At the back of the gallery there is a studio, there is bunch of artists who are applying spray paints to all kinds of materials, from T-shirts to Road signs to Furniture. They are turning these pre-existing materials to something new, something hophop…

I was also amazed by the number of energetic people who were going left and right in this space, Jonny tells me that the member of the collective grew to about 20 people by now. They do everything from DJ workshops, Breakdance workshops, tattoo’s, gallery exhibits, magazine design, motion graphics, TV’s and on and on.. Anything hiphop they seem to be into it!

The show called Desurorama was on at the gallery when I visited, and it featured German artist Desur. He applied paints to all kinds of mediums, I really liked the one which he painted on New Zealand signs. Apparently he is also staying in the studio space and working at a local cafe, when I was talking to Jonny, he brought back a whole lot of sandwich from his work and everyone was sharing it. I thought it was really nice community vives going on, everyone sharing these sandwiches!

Disruptive Magazine is published twice a year, it mainly features graffiti arts from New Zealand (Aotearoa). It is their 4th issue this time and from this issue, it is packaged with a mix CD mixed by their resident DJ. This CD also features local hiphop producers.

Jonny says that he recognise this magazine as a tool to promote their style and presence overseas, it is sold in countries such as NZ, Australia, USA, Europe and Japan. It happend to be that Deirdre, their business manager used to live in Japan, and they are planning on forming a tour group to tour around Japan next year to experience and exchange with Japanese hiphop culture. So if you’re interested, please get in touch with them!

Disruptiv Gallery
Open: 10:00 – 18:00
Address: 145 Karangahape (K) Road, Auckland
deirdre@disruptiv.com
http://www.disruptiv.com