"In 2000, some friends and I formed the group Total Respect. It was around this time when I found stencils, which became my favorite way to express myself. Most of my stencils are painted in the Barrio del Carmen in Valencia.There are also sites like dear Mislata al Raceway; really, I'll paint anywhere." 
"I have the fortune of being a member of the XLF, my crew. It is made up of eight friends: La End, Juliet On_ly, Deih, Cesp, Escif, Xelon and myself. We live together in a nice studio in the neighborhood of Carmen. We've been together for a long time and have learned to blend our different styles. It is a endless game."
"My style is still developing, since I'm never completely happy with it. I love the aesthetics of Mexican wrestling, muscle cars, guns, porn actresses, Renaissance, classic posters, boxing, and many more things. I think I have a recognizable stencil, but I still have much work ahead in order to refine and define my style. I think that's the mystery of painting: to stay one step ahead, do not settle and rediscover enjoy every day." 
"I recently had the fortune of being in London' s Brick Lane. I was painting near an area where one can breathe graffiti and street art. The owner of the wall, a major Indian business with import of stuffed animals and strange things, gave me permission to paint. First, he approved my sketch and said there was already a Jef Aerosol stencil on the wall that was very good. I could not believe that everyone in the neighborhood was associated with urban art and was knowledgeable about the subject. I was delighted to paint their businesses."
Some people might not enjoy the planning stages of a project, but Encore makes it fun. “The first phase certainly takes the most time and I am often working alone. But I am very thankful to a few persons who always help me with answering my questions like ‘Which color would you take? Which frame, which size, which photo?’ They spend the evenings with me cutting, painting, talking, watching TV, drinking and smoking! Without them, cutting would often be so boring.”
After the planning comes adventure. While he lives and works in Freiburg, he loves traveling around and sticking everywhere. “Most of my work is actually put up here,” he admits, “but I think 95% of it are simple stickers. I try to achieve a huge quantity, because I think this is one important aspect of techniques like stencils, stickers and posters: copy and copy and copy your motifs until the multiple color layers destroy your stencils. I try to combine my everyday life with street art! Going to work, shopping, or partying? Always take some tiny stickers with you! I hate the moments when I see a nice spot and haven't any stickers with me.” 
Encore doesn’t just stick to stencils and stickers. Recently, he played around with abstract paintings and collages. “I like to try out many different techniques of making stencils, but that results always in quite different looking pictures,” he explains. “Last month, I made some really extensive stencils which should look like a kind of photorealism style with strong black / white contrasts. But the cutting is so exhausting and it takes quite a long time without seeing any results, so I feel the need to do something else besides stencils.” 
This willingness to experiment means Encore’s ready to branch out in the future. “Next I would really like to try out screen prints,” he says. “Some people planned to do a workshop to practice but nothing happened. I have to phone them again. I have always been inspired by Warhol’s screen prints. He is something like an idol for me. My first stencils were often copies of his screen prints, so I think it would be a nice thing after doing stencils all the time in the last 4 years to go back to the roots, now with the right technique.”
Thanks, Encore! More photos are right over here at his Flickr. That's all for now; I'm ready for some 85 degree weather and plenty of outdoor activities this weekend. Mix that with some sleep and you've got the perfect weekend right there. See you Monday!
"We are three people: Yankel, Roberto, and Rosario. Before, we painted separately but we started working more as a collective in 2006. We are in the city of Oaxaca, Mexico. We love to work here, but there are many limitations from the government that limit the expression of urban society."
"Our style emerged from the need to express and demonstrate against what was happening in our city."
"Our style emerged from the need to express and demonstrate against what was happening in our city."
"Although we have been invited to put pieces in enclosed spaces such as galleries, the greatest satisfaction is when we see a lot more people looking at our work. That only happens in the street, where it becomes part of a structure of the city."
"Right now, we are working on projects like making shirts. We've had a little exposure in our city and we're working on several things."
”I started doing street art when I was running away from something terrible. I found myself on a train, scared shitless. I didn’t notice at first, but there was a black spray can on the seat next to me. I still don’t know why, but when I exited the train, I took the can with me. A little bit away from the station, I stopped in a quiet street to plan what to do next. It was then that I decided that I needed to mark my situation so I wrote, with the black can, in scrawny little writing on a wall, ‘I never want to experience fear like this again’. Later on, I thought back to that street. Mostly our streets are monotonous and dull. What I wrote changed that, even if in the slightest and simplest way. Our surroundings have a lot of potential, yet our society gives the aesthetics of (most) concrete and brick an undeserved respect. That was when I started street art. Having said that, some buildings are beautiful and, in my opinion, it will be hard to improve them by painting on them.” 
