Friday ProFile: Woozy

As a 10-year-old kid growing up in Athens, Woozy was intoxicated (both literally and figuratively) with graffiti. “I remember the spray effects and the dizziness of the toxic inhalations that I felt after painting,” he laughs. Graffiti books and movies from the U.S. flooded into Greece and encouraged him to paint outdoors.

When he grew up, he attended art school and spent his spare time spray-painting everything. While balancing student life and street art can be demanding, he’s found the time to bomb France, Brazil, China, Thailand, Italy, England, Germany, Holland, Portugal, and Spain. “For me, traveling around the world is a great pleasure,” he insists. “It helps me express my views and interact with other cultural elements and people I come across.”
While urban spaces can be hostile, Woozy recognizes that they are an integral part of his work. “As you grow up, you can see that you enjoy illegally creating art,” he says, “but you can also judge things in a more mature way. The more you observe, the more you realize your creation is a product of the surrounding environment.”
One of Woozy’s favorite painting experiences took place abroad in São Paolo. “During my stay, I was influenced by society’s local structure and the intense social inequalities,” he recalls. “I attempted to add color to the big, grey surfaces. I wanted to inspire hope and change by adding a drop of paint to an endless grey reality. The potential audience is huge, too, because so many millions of people live there.”
While the action of street art is a radical statement, Woozy doesn’t believe his pieces are particularly revolutionary. “I don’t have the ambition to be the one who radically changes things with one intervention,” he insists. “I’m not someone who can successfully judge all issues. I try to be modest and make people think and analyze rather than just offering up complete conclusions.” The medium’s danger combined with a city’s unpredictable streets push Woozy to paint everywhere.
Woozy's 2010 is completely packed so far. This year, he’s planning a big exhibition in Athens and challenging new installations. In the future, he hopes to travel to Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. “I love communicating and interacting with local cultures and civilizations,” he explains. “I consider this a key part of my work; those elements are the basis of my perception and inspiration.”

Thanks, Woozy! For more photos, take a peek at his website. This weekend calls for warm weather, football get togethers, prom chaperoning, and a celebration for one of my best friends who's moving in a week. I can only imagine the exhaustion I'll feel Monday, but I've had practice so I think I can deal. Enjoy!

Friday ProFile: Digital Love

Imagining the vastness of the internet is like trying to wrap your mind around the universe: once you try to picture infinity, you start to get a headache. Each day, the amount of information sailing through ethernet cables increases, making it even easier to get caught up in the virtual abyss. Palm and Yes know how to harness the power of the internet while interacting with the real world. With their powers combined, they are Digital Lovers. The pair live, work, and study art in Athens, but they send their pixilated hearts to Glasgow, Berlin, Paris, Barcelona, and everywhere in between.

While Palm and Yes joined forces as Digital Love in 2009, the pair have been painting for about five years. Initially, graffiti books and street pieces at home inspired them to make their own. "We ended up doing posters since we find it the most accurate way of putting up your work," they explain. "It's nice and quick, and people don't seem to have any problem with posters or stickers compared to spray painting."
Both Palm and Yes used to dabble in old school graffiti, but they recognize a difference between that scene and modern work. "Contemporary street art definitely evolved out of this old school culture mixed with other artistic ideas and thoughts," they insist. "What we do is in the exact same vein as 'old school' graffiti. Instead of tagging, we put up a symbol and we get to use more means to make this symbol as known as possible." Through international communication, Digital Love's stickers travel to obscure locations. "I think the craziest shit with Digital Love wasn't done by us," they laugh. "We recieved a picture of a PLANE with a sticker on it last night... can't take it outta our heads!"

Don't read too much into the symbol; Palm and Yes just want pedestrians to have a good time. "We're just saying, 'we are here!'" they say. "Everyone can understand it however he or she likes. We just hope it gives people a smile at least."
While Digital Love enjoys its pasty icons, they don't expect to stay stuck on stickers forever. In their opinion, just the process of creating street art creates change. "We'd say that living in the world of street art is an adventure by itself," they explain. "We get to travel a lot and meet many different kinds of people. Meeting crazy-ass artists is always an adventure! Our dream is to be able to communicate with people through our work on the streets. Digital Love is just the beginning."

Thanks, guys! Keep up with their blog for new updates. That's all for now! Hopefully, weekend weather will hold out and I'll be able to roam Providence, grope a big puppet, and find a tacky yet creative gift for my almost 20 year-old sister. Gasp.

