Bart de Jong, www.fatbmx.com, january 2011: Cream magazine in France is no more. Welcome to A.R.T. BMX magazine. At the helm is Alain Massabova and he put a crew together of the following people to launch A.R.T.: Patrick Guimez (Chief editor), Sarah Elyafi (marketing), Christian van Hanja (Photo editor), and Arthur Dietrich (news/web guy).
artbmxmag.blogspot.com, january 2011: This bi-monthly magazine that will be coming out in early 2011, is not a new magazine, but rather a logical and matured sequel to CREAM. This reference in BMX riding has given way to a breath of fresh air, matching the evolution of riders and the urban and cultural universe of BMX riding. A.R.T. magazine is conceived both by proficient BMX riders and journalists, and is the answer to what is an artistic sport. The main goal is to develop BMX as well as the culture that surrounds it, be it in fashion, music, and graphic design. Based on photography, and designed like a book, A.R.T. chose to favour stylistic abilities of the riders, beyond mere sportive performances. It is made by people who are renowned in their actions for the recognition and evolution of BMX, and the world that surrounds them: professional riders, brand owners, event planners, activists from around the world... A.R.T. magazine applies the formula “International and Lifestyle”, covering events from around the world, as well as all the aspects of BMX riding (street/park, flatland, dirt/trail, race, oldschool).
artbmxmag.blogspot.com, january 2011: Ce bimestriel qui arrive début 2011 n’est pas un nouveau magazine mais la suite logique et mature du magazine CREAM. Cette référence du BMX a donné vie à un nouveau souffle qui correspond à la fois aux riders et à l’univers culturel et urbain du BMX. Conçu par des professionnels du BMX et de la presse, A.R.T. est la réponse à la question du sport artistique. Le but étant toujours de développer le BMX tout comme la culture qu’il englobe en matière de mode, de musique et de graphisme. Basé sur la photo et pensé comme un livre, A.R.T. a décidé de privilégier les prouesses stylistiques de ses acteurs au-delà de leurs exploits purement sportifs. Il est l’œuvre de personnalités reconnues et actrices de l’évolution du BMX et du monde qui l’entoure : riders professionnels, patrons de marques, organisateurs d’évènements, activistes venus du monde entier... Le magazine A.R.T. applique la formule “international & lifestyle“, en couvrant les évènements à travers le monde ainsi que tous les aspects du BMX riding (street/park, flatland, dirt/trail, race, oldschool). Ce magazine est toujours partenaire des principaux évènements dans le monde (BMX Masters, Simpel jam, Ticos jam,Vibrations Urbaines...) et fait partie de l’organisation des Lords of Dirt, FISE (Flatland), Bicycle Film Festival (Paris), Salon du Cycle, King of Paca, ...
En couverture, la légende Mat Hoffman en cancan lookback brakeless à Cologne en 2008.
Simpel Session, Trinidad show, California shots, Kill the Line, Twenty Jam, Street Station, Rebeljam, Vibrations Urbaines, W-base Tokyo, Eastern Trip. Circle Cow, FAT BOY clothing, Long Beach opening, Nico Badet, 40 years of BMX, Race history, Flat is dead?, Dew Tour in Las Vegas, Mat & the Big Air, Nike ID new, Stephane Bar, Bulgary kids, Finest air show, The Voice, Mike Hucker Clack, Bel Bachir Karim, Pat Casey, Wild Games Italia, and the Oakley story.
En vente mardi 8 mars dans les bmx shops et en kiosque à partir du 10 mars.
Effraim Catlow, www.flatmattersonline.com, march 2011: Like you probably were, I was bummed when I heard Cream magazine was no more, but curious what “Art” magazine would do differently than what Cream already did to survive.
First impressions? The first issue has just reached the news-stands, and by now you will have seen the red cover of Mat Hoffman, my first though when I picked up the magazine, was “wow!”, the magazine is bright red, it captures the eye, the glue binding gives the feel of a collectors item, the paper quality is really good, this in my mind is not a magazine, it feels like a book. It is an object of beauty that will rightly sit on my bookshelf at home.
What’s different than Cream? The format is slightly different, it’s smaller than A4, has more pages than the last Cream magazine had (over 144!), and the cover has a waxed paper feel, like I said, doesn’t feel like a magazine. What I noticed immediately, was that “Art” covered all types of bmx, even racing, thus the circulation I would presume is much bigger, lot more advertising too, this can only be a good thing to keeping the magazine afloat!
