Graffiti & Street Art Interviews: Artists Speak Out

The Art and Pass project recently caught up with abstract urban artist Clemens Behr and let him talk about ome of his influences… Art and Pass is a collaborative artistic project formed by 18 artists of different nationalities, mixing emerging artists with established ones, as well as their diverse techniques and materials. The artists are challenged with an exercise that will make them explore and question the concepts of inspiration, appropriation and original creation. Inspired by the creative process of Mail Art, Art and Pass produces an artistic flow that travels geographically and conceptually. The creative process and the production work of each artist is captured on video, with the objective of sharing the with the public the reinterpretation that each piece undertakes. (about Art and Pass) ...

Remember the Hennessy Cognac-bottle designed by NY artist KAWS? Following the success of their artist collaboration, Hennessy has teamed up with graffiti legend Futura 2000 to design their latest special collectors edition bottle! This video follows Futura around New York City as he talks about some important experiences in his childhood and discusses his graffiti background. Pretty nice footage and some interesting statements by one of the most influential graffiti artists from the US make this graffiti master interview worth watching. ...

Los Angeles graffiti writer Revok of The Seventh Letter is a living US-American graffiti legend. Last year, he showed his Triumph and Tragedy series at Vicious Gallery in Hamburg and now, he is back with a great collaboration between the world’s first social merchandising company The Hundreds and The Seventh Letter… Police, they don’t care about graffiti. Talking about some private details of Revok’s life, his career being a graffiti writer and his thoughts about the police, this pretty interview looks like a nice prelude for an even more extensive one coming soon. I’m looking forward to it! ...

In my eyes, Augustine Kofie is one of the of best graffiti dudes of our time. His close-knit to graffiti writing on the one side and architectural-inspired drafting concepts attracts not just me, but many people around the - I know that. My work is me! Back in 2011, Kofie was invited to paint at the Art Basel Miami event. During his painting progress, MTN got the chance to talk with him about his influences, ideas and his work in general. Combined with some nice impressions from Kofie’s wall and progress in Miami, the is a nice, brief self-introduction of Augustine Kofie and one of the best, if not the best interview with him as graffuturism.com mentioned. Keep drafting! ...

No, Usugrow is not one of those new, trendy sorts of schnapps, it’s the name of a bloody brilliant Japanese calligrapher and painter, skateboarder and punk rock enthusiast… Punk Calligraphy *While developing his vision and technique, Usugrow worked designing promotional graphics for Japan’s punk and metal scenes. His unique, stylized combination of traditional Japanese artwork and punk iconography soon made him the visual identity of Tokyo’s underground. As a conscious leader of his community, Usugrow has been using his fame to organize and promote a new Japanese art movement consisting of a tribe of highly talented artists with roots in the metal, punk, hip hop and tattoos, all of whom share his elegant aesthetics.* ...

Already some days old, but still fresh is the dope, quality interview the VNA team did with The London Police boys in Amsterdam for the 17th issue of London’s finest Very Nearly Almost magazine! At first it was a very simple doodle. And I mean simple, it was essentially a stick man with a round head that I’d draw…(Chaz about the Lad) Chaz and Bob are present in Europe’s street art scene for over a decade. Together this duo traveled the globe, decorating streets not just in Europe, but also in Brooklyn, Hong Kong and other places, for what reason their iconic, fat outlined character (simply called the Lad) became popular around the world! And now, enjoy this The London Police interview! ...

When you stick a camera in the front of a graffiti artist you will maybe try and establish a conflict between what politicians and media say about this art and what the actual artist thinks it is, which maybe makes an interesting film, maybe makes an interesting debate for media - it’s not an interesting debate for art… Filmed in Norway at Stavanger’s Nuart Festival 2008 by Saft Film, the recently released Eloquent Vandals documentary including interviews with some of the major urban artists of our time, including D*Face, Nick Walker, Know Hope, Herakut, Dotmasters, Graffiti Research Lab and many others and is available for download in full HD! ...

After Sickboy, Shepard Fairey and Invader it’s now The London Police decorating the cover of the latest issue (number 17!) of London’s finest VNA Magazine! Again, the mag includes great interviews with some of the top urban artists from around the world, like Goldie, El Mac, Toasters just to name a few, and features with London, Milan and Toronto some nice metropolises and especially its street art scenes! Again, VNA 17 is a nice reading for urban art enthusiasts from all over the globe and worth to check out. ...

After that marvellous 15th issue of UK’s VNA magazine, some weeks ago the next one was released including a large feature of French tile/ pixel artist Invader! Recently the VNA crew published a nice teaser documenting their meet and greet with the famous street artist, showing a neat insight into the interview which can be found entirely in the 16th VNA issue. I already got my copy for what reason I can promise, that it’s worth it! ...

Sampa Graffiti is a video series that focuses on graffiti artists and their work in the city of São Paulo and it’s surrounding areas. Each episode is dedicated to an artist that create a piece throughout the video while talking about his thoughts on graffiti and arts in general. Recently the 12th episode has been published, featuring Cranio (English: Skull), a 29 years old graffiti artist who speaks about his roots, Brasilian graffiti in general and his vision of his graffiti career… ...