January 2012 - Monthly Recap by Bombing Science

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unknown_cleveland new jersey

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torino

barcelona

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barcelona

copenhagen

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copenhagen

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copenhagen

lisbon

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miami

montreal

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toronto

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sigh_richmond

sigh_barcelona richmond

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sigh copenhagen _richmond

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sigh _richmond copenhagen

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copenhagen

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sigh_richmond miami

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sigh_M richmond ontreal

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sigh_richmond montreal

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sigh new _richmond -york city

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Banek

Bombing Science: First of all, who is Banek, how long has he been around and where is he from? Banek: I’m from a small village near the sea in Mallorca...a place without much graffiti. The first time I saw graffiti was in Palma, the capital city of the island, and later visiting my grandparents who live in Hamburg, Germany. Part of my family in Mallorca is related to art, so I started to draw when I was a child. When I discovered graffiti, I immediately fell in love with it. That happened more or less nine years ago. Bombing Science: How would you describe yourself as a writer? Banek: I try to combine the pleasure of painting, just having a spray can in my hand and having fun, with my inner need of being proud with what I do. It means making a constant effort to evolve my style, to make it more powerful and personal.

Bombing Science: How did it all begin? Where did your style evolve from? Banek: When I started I was completely fascinated by the traditional styles, so I started to do that. But I was also a fan of comics, sci-fi films and books, and all kind of fantastic and futuristic stuff. As time passed, those two ways converged in one. In the beginning, I mixed a few details with 3D style, and it slowly became a better mixture of both. Bombing Science: What was your inspiration? Banek: I felt inspired by the work of a lot of people, like the comics of Moebius and Serpieri, Giger or Beksinski’s paintings, books like Neuromancer or Nemesis, walls of Totem2, BomK, San...just to name a few of them. Anyway, there are a lot of other things that inspire me, a lot of interesting things to see, thatís why I love travelling. Bombing Science: What is it that you like the most about travelling? Any places you’ve

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been had a significant influence on you or your art? Banek: Knowing new places, new walls to paint, seeing different kinds of living...I think, if you keep your mind open, every new thing will make you learn and will have an influence on what you do. But I don’t feel a direct influence of travelling in my art, because it’s more introspective. Bombing Science: Did you ever work traditional graffiti letters, or was it straight to the wild organic style you work with now? Banek: At the beginning I tried with traditional wildstyle using outlines and plain colours, but very soon I switched to 3D. But painting 3D means spending a lot of time on every stick, just to get a simple realistic and deep volume, and I searched more details and textures. I want my letters to look like battered machinery or strange artificial living beings. Later, I changed my form of painting into executing all details in a more simple way, like in comic style, which allows me to make my pieces more detailed. Bombing Science: Your painting can feel a bit gory and violent sometimes. Is there a message that you try to share through your work, or is it purely visual?

Banek: It’s part of both: I like this kind of dynamic and violent styles, and I love this kind of apocalyptic appearance too. But I also want to say something else, by showing my personal vision of things that worry me, like destruction of nature or mass control. I try to prove how people are converting the earth _richmond into a dustbin full of technologicalsigh waste. Bombing Science: Coming from an island, did you feel independent from the surrounding Europe, or was it the opposite, trying to be part of a bigger playground? Banek: It has always been like a small ecosystem, but with the Internet, magazines, and all that information, it is very easy to know what is happening abroad. I was always trying to play in the «global playground», but I think living on an island makes people more independent, more introspective. Bombing Science: How would you differ Palma de Mallorca from the rest of Spain? Explain a bit of the local history. Banek: People in Mallorca live more peacefully, because it is a quite place with a very good climate. There arenít so many writers, so you can take all the time you want to finish a wall, which can remain uncovered for months. I don’t know who first started sigh_richmond writing here, but there are a few people who

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have been painting for along time now: Ovas, Nase, Sice...There are also a few crews which I suppose are important on the island: SDS, OPP, PTB and Dispersos. Nowadays the scene is quite poor, but some people are still active in graffiti and other arts related to it, like design or tattoo: Yezek, Sath, Hock, Oasey, Llorar... Bombing Science: Do you work other surfaces then walls? What are your preferred mediums? Banek: I draw a lot with ink on paper, this is my second favourite technique. I also work on canvas with spraycans, as well as using the spraycan paint together with brush and thinner. Bombing Science: What about bombing or other forms of illegal graffiti? Banek: I’m mostly focussed on walls or abandoned areas were I can paint without problems. I like street bombing too, even though I donít do it very constantly, because I had a few legal problems in the past. But sometimes I need to get out at night with silver cans and fatcaps...

