ROGER GASTMAN, Supervising Producer and Creative Consultant

Infamy’s supervising producer and creative consultant Roger Gastman was born sober, organized, and intent on completing projects. He remains as much. Still only 27, Roger has been at the organizational forefront of the movement of street and graffiti art that has now reached mainstream audiences. He’s done this by being its most trusted presenter and taskmaster, a person in whom both artists and organizations can feel confident. Gastman’s career began as a graffiti writer in Washington D.C. As a high school student, he began his first business venture; distributing the then hard-to-find aerosol spray nozzles that graffiti writers favor for painting carefully controlled lines. They are no longer hard to find: today Roger distributes millions of them a year throughout the globe. As a 19-year-old, Roger borrowed $4,000 from his mother and started While You Were Sleeping magazine, distributing its initial run out of his bedroom. It was dedicated to graffiti, tattoo art, street culture, washed-up television actors, other forms of pop-culture ephemera, and it caught on huge. Within three years, Roger had taken the magazine national, secured outside investment, and oversaw a full-time staff of seven, with its bimonthly distribution at 70,000.

After leaving While You Were Sleeping in early 2003, Roger and Shepard Fairey founded Swindle Magazine, blending aesthetic beauty with intellectual appeal in a format that is both timeless and progressive. Today, Swindle is the definitive popular culture and lifestyle publication for women and men of ages 18 to 34. Not content to work only within print media, Roger has produced several films. In 2000 Roger produced and distributed the first of several urban lifestyle videos: essentially, they were graffiti versions of Jackass before Jackass ever existed. Roger has consulted for several commercials, including projects for Fuel TV and Sprite Remix. He has worked with Nissan, Coca Cola, Reebok, Levi’s, Miller Brewing, and Neversoft Video Games, employing his skills in graffiti and marketing. Roger worked with the Coca-Cola Corporation for seven years, painting murals within the D.C. and Baltimore areas, as well as coordinating over one hundred other murals for Coke throughout the country. An artist and organizer, Roger has designed and completed more than 70 freelance murals for companies such as Heineken, Phat Farm, M&Ms, Reebok and Mattel.

In tribute to the local graffiti scene that sparked his passion, Roger wrote, compiled, and published his first book, Free Agents: A History of Washington, D.C. Graffiti (R. Rock Enterprises/Soft Skull, 2001). Since then, Gastman has gone on to compile and author other artist compilation books, including Morning Wood; Enamelized; and Supreme Quality. He has also edited and authored several artist monographs, including Dalek: Nickel Plated Angels, Mike Giant: Manifestations; Dalek: Sonic Order of Happiness; and Jim Houser: Babel. He has several other books forthcoming, including Freight Train Art. To publish these works, Roger has worked with established house Thames & Hudson; alternative art presses PowerHouse and Ginkgo; formed his own imprint, R77; and also partnered with lifestyle boutique chain Urban Outfitters and international media chain Tower Records.