How do you feel about graffiti now, compared to, maybe ten years ago? I think that almost every interview I’ve read, over ten years ago, mentioned how graffiti was changing and evolving, Do you think that it is still ever growing or has it become stagnant in the past few years - especially after the 3D concept invaded the entire world? The special thing about graffiti art is that it is always a part of the youth culture. The active writers are highly motivated and energize the whole scene. Combined with those who are older with more developed skills by having been spraying for years the scene has an increasingly broad and complex foundation. Authenticity is guaranteed as long as every writer can work for a suitable niche within a certain area and style of graffiti. If this rich diversity is maintained, graffiti will continue to develop very positively. Adding to this, I’ve always believed, and I’m sure many readers will agree, that you are one of the originators of the 3D design concept. Would you agree or disagree? I have always been fascinated – even before getting involved in graffiti – by photo realistic illustrations and art. That’s why I started as early as 1991 to try to make my pieces look very 3-dimensional. Omitting the comic style outline and defining the letter through lighting and shadows seemed obvious. It was also the time when personal computers became widely available and made 3-dimensioanal graphics possible. A couple of writers e.g. Erni and Delta pushed in that direction. Certainly, I also have distributed to this development. Already knowing that the 3D design was cutting edge close to fifteen years ago, how does it keep its attraction to you and cause you to still focus on this concept? Even though it might be hard to believe but for me 3D effects are not the primary expression of my works. It is solely a technique of illustrating I have chosen to transport my contents. The actual writing of my name combined with the iconography involved is more important to me. Also, the parallels as well as the differences between analog and digital working processes fascinate me. The latter has a big influence on the actual design. Let me give you an example. My newest pieces of work are taped with only three different colored tapes – not sprayed. On the one hand, this has a tremendous impact on the design but also on the content and shape of my work. Here the 3D aspects are secondary. Interview by Joshua W. Gabert
Nostalgia. Nostalgia is, I believe, one of the greatest enemies that an artist, graffiti or not, can face. It is the double-edged life taker of many stolen moments that could have become breathtaking conceptions of artwork. But how can I be comparing nostalgia to a silver bullet to the mind? It’s easy, as an artist begins to long for the past, the future is slowly forgotten. When we meet in the company of other artists and have nothing to discuss but the past, then all is lost in the creative world of artistry-imagination becomes flaccid and lucid; none the less, however deadly nostalgia is, we still need it. Not just as artists, but as human beings. We need the reminders of where we once stood so that we may eventually continue our travels ahead. Without remembering those of whom paved the way for others, there probably would not be a necessity to continue to increase artistic skill and ingenuity and this is an important part of the creation process. After all, it’s those we have named Legends and Kings: Twist, Cope2, Seen, etc.... Among these few that have scraped and fought their way to the top, is another artist that has been in the backlight for the past few years. He’s not a hardcore bomber and won’t admit that he ever was, but rather a sophisticated and educated believer in art and the creative process. His artwork has mesmerized and conquered both the graffiti world and the mainstream. And after several compelling correspondences, I have finally had the chance to pick the brain of one of the most influential aerosol artists in the past twenty years. After reading the explanations of his ideals and beliefs about art, life, his influences and how they intertwine; the artist, DAIM, has re-opened my eyes and mind reminding me, that often times, as artists, we rely to often on the past and sometimes focus too little on the future of our own artistic nature, becoming stunted in growth. DAIM’s concepts have been beyond originality and I wonder, exactly, which graffiti writer he hasn’t influenced over his years of pushing the envelope of the aerosol medium?
