Apexer and Mike Giant are passionate about the topic of handstyles and their own. Both these artists recently made public appearances in San Francisco. Last week Apexer painted a new mural in The Haight that is all about handstyle and Mike Giant finished a show at FFDG. They both have made short handstyle videos where they discuss the history and demonstrate their own style.

Apex Hands with bus styles

Apexer is a San Francisco native who grew up in the 1980s when graffiti was exploding in the city and crews were forming and defining their own styles as well as the San Francisco style. He started doing graffiti while in third grade and has since evolved into a muralist exploring different styles, colors and patterns, while still keeping his roots.

In this video he discusses the origin of tagging in San Francisco, how it evolved from bus styles to a downtown style, the tools and colors used back in the day and gives a few pointers on what makes a dope hand style.

Bus styles is about one flow, where you never really let off the can or marker off the panel. That way you can really hit it up, get your name up quick without the bus driver seeing you… Later on came the downtown style which is more legible, clean take your time which is more street bombing versus bus bombing… My description of a dope handstyle is throughout the tag is uniform. As long as the letters look uniform.

Mike Giant Handstyle History Lesson

Graffiti and tattoo artist Mike Giant just finished a one-man show at Fecal Face Dot Gallery in the Mission District. He has roots in graffiti and spent his heyday in San Francisco getting up. It has been several years since he did a piece in San Francisco but he still is a “giant” in the community. In 2013 he gave a handstyle history lesson where he speaks of his first encounter with styles of writing like Cholo, his current thoughts and demonstrates his handstyle.

Graffiti is a grown man. Its’ got a lot of history. We need to understand that history. From what I see on the streets these days a lot of graffiti writers are gazing a lot of fonts but also graphic designers. For me it is getting too derivative of things were already derivative of other derivatives and continue to pile on… Something powerful about doing it by hand. Young people need a foundation. A lot of graffiti writers aren’t given alphabets by mentors. They are getting it on the internet.

See other art by Apexer and Mike Giant. Their web presence is at the top of the right column.
Apexer
Mike Giant