What’s inside flatland wise? The main big flat article for the first issue discusses is “Flat is dead?”, editor Alain Massabova asked a wide spectrum of pros/industry types in the scene there thoughts on the topic, Alain’s intro discusses the hot topic of the flat/street crossover “Today’s shame on flatland riders is pushing us toward street/flat in order to get closer to the public. But is this a solution? Scarifying flatland to make it a ‘sport’ just like Skate did? Rails became park, funbox tricks are considered as dirt, aren’t we turning back to what it was before? Does flatland must go through all those sacrifices?”… The article is six pages, with translations in French and English (this runs through whole magazine)-interviews with myself, Martti Kuoppa, Jesse Puente, Trevlon Hall, Chad Johnston, Hiroya Morisaki, and Thomas Goring gives an industry perspective, a really interesting read, and differing perspectives on what we all love, the flatland! ,I was particularly interested in what Hiroya had to say, “each individual should pay attention to the rest of the world besides riding. Although our community is still small against society, each of us has so much potential. Organizing riding lessons or performing shows are some examples of activities to expose ourselves to the public to improve our scene better. You can contribute to the scene somehow with your skills and with something that you are comfortable to do. The more riders notice their own potential, the more youth would get involved in BMX. Increasing population develops the BMX industry and eventually it brings more opportunity to riders to be able to make living off BMX. That’s what I’ve seen in the Japanese BMX scene.”
So what else is in this issue flatland wise?
-Ticos jam and War jam both get some love , hot chicks and flatland, nice mix!
-Circle Cow 12- Really nice report by Emmanuel Massabova, focussing on the appreciation for what event organiser Pascal Mintovt has done for the flat scene in France, “I’m one of those who think that the Circle Cow is to the flat what Chabel is to the rugby, that is to say Circle Cow is a mainstay of the flatland scene. It’s always the first contest that kicks off (the year) with pros and amateurs”. Emmanuel’s writing style is brutally honest and very refreshing to read, he discusses the Adam Kun and Joris “So yeah sure on the paper the world champion (edit: Masters Champion) is probably better than our friend from Lyon but on this 2 minutes of the battle he was just better. Too bad Adam wouldn’t consider the fact that Joris is also good maybe he would have done something better than a spin to a spinning hitchhiker. That’s the way things are.”
I conclude this was a breath of fresh air to read, brutally honest, maybe harsh even, but compelling reading. It is also great to see that Alain and Emmanuel have it appears squashed their personal beef, and this really shines through here, that these two brothers working together for Art magazine, can only be a good thing for BMX in France. St Martin also ran a full-page advert in the magazine, great to see!
-Portfolio with Yuta Yoshida from Tokyo Japan, really nice zoom shot of Dominik Nekolny.
What else is in the mag? So much stuff but what stood out to me was the really well written article/interview discussing with Mat Hoffman the birth of the big air, Mike Hucker Clark who has some the best nose dive 3’s in the business gets an interview. Simpel Session quite rightly gets a few pages. There’s so much stuff in this first issue, BMX is alive and well. And I really like how the first issue of Art has come out, is it better than Cream? That’s hard to say, I would say this magazine is more liable to survive, its depth of coverage is much greater, thus advertising appeal is bigger. I feel honoured to have been asked my opinion on “flat is dead?” article, “Art” I hope is here to stay. RIP Cream, Long live Art!
Bart de Jong, www.fatbmx.com, march 2011: The very first issue of A.R.T. BMX magazine arrived in the mailbox today. ART stands for Attitude, Riding and Travel which has the main ingredients of BMX covered. The size is a bit smaller than most mags, but it feels good when you hold it in your hands. It's a little bigger than a 'zine so the photos still come out good. ART is about BMX worldwide. They cover pretty much any BMX event that is happening on this globe through contributions to the mag and because of their big staff. It's good to see Mat Hoffman on the cover. The man deserves all respect he gets. When is the last time you saw a vert cover on a BMX mag? Based in Paris the ART crew does things their own way, with their own attitude. Issue one has 148 pages and sells for 6 Euros.
-Latin King Of Dirt
-Kuga Art Expo
-Pegless jam
-Spokes Jam
-LA Trip
-Wild Night Jam
-Jamaican Street
-Daisuke Yoneta
-Mission Japan
-Markus Hampl
-Yohan Bieuron
-Simon Moratz
-Stephane Bar
-OS Reunion
-Oliver Weidemann
-Unleaded
-Troy Lee Design
-The Bicycle Source
-Coachella Pool Party
-Deep Event
-ARO Shop
-Barcelona Trip
-Brazil Scene
-Thomas Omel
-Masters of Dirt Vienna
-Jems Muller bike
-Who is Martti Kuoppa ?
