Pourrais-tu te présenter ?
Oré, 35 ans, normand. Définitivement accro au graffiti, mais aussi aux autres expressions esthétiques dans les rues (affiches, pochoirs, stickers, collages divers et variés).

Quand as-tu commencé à t’intéresser au graffiti ?
En 1989, je trace mes premiers tags au marker dans des cages d’escaliers. Depuis le Graffiti fait partie de mon existence. Pas un jour ne s’écoule sans que je sois traversé par l’envie de peindre tel ou tel endroit de la ville.
Pour ma part, le Graffiti est davantage un mode de vie qu’une simple activité créatrice (« We do Graffiti, we fuck Graffiti, we are Graffiti »).
J’ai découvert le Graffiti en liaison avec la culture Hip-hop. Cependant, ce lien originel n’a plus beaucoup d’importance maintenant pour moi. Mes références proviennent désormais autant du Rock (je suis notamment grand fan de Noir Désir, Manu Chao, The Clash), même si j’adore des gens comme La Rumeur ou Casey.
Mes voyages et mes lectures m’influencent énormément.
Cependant, les racines du Graffiti classique sont toujours en moi, elles forment mon « background » culturel : je n’oublie pas que j’ai peint des lettrages et des tags durant de longues années.

Ce livre, c’est histoire de garder une trace de toutes ces années ?
En effet, après 20 ans de peinture, j’avais envie de faire un bilan.
50% des œuvres présentées dans le livre ont aujourd’hui disparu.
J’ai voulu retracer mon parcours de graffeur et montrer l’évolution de ma peinture.
Je débute ainsi le livre par des photos de mes premiers lettrages, pour finir par une présentation du spectacle « Ecoute Les Murs Parler », en passant par le collage des Quetzalcóatls et les réalisations de fresques.
Enfin, je suis depuis deux ans membre d’une association (La Sauce Aux Arts) où il existe une branche Éditions. Donc il y avait les gens pour m’aider à réaliser ce projet.

Qu’est-ce qui a finalement été le plus compliqué dans la conception de ce livre ?
Créer une ambiance et trouver une rythmique au niveau de la mise en page qui soient cohérentes et agréables tout au long du livre.
Et que l’aspect général de cet objet traduise bien mon état d’esprit de peintre.
La première maquette élaborée au bout des 4 premiers mois de travail avait d’ailleurs déçu les potes de l’association. Ce fut un long et difficile processus pour trouver la bonne manière de présenter mes peintures.

D’où te vient cet intérêt pour le Mexique et les civilisations précolombiennes ?
Les mystérieuses cités d’or ou une séduisante  prof d’Histoire Géo ?
Depuis mon enfance, j’ai toujours ressenti un profond intérêt pour l’Histoire.
J’ai d’ailleurs obtenu une maîtrise d’Histoire il y maintenant quelques années…
J’ai toujours trouvé la muse Clio très séduisante…
Pour ce qui est du Mexique, j’y suis allé pour des séjours plus ou moins long depuis 1996.
En 1996, c’est la possibilité de rencontrer les Indiens zapatistes au Chiapas qui m’a décidé (et l’envie de voyage en terre latine…).
Au fil du temps, et de plusieurs séjours là-bas, j’ai visité les principaux sites archéologiques et musées du Mexique et du Guatemala. Différentes lectures sur les mythologies mayas et aztèques m’ont également apporté certaines références, notamment celle du Serpent à plumes,  le « Quetzalcóatl ». Le dessin animé « Les mystérieuses cités d’or » est d’ailleurs excellent pour les petits, pour acquérir certaines notions sur les civilisations précolombiennes.

A part le Mexique, y’a-t-il d’autres pays ou villes qui t’ont marqué ?
J’aime le voyage. Une de mes expressions  fétiches en anglais est « Travelling, Smoking, Painting ». Beaucoup de lieux et villes sont importants pour moi. La Grèce a une place particulière, comme le Mexique, car l’histoire de ma famille est fortement liée à cette terre méditerranéenne.
Mais, on peut déplorer une espèce de culture urbaine mondiale qui nivelle tout (plutôt vers le bas) et qui tue les différences entre les lieux. Ainsi,  dans mes souvenirs d’adolescent, certains quartiers d’Athènes avaient une réelle saveur presque orientale (comme le marché du boulevard Athinas). Aujourd’hui, c’est grande enseigne (Zara, Séphora, Mac Do et compagnie…) et caméras de surveillance. Et quasiment toute l’Europe, voire le monde entier, s’uniformise ainsi à grand pas.

Pourrais-tu nous citer quelques artistes dont tu apprécies le travail ou qui ont eu une influence sur tes productions (pas forcément seulement dans le graffiti) ?
Je suis admiratif, et je les considère comme des « maîtres » pour moi, de gens  comme Invader, JR, Bansky, Jace. J’aime particulièrement aussi les travaux de L’Atlas, Os Gemeos, André, Zeus.
Je suis un peintre autodidacte, c’est le tag qui m’a amené à ce que je fais aujourd’hui.
Donc je demeure extrêmement influencé par les gens du milieu Graffiti et Art de rue.
Cependant, je me forge petit à petit une culture artistique classique, afin de connaître un peu mieux l’art occidental en général, et nourrir ainsi ma création.

Si je passe par Caen as-tu un ou deux endroits à me recommander ?
Au niveau graffiti, peinture ou en général ?
Les deux…
Au niveau général, rien  de particulier à signaler sur la tranquille capitale de la Basse-Normandie…
Au niveau graffiti, là aussi on pourrait dire qu’il n’y a pas forcément beaucoup à voir.
Il se passe quand même des choses. Des gens comme Sane2, Akor, Blast peignent beaucoup et font avancer le mouvement, chacun à leur manière. Leurs crews  322 et DLT sont les plus actifs dans le coin. Les KSF et ECF, avec Nore, Hope, 1ER, Kaps posent aussi pas mal. Et puis, le pochoiriste Artiste Ouvrier vient de s’installer ici.
Sinon, si il y a un endroit à visiter pour voir du mur peint, proche du centre ville, c’est selon moi sur le Campus Universitaire 1 que ça se passe. Forcément, il y a plusieurs de mes fresques, mais pas mal d’autres gens viennent se  poser là  car on y trouve des murs sympas,  vus par tous les étudiants, et pas de patrouille de police pour te déranger.
Le long du canal, le mur d’enceinte de Renaults Trucks (RVI) était  beaucoup peint, mais je ne sais pas si c’est encore le cas. Enfin, sur la commune d’Hérouville, Sane2 met en place pas mal de projets divers. Le site de la SMN à Colombelles est à voir, car c’est le plus vieux terrain, mais trop de toys de gamins.

