The two self-titled guerrilla artists behind the thought-provoking posters spotted around Tacoma aren’t what you might expect. 



Describing himself and his partner in the “slightly illegal” undertaking that is Beautiful Angle, Tom Llewellyn says, “We’re not twenty-something taggers; we’re forty-year-old fathers.”



And their families are involved in Beautiful Angle undertakings. The kids help hang the posters and put away the type. Wives Deb Llewellyn and Dana Kagey’s job is “keeping things running in the background,” according to Llewellyn.



Llewellyn and Lance Kagey have day jobs, as well. Llewellyn works as an associate creative director for the Russell Investment Group, and Kagey is the creative director at Rusty George Design.



Llewellyn and Kagey, along with their wives, originally met at a 1988 showing of “Rattle and Hum,” introduced by their mutual friend Ed.  Some years later, they were in a band called Wallpaper Pie together. 



Hoping to capture a wider audience, the two succumbed to the lure of wheatpaste, the sticky substance used to adhere art.



Kagey, a fan of guerilla art and graffiti, says, “The beauty of that is you’re not looking for an audience; you’re demanding one.”



So he and Llewellyn hit upon the idea to work together to create art posters that would incorporate words — Llewellyn’s craft — and graphics — Kagey’s strength.



And what about the name?



“The story behind the name Beautiful Angle is a bit goofy,” Llewellyn explains.



“When you order something online, they always give two spaces for address, labeled ‘Address One’ and ‘Address Two.’ I’ve never had any need to put something in the Address Two space, but I thought it would be fun to see something wacky on the shipping label, so off the top of my head, I just put in ‘Where the world spins at a beautiful angle.’ It was kind of a reference to the fact that Tacoma is built on the sides of hills for the most part. This was before the project, but we both liked it, so we grabbed it for the poster thing.”



That “poster thing,” as it evolved, incorporated multiple collaborations, but with one caveat: “You have to be a Tacoma resident,” explains Kagey, who describes a short list of individuals who have collaborated. Art Chantry — “he’s a god,” says Kagey, “to have people like that interested and participating is amazing!” — has been interested in participating, and Chris Sharp, who will be with Llewellyn and Kagey at King’s Books’ upcoming Wayzgoose on Saturday, March 31 (see page 5), will be doing the design on the next Beautiful Angle poster.

“One of our original goals,” continues Kagey, “was to find something sustainable, month in, month out.  



“We emphasized how much we wanted to be a dialog with the city,” he adds.



That dialog can be a call to action as in the recent year of the pig tie-in poster featuring an image of a pig, delineated as for a butcher’s wall. 



Its copy reads:

“make room at the trough,

For the noble pig knows

The more you share

The less likely you are to get eaten.”



Also, the dialog continually embraces the contrasts of the city as in the piece commissioned for the Washington State Historical Society in May of 2005.  In this piece, “Mystery Myth,” Llewellyn’s copy compares and contrasts entities.

“for every MYSTERY, there’s a MYTH

for every sweat lodge, there’s a pull tab

for every dozen daffodils, there’s a meth lab

for every martyred hero, there’s a crooked cop

for every mission mom, there’s a rousted Chinaman

for every CONDO BLOCK, there’s a SOARING MUSEUM

for every Douglas fir, there’s a pulp mill puff … ”



“We are Tacoma supporters, but we are not the booster club of Tacoma,” says Kagey.

And yet, the love of the city of comparisons drives what they do.



Llewellyn explains:

“One of our sort of formative explanations of why we do what we do is exemplified in this passage by writer G.K. Chesteron. Chesterton is referring to a section of London called Pimlico, which at the time was a bit of a slum.”

 

“Let us suppose we are confronted with a desperate thing — say Pimlico. If we think what is really best for Pimlico we shall find the thread of thought leads to the throne or the mystic and the arbitrary. It is not enough for a man to disapprove of Pimlico: in that case he will merely cut his throat or move to Chelsea. Nor, certainly, is it enough for a man to approve of Pimlico: for then it will remain Pimlico, which would be awful. The only way out of it seems to be for somebody to love Pimlico: to love it with a transcendental tie and without any earthly reason. If there arose a man who loved Pimlico, then Pimlico would rise into ivory towers and golden pinnacles; Pimlico would attire herself as a woman does when she is loved. For decoration is not given to hide horrible things: but to decorate things already adorable. A mother does not give her child a blue bow because he is so ugly without it. A lover does not give a girl a necklace to hide her neck. If men loved Pimlico as mothers love children, arbitrarily, because it is THEIRS, Pimlico in a year or two might be fairer than Florence. Some readers will say that this is a mere fantasy. I answer that this is the actual history of mankind. This, as a fact, is how cities did grow great. Go back to the darkest roots of civilization and you will find them knotted round some sacred stone or encircling some sacred well. People first paid honour to a spot and afterwards gained glory for it. Men did not love Rome because she was great. She was great because they had loved her.”

 

“So, in a sense,” concludes Llewellyn, “we’re trying to love Tacoma into greatness. Because she is OURS.”



See Beautiful Angle art in King’s Books as well as various other, possibly less legal, locations throughout the city. Meet Kagey and Llewellyn at the Wayzgoose event at King’s Books Saturday, March 31, from noon to 4 p.m.



[King’s Books, 218 St. Helen’s Ave., Tacoma, 253.272.8801]