Effraim Catlow, www.flatmattersonline.com, may 2011: Issue 2 of ART magazine came through the door yesterday, the “japan” cover is not only timely but beautiful and the editorial is dedicated to “Mission japan”, Hiroshi from 430 clothing talks about his “pray for japan” campaign, Taiko Kaneta known for his back wheel madness, tells the moving story of the refuge work he is doing, and describes how the money generated from 430 clothing has gone into the cause. The layout and photography by Green G, is incredible.
So what else is in this issue?
-The First main article I came to “Who the Fuck is Martti Kuoppa?”, an amazing double page spread of Martti doing a x handed brakeless decade opens the interview, the interview discusses sponsorship, his contest achievements, trick mastery, the devil, Alcohol, and Groundtactics ” The whole deal is to being some new tricks on the table. Like when our generation was coming up, each contest we went, I knew someone would bring some new tricks to the comp so I did the same. Then the whole thing/attitude changed and that wasn’t too important anymore. When I realised that it is no more important to go out to a comp and bring some new tricks I did not want to support the comps anymore and started thinking Ground tactics.”…
-The Brazilian scene gets a dope five page article, with some great insight on their scene from Claybom, Lisias Tabarelli, Marcelo Lima, and Neston. They discuss years riding, Claybom’s video collection, international comparisons of scenes, scene unity, how easy it is to get parts, the contest scene, the talented riders, Claybom – ” I always try brand new stuff. That;s the opposite I see in the world scene. I see riders doing the same combo over and over just to get dialled on the their runs in contests. I call them all “contest riders”. In a few years these riders will tend to disappear”. I can’t recall too much coverage in the printed media on the brazilian scene aside from Balu, so it was refreshing to read about their scene.
ART already has grown since the first issue, as I said before, It really doesn’t feel like “traditional” magazine, but something that rightly people outside of bmx would pick up, and be able to look at and comprehend. Besides those two articles I already previewed theres a lot more.
- Kuga Art show.
- 6 pages portfolio of the photography of Stephane Bar- dope black and white photography, great shots of Charles Paty, Merlyn Masson and Joris Bretagnolle.
-Deep Contest.
Besides the flatland coverage, ART caters for everyone, theres park, street, racing,dirt, lifestyle, girls, scene checks, it’s all here! Already since the first issue you can see how the magazine has grown, beautiful photography and layout, I wish other magazines would take a lead from ART, and cover the flatland. I guess this is what sets ART apart from the rest. Congratulations to the ART crew on a cracking issue!
-Deluxe Bikes
-Barcelona Extreme
-Paul Dezeix
-FISE
-Maxime Bonfil
-Monster Tour
-Georgy Doremus
-The Pool
-Concrete Waves
-Anne Caroline Chausson
-Shanghai Trip
-Tribute to Philippe Pereira
-The Peruvians
-JC Pieri
-Bowl to be a trail
-Daniele de Piccoli
-Romain Georges Bike
-Royal Hills
-Kayley Ashworth
-Nao Yoshida
-Stay Gold photos
-Shawty on bike
-Julien Boulanger photos
-Bellflower show
Effraim Catlow, www.flatmattersonline.com, july 2011: The first impression as ART came through the post, was “wow, this is a thick issue!”, in its third issue, the magazine is steadily growing, packed with all types of BMX, even racing. This of course hurts the amount of flatland coverage in the magazine, in order to survive to sell the magazine, you gotta do, what you gotta do., magazines such as The Albion, Ride Uk, and Case after all barely cover flat, maybe an advert or two. I was curious what would be inside this issue after what happened at Fise, would Alain voice his opinion, or would he stay quiet? So without further due, what is inside Issue 3 flatland wise?
-The first feature and one of the best of the issue, is a page entitled “My Bike” with St Martin rider, Romain Georges, a great piece by Manu Massabova that has short interview plus bikecheck, the piece is brutally honest, “At a time where we glorify riders who are not always worth it. It is always nice meet riders who (not) only have a low popularity, but a big talent…..Let’s hope he stays that way so he can set a good example for the other big headed French riders!”. Shame this article wasn’t longer!
-Nao Yoshida has a two page interview discussing his decision to drop one form of art for another, this interview needed to be longer, for my part I thought it was just getting interesting then it was over, great article nevertheless.
