SRK and Laurence King feature – Serie B 2008

SRK and Laurence King feature – Published in Serie B Magazine, 2008

A word of intro if you will. This feature appears in the November/December 2008 edition of Serie B magazine in the ‘visual arts’ section of the magazine, a first for me. The reason behind it was simple. I’ve known the two guys behind SRK for a few years now, and I’ve followed their work and growth as a ‘studio’ both as a fan and friend I guess you could say. In 2007 they moved into book publishing, having primarily focused on video media before. That move was interesting to me for a variety of reasons, including their choice of subjects and their attempts at blending the book format/media with others. Thing is it wasn’t actually until I wrote this article, which looks at their publishing work and their publisher, Laurence King Publishing, that I came to think of what they were doing in a slightly different way. I won’t give anything away though, just read the article and hope you enjoy. For more on SRK, peep the excellent site, and look out for their dubstep documentary, Bassweight, coming soon. For LKP, check their site. The SRK books, Rack Gaki and Stickerbomb are both out now, available from LKP and most decent bookstores, and I can’t recommend them enough.

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A different kind of ‘studio’

I first met Ryo and Suridh, the two creative individuals behind Studio Rarekwai (SRK), nearly 4 years ago in London as I was doing research on Japanese turntablists. Both they and their early work, a documentary on hip hop culture in Japan called ‘Scratching the Surface: Japan,’ were instrumental in helping me understand more about hip hop in Japan and meet artists and labels that have led to a series of features (published in Serie B back in 06), podcasts and other works. SRK is an independent studio focused on promoting international music and culture through various media. Recently, they have moved into publishing, releasing a series of books with publishers Laurence King (LK) that show a real understanding of the versatility and depth that the medium allows and a talent for thinking out of the box.

When I lived in Tokyo I always thought that graffiti there wasn’t as prevalent as it was in big European cities. The fact is there is a lot of graf in Tokyo, but it transpires through the cracks of the city differently. SRK understood this and so focused on Japanese graffiti for their first book, ‘Rack Gaki,’ published last year. “I like the idea of documentation,” explains Suridh. “Our first documentary was on Japanese hip hop therefore the idea of a book on Japanese graffiti felt like the natural next thing to do.” Ryo adds, “one project always leads onto another. I like getting inspired by people we meet during a project and the experience can lead to project ideas in a completely different medium, like films to books.”

While the idea is simple, and brilliantly executed with a great design, an amazing cover by Japanese graffer Esow and a DVD documentary, what’s most striking is that no book had really focused on Japanese graffiti until now. Like other elements of hip hop, graffiti has been around in Japan for a while, and in that time the country’s isolated location and linguistic barrier have allowed it to evolve its own unique styles, approaches and philosophies. ‘Rack Gaki’ captures this while managing to carry over the fluidity of documentaries to the more static medium of book. “It was very exciting to explore a new medium and mix our knowledge of films with making a book,” explains Ryo. “That’s also why the DVD was an important part of the concept, as it allowed us to provide a fuller documentary experience with both medium working together.”

This approach is also what captured the imagination of the publisher. “The most interesting thing about Rack Gaki was that no one had thought of doing a book just on Japanese graffiti before,” explains Jo Lightfoot, commissioning editor for SRK’s books. “Not only was the idea unique, SRK’s proposal to actually go to Japan to interview artists, take pictures and film made it feel authentic. I don’t think anyone has done a graffiti book with a DVD before, and it adds a new dimension to the book.” It took about 20 months from the start of the project to publication. “We knew a lot of writers from our first documentary, and we then spent months researching the scene over there before going. In the end we shot most of the photos ourselves, getting out to some mad places,” Suridh explains. As for the cover, it was LK who suggested commissioning Esow rather than using an existing piece. The result is a striking piece that captures the book’s spirit and the uniqueness of Japan’s graffiti scene.

With ‘Rack Gaki’ proving successful, SRK started on their next print project. Called ‘Stickerbomb,’ the book is again based around a simple idea, stickers. Where it breaks with convention is by offering nearly 260 pages of peelable stickers rather than pictures. It’s essentially a sticker catalogue and a real ‘interactive’ experience for people who love stickers. And let’s face it who doesn’t? “I have so many books full of photos of stickers I just got bored of them,” exclaims Ryo. “Stickerbomb was a reaction to that boredom. I love stickers and what better than to be able to create a catalogue of cool stickers from artists worldwide?” Suridh echoes this feeling saying, “a real sticker book is much more fun and relevant.” It would be easy to look at the book as feeding into the recent rise in interest for street art, but the fact is that ‘Stickerbomb’ is about the art on the stickers more than anything. “Not even half the book comes from writers or ‘street artists,’ it’s primarily work by illustrators and fine artists,” Suridh tells me, “it’s just a book of nice stickers that you can stick around, or not.” Ryo adds that, “we weren’t trying to cover street art as such, we just wanted to select work from a range of artists who we thought worked well within the medium of stickers.” Flicking through the book, it’s hard to resist the impulse to peel and stick as the designs jump at you in various shapes and colours. It was this simplicity and obviousness that caught LK’s interest. “A few books on stickers come with actual stickers, so why not do one that is literally a sticker book?” Jo explains. “It’s a great way to showcase the art and for us it was a really obvious thing to do.”

The reaction has been positive so far, though it seems some people still struggle with the simple idea that it is a book of, not about, stickers. “We have had comments from people expecting pictures, which surprises me when you can have the sticker!” laughs Suridh. Getting the concept right was challenging for LK, as Jo explains: “we agonized over printing underneath the stickers so that images were still there after peeling. In the end though, SRK got it right by deciding it should just be what it is. When you’ve peeled a sticker, it’s gone.” There was one other surprising consequence of the book for Jo, “it’s the appeal it has for all ages, even my mother likes it, and she’s 83!”

SRK have already started work on the next logical move, a book about graffiti in Asia, while in between the first two, they also released a series of sketchbooks featuring cover art from various artists, such as Esow, which they have started representing in their new function as an illustration agency. They have also been working on new films at the same time, with their next release a documentary on the explosion of dubstep worldwide called ‘Bassweight.’

With these books, SRK and LK are showing that publishers and authors can work together in new ways to show that there is more to the medium of books than you might first think. There is a need to keep things fresh by combining old and new media and exploring alternatives today, as information spreads faster than ever and digital alternatives are forcing old media to rethink their ways. Ultimately the pleasure of holding a book in your hands isn’t going to change, much like it hasn’t with vinyl, but that doesn’t mean things can’t and shouldn’t be evolved to embrace new ideas.