Des souhaits, des envies, des projets pour les prochains mois ?
Diffuser bien sûr le bouquin le plus largement possible.
Mais surtout, poursuivre dans la belle dynamique de mes 3 dernières années.
A savoir : des serpents à plumes collés un peu partout en France et ailleurs, de belles commandes de fresques, des dates sur de bons festivals avec les potes slamers, zicos et vidéastes pour notre spectacle « Ecoute Les Murs Parler », et enfin, si ce n’est pas trop demander, encore quelques endroits sympas pour exposer.
Et pour finir, avec une légère ironie : avoir des critiques dithyrambiques, avec  des articles de 5 pages,  dans tous les magazines du petit milieu graffito-streetarto-tendance-fashion…

Le site d’Oré: http://www.artore.org/

Pour commander le livre d’Oré (20€ frais de port compris):  J’irai taguer sur vos tombes.

Please introduce yourself. Where are you from? When did you start photography? Did you paint before starting photography?

My name is Ruediger Glatz aka Ruedione and i come from the beautiful city of Heidelberg in Germany.

Like many people I’ve shot photos my whole life.  When i was 7-8 I had as well some darkroom moments with my father, but the real start of my photography was in 2000…soon i became a photonerd.

I started to write around `91 but slowed down around `98….today I piece just once a while, but can’t claim myself being an active writer.
My focus is on my photography

Backflashes is a big book with large pages and only 1 big photo per page. Was it important that your photos were presented on such a big format?

The book was still a compromise for me….if it was only on me, i would have put just one image per doublepage, but i was as well grateful to the publisher, as doing such an uncommercial book in this period of time, while tons of graff books come on the market and most sell way less, than they used to sell, is a certain risk I appreciate a lot.

indeed…this kind of presentation was important to as I want to see my “babies” getting the right focus.  The composition of an image is very important to me…normally i don’t crop my images. I go even so far, that the images in the book, that go over a doublepage and had get cropped for that, fall in my eyes under grafic design and are no more part of my photos in that book.

I personally don’t crop to push myself becoming better. With crops you can easily optimize your images and you don’t  have to focus much while shooting.

The presentation of my images is quiet an emotional point for me.

Your photos are all in black & white and some are a bit noisy. They look like film photography. And it works great for night photos. Do you like the current trend of clinical precision that allow digital photos? (and by the way, do you actually use digital cameras?)

When I started this series in 2002 I was strictly shooting film and the T-MAX3200 gave me the needed speed to shoot this series. I like the grainy and raw look of this film and had the feeling, that this format was supporting my look.

In 2005 i switched to digital, as the first camera came on the market, that gave obviously better results than film plus i found a mentor who opened my eyes for a certain general view on photography.

…but i kept the same look for the series.

Today I shoot mostly digital, but use film for some series.  I experiment a lot with all kind of cameras and always try to push limits.

I am very grateful for the possibilities, that the digital photography gave me, the same time you have to be aware of all kind of risks, that come with that medium.

When i shoot a series i always make up my mind first, what kind of style is underlining my message. I do shoot as well “technical perfect and precise” digital images, but for most of my series i use a retro look, as it gives me the emotional intensity, that i always look for in my images.

Backflashes must be one of the 1st books about graffiti where it is not shown a single graffiti. Is it a way for you to tell that adrenalin, friendship, tension, & night-missions are what really matters in the graffiti?

I see my book being the second book, as Alex Fakso published his HEAVY METAL in 2006.

My aim was to visualize that feeling that kept me going out at night for so many years. Graffiti -and specifically bombing- influenced my life a lot and i wanted to preserve that precious feeling for me and others, that might be interested in grabbing the book in 10-20-30 years and get a backflash.

The way i chose to shoot the series in, has the focus completely on the feeling….the identities of the persons are totally not relevant…it is even important for me, that they are not being recognized, as graffiti is a movement, that creates idols, who might disturb what I was looking for.

In a way i think that the community aspect of graffiti is probably the most important factor to me, that made this movement so special to me, but this is somehow what my next book is about…i am already working on for 7 years. BACKFLASHES is all about the bombing-feeling itself.

…a piece made for night-lovers.

As a former graffiti writer, is it frustrating sometimes to take some risks with people in front of a train and not painting on it?

It is funny…it seems that this is the question almost everybody asks me. The answer is quite simple. Photography is no different than writing for me. It is about style and achieving aims, therefore I always saw myself as part of the production, but in another way. While i spent formerly 7-8 hours on a mission plus had to chase in the morning trains (what was as well special to me) to get my piece, i join today the production and have mostly 10-20 masterpieces in a very basic format on me. Those I can finish in the perfect moment. You could compare it to a writer, who does his firstlines and fills in the yard, but is able to do his outlines at home.

This was always a wonderful way of working for me.

As well i was never able to satisfy my personal view on quality and style in writing, while i am able to do so in my photography. Of course there still has to be a certain challenge, to be able to evolve, but i love my images and it feel like carrying home babies.

Which photographers do you admire most? Did some of them influence your own style?

I wouldn’t say that there is a specific photographer, who influenced my style or who i even admire.

When i started in 2000 very soon the images and the approach of MAGNUM photographers like Bresson, Burri and Capa influenced me, but over the years i had the feeling something was missing and it were finally images of the American civil war and other vintage prints, that showed me what i was seeking for.. that influence added darkened edges and a certain retro look to my style. Somehow the opposite of what seems to be perfect to the most is perfect to me … it gives warmth and emotional focus on details to my images and this is what was a bit missing before. I never wanted my photography to be neutral.

Several years ago the concept of “stars” faded for me and today i don’t see any photographer or “star” in general, who I would like to switch life with…i enjoy my life.

Is this book the end of a period of you life? Do you still shoot graffiti writers or like Alex Fakso you are now experiencing new photographic themes?

I would say that this book was about a former period of my life, that was even over, when i started shooting…so i called it BACKFLASHES.

Since i started taking photos, the challenge of learning was always a very important matter to me. Therefore i shoot since years as well photos in other directions than graffiti, but i like to separate things. About 4-5 years ago i started to work also as a photographer, but what i shoot job wise has nothing to do with my personal work…but it keeps me learning.

Next to BACKFLASHES i have other long term projects i was working on, and since i finished BACKFLASHES in December 2008, i focus on my series ARTISTS (just a workingtitle), that i started shooting for in 2002-2003.  Here i shoot portraits of around 90-95 protagonists of the graffitimovement. I join them sometimes for a couple days and the focus is on the person and their living environment…this series should be finished by the end of 2010.

…but there are a couple more series. I am addicted to shoot and i enjoy it a lot.