daim.indd 1
What was your childhood like while you were growing up? I have always been interested in art and did many drawings as well as paintings. Through hip hop and my first journey to the USA I got to know and love graffiti. I started listening to rap when I was 15 years old and two years later – in 1989 – I discovered the spraycan as a mean of painting. Certainly, in the beginning I did illegal stuff. In those days that was perfectly normal. As a novice there was no other way than spraying illegally since there were no legal walls. I was caught pretty soon, which in the end helped me to leave the underground and illegality. Before I was caught, neither my parents, nor my friends and teachers knew what I was doing. After being caught I needed to go public and say, “I am doing graffiti – give me legal walls” And that is exactly what I did. My first legal piece was even a small contract work that paid for the cans. That showed me a perspective on graffiti and art for my future. I believe graffiti has lots to do with finding yourself. By testing different techniques, searching for your limits and getting respect within a group of people, one can find his personal path and self-respect. Especially during puberty the process of finding yourself is very dominant but never quite ceases later on. Furthermore, rules within your peer group change, which lead to a different context for your work. I thank my parents for understanding this and giving me enough room that a juvenile needs to develop in. For me, they have always been a great support. Other people I know experienced quite the opposite. At what point in your life did you begin to create artwork? I don’t mean scribbling as a child, but actually deciding to create a drawing in order to reflect your feelings and emotions? I think, nobody starts doing graffiti because he or she believes they are an artist. When doing my first tax return I realized that I was an artist by definition and thus all the paintings I had done so far must be works of art. How did you come up with the name “Daim?” My freely chosen alias or pseudonym consists of my most favorite letters. In the way it is put together it has become a character of its own reflecting a lot of my personal character traits. I know from having read past interviews that you believe that graffiti artists need to do illegals in order to understand what graffiti is, do you still find yourself writing a tag or occasionally do illegal paintings? Or do you think that there comes a time in a writer’s life that he/she has paid their dues and can put illegal activity to the side and focus on fine art and other aspects of the graffiti culture? I am convinced that understanding the motivation and motives for doing graffiti can only come from doing it illegally. In the beginning it has nothing to do with producing pieces of art. Graffiti serves as a valve for letting off energy that young people often need. While growing up and reaching adulthood the original motives change and doing something illegal becomes secondary. But that can only come after plenty of law-breaking beforehand. I have concluded that phase, also because it is no longer necessary.
However, when it comes to shaping and translating my styles into sculptures within an actual 3D environment I do concentrate on the 3D effect. This is an important new step I have been working on for the better part of the last 10 years. This process started during my studies of the arts in Switzerland and is far from concluded. The prospect of constructing my styles into physical sculptures and merging them with architecture continues to fascinate me. Speaking of design, back in 1997 you did an interview with Artcrimes and said that you always sketched your ideas out with pencil and markers, is this still true? Or have you started using computers to draft your ideas, as they’ve grown more complex? The initial idea for any kind of work invariably starts with the good old black book. Those little stencil sketches are always the starting point to set out from on the long way of realizing them and alter continuously. The exact shaping, colors and shadings are done on the computer. I only do hand-colored marker pieces as limited editions but not as first drafts for the final project. Are there times in your life that you don’t do any artwork? The life of an artist does not solely consist of “producing“ pieces of art all day long. The organizational part of projects such as large wall pieces can take up a multitude of time that is needed for the actual artistic work. Furthermore, there are a few opportunities for recreational time, which I mostly spend with my family. At what point in your graffiti career did you feel the need to expand your mediums from aerosol to sculpture? At the beginning of the nineties during which I concentrated on 3D styles my goal was to create the illusion of a “real“ 3D object on a 2D medium. Doing truly three-dimensional objects wasn’t such a long leap after that. From spraying walls I was familiar with concrete. After years of using it a background for my letters the idea of shaping it into letters was fascinating. Admittedly, even though this is of great appeal, I still feel as a “classic painter“ meaning the creation of images on two-dimensional media will still keep me busy for quite some time.