”Currently, I am in the north of England in Newcastle. I don’t have enough money or time at the moment to go elsewhere so all my current work goes up around Newcastle. I always work by myself. I find other people slow me down. I slow myself down. If I could work without myself, I’d probably get shit loads more done.”
”I don’t know if I have a style. My work always starts in the same way: by thinking too much. If I am having writer’s block, I’ll go for a 4 hour walk and look at everything. I’ll take notes as the ideas come and let them develop. I guess, maybe, my inspiration comes from very mundane stimuli. My style is my thought. I’ll learn whatever is necessary to bring the thought into actuality. There was a stretch of time when coincidentally things kept going terribly for both my friend and I. We decided to get a map of the world out close our eyes and point at random on the map. Wherever we pointed we would go. We ended up going to Luxembourg and getting all our shit robbed. We realised the gods really were against us, so we decided to push it. We built a boat with the intention of going to France. This failed very, very badly but only when we had got a substantial distance into the English Channel. Thankfully, we were rescued by the coast guards. The distance between France and England is only 21 miles. If the weather hadn’t been so bad, I think we might have made it. With those adventures in mind, sticking to 4 hour walks and the mundane for inspiration probably works better for me.”
”I woke up once with one shoe on, wearing only a t-shirt and boxers at four in the morning, leaning against a wall. After assessing the situation, I realised I was a good two miles from my house. I had duct taped a black spray can to my leg with big black letters on it spelling: USE ME. (That hurt to get off!) I didn’t need much more encouragement than that.... so I obliged. That was pretty strange.”
”For the last few months it has been hard to get out onto the street, as I've been working on a very non-street art related project. It has been tough having to divert my energy away from street art for these months. I also dug a tunnel between my house and my neighbours’ to see if I could. Part of the challenge was to do it without them noticing. But now I’ve got this big beautiful piece almost ready and I’ve devised an equally beautiful plan to pull it off. So when the fucking rain/ snow/ hail bla bla bla stops, that stretch of wall is mine.”
“It all started with graffiti in 1999. In 2002, I began doing stencils; I’m still doing them.
”You can see most of my work in Hamburg, but I’ve worked in other cities like Berlin, London, Vienna, Athens, Paris, Valencia, Tel Aviv. Thanks to all my folks putting stuff up, I have stickers up around the world.”
”I do all my work by myself, but I love putting up posters with some other people. Doing collaborations other artists is also fun. There are some very nice t-shirt collaborations with my friend Kotton in Berlin. I like trading with people around the world.”
”I tried a lot of techniques to do stencils and every one is different, so I combine various styles. I love doing multi-layers, but there’s nothing as nice as a good single layer stencil!”
”One time, I was in Vienna driving around with a bike putting some stickers up. Suddenly, a police car stopped next to me and the police man shouted: ‘Stop! This is illegal!’ I answered, ‘Oh! Sorry, Didn’t know about that!’ When he heard my German accent, he said: ‘You shitty German! Just go to your fucking country and put up your stickers there!’"
”I love it when spots are high or little bit hidden for tiles or installations. Posters are most fun when they fit into the urban area.”
Wow, Tona! I'm glad you escaped the clutches of that angry policeman. For more photos from around the world, take a peek at his Flickr.
JS: I cut and painted my first stencils when I lived in Madrid between 2003 and 2004. I met Jana who also lived in Madrid, at the same time!
”We are part of the WCA Collective. It was founded in 2005 by Artiste-Ouvrier and includes others like 6lex and Marybel. Today, it is more difficult to work together because we live so far from each other. However, we still have joint projects, such as an exhibition that took place in October in Paris.” 
JS: I was introduced to the technique of cutting and painting that we use by Artiste-Ouvrier, whom I met on my return to France in 2005. But we're both photo enthusiasts, and all our work is inspired by the photos we take. Our style was therefore built around the desire to create images on the border of painting and photography. We try to keep frames, structures and realistic prospects in tact while still playing with the forms and technical aspects like the stencil and spray. 
"It is difficult to speak of an ideal location, but we like the old walls best. We especially love the places where our work is meaningful, either because the two are related or because the sites can interact with the environment.”
”We were recently in Vienna this for the installation of our exhibition at Galerie Inoperable. The opening took place on Saturday, January 16.”
"Usually, if I do bring people with me it is because I need lookouts. I have learned though that if someone tells me they DEFINITELY want to go with me next time I paint, it means they have no intention on answering their phones at 2 am to go vandalize."
"How did I develop my style? Like Banksy, I try to rip off Blek le Rat every chance I get."
"I love painting in the ghetto because it's a short walk from my cardboard condo."
Apparently, "deception promotes cross-pollination." Who knew? I wonder if this person has seen Ludo's robotic flora.
We found this owl watching us from afar. I zoomed in close to get a better look.
This stencil was located on a bench outside an academic building. Who knew Venus was born on concrete?
Finally, this umbrella sits just outside my sister's door. I saw it on move-in day but came back later to photograph it. Are they all by the same person? Can anyone offer some insight? Drop me a note or leave a comment and I'll get back to you. Tonight, I'll pull together the ProFile as I put the finishing touches on my Halloween costume. I promise photos and stories in the near future.
"The Mural Slam is part of a growing international movement which recognizes public art in every form–graffiti, tags, murals, etc.–deserves to be celebrated. In 2008, the Slam started with a mass of artists throwing their tags, stencils, and murals onto the walls of CCSU’s Welte Garage in an all day event. Artists of every type were given eight hours to paint in their section of wall without fear of prosecution or arrest–just friends, food, music, and art." 
"This year, the tradition will continue–and everyone is invited. Ten bucks gets you a 4′x12′ slice of wall and 9hrs to do what you want. Any imagery is allowed, but use your judgment–we want to keep this going every year, so don’t paint something that will get us kicked off of campus. And remember: BYOP–bring your own paint." 
"To register, e-mail the following to marissablaszko@gmail.com
. name of artist (tag okay)
. working with a crew?
. phone number where we can contact you
. best e-mail to use for contacting you
. age of artist (16+ only!)
. medium you’ll be working with (ie: spray paint, acrylic, etc.)
. whether or not you participated last year (and, if you did, what you painted)
Thanks a million, guys! I know I'm definitely going to snap some shots in the afternoon. Word has it that another guy I know might participate (go get it, Ben!). For more shots from last year, check the group's blog (and disregard the September 26 date).
While he’s painted a few pieces in Miami, Flee says he likes working in a small town setting because no one else is doing it. “It exposes people to street art who might have never seen any before,” he explains, “and maybe it changes some negative opinions on art in public spaces. In a big city, painting a spot is like adding to one big canvas someone’s already been painting. The loneliness of a small city disappears and seeing other works by other artists makes me a happier person.” 
As a “write-on-preschool-walls” kind of toddler, Flee cut his artistic teeth at an early age. But it wasn’t until a hospital visit and recovery time forced him off his feet that he really explored stenciling in-depth. “I was trapped at home and started painting out of boredom,” he recalls. “That’s when I discovered Banksy and stencils online. I eventually started experimenting with cutting stencils and I never stopped.” 
Sounds like a fortuitous hospital visit. At first, his stencils were a bit rough around the edges. Through practice, he’s improved his cutting techniques for a crisper style. Painting with a friend as a lookout makes the job easier and more fun; so far, he’s yet to be nabbed by the cops. No matter the piece, Flee says his mission is all about beauty. “It’s about adding life to a boring public surface,” he insists. “I think everyone, old school or new school, does it because they think it adds to the community or because it gives them a voice. I think the motivations are similar.” 
In the future, Flee hopes to stray from his tiny Floridian town and see what’s happening on other streets. “I want to travel around to faraway cities,” he says, “I’d love to paint there and just see what everyone else has done.” Feeding off the rush of the experience, Flee hopes that his pieces provoke viewers no matter where he paints. “I like the visual punch line,” he explains. “That’s one of the things that originally drew me to Banksy’s work. I want people to see something original, like an interaction with an object, or a stencil with meaning. I want it to make them think, or cringe, or laugh, or report it to the police. I want a reaction.” 
Thanks, Flee! Keep holding it down. For more Flee photos, visit his Flickr. 