And a last one if I visited Heidelberg, which are the places I shouldn’t miss?

It depends on the day, but for sure you shouldn’t miss the ZUCKERLADEN …a crazy candystore with a crazy owner.

I always call Heidelberg “happy land” as everything seems to be alright and good.

http://www.ruedione.com/

http://www.backflashes.com/

Pener one – Spectrum crew

I’ve got no preference in terms of painting tools that I use.
I love paintbrushes as well as markers I like the smell of both ink and paint.

…Amsterdam… I’ve been there a couple of times, but never had a
chance to collaborate with SOL CREW EINDHOVEN…. The works of Erosie
and the rest of the guys have really made a huge impression on me.

Definitely black&white…. A sharper contrast… Easier reception…
You cannot cheat, you cannot conceal a thing
There is power in simplicity.

When it comes to the technique and obtained effect I’d definitely
prefer stencils…I always try to merge my templates with background to
fit them in into the whole composition…A stencil enables the wall
project to go much easier and faster… It gives the final effect… On
top of that I love its phat effect… The runs, inaccuracy… These
things define my work pretty often

Definitely Dexter. I think it won’t finish well though…
I got somewhat lost around the fifth episode…
Anyhow, my wife still watches it

laura palmer laura palmer laura palmer laura palmer laura palmer laura palmer

Pirates

‘Both… Preferably mixed.
binarpilot, Atari Teenage Riot, prefuse73, vitalic, Animal Collective,
jan garbarek, primus, meshuggah,…I listen to all kinds of music,
depending on the hour or activities I’m involved in.

Lately it’d be vodka… Maybe it comes with age, but I have a terrible
hangover after drinking beer

The beginning of the digital era is a big inspiration… Great
counting machines…. The tapes… Silicon… Green computer screens….
Atari and Spectrum logos, stuff like that.

My aunt who lives in Hungary has a cousin – he used to produce fake
Playmobil toys back in the 90′s…The company name was Shenk or
something… The guy got away with it and even manage to made a pretty
good fortune…I heard he’s living somewhere with his new
30-years-younger wife

More about Pener/Spectrum crew:
Pener on ekosystem
Pener personal website

Plakboek has been released for the Dutch Design Week 2008. I think it was not an “urban-art” event, how did you get involved in this ?

Eindhoven is a small city and design is Eindhoven’s claim to fame because of the Design Academy etc. Luckily there are quite some other events during the DDW not directly related to the ‘ pots and pans, chairs and tables’-design, but places where there is a different touch. One of these places is Freek Lomme‘s Onomatopee and his Your-space. He did a lot of the arranging so we were lucky to produce the book.

Actually I think it’s good it was not related to an “urban art event”, it’s good to see genres mix, I never liked that art is only about art, urban only about urban, hiphop only about hiphop etc. There are good and bad things to find in all fields.

What was your aim with this book, to make a kind of photo album of the last 10 years in Eindhoven ?

In a way yes. Like a scrapbook should be…Me, space3 and Crackrock wanted a good overview of certain people and certain works that had an impact on Eindhoven’s streets in the past 10 years or so. Next to that of course there are also more traditional tags and old electricity boxes with tags still visible after 15 or even 20 years. Most of these were buffed just recently, so in a way the book shows the ghosts of a past era, and also shows the constant battle with the citycleaners. Also it’s good that a lot of things are put together in one book, unlike big cities there are not so many people constantly going in and out of Eindhoven so a lot of nice things never were seen.

The curator of the exhibition gives a few explanations in the book, but according to you, what made Eindhoven scene special ?

The fact that a lot of people with different backgrounds met in a similar field; producing stuff in the streets that challenged each other to make more and different work. A constructive vibe instead of losing too much energy battling in a negative way. More traditional graffiti always existed next to other expressions, people did both art or design and graffiti and crosshatched these fields. On a personal level all these different people always relatively got along quite well, it’s a small place it makes sense.

What does Eindhoven look like today ? Is it all buffed ? Are there interesting new comers we should know ?

Yes…it’s mostly buffed and kept clean. Like most other North-European or at least Dutch cities there is apparently enough money to spend on city-cleaning, and it’s done as a “safety measure”; people feel unsafe and the best way to lighten that feeling is a superficial one. Nothing really changes, it looks and feels “better”, so that makes all the difference. It makes sense I guess in a society that is so much about appearance and looks.

Still people do things so there is still stuff to see, but it’s not as vibrant as before. In the bigger picture it makes sense that things change after a 10-year span.

If I visited Eindhoven, which are the places I shouldn’t miss ?

Definitely check out MU, an art space with good contemporary art and changing exhibitions as well as the Van Abbe Museum, look for Arnol, the loudest streetpreacher ever in the center city, he will give you Jesus’ blessings personally, drink a beer or fifteen at the Lafolie-bar, go to Motta artbooks, break a leg in Area51 skatepark, get your infamous Dutch-cuisine lunch at Dik & Lang, try to be at a Stroomhuis-party, and that should be enough for one day to not come back in quite a while…

(cc) Facemepls

We are at the end of an era for what was called street-art last years. Are you still interested in the current scene ?
What artists are you currently excited about?

I really like Influenza‘s ongoing experiments in the research of using and abusing our cities and it’s public spaces…I still can’t get over what Mischa Leinkauf and Matthias Wermke did with their film “zwischenzeit”, it’s so good. Did you see Blu’s latest visit to Barcelona? I saw some beautiful stuff from Adams some time ago that make you realise how far some people push things…Ofcourse it’s interesting to see the developments ( or lack of developments) by our beloved (or not so beloved) streetart superstars and the famegame and moneymachine around it, some change in just a decade! Next to that there are so many things happening it takes too much space to type down…not only in street-related fields but in general. The more you see the less you know…

Is there any project or collaboration you would love to do but still nobody asked you to ?

I would just like to find a way to bend time a bit more in my advantage.
If somebody can help me with that, that would be really nice.

http://www.erosie.net/

http://plakboek-eindhoven.nl/

]]> http://blog.ekosystem.org/2009/04/plakboek-eindhoven-erosie/feed/ 2 http://blog.ekosystem.org/2008/09/mini-interview-with-jolek-the-girlz/ http://blog.ekosystem.org/2008/09/mini-interview-with-jolek-the-girlz/#comments Fri, 26 Sep 2008 20:11:14 +0000 eko http://blog.ekosystem.org/?p=152 Continue reading →]]>

Jolek: Je suis JOLEK peintre sur tous supports , originaire du nord , sur Bordeaux depuis quelques années.
10 ans de graffiti et j ai dépassé le 1/4 de siècle…

eko: Le graffiti c’est comme collectionner des baskets ou mettre des jantes en alu c’est un truc de mecs. Exhiber des filles c’est juste une autre façon de briller vis-à -vis des copains ?

J’aime le graffiti / la peinture / les femmes et la photo , j’ai donc rassemblé ce que j aime , le résultat  me plait et plait a mes modèles  c’est le principal . Si ça plait aux autres c’est cool  sinon j’men bat les c……
après je fais voir et fais tourner quelques photos aux potes qui aiment ce que je fais mais j’en ai qui restent secrètes .

T’as pas l’impression que sur tes photos on ne regarde plus tes pièces ?

Ceux qui aiment mes graffs regarderont les graffs et les  sexygirlz.
Ceux qui ne m’aiment pas moi et mes graffs se contenteront de mater la sexy girl ou regarderont
ailleurs.

Comment a commencé cette série pornograffitique ?

Mon premier body paint c’est une histoire de dingue que personne ne croira… . fait aux feutres de couleurs et  marker noir réalisé sous skunk / photo pourrie mais un pur souvenir

Mon 2eme body paint c’etait pour une femme libertine contactée par le net / pour faire une série de photos insolites pour son site perso X.

Pour la 1ere séance photos pornograffitique. je faisais un graff autorise sur un camion de prostituée a Paludate pour ceux qui connaissent et j’ai convaincu  la dame de poser devant mon graff.

Voila pour les débuts.

Les calendriers de routiers ont-ils bercés ton adolescence ?

J’avoue  j’ai  toujours aimé les magazines et vidéos de femmes dénudées mais je n’imaginais pas un jour avoir le plaisir de faire de telles photos .

Qui sont ces filles  ?

Secret professionnel ,,,,. La plupart sont des modèles photos mais il y a aussi des étudiantes . une star du x. stripteaseuses ,  femmes libertines échangistes et coquines………….  toutes majeures et volontaires.

Comment les rencontres-tu ?
Je les rencontre par internet pour la plupart. Après il y a le bouche a oreille ou des connaissances.

T’es plutôt un gros baratineur ou ton charme est-il si irrésistible qu’elles ne peuvent refuser de poser pour toi ?

Non , je les contacte, fais ma proposition accompagnée de photos de ce que je fais , si interessee on échange quelques mails ou tel pour régler les détails  si ok on se fixe une date sinon on laisse tomber.

Jamais de mauvaises rencontres lors des prises de vues ?

Jusqu’a présent ca c’est bien passé, j’espere que ça continuera comme ça, je vais dans les endroits ou je peins tranquille et où il n y a pas beaucoup de passage. Les modèles viennent souvent accompagnées et je me déplace avec mon pitbull, mon fusil a pompe et mon couteau à huitres.

L’hiver arrive, les rhumes aussi maintenant t’arrêtes tes conneries ok ?

Justement non, je vais en profiter pour faire du body painting au chaud, mais comme je suis du nord je suis habitué au froid et je continuerai  à peindre en extérieur, par contre pour les photos de modèles devant graffs c’est clair que c’est pas terrible, je vais faire mes séances prévues et on verra la suite.

Je peux rajouter quelques dédicaces stp.

Pour mon homeboy, et mes vrais amis / EKO pour les photos publiées et cette interview, a ma copine [pour mes absences avec mes bimbos’. IDEM //        GHETTO mon poto de BORDO //
NEFAZ // NAZ //GREMS………………………………………………………………………………………………………
DECIBELLE // ESTELLE // EVA // MISS AMAL //JADE // NATH // FABIENNE // CAROLE // TYPHAINE // COLINE // JULIETTE // CELINE// ANITA …….pour tous les graffeurs avec qui j’ai peint et partagé de bons moments et FUCK  à toutes les langues de putes.

pour mes futures modèles et futurs supports

Merci à toi Jolek et j’ai envie de citer le pseudo d’un mec sur Flickr pour conclure: Fuck Vulgar shit !

Jolek on ekosystem – Jolek on myspace

Interview with DC GECKO

Can you give us a brief rundown of your life up until today? When, where, did you start to work in the streets?
My name is DC Gecko, Docteur Gecko. I was born in “La Réunion”, a french island located in the Indian Ocean. I hijack, hack, remessage advertising that you find in bus shelters. The particularity of my work is that my modifications can only be seen during the night. However, during day time the ad modified seems to be untouched.

Have you worked for JC Decaux to learn the tricks to open their bus-stop advertising systems ?
, well no, but that would be amazing, especially that now they have some new shelters, I should give it a try. Actually, Internet was the solution. I found on a ad-busters forum how to open a model called “sucette”. So I did my simple “key”, and still use this one in different cities.

Kaws has been known for his work on bus shelter posters. Did he influence you in any way ?
Well it’s not because of his early work that I wanted to work onto advertising, if you want to know. As I said, in the beginning I wanted my stuff to be a bit longer than 3 days in the street. I guess, if my city did not adopt this anti-graffiti law, I would still do graffiti or sculptures on wall, or something else. It was the frustration of not being able to express myself that leaded me to hack advertising, a kind of adaptation to the constrains of my city. However, I knew that working on these ads was not an original idea, but at that time, I was not aware that he was the first and that he did open a new area for others.

You are born in Reunion Island. Jace who live in Reunion also painted a lot on billboards. Same question, did he influence you ?
We cannot not be influenced by Jace, we can only rip him!

I’m a huge fan of his work and of the fact that he can bring a humoristic wink on some important society’s problems.  He has a strong sense of humor, something I wish I have .

When you see an ad, do you bring it at home to work on it ?

Your work can only be seen at night. That’s the beauty and the strength of you project, but at the same time aren’t you afraid people don’t notice your work ?

* It tricks JC Decaux since they don’t see that their ad are manipulated and then don’t replace it. And it’s always pleasant

There is now a real little community of French street-artists living in Spain. How did you land in Madrid ?

Do you have connections with other “urban artists” in Madrid ? (somewhere else ?)

Any plans for the future that you can tell us about?

yes sure! I’m planning to work for JC Decaux and make a movie called “Super Advertise Me”. Stay tune .

According to you who should i interview next for ekosystem ?

- This is a question we usually ask to rock bands, but where does your name (Zonenkinder)
come from ? and why have you made such a choice ?

“Zonenkinder” refers to the “twighlight zone” from where we get our inspiration
(or extraterrestrial orders)
…but  our crew-name originally derives from a funny street-project we started in 2001. in this project we used the typical “ZONE”street-signs which indicate pedestrian precincts. We used the pictograms on these signs and gave them – mostly by applying stickers to signs – faces of animals/famous persons like Marilyn Monroe, dalai lama etc./or just imaginative faces, let them wear shoes, let them carry strange mushroom-baskets etc.
The original meaning of the term “zonenkinder” refers to the German history – when Germany was divided. The young guys from the eastern part of germany who were born somewhere around the time when the system-change from communist/socialist to capitalist happened, are sometimes called “zonenkinder”. This expression derives from the word “zone” which was some kind of synonym for the German Democratic Republic and the word “kinder” (children).

- Zonenkinder is a duo; you also are a young married couple. Do you sometimes feel the need
to paint alone ?

Yes, of course! Sometimes it is more a kind of “motivation-thing” and sometimes one of us likes to express/push an individual thing. From time to time we also have specific projects where the clients/collaboration partners are asking for the special style of one of us (e.g. the fashion-project from last year together with the Frankfurt based designer Lin Beeser).
… and we also have projects where one style works out better: the trees for example are more a kind of a solo-project concerning the painting itself – but discover the beautiful spot in the forests is something we do together.

Was there anyone, or any particular moment or event that motivated you to begin painting
together ?

We founded the “Zonenkinder Collective” about 8 years ago as a cooperative project to create our own world of a(r)tmosphere, influenced by mixed memories resulting from our various journeys and from our love for art, for the flavour of graffiti and our positive thinking.
But there was not really a particular moment or event… of course we had some initial experiences concerning art-projects, murals and stuff but our interests in art and the passion for graffiti grew together somehow naturally.  Maybe working together became the logical way of being and living together.
As we both love spending time with each other being creative it proved to be the best to share our passion for art by working on the “zonenkinder”-project as one. a shared alter ego…additionally of course it is very inspiring to create a wall or something together
…together often we discover places which scream for color and revival or we suddenly see diffuse parts, faces, animals in a fresh painted wall and let it flow…we love to jam together by creating a new piece of art, just to pour our soul direct on the wall…

I’m particularly fond of your work with trees. Land art from the sixties has been partially criticized for not really respecting the environment. Is it something you have in mind
when you paint on a tree ?

One main part of our work is definitely to create art in the nature and to work with the environment which surrounds and inspires us. Do we have scruples? Yes and no. About two or three years ago when we started painting on trees we had some scruples doing this. So first we solely painted on dead or dying trees. And even today we mostly paint on that surface. But we are constantly in search of new spots for our art and new ways to be creative, and as we see imaginative faces etc. in the living nature around us as well we decided to integrate also living trees in our project. We are convinced that just applying some paint to a tree will not kill it (instead of acid rain or something). Furthermore we are deliberate to paint only a single or a few trees in a single forest – we do not want to destroy something, in a subjective sense we focus to be an active part of our environment with our works by transforming and re-interpreting what we find and create a new atmosphere.

You visited several cities and countries in Europe last 2 years, what’s your favourite city
to paint ?

We really like Lisbon, Berlin and Sete (france) because of the “unclean” atmosphere in these
cities. But when it comes to painting, the painting-spot itself, the atmosphere and the connection between the artists working together on a wall or a project is the most important thing.
You can sometimes experience the best times in small towns or abandoned sites which do not
even have a name simply because “set and setting” are fantastic. We think no big city or
“must-be-place” is needed to have a great time outside painting.

You painted in an abandoned stadium in Zurich, can you tell us a bit more about this place ?

That was a real strange story and a funny place to paint as well.
We and some other artists from Belgium, Italy and Germany were invited to come to Zurich by a local artist whose name we do not want to tell – you know who you are
From the beginning on it was some kind of conspiracional event. Neither we knew what kind
of site the festival was going to take place nor where the event was at all or who would be there. So everything was some kind of surprise when we arrived at the meeting point, a
squat in Zurich. The squatting guys were extremely suspicious of us (maybe because our clothing were not all in black and we were not masked.
Not until ten minutes before the guys from the squat left to head for the event the guys at the squat told us where everything would happen: the former grasshopper-stadium.
The opening of the event started with a rude police-action. The police of course wanted to prevent the people from squatting the abandoned stadium and shot with rubber-ammunition from a short distance into the crowd!
But fortunately they were not able to clear the stadium and pulled back. So the stadium got slowly but surely transformed in some kind of a creative festival site. The activists started immediately to go over the advertisements, to build stands, bars, a kitchen and different tents directly on the playing field. Additionally there was a stage in the centre for music and bands. They also organized different happenings like a race with selfmade cars or a kind of cable railway from one roof of the stadium to the other all over the playing field. While there was a lot of action in every corner of the crowded stadium they invited painters and lots of local troublemakers “visually reinterpreted” the stadium.
In the end the whole stadium was painted – inside and outside.

It sounds like a fantastic experience.
What other  artists do you most admire and why?

- Kowalski from Berlin, cause his characters are full of so much soul and energy. His style integrates typography, painting and characterdesign and is really worth checking out.
- Alex from Wiesbaden, cause his rude graffitistyles are simply burner.
- Esmaeil Bahrani, cause he showed in his art that there is so much more to learn about
expressionism and action-painting – spheres of art which are underestimated and
underrepresented in the “urban art scene”. Beside of that he is a great impressive guy.
- Herve Di Rosa who is a great painter of figuration nouveau.
- Os Gemeos, JR, Latlas, Blu with their inspiring works.  In this all day moving picture-carousel they are still able to make us being amazed and surprised!

If you could do artwork for the CD  of a musical artist, who would you like to work with
if you could choose anyone?

- We think our artworx would  go with many different kinds of music, ranging from psychedelic rock to rap. Let us see what future brings
But if we could choose right now: lee “scratch” perry. He is a weird and strange genius.

Any future plans?

- Yeah, there is more to come in the future and we got several upcoming projects. Here
are some parts we would like to emphasize:
We are looking forward to our show at the Basementizid-gallery in Heilbronn, Germany
together with mr. Kowalski.
Furthermore we plan to travel next spring to Iran to meet friends and artists there -
and paint for sure.
in summer 09 there will also doing a show at a festival in Sete and we will be in London,
ah, and check also: the upcoming issue of ROJO-magazine (out september 08) with some Zonenkinder artworx – and also great other contemporary artists of course!

Peace.

Curious to see what we are talking about? Visit our website:
www.zonenkindercollective.de.vu

Interview with Brad Downey

“The Adventures of Darius and Downey”
by Thames and Hudson

The adventures of Darius & Downey (& other true tales of Street art) is no ordinary street-art book. It is illustrated with many photos, but it is above all a book to read. A testimony of your street experiences from the early 00’s to nowadays with Darius Jones and a few other friends. Who had the idea to write a book instead of a more classical illustrated monograph?
Darius and I just figured that about half of what makes our work interesting is the adventure and the struggle, as we don’t get paid generally for anything we do outside. So to show just a photo is just showing half of the work. We wanted to try and show the complete lifespan of a piece of work. They have never been just sculptures. They have a life before they are installed during and sometimes they take on a kind of afterlife. The process mimics the style of the installations. The work disguises itself as official street furniture in order to hide in the city hopefully giving it longevity. We also disguised ourselves as official objects in order to hide within the system that would try and stop us.