-The Fise contest has 8 pages, that focuses mostly on the photos, JF Boulainne has a photo on the opening spread, but in terms of flatland coverage, that was it, somewhat disappointed I have to say.
-The Flamenco Contest has 3 pages, with text by Viki Gomez, some great photos by Alberto Lessmann, Viki reports “ Everyone loved and enjoyed this new concept of contest, this has been the best concept ever made in flatland for the public, for the TV and everyone! Kids and elder people loved and enjoyed this show and I am proud to say that so far this has been the best flatland competition ever! It has been in 120 countries worldwide now and its unstoppable! Next year we are planning to make it in Japan!”.
-My favourite article of the issue is entitled “The Peruvians” by Luis Elis Benavides, a nice 4 page article interviewing three riders from Peru, Camillo Gutierrez, Antonio Marrache, and Jorge Nazario, they talk about their limitations, the contest scene, and Jorge’s flatland brand “Supreme Bykes”. The photography is great, and reminded me of Cream Magazine when it was at its peak!
Towards the back of the magazine, flatland starts appearing a lot more, interesting!
-Paul Dezeix from Montpelier, has a two page interview by Louis Nassar, his comment that “The French scene is the best! Well that’s a bit of debate there!” was amusing. Its great to see new faces featured in the magazine. Really like the dark shot of Paul in xft steam position.
-Fise Shanghai trip gets one page, nice shot of Takahiro Ikeda doing the seatpost time machine, editor Alain is pretty much quiet in this issue which is a shame, here he writes “that Fise maybe in China so you’d better be ready to accept a different way”.
-The Barcelona Extreme contest that happened the day after Fise, gets a page, with Viki Gomez once again reporting, great to see Viki writing more about flatland!
-The last feature is Adam Kun’s Monster Whip, with Adam telling his story “I pictured the trick in my head a thousand times, played as a film and I felt its was possible to pull it (the voices in my head told me, yes Adam you can pull it ahhahaha!.) So after 3 days of hardcore practise and hundred of tries it became reality. I pulled the upside down whopper that was one of the happiest days of my riding career.”
Issue 3 of ART is done and out in the news stands now, and continues to grow, more pages, more BMX, in summary not much flatland that sadly seems to be a commercial reality. At least ART covers flatland more than anyone other printed magazine.
Cover shot of Chad Johnston by Kai Kuusisto.
Events: X-Games, BMX Masters, Lords of Dirt, Fise Experience and more ...
Interviews: Joris Daudet, Mark Gray, Manu S and Nico Cambon and more ...
Others: Urban Kreation, Roots Jam, urban Plagne and more ...
Effraim Catlow, www.flatmattersonline.com, november 2011: IThe 4th issue of ART (attitude, riding and travel) is out now. As I sit here on this damp November’s morning here in Southsea, I can’t help wonder the future of the traditional printed magazine. Recently magazines such as The Albion, and Case have raised their game to such levels in terms of editorial writing, quality of interviews, that you would buy the magazine and they are free!
The problem with the printed media is accessibility compared to the internet, information right at your fingertips, i’m lucky enough to get sent ART magazine, but are you? I doubt that. How do you get ahold of the magazine? I guess i’m on a rant already here, but my point is simple, The Albion is free, is the best magazine out there, and its accessible. It’s created quite a following already!
Without further a due, Art 4, in terms of flatland content in the printed bmx media, ART leads the way. Of course you have all seen the incredible cover, Chad Johnston dropping the elbow glide on the fork for the first time on a cover, that is dope! Props also to ART for having the balls to put flatland on the cover.
“Community” this issue covers the fundraiser for Chase Gouin, with words are the original press release from Chase himself. Many people throughout BMX in France will see this editorial and be made aware, thats a good thing!
Bo Wade gets a nice 4 page interview, discussing his life in Redondo Beach and the LA flat scene, his influences, bike set up, some great shots by Christian Van Hanja.
The next flat article up is the scene in Argentina, 7 pages are devoted to their scene, you may recall the Flatlive videos that dropped a few months ago documenting the scene there, this article focusses on 4 riders who each bring something different to their scene, really well researched article by Luis Elias and it’s great ART covers scenes like this, last issue Brazil had a dope article, one part that stood out to me was Antonio Pagani talking about accessibility of getting bike parts to their country.
“To be honest,bringing parts from overseas is very expensive, and sometimes the price exceeds by far so it’s impossible to get flatland products. I started making my own parts because in Mendoza, where I live, it was almost impossible to get flatland-specfic parts, even videos. Then, the local riders started asking me to make frames and handlebars for them, and thats how I started with my company. Now without realising it, I see many people who started riding with my frames or bars. I think many guys are able to start using one of my frames, which are more affordable, than buying in another country.”
Following from the cover, the main cover article in this issue “What’s Up California?” by Kai Kuusisto who 5 weeks there, an awesome 8 page pictorial with side interviews from various key people discuss their scene, great insight from the likes of Chad Johnston, Pete Brandt and the Clocktower in SF, and Bobby Carter. As I look at out the window, then look back at the Californian sunshine, I think “oh man, winter is coming…”…
Groundforce has a nice double page , with words from organiser Calvin Tan and a dope shot of Moto mid backwards spinning karl, Calvin writes about the stress of finding sponsors for flatland in singapore and leads to more what goes into making an event rather than what happened at the event, interesting stuff!
King of Southsea has a page (see above), which surprised me, wasn’t expecting that at all, thanks to Alex Romain for writing the words on the flatland contest!
G shock Real Toughness has a page, with nice shot of Ucchie.
Of course if the magazine was flatland only, it would not survive, other articles include:
-X Games – what a photograph of Chad Kagy flair whip!
-BMX Masters- no flat coverage though?
-Roots jam.
- Urban Kreation
-ASA Megaramp
-Fise Costa Rica
- Lords of Dirt
and much more.
ART continues to grow, great to see flatland adverts in a magazine, Quamen, the World Circuit, Flatland Fuel, for example.
Time will tell if ART will survive, I applaud Alain’s efforts to keep flatland in the magazine, and having the balls to put flatland on the cover. One sad thing to me is that due to the fallout with Alain and Matthias/Alex, these guys don’t feature in the magazine, thats not a good thing for the future I don’t think. Both coverage wise and sponsor wise.
Regardless, another good issue of ART, I just hope people can get hold of this easily and without much cost!
Ruben Alcantara en couverture. Photo par Manu Sanz.
Edito par Patrick Guimez.
Concours photo: Thomas Deschenaux par Guillaume Guiguittant.
Interview de Fabien Loaec de Bordeaux.
Shopping selection: Dartmoor, Ares, KHE, Eastern, Prophecy, Stay Strong crew.
Le Mankind de Daniel Juchatz.
Interview du pusher allemand Daniel Tuente.
Interbike.
Patocherie.
Chase Gouin words.
Interview de Ruben Alcantara par Manu Sanz.
Kill the line.
Mike Lefevbre.
Pub Béton Hurlant.
Born in California. Interviews with Robbie Morales (Cult), Brian Castillo (Volume), Chris Moeller (S&M) and Zenta (Dig it).
Le stéphanois Christophe Desarmaux, photographe de race.
King of Bowl à Marseille.
The Lords of Roc.
Finlande: Dark riders.
Vibrations urbaines à Pessac.
Interview du flatlander Diego Tejada.
Redbull Dream line aux USA.
Pitchfork festival.
Roc BMX park contest à Frejus.
Sunex.
FISE Paris.
Daniel Wedemeijer au FISE.
Milano flatland.
Dew tour Vegas.
Mr Green.
Mim le Pennedu.
Josh Stead.
Old school reunion à Longuenesse.
Profile.
Alice Dageville.
Hong Kong parks.
Nathyworc stages.
Chase jams.
Mark Webb at home on the cover.
Face: Kert Petersel.
Photo: Jeremy Pavia.
Racing: Laeticia Le Corguillé.
Event: Rebel jam Holland.
Report: La Reunion show.
S&M party.
Eletron Bike.
BMX fr cup.
Art: Chad & tables.
Event: Superheroes.
My bike: Joris Bretagnolle.
Kevin Kalkoff.
Tribute: Dane Searls.
Ask Chase Gouin anything.
New pusher: Jack Watts.
Riders of the sun: Costa Rica.
Viki Gomez trip: Egypt.
Face: Mark Webb show.
Total Bikes.
Simone Barraco in Milano.
Face: Lionel Dejean.
Eye contest.
George Manos.
Unit riders.
Lee Musselwhite shows.
Scooters.
Art: Niko del real.
Latino FISE tour Costa Rica.
Face: Olivier Durieux.
Photo: Trails UK.
Shop: Fat Ride France.
Face: Dominik Nekolny.
Market: Toads BMX.
Girls: Chloé et Magali.
Face: Sean Burns.
Urge products.
Ouata Labo.
Oldschool: The hall of fame.
Oldschool: King of Skatepark.
Flat live Argentina.
