far you could push the letter with the constraints of the traditional paradigm.
For me personally, Cantwo, Atom, and Wow123 were really pivotal in pushing me back into an appreciation for classic pieces – Atom especially really put me onto a lot of Berlin writers who walked that delicate line like Phos4 & Poet for example. Meeting Smash, who is the same age as me and was also the youngster in the midst of all these legends and super-advanced was incredibly inspiring. Ultimately when we fell out (because he felt I ended up encroaching on his style) it was the worst but most positive thing for me – it really made me determined to find my own voice in this art movement and contribute versus just being a student. 
Revok, Rime, Zes, & Roids
There is definitely a period of graffiti that you cannot deny was completely owned by AWR/MSK and the whole movement with The Seventh Letter. It was a phenomenon like Wu-Tang or something. The way they pioneered the current graffiti media landscape (a lot of that is Eklips’ Vision) they are just the biggest super crew – every single member is so strong individually.
Revok has always been such an influential figure globally, what he did and said counted to a lot of us out there – like when blogging was still a thing I know people checked his site daily and took such an interest in not just his work, but who he is personally – his tastes in music, art & politics etc. There are pieces he has painted that I have literally spent several hours looking at and they never lost their impact or magic. Stylistically Revok to me during that era was the perfect culmination of all that AWR/MSK influence -people like Krush, Tyke, and I feel, Ewok really brought something vital into that mix too. I also really enjoy his more stripped back pieces of the last decade too.
Rime has influenced and driven graffiti not just stylistically but also through the conversation around it – ‘The Exchange’ for example was a super important moment and did a lot to connect, celebrate, and evolve graffiti internationally. He’s always had a larger than life personality and I’m sure it distracts sometimes from how considered and perfect his graffiti is because he’s also an entertaining character.
Zes to me represents raw energy, authenticity and something classic and enduring. He doesn’t adhere to the trends it’s always uniquely and unmistakably his own. I literally can’t think of LA without Zes.
I don’t think Roids gets mentioned enough. I don’t think graffiti would’ve veered in the direction it has in the last decade without his input. I think he brought all that 80s futuristic aesthetic, the illustrative typography and glitch elements into the ether. I think there’s a lot of people that have followed his influence in their own directions and really blown up.
Wane
Slow and steady definitely wins the race. This guy is like the last man standing of his generation that still paints consistently AND keeps evolving and improving. I can’t imagine him not painting at this stage. I feel like with the heavy NY lineages he carries with him it’d be hard to evolve that into large mural work in a way that’s consistent with traditional aesthetics, but still pushing boundaries, but he achieves this. Plus, Wane’s attitude and youthful enthusiasm is so inspiring – I really hope I manage to maintain that too!
Berst
I’ve said it before, and yes, I am very biased, but I put Berst in my top 10, if not top 5 writers of all time. I think he changed graffiti and that’s a huge thing to achieve – to add to the visual vocabulary. I think he is by far one of the most consistently dedicated, original, and boundary-pushing writers that still keeps a solid foundational focus that you can’t fault. There’s a lot of people out there doing wildly creative things with their letters but it doesn’t always have that raw strength that I like, and Berst’s stuff is really tough even without all the effects.
Follow ASKEW on Instagram @askewone and visit askew1.com
As told to Luke Shirlaw of Artillery Projects. Follow him on Instagram, and subscribe to Artillery’s ‘The Drop’ for exclusive email interviews.