Banek: Maybe a beautiful living dead lady. Ha! Ha! Bombing Science: Is your art a prophecy of the world’s end in December 2012? Banek: In a very personal way, yes it is. I don’t know if it will be in December 2012, nor what it will be. But people need a change; they need to learn how to live with less waste, less useless consumer items... And big companies must stop their massive overproduction. Bombing Science: Any advice for upcoming Spanish island writers? Banek: Just keep painting, and try to do it the best you can. Bombing Science: Finally, what is your bombing science? Banek: My science is to be constant, try to keep being active. Best regards to Nada, Los NiÒos de la Huerta, Reset, A1F2, all the people who painted with me, and also to those who like my work.

Bombing Science: What would inspire you the most? A really beautiful lady or a dead body?

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aryz_reno

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augor_nyc

cast_wellington

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virus_nyc

deep_turin

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dsnc _toronto sigh _richmond

el mac_copenhagen

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gin_nyc

knz clan_turin

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mr dheo_porto

myshel_montreal

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trash sigh__barcelona richmond

sigh sekm _richmond _sidney

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chuck_toronto

rats_detroit

scan_montreal

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unknown_lisbon

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Tant/Broken Fingaz Where are you from originally? Tell me what the art scene is like there and how you either fit in or stand out from that group... Haifa City, Israel. It’s hard to say there is a real art scene in this shit hole but I was actually born in kind of a village/hippie community outside the city. There were always people around me involved in all kinds of art, so it was very natural for me to do art. Later, when we were in high school we started doing graffiti, slowly building our own small scene... How do you take an idea or a glimpse of an idea and put it into a tangible form that the world can see? It changes all the time, and from project to project. Sometimes I have a very clear view in my mind of how I want it to be, which piece of wood or wall I’m about to paint on, or what color scheme I will use; Sometimes I walk around like crazy for a week until it pops up in my brain. Who or what is your biggest source of inspiration? It’s really hard to say. Drugs & dreams to old masters such as Durer, Mucha, and Lutrek as well as contemporary artists like Mike Giant,

Parra, Espo, D-face, Faile, just to name a few. Also, old comics, old movie posters, and of course my crew and the people around me that are doing cool stuff. Your work has a very retro horror movie/ theme park ride feel to it. Can you tell me where and why that style started for you? I don’t know exactly how style develops. It happens slowly. When you’re doing something cool, you say «Hey, this is a good direction, we should develop it!» and you use that thought the next time you’re painting. Then as time passes, you collect those, throw away others and store some in a dark corner of your brain. Do you have any formal training like in a university/college or an art school? Not really. I took a Photography class in High school. Unga and I used to go once a week to a private Russian teacher by the name of Gennady who gave us lessons on technique and anatomy. Are there any major people or pieces that got you into this scene initially? sigh_ richmond My big brothers in the crew, Kip and Unga’s

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and the tags I saw from my bus on the way to school. Like I said before, I’ve always been into painting. It’s just always felt natural to put this shit out there. As artists and creatives, we can often get “writer’s block” and get hung up on a new piece. What helps you shake off the cobwebs to get back to work? I try not to fight it too hard. Some days I just need to accept it and let my brain rest. But there are things that help such as doing physical activity (capoeira, yoga, running, sex), breaking my routine, traveling outdoors, and smoking some good weed. What’s it like working with a crew vs working independently, and how do you approach something commissioned with your crew vs when you’re on your own? I’m the kind of person who loves to spend a lot of time alone, at my place and inside my brain but luckily for me I have found amazing friends that I’ve worked with every day for the last couple of years. It works out well and it is only getting better. Still, each one of us has

his own projects and freedom but alone, none of us would be where we are now. Working sigh_richmond with people doing crazy shit and trusting their opinion constantly pushes you forward. We’re always learning from each other. It’s much easier to push things forward when it’s ‘us.’ This is US, this is what WE do. For commercial projects, it doesn’t really matter if I’m alone or with the crew. If the right vibe is there and we have creative freedom, we do it. If not, we don’t. It’s a lot more fun to do things together, to tour, to bomb, to paint, and to do drugs. Any sage advice you could give the readers out there? Just to do a lot. Whatever it is you are doing, do it. A lot! I mean, sometimes it’s good to ask yourself ‘Why am I doing it? Why this way or another?’ but you shouldn’t let those thoughts block your creativity. Go with your basic instinct. Most of the time, the first idea is the best one. Thanks a lot Tant.

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