How did you work with Ed Zipco, who actually wrote the book?
We have known Ed for almost 11 years now. He has been on numerous installs with us and is a really talented writer. For this project Ed, Darius, and I moved to the middle of no-where Pennsylvania for three months, because it was cheaper and less distracting.  Each night before sleeping Ed would make questions, in the morning he would interview Darius and I with digital-video, in the afternoon he would write, and after dinner the three of us would sit and discuss what he had written. Sometimes he had to call people and interview them on the phone and record it with the answering machine. But after 3 months he had most of the material in interviews and spent the next few months writing and fine-tuning everything.

I have the feeling that documenting the work is nearly as much important as the piece itself to you? In “The adventures of Darius & Downey” you present us Omar/Swatch, an old school writer who sells street-art pieces stolen in NYC. Whereas Darius is very upset (and we understand him), you seem to be more comprehensive about him and to appreciate that Omar photographs the pieces in context before taking them.
Omar is a really interesting person. I am not sure if he is the only one like this but he is the only one I have met. In the art world you have guys that walk around art shows and exchange money for artwork. The deal is: the buyer doesn’t just exchange money for the work. The buyer is supposed to love the work and care for the work and make sure that this work is recorded throughout history and placed in a cultural timeline. This is what a good collector does, I hope Omar is doing this. On the one hand he is illegally de-installing street art for his own benefit and maybe prophet. On the other hand he was exchanging something more valuable than money to preserve the real work. Maybe it isn’t important for the work to last as an object, and most of it doesn’t. But it’s always great to see some of the real things inside or out. I am sure a historical retrospective is going to look allot more interesting with artifacts. Omar knows the original is culturally worthless without the reference to the original location. To show the artifact which would have been de-installed and thrown away eventually with proper documentation makes sense to me. Of course I hate it when any piece I like disappears, especially if it’s my work or a friend’s work. But, I feel he is an unusual and valid collector and I am happy for him to have some of my work. An illegal collector.

You also made a documentary “Public Discourse” where you filmed Swoon, Shepard Fairey, Darius Jones/Verbs, Nato… Is it where begun your street-collaboration with Darius?
‘When I first moved to New York from Atlanta, Georgia, in like 1998 that was what opened my eyes to graffiti. In Atlanta you have a lot of good graffiti (like Sever, Revok, Hense) but for me it was all so eye-candy, mostly legal walls. When I moved to New York it was thrown in my face, as New York graffiti has a really particular kinda flavour: the work layers up and has so much energy, in a way that I had never seen in any other kind of art form. You can go outside and get immediately punched in the face with this fast energy. That really caught my eye and drew me in immediately. So I decided that since I was in film school that I’d try to make a film about some of this stuff, maybe just to try and meet some of these people and to get my head around it some more. That’s how the Public Discourse thing came about. Verbs was one of the artist I chose to film but we immediately clicked and started talking and coming up with concepts. Between the years of 1999 and 2004 we were pretty much inseparable, similar to a married couple (without sex). We ate, slept, and shit, each other. Best friends and working partners. We stuck together most of the time for practical reasons, while working together we always had an extra perspective on the work and an extra pair of hands.

Do you think you will eventually make a new film about your street experiments?
Most of the new work I have been doing is videotaped. But I try to make each piece stand alone, as its own film. I don’t have any ambitions to make another street art documentary and I don’t think it would be honest to ever make a larger film about my own work. I tried my best to keep myself out of the first film. But, when I exhibit inside the work usually ends up as a video or photograph.

When did creating art become something important in your life?
It was always been there.

Street-artists usually chose an “alias” for their work. You have always used your real name…
I always had an issue with the “name” stuff. I could never get comfortable with the idea of hiding behind an alias. At first it was hard… no one understood or liked dealing with a “street artist” who was using his real name. They always want cool names. Using a real name was kind of like turning your back on the movement. But I still feel its one of the best decisions I ever made. I see many of my friends having identity crisis now that they are older.

After NYC & London, you are now based in Berlin. What makes Berlin so much attractive?
It’s my favorite city in the world right now. The city is so alive and full of possibilities. Berlin is constantly under construction (socially and physically), and nothing feels permanent. This impermanence is a big inspiration for my work. Berlin seems to be a place I can change and alter to suit my needs.

Do you have connections with the local scene?
and what do you think you share with other artists from Berlin?
I am really close to many of the people currently active in Berlin. I share a studio with Akim and “The Wa.” Both of which are making nice projects on the street.  Akim knows everybody (not just street and graffiti artists) through him I have met almost everyone here.  I think Berlin is a place that you can still explore and do stuff. Since all is under construction you can still do weird things without anyone noticing or caring. Its going to get cleaned up anyways. I enjoy the “fuck it” attitude of the street art style here. I really love guys like Mr Ix, Zast, Sex6.de, hesht and spair. And guys like Kripo Adams and Akim are starting to take there work in really unusual directions.

There’s that scene in the book where Darius’s art teacher says to him, he is loosing his time and money at school by writing “Verbs” again and again. The teacher told him he must experiment new things. It sounds like a turning point to him. Can you tell us what is the most important thing you learnt at art school ?
When I was getting my masters at the Slade in London I remember the tutors not really knowing how to give me criticism or advice for that matter.  I think they really didn’t feel they had any classical reference points for what I was doing (because most of what tutors do in art school is say “have you heard of, such and such artist, you should check them out”). Actually I remember one conversation with Kate Bright a tutor of mine, and an amazing painter. I said to her “Hey Kate you haven’t spoken to me all year, I have seen you speak to everyone at least once.” Kate looked at me and said “Brad think about it, do you really think there is anything I can say to you about what you are doing.”  Art school is mostly about the students. They are the ones that teach you the most. The Majority of the tutors seemed to be walking around looking for ideas to steal.

What’s your street-piece/action you are the most proud of?
It’s hard to say. But I am quite fond of taking CCTV cameras down. I have a nice little collection of these objects. It is something I have been doing since 2005, I think this work is important. I do not know if its art but I am proud of it.

How do you pick your spots? What draws you to say that’s the right place for my piece?
Going around and just searching for something that grabs my interest. Then I make something that I think is missing or could add to that or emphasize a particular existing narrative, moment, or neighborhood. Sometimes history brings the inspiration, sometimes an architectural or urban planning mistake, sometimes a nice color, or a construction worksite, different every time.

How do you feel about galleries?
I guess exhibitions and books present a kind of guide to seeing the outside. It is impossible for the average viewer to be so observant in the urban space; the stuff around the art can sometimes camouflage or hide it. They also give the viewer an opportunity to see work from artists from all over the world.  When walking around a big city there is a moment when the brain can only see so much so its nice to see some of these things with white stuff around them and kill all the urban visual noise.
But, No matter how hard you try to force it inside you will never completely capture the heart of it.  Street art inside is still tricky.  I feel it has to be dealt with carefully.  This context shift is important because museums and collectors keep and important record for history and posterity. But, I also feel that my work cannot completely fit in a museum, this isn’t because I don’t want to work there but because the work has a more natural setting outside.  It is like putting a cage around a lion, the lion is still interesting to look at but its much more of an experience to see it running in the desert in Africa.  I think with “street art” sensibilities you walk a fine line.

On the other hand I think this also applies to work outside. Some people especially street artists think that a piece of work is more interesting just because it is placed outside. I feel that many so-called “street artists” are not making work that necessarily needs to be outside.  An arbitrary image placed outside is not more interesting even if it does give credibility and recognition to the artist. It simply widens the audience.

In your Wikipedia page it is said you were awarded the title Kentucky Colonel. What is this ?
I was born in Kentucky. It is a really beautiful place. I want to try and keep a connection to my roots.

I also like the idea of having a military rank. I grew up in Military family. Most of my early years were spent on military bases. I always knew that I did not want to be a soldier. In fact I dislike nationalism and consider myself an ex-patriot. But, I have allot of respect for the lifestyle. My father was one of ten children. The Marines gave him an opportunity to get away from the poor lower class neighborhood he grew up in. He was the only one of his brothers and sisters to get a college education, thanks to the military.

What are your plans now ?
Keep working in Europe. I will be in Prague for the month of August.

“The Adventures of Darius and Downey” & “Public Discourse” can be ordered on Brad Downey website.
ekosystem july 2008

Origini, Significati, Tecniche e protagonisti in Italia.

Interview with Alessandro Mininno

Is your original idea to make the definitive book about graffiti in Italy ?

No! You can’t do a definitive book about something that hasn’t yet come to an end (for the same reason there are no definitive books about contemporary art, for instance). “Graffiti Writing” is an introductory book about graffiti: it is meant to be readable by the widest possible audience. People tend to hate what they don’t understand: I wrote the book hoping that people will start reading and understanding tags and pieces. If they like them or not, I don’t care – yet I still think that tags are beautiful, and I wanted to show some nice panels and throw ups and explain what’s behind it.

Graffiti is an Italian word, but “Graffiti Writing” doesn’t sound much like the title of a book about graffiti in Italy, no ?

I didn’t like the word “graffiti” alone, but it has to be there for indexing and search purpose… so I used the expression “graffiti writing” as a single word. In Subway Art they say “graffiti writing in new york is a vocation, a tradition that is handed down from one young generation to the next….”. The book is about graffiti writing, not about “love” graffiti or “football” graffiti or cave graffiti or political or other street stuff.

In the 90’s Roma & Italy were known to be a good place to paint wagons. Train companies didn’t really buff the pieces. What’s the situation right now ?

I think Italy is still a good place to paint trains, but as you probably know wagons get cleaned very easily in a couple of days, thanks to a plastic protection film, since the end of 1999. It was a radical shift of mentality: before 2000 you painted to see your piece running for years. Now people paint mainly for the action, documentation of your piece is more important, it’s hard to find an already painted car and (because of the short running time) you have to paint a lot to get noticed. It has become a completely different kind of sport (it’s like everywhere else in Europe I think).
Hundreds of people still paint trains in Italy and you can see a lot of quality stuff in the stations. Many oldschoolers started to paint again this year, and I’m pretty happy to see again trains by Hekto, Napal, Rok just to name a few.

There are many many photos in “Graffiti Writing” where do they come from ?

Sara and me asked the 250+ photos in the volume directly to the writers (mostly). We collected some 5.000 pictures and we (me and Sara) have a completely different taste, so choosing which one to publish was pretty difficult.
I would like to thank all the writers who gave us pictures… without them the book would not exist. We received VERY nice flicks by some great photographers too, and we’re pretty happy about it (names here).
The book does NOT represent the Italian scene (that’d be impossible for a book, you have magazines for that purpose). The book tries to show some styles (throw ups, tags, whole cars and so on) and to tell some stories, in the most accurate and scientific possible way. I wanted to do a understandable book about graffiti with trains, tags and throw ups: there’s an overload of hyper-specialized book about graffiti (I read them) but I think that they’re cryptic for most people. Otherwise, wide-audience books only represented hall of fames or characters, so they’re easier to sell but I don’t like them (I particularly hate big collage books like Graffiti World and the like). I had the possibility to do something that represented my own view on graffiti: letters, trains and vandalism. I hope that someone will dissent and criticize – we made choices, we’re up to support them.

Can you tell us the name of an Italian graffiti writer we probably don’t know and that would deserve more publicity ?
No, I can’t.
I could tell you who are my favourite writers, but that’s only my personal taste… it’s worth nothing. I think that the only way to see what’s fresh in Italy, is to take a trip around Roma or Milano, and walk the streets or choose a good bench in the station. Remember always that what you see on the internet is only a very small slice of the cake, and not always the best.

Can you choose 5 pages from the book, and tell us something about them ?

First of all, I really love the page where Verbo (Meta2) paints in the Genoa layup, during the G8 manifestation, and you can see the demonstration on the background of the flick. I think that is invaluable documentation (the photo is by Olafpix.net).

That’s the same reason why I love the photos by Alex Fakso where people removes the anti-graffiti film from the wagons, using a cutter . That demonstrates pretty well that you can try to eradicate graffiti, but you can’t stop the writers. They always raise the level and paint higher, with stronger tools, on the most forbidden surfaces. That’s a magical struggle against he monochrome dictatorship.

I like this Spiner tag: scribbles are the most hated form of graffiti, yet totally I love them, and this particular tag (in my opinion) shows very well that a signature on a wall could be typographically beautiful, well executed and brilliant.

From the (little) historic chapter, I would choose the closing page: Muko and Nitro in 1995, masked in the trainyard, in front of a smashing whole car, developing a style that would not be possible without montana spraycans. graffiti was changing, becoming more aggressive, straight and ugly.

The interrailers chapter is one of my favourite. Very little books documented this scene, even if it’s one of the best things european vandals created.



All the photos that illustrate the interview are original unpublished photos. Thank you Ale.

http://graffitiwriting.fatbombers.com/
ISBN: 9788837053307
29 € – 236 color pages

Origini, Significati, Tecniche e protagonisti in Italia.

Interview avec Alessandro Mininno

L’idée de départ de ce livre, c’etait de faire le bouquin définitif sur le graffiti en Italie ?

Non ! Tu ne peux pas faire un livre définitif sur quelque chose qui n’est pas encore terminé (de la même manière il ne peut pas y’avoir de livre définitif sur l’art contemporain par exemple). « Graffiti Writing » est un livre de présentation du graffiti : C’est sensé être lisible par la plus grande audience possible. Les gens ont tendance à détester ce qu’ils ne comprennent pas : J’ai écrit ce livre avec l’espoir qu’il permette aux gens de commencer à comprendre et à lire les tags et les graffs. Qu’ils aiment ou pas, peu importe – même si personnellement je trouve toujours beaucoup de beauté dans un tag, et je voulais montrer de beaux panels et throw-ups et expliquer ce qu’il se cache derrière.

Graffiti est un mot italien, mais “Graffiti Writing” ça fait pas trop titre de bouquin sur le graffiti italien non ?

J’aime pas le mot “graffiti” seul, mais il fallait qu’il soit présent pour faciliter l’indexation du livre et les recherche sur le sujet. C’est pourquoi j’ai utilisé l’expression « graffiti writing ». Dans « Subway Art », ils disent « Le Graffiti writing à New York est une vocation qui se passe d’une jeune génération à la suivante… ». Le livre est sur le « graffiti writing », pas sur les graffiti d’amoureux (C+F= Amour Eternel), ni sur le graffiti politique, de football des catacombes ou autre.

Dans les années 90, Rome et l’Italie étaient connues pour être de bons endroits pour peindre des wagons. Les compagnies ferroviaires n’effaçaient pas vraiment les graffs. Quelle est la situation actuelle ?

Je pense que l’Italie est toujours un bon endroit pour peindre des trains, mais tu sais probablement que depuis 1999, les trains sont nettoyés facilement et rapidement grâce à des films plastiques transparents apposés sur les wagons. Ça a été un changement radical de mentalité : Avant 2000, tu peignais pour voir ta pièce tourner pendant des années. Maintenant les gens peignent principalement pour l’action, prendre une photo de sa pièce est plus important. C’est difficile désormais de voir un wagon peint car ils ont une durée de vie limitée. Il faut beaucoup peindre pour se faire remarquer. C’est devenu un sport complètement différent (c’est désormais comme dans le reste de l’Europe je pense).
Des centaines de gens peignent toujours des trains en Italie, et on peut quand même voir des productions de qualité dans les gares. Beaucoup d’anciens se sont remis à peindre cette année, et je suis très content de voir à nouveau des trains de Hekto, Napal ou Rok par exemple.

Y’a vraiment beaucoup de photos dans “Graffiti Writing” d’où viennent elles ?

Sara et moi avons demandé les 250 et quelques photos du livre directement aux “writers”. 

On a récupéré autour de 5000 photos. Avec Sara ont a des goûts complètement différents donc choisir les photos à publier a été assez difficile.
Je voudrais remercier tous les « writers » qui nous ont donné des photos… sans eux le livre n’aurait pas pu exister. On a reçu BEAUCOUP de super photos de bons photographes aussi (la liste ici)
Le livre ne représente pas la scène Italienne (c’est impossible dans un livre, y’a les magazines pour ça). Les livres essaient de montrer des styles (throw ups, tags, whole cars, etc.) de raconter des anecdotes, de la manière la plus scientifique possible. Je voulais faire un livre accessible sur les trains, les tags, les throw ups : Il y a déjà tout un tas de livre hyper spécialisés sur le graffiti (je les lis) mais je pense qu’ils sont trop codés pour la plupart des gens. D’un autre coté tu as les livres qui montrent que les « hall of fame », des persos, c’est plus facile à vendre mais je ne les aime pas. (je déteste particulièrement les grosse compiles/collages du style « Graffiti World »). J’ai eu la possibilité de faire quelque chose qui représente mon propre point de vue sur le graffiti : les lettres, les trains et le vandalisme. J’espère que quelqu’un va le descendre, le critiquer – on a va fait des choix et on est prêt à les défendre.

Peux tu nous citer le nom d’un graffeur italien qu’on ne connait certainement pas, et qui mérite un peu de publicité, d’exposition ?
Non je ne peux pas.
Je pourrais te citer mes « writers » préférés, mais ce sont mes goûts persos…ça signifie rien. Je pense que la seule façon de savoir ce qui défonce en Italie, c’est de faire un petit séjour à Rome ou Milan, et de marcher dans les rues, ou choisir un bon banc dans une station. Il faut toujours se rappeler que ce qu’on voit sur un internet ce n’est qu’une infime partie de ce qui existe… et pas toujours la meilleure

Peux tu choisir 5 pages du livre et nous en dire 2 mots ?

Pour débuter, j’aime vraiment cette page où Verbo (Meta2) peint pendant la manifestation du G8. On peut effectivement voir la foule qui défile dans le fond. Je pense que cette documentation a une valeur inestimable (la photo est de Olafpix.net).

C’est la même raison pour laquelle j’aime cette photo d’Alex Fakso où les gens enlèvent la protection plastique contre les graffs sur les wagons avec des cutters. Ca montre très clairement que vous pouvez toujours essayer d’éradiquer le graffiti, mais vous ne pouvez pas arrêtez les “writers”. Ils progressent toujours, peignent plus haut, avec des outils plus puissants, sur les surfaces toujours plus inaccessibles. C’est une lutte magique contre la dictature du monochrome.

J’aime ce tag de Spiner : les “gribouillis” sont la forme la plus détestée de graffiti. Moi j’adore, et particulièrement ce tag (en tout cas pour moi) il démontre qu’une signature sur un mur peut être une très belle typo, bien exécutée et brillante.

Dans le petit chapitre historique, je choisi la page de clôture: Muko et Nitro en 1995, masqués dans le dépôt en face d’une incroyable whole car, avec un style qui n’aurait pas été possible sans les Montanas. Le graffiti était en train de changer devenant plus agressif, plus direct, plus “ugly”.

Le chapitre sur les “interrailers” est un de mes préférés. Très peu d’ouvrages documentent cette scène, pourtant c’est une des meilleures choses que les vandales européens ont inventé.



Toutes les photos qui illustrent l’interview
sont des photos qui n’ont pas été publié dans le livre. Merci Ale !

http://graffitiwriting.fatbombers.com/
ISBN: 9788837053307
29 € – 236 color pages

ekosystem – Juillet 2008 – traduction rapide de la VO en anglais