March 2010: Dimitris Taxis in Athens

Greek artist Dimitris Taxis doesn't let mediums pen him in. Sometimes, he's out on the street putting up a fresh wheatpaste. At other times, he's indoors sketching out the next frame of a comic book. Wherever his artistic endeavors take him, he's all about pushing ahead and improving in the future. He writes:

"Well, I started doing graffiti in 1998, but I suppose I got involved with street art in late 2004 when I pasted my first handmade poster somewhere in Athens. At almost the same time, I published my first short story inVavel, a comic magazine, and used the name 'Dimitris Taxis.' I decided to use the same name on the streets too."
"I usually paste my posters alone. I don't have a favorite place, just wherever I feel like working. I prefer ruined neighborhoods, old houses, or abandoned factories."
"I also enjoy collaborations with friends or other artists.Sometimes,when someone spots an abandoned factory or something big enough for a lot of people, we gather around and have some kind of BBQ there: food, beers, graffiti and lots of fun! I love these times!"
"I'm influenced a lot by several 80s-90's European comic artists and, of course, by classic painters/sculptors in art history.Both painting and comics,as well as graffiti and design, has developed my style into what it is today."
"Now I'm working on my posters and experimenting a lot with painting on canvas and wood because I'm preparing my first solo exhibition. I have a lot of work to do till then!"

Thanks, Dimitris! For more photos and updates, stop by his Flickr.

October 2009: Mr. Lexotanil in Athens

I love the pioneering spirit behind street art. More and more, I'm realizing that contrived paths and following orders aren't really for me. I don't know where I'm headed in terms of career, location, or anything of that nature, but I'm getting more comfortable with embracing that "whatever happens, happens" attitude. Each person I interview represents these "true to yourself" ideals, and Mr. Lexotanil is no exception. Making the leap from small down Greece to studying at a major university, he's doing what he loves and I couldn't be happier for him. He writes:

"I did my first graffiti in Ioannina, Greece, in 2002. But it wasn't until the beginning of 2007 that I decided to seriously take up street art and thus became who I am today. Street art entered my life and never left."
"I started painting alone but now I paint with my crew, 'ANUS'. I prefer working in isolated spots."
"I was mainly doing traditional graffiti pieces til 2008. In the beginnings of 2008, I left Ioannina (my hometown) and moved to Athens to study photography and audiovisual arts. That was when my ideas about painting in the street changed very fast. Since then, I've done my best to make my own style and I attempt to reflect my thoughts in my art."
"This period I am trying to improve my skills, develop my personal style and create things that will mean something in the future."
Σε ευχαριστώ, Mr. Lexotanil! For more photographs, check out his Flickr.

April 2009: Athens with The Krah

Depending on where you are in the world, I’m probably on a plane as you’re reading this. London and Berlin rocked my boat and I’m ready to get back to work. While I was away, I received a great note from Greek street artist The Krah. Born in Athens and currently based in London, The Krah takes us on a journey from his early tagging days to his current projects. He writes:“The Krah is a strange creature, a collecto-maniac with deep psychological issues that finds the beauty in what other people see as useless rubbish. It often uses interesting surfaces to paint on, such as rotten wood and rusty junk parts of metal. After decorating them with scribbles that some people call art, he returns them to their natural environment. We have had sightings of him from CCTV cameras coming out of second hand charity shops with all sorts of frames. He also buys canvases from car boot sales. What a weirdo! As a self-taught vandal, spray paint is his weapon of choice. Mix it up with some spicy stencils and some fresh free hand skills, a touch of paintbrush strokes for some extra flavour and you get a taste for The Krah’s recipe! Please read the warning sticker on the packet: don’t eat if you’re allergic to nuts.”
“When I first got into graffiti, my crew and I were very strict with each other. We did that to keep our styles up to the same level. As one of the most known crews in Athens, we all had to fit the part. The rules of the game were simple: no biting (copying other styles) and keeping our style as original as possible.”
“I started doing tags and vandalism in my neighbourhood. I got some cheap spray paint and did my first characters on a wall in 1997. There were not a lot of graffiti artists in Athens back then. We were the second generation, so it felt like it was an underground art movement. I became known for my characters when most of the other graffiti artists were painting letter-forms. Then I got into painting subway trains and my crew, SR SQUAD, toured Europe in the late 90’s painting in every European capital city. Nowadays, I am too mature for so much excitement, so no more adrenaline fueled good times for Grandpa Krah! But I still find the time to rock the streets with funky visuals.”
“I work in different ways, mostly freestyle experimental paintings with funky colours. (Translation: visuals created under the influence of some sort of intoxication or the consequences of watching to many sci-fi films as a kid). In the streets, I do a bit of everything, from illegal graff, legal murals, paste- ups, stickers and lock-ups. I also stick my sculptures on buildings around London.”

“I was out doing graff with Cyclops, Sweet-toff and Rowdy after an opening night at the Leonard Street Gallery when we bumped into Pure Evil. He showed me the new space in the basement of his gallery. Then he asked me when I was going to do a show there. I’d met him before at exhibitions and he liked my work and that I did it the streets. Since my show at Pure Evil, I have been invited to do lots of shows in galleries all over the UK and abroad. I am also with Little-Art-Book, an on-line gallery that promotes underground urban artist and sells limited edition screen prints. They have started organising some cool exhibitions in mad venues here in London.”

For more info about The Krah, check out his online portfolio. If you're down to buy, stop by his online store to get the goods.