Always fancied a Tox canvas, I like the prints, but as it's a tag I think it should really be the real thing, spray paint on paper, canvas or wood.

The original at Beyond the Streets. 🙌🏻🙏🏻

What is f&f ? 

This is a beautiful print !
When the tube 🚇 has the look of a heart 🫀 or intestines !

Obvious to many, but perhaps not to everyone — especially if they have never visited London, or if they shy away from public transportation:


The Tox pieces are based on the London Underground map, originally created in the early 1930s by Henry Beck*:







Beck's design was arguably revolutionary. It foregoed geographical accuracy in favour of user‑friendliness:

(i)  colour‑coded Tube lines;

(ii)  Tube lines often laid out horizontally or vertically; and

(iii)  stations more‑equally‑spaced on the map, regardless of the actual distances between them in situ.


__________


Tox's imagery is of course self‑referencing.

In graffiti parlance, the writer is confirming that he is all‑city as far as London is concerned.

And for the benefit of anyone who is unaware, DDS (a.k.a. Diabolical Dubstars, or other stylised variants of that name) is a prolific, old‑school crew that has been around for 3+ decades.


__________


By way of aside, it felt a little surprising to discover Tox and 10 Foot had taken part in the corporate-sponsored, commercial extravaganza that was Beyond the Streets.

Unlike a few other DDS crew members who have happily collaborated with the likes of Palace and Maharishi, Tox and 10 Foot always came across as particularly uncompromising to me.



Moreover, to see their work at a venue like Saatchi Gallery also jarred.

The Continental and North American artist and writer participants at the show could be forgiven for their ignorance. But any Brit would or should have known that Charles Saatchi was a key figure who helped bring Margaret Thatcher into power in 1979, with the admittedly-inspired campaign, Labour Isn't Working*.

Perhaps legacy considerations took precedence over how comfortably a Thatcher‑crony venue sat with the cultures of graffiti and street art.

I'll leave that issue for other forum members to consider.


__________


Over the course of three series between 2003–2006, ITV London aired a documentary programme called The Tube, which was broadcast as well by Sky.

The following clip focuses largely on Tox and is worth a watch. It's an amusing extract from Episode 1 of Series 2 (Underground Crime) from 2004:


The Tube - Tox Graffiti Special
- uploaded by Graffwarsdotcom





This Financial Times profile on 10 Foot, dated 3 February 2023, is also a good read:

www.ft.com/content/45a184ee-b7d9-4c16-b1c2-71def32ccf98

Why'd they keep doing shit on clothing that nobody would ever wear

Just give the people what they want and do some canvas or works on paper

Exactly this..

Music map I think was 10 foots first print edition of 50 signed in pencil
From when he was in nick I got one
And tox had souled out studio s for his prints
They are out there 10foot 10foot 10foot tox tox tox flash flash

Very cool, was it his FOOT throw up , or his 10foot tag. 

I’ve got one of these somewhere

£150

Edition 30

The shirts cost £150 each. The line of people outside the store was a few dozen strong. Only 20 available. After queuing, a lady from the staff came out of the shop and said: "you can leave as there are only a few others available for sale". The illusion you can experience with Banksy is already an unpleasant thing. But after all there are thousands of buyers ready to buy. Here a few dozen to buy and all the others (40?) were asked to leave. Next time instead of enthusiasts we will only be wrapped up. The right thing. Even Banksy would need to have only vulture friends. Let's hope the universe listens to me. But I absolutely don't understand some things. Many artists love their passionate admirers and admirers. Some, however, seem to hate them. Maybe being ''famous'' has made someone forget what good is. Others perhaps don't know what good is at all. You can do all the charity you can do but still be an asshole at so many other things in life.

Andrew, if you stand in line for 40 minutes, it's not nice to be told GO AWAY! Some have left family commitments to pursue that art. There was a lot of disappointment among the people. Did Tox understand this?