Kaput (@krazeebee) is an internationally celebrated artist from Vancouver, Canada now living in Australia. His funky and eye popping artwork, very much reflects his decades in Graffiti culture. He has exhibited his work around the globe and continues to explore new opportunities. He has worked with brands such as Converse, HUF and now TAIKAN. The ‘TAIKAN Over’ graphic functions as a play on words to convey a message key to the brand of our global community of artists and creatives taking over the world.
Shop for TAIKAN By Kaput Apparel on March 30th at taikaneverything.com.
Tell us about yourself (where are you from, where have you lived etc.)
I'm an artist from Vancouver, BC Canada and I've been living in Australia for some years now.
When did you start getting into graffiti and how did it all begin?
Back in the mid nineties my friends and I were all skateboarding heavily, we lived in the suburbs but would frequent the skate spots downtown. That led to noticing the graff along the train line and the inner city, a couple of mates were already writing at this time. My man Kover put me on to the tools and stylistic traits from the beginning, then my brother Cameo, Ranks and Nazo kept it moving from there.
Why did you move to Australia?
Met an Aussie girl in Vancouver at Fortune Sound Club in Chinatown, after a couple years together we decided to move here.
What’s the art scene like in Australia?
The scene here is definitely strong, but as an outsider it can be hard to break through. There is also an abundance of beautiful galleries to explore abroad.
What are the differences or similarities between living in Canada vs Australia, as the two are often compared.
Without stating the obvious, a big difference I've noticed is entry-level salaries here in Australia are far greater than back home. A similarity between the two would be high property value and complaining about it.
When did you start applying your art to wood, and what inspired that shift?
I found an old wooden Santa Claus cutout at a thrift store some years back. Then I went over it with acrylic paint, transforming it into this blue monster thing. People really digged it, so I borrowed a jigsaw (that I never gave back, cheers Ricko) and started to make my own cutouts.
You have a couple of pieces in the new TAIKAN collection, one being the ’TAIKAN OVER’ graphic and the other being the TAIKAN throw-up. Tell us about the inspiration for these works.
The 'TAIKAN OVER' graphic was inspired by an obscure character design from the World Industries Skateboarding company in the early nineties. The 'TAIKAN throw-up' graphic is just a forging of my graffiti and naive bubble lettering that mostly anyone can implement.
Tell us about any future projects or collaborations that you have coming up.
I'm currently finishing up a painting that I will make a limited run of prints from. I'm also collaborating with @noordermagazine an underground art and culture publication here in Australia, for their latest issue.
Do you plan on returning to Vancouver anytime soon?
I'm returning to Vancouver for a visit this year so stay tuned party people!
Is Australia home for good or home for now, and where else do you think you might end up?
I choose Australia for good but I definitely miss home, life can change so quickly as we all know but I'm happy where I am now.
Any other comments or thoughts that you want to add?
Shoutout my girl Zucc1 for your continuous support, it never goes unnoticed. Big thanks to my right hand man and brother Cameo who assists me with all my graphic capabilities. Thank you Taikan, for giving me this platform to speak and create. Check out the custom curated Spotify Playlist from Kaput: