Drawing Inspiration: Graffiti, Street & Urban Art

While I was in Paris some days ago, I was able to take some shots of Seak One’s blackbook! As you can see on the photos, he explains the development of some of his recent artworks. For me it was interesting to see how his abstract-looking 3D spray-paints are inspired by letters. Or how the Cologne city coat of arms influenced the graffiti he did on the Thalys. Maybe you have some time to take a look at the whole “Seak One and his Blackbook” photo-series. It’s really interesting! ...

Despite, or perhaps because of his traditional graffiti background (he is one of the most central figures of European graffiti), the Briton Mode 2 has developed an offshoot style of more traditional portraiture. His recent art installations consist of hand-drawn motives on cardboards. They thematize different themes like friendship, love and sex and often show daring nude scenes from the porn world. Format: What do you make of the media fascination with graffiti in recent years, particularly with some of the work Banksy has produced? ...

Do you ever heard something about The Krah? *The Krah is a decrepit but talented young man who has wasted most of his youth scribbling on everything and using any medium he could get his hands on. As vandalism was the most fun thing to do, The Krah started painting the streets and the subway trains of Athens in 1997, but his graffitis, stickers and posters can also be seen on the streets of a lot of other citys around the world, all over Europe and cities such as Tokyo and Bangok. ...

Barry McGee, Ed Templeton and Raymond Pettibon represent - everyone for himself - the subcultural worlds of skateboarding, graffiti and punk. They are classified as underground-heroes, who are established in the top class of contemporary fine arts. In april their different artworks were presented for the first time as an art group exhibition: “McGee’s sad, sullen faces and neon-colored geometric panels reflect the archetypal image of man overpowered by omnipresent media, Templeton’s portraits of suburban youths perfectly illustrate the harsh alienation of teenage life, while Pettibon’s drawings and paintings focus sharply on issues of personal/social unrest, life during war and the constant power struggle between a man and his destiny.” ...