3/11/2008 8:21:31 PM
How do you feel about graffiti now, compared to, maybe ten years ago? I think that almost every interview I’ve read, over ten years ago, mentioned how graffiti was changing and evolving, Do you think that it is still ever growing or has it become stagnant in the past few years - especially after the 3D concept invaded the entire world? The special thing about graffiti art is that it is always a part of the youth culture. The active writers are highly motivated and energize the whole scene. Combined with those who are older with more developed skills by having been spraying for years the scene has an increasingly broad and complex foundation. Authenticity is guaranteed as long as every writer can work for a suitable niche within a certain area and style of graffiti. If this rich diversity is maintained, graffiti will continue to develop very positively. Adding to this, I’ve always believed, and I’m sure many readers will agree, that you are one of the originators of the 3D design concept. Would you agree or disagree? I have always been fascinated – even before getting involved in graffiti – by photo realistic illustrations and art. That’s why I started as early as 1991 to try to make my pieces look very 3-dimensional. Omitting the comic style outline and defining the letter through lighting and shadows seemed obvious. It was also the time when personal computers became widely available and made 3-dimensioanal graphics possible. A couple of writers e.g. Erni and Delta pushed in that direction. Certainly, I also have distributed to this development. Already knowing that the 3D design was cutting edge close to fifteen years ago, how does it keep its attraction to you and cause you to still focus on this concept? Even though it might be hard to believe but for me 3D effects are not the primary expression of my works. It is solely a technique of illustrating I have chosen to transport my contents. The actual writing of my name combined with the iconography involved is more important to me. Also, the parallels as well as the differences between analog and digital working processes fascinate me. The latter has a big influence on the actual design. Let me give you an example. My newest pieces of work are taped with only three different colored tapes – not sprayed. On the one hand, this has a tremendous impact on the design but also on the content and shape of my work. Here the 3D aspects are secondary. Interview by Joshua W. Gabert
Nostalgia. Nostalgia is, I believe, one of the greatest enemies that an artist, graffiti or not, can face. It is the double-edged life taker of many stolen moments that could have become breathtaking conceptions of artwork. But how can I be comparing nostalgia to a silver bullet to the mind? It’s easy, as an artist begins to long for the past, the future is slowly forgotten. When we meet in the company of other artists and have nothing to discuss but the past, then all is lost in the creative world of artistry-imagination becomes flaccid and lucid; none the less, however deadly nostalgia is, we still need it. Not just as artists, but as human beings. We need the reminders of where we once stood so that we may eventually continue our travels ahead. Without remembering those of whom paved the way for others, there probably would not be a necessity to continue to increase artistic skill and ingenuity and this is an important part of the creation process. After all, it’s those we have named Legends and Kings: Twist, Cope2, Seen, etc.... Among these few that have scraped and fought their way to the top, is another artist that has been in the backlight for the past few years. He’s not a hardcore bomber and won’t admit that he ever was, but rather a sophisticated and educated believer in art and the creative process. His artwork has mesmerized and conquered both the graffiti world and the mainstream. And after several compelling correspondences, I have finally had the chance to pick the brain of one of the most influential aerosol artists in the past twenty years. After reading the explanations of his ideals and beliefs about art, life, his influences and how they intertwine; the artist, DAIM, has re-opened my eyes and mind reminding me, that often times, as artists, we rely to often on the past and sometimes focus too little on the future of our own artistic nature, becoming stunted in growth. DAIM’s concepts have been beyond originality and I wonder, exactly, which graffiti writer he hasn’t influenced over his years of pushing the envelope of the aerosol medium?
daim.indd 1
What was your childhood like while you were growing up? I have always been interested in art and did many drawings as well as paintings. Through hip hop and my first journey to the USA I got to know and love graffiti. I started listening to rap when I was 15 years old and two years later – in 1989 – I discovered the spraycan as a mean of painting. Certainly, in the beginning I did illegal stuff. In those days that was perfectly normal. As a novice there was no other way than spraying illegally since there were no legal walls. I was caught pretty soon, which in the end helped me to leave the underground and illegality. Before I was caught, neither my parents, nor my friends and teachers knew what I was doing. After being caught I needed to go public and say, “I am doing graffiti – give me legal walls” And that is exactly what I did. My first legal piece was even a small contract work that paid for the cans. That showed me a perspective on graffiti and art for my future. I believe graffiti has lots to do with finding yourself. By testing different techniques, searching for your limits and getting respect within a group of people, one can find his personal path and self-respect. Especially during puberty the process of finding yourself is very dominant but never quite ceases later on. Furthermore, rules within your peer group change, which lead to a different context for your work. I thank my parents for understanding this and giving me enough room that a juvenile needs to develop in. For me, they have always been a great support. Other people I know experienced quite the opposite. At what point in your life did you begin to create artwork? I don’t mean scribbling as a child, but actually deciding to create a drawing in order to reflect your feelings and emotions? I think, nobody starts doing graffiti because he or she believes they are an artist. When doing my first tax return I realized that I was an artist by definition and thus all the paintings I had done so far must be works of art. How did you come up with the name “Daim?” My freely chosen alias or pseudonym consists of my most favorite letters. In the way it is put together it has become a character of its own reflecting a lot of my personal character traits. I know from having read past interviews that you believe that graffiti artists need to do illegals in order to understand what graffiti is, do you still find yourself writing a tag or occasionally do illegal paintings? Or do you think that there comes a time in a writer’s life that he/she has paid their dues and can put illegal activity to the side and focus on fine art and other aspects of the graffiti culture? I am convinced that understanding the motivation and motives for doing graffiti can only come from doing it illegally. In the beginning it has nothing to do with producing pieces of art. Graffiti serves as a valve for letting off energy that young people often need. While growing up and reaching adulthood the original motives change and doing something illegal becomes secondary. But that can only come after plenty of law-breaking beforehand. I have concluded that phase, also because it is no longer necessary.
However, when it comes to shaping and translating my styles into sculptures within an actual 3D environment I do concentrate on the 3D effect. This is an important new step I have been working on for the better part of the last 10 years. This process started during my studies of the arts in Switzerland and is far from concluded. The prospect of constructing my styles into physical sculptures and merging them with architecture continues to fascinate me. Speaking of design, back in 1997 you did an interview with Artcrimes and said that you always sketched your ideas out with pencil and markers, is this still true? Or have you started using computers to draft your ideas, as they’ve grown more complex? The initial idea for any kind of work invariably starts with the good old black book. Those little stencil sketches are always the starting point to set out from on the long way of realizing them and alter continuously. The exact shaping, colors and shadings are done on the computer. I only do hand-colored marker pieces as limited editions but not as first drafts for the final project. Are there times in your life that you don’t do any artwork? The life of an artist does not solely consist of “producing“ pieces of art all day long. The organizational part of projects such as large wall pieces can take up a multitude of time that is needed for the actual artistic work. Furthermore, there are a few opportunities for recreational time, which I mostly spend with my family. At what point in your graffiti career did you feel the need to expand your mediums from aerosol to sculpture? At the beginning of the nineties during which I concentrated on 3D styles my goal was to create the illusion of a “real“ 3D object on a 2D medium. Doing truly three-dimensional objects wasn’t such a long leap after that. From spraying walls I was familiar with concrete. After years of using it a background for my letters the idea of shaping it into letters was fascinating. Admittedly, even though this is of great appeal, I still feel as a “classic painter“ meaning the creation of images on two-dimensional media will still keep me busy for quite some time.
3/11/2008 8:21:31 PM
I was looking at your website, studying your artwork for this interview, and I noticed that you seem to have a gap between the verge of the 2000’s and the late 1990’s, what was occupying your artwork during this great divide of work? It seems that in the early 2000’s, your artwork went on a wild turn and you seemed to explode with the Abstrakte Letters show in Los Angeles in 2003 at Crewest Gallery. Would it be safe to say that there was a revitalization or new inspiration in your artwork and career? If so, what was it and does it still affect your life? My development can be divided fairly distinctly in separate phases. Firstly, my development of 3D styles till the middle of the nineties. Secondly, my studies of the liberal arts in Switzerland until the end of the nineties, during which I concentrated on the contents of my works and experimented with a large range of techniques and media such as canvas, sculpturing and even copperplate etching. After that, a real turning point was the founding of the studio group “getting-up“ in 1999. Organizing and executing large projects rather than putting pieces on canvas were the most dominant preoccupations. We did the almost 22,000 square feet dock art project in the year 2000 and initiated the exhibition series “Urban Discipline“. During those years I spent most time on organizing rather than executing projects. I only started to refocus on painting while being on a 6-week tour through the US in 2003 with SEAK during which we did more than 50 canvases. While on trips, I can really focus on sketching in my black book. When coming home, their elaborations on the computer lead to new ideas, improvements and more complexity. This clearly marks the beginning of the next phase – the area of the computer. It is a powerful tool that, for example, enabled me to find the streetwear label DAIMartwear together with partners using the designs I did digitally. In the last couple of years I invested lots of energy into establishing and expanding our brand. By now I can again allocate more time on the presentation of my artistic work in larger exhibitions such as “smell of paint in the air”,” still on and non the wiser“ or currently “fresh air smells funny“ at the Kunsthalle Osnabrueck here in Germany. Do the people that you paint with have any impression on your style of artwork? Anyone you work with has in influence on you own work in one way or another. Making compromises during cooperation with other artists is very typical for graffiti. After starting to concentrate on the definition of my own positioning as an artist I do not as often work together with others anymore as I used to. Even though I have always enjoyed working with others I relish the opportunity of only having to be considerate of my own eccentricity. However, due to the intense interaction during exhibitions, inspiration by others never ceases completely. How has graffiti affected your abilities to make graphic artwork? Do you find yourself doing a lot of commissioned work? Since I am not a graphic designer I do not take on commission work like this. Today, the traditional graffiti contract work that has earned me a living for many years makes up only a small part of my work.
While on the subject, when doing a commissioned piece, do you find that the clients wants tend to slow your ability to create something or does it tend to make the artwork more interesting because of the difference in ideas? I have always also looked upon commissioned pieces as a chance to makes one’s work subject to new ideas or necessities and learn from them. However, since these have continued to conflict more and more with my further developing style over the years, I lately have rarely taken them on. If I do I make sure that my own picture language does not have to adapt to ideas coming out of marketing departments. Some artists, like you, are very methodical, where as others are not. Do you ever allow a painting to “create itself?” Or do you control the painting/drawing to the very last brush stroke or line? The creation of a painting does not begin with the first stroke of a bush. The inspirations, the forming of the picture in my mind, bringing it to paper by means of a quick sketch and perfecting it on the computer are just as much part of my work as painting with the spray can on canvas or wall. These steps of the workflow are seamlessly interwoven and help to enhance the result. Nevertheless, even though I plan those steps well in advance and am usually highly concentrated while painting I always like those pictures the best that felt like they have “painted themselves“. How much of your work is accidental? Have you ever been so upset at a painting that you have become angry enough to destroy it? I would only paint over a canvas if I had allowed a painting to “create itself”. Then again, destroying i.e painting over of pieces is part of graffiti - no matter whether illegal walls are being painted over by different writers or legal walls that one artist keeps on redoing himself. Even some of my works done on walls rather than canvas for exhibitions vanish at the end of them. For me, this is completely normal and a kind of cleansing process, which enables me to put more energy in the artwork. Is there a separation between emotion and your artwork while creating it? Do certain colors in a painting represent a certain attitude at the time of creating that specific painting? Colors have always played an important part in my paintings. I actually started with colored pieces and years later did my first silver piece. I suppose that I developed a pretty good feeling for colors over the years. The use of color is very particular in graffiti compared with traditional painting where one can mix colors and create any given shade of color wanted. With spray cans, you are restricted to a certain repertoire of coloring. This is really quite fascinating. The whole graffiti movement was and is, to a large extent, still is defined by the restrictions of the available surroundings and materials. Making the most of these narrowly defined limitations was the exciting challenge and goal. Learning to work with them while expanding your knowhow was what motivated me to try out new things.
The choice of color I made was again connected to the above aspects since it was dependent on the color’s availability in my city. Another limiting factor is everyone’s preference for opaque colors. Today, with a very large color palette available in high quality cans the situation has changed. For me – and quite a few others – this has actually lead to a reduction of colors. My paintings tend to have a higher share of shades of gray and are reduced to highlight the essential. If there was one famous artist (dead or alive) who would it be? Evolution has produced the largest diversity and highest quality – no artist can match that. Furthermore, do the classical artists have or had any effect on your artwork? I was lucky enough to not only get confronted with different techniques but also various epochs of art during my studies in Switzerland. This of course has left behind traces in my work that might even reveal themselves as subconscious references to other artists. However, I believe that living in a city the daily visual reception of my environment is my biggest inspiration. Everything that I experience here can be used as a motivation for my work. Back to discussing the graffiti part of your career. Do you look at a lot of graffiti artists work and ever wonder if you’ve influenced their artwork? Have you ever looked at another artist’s painting and felt as though he/she has stolen your ideas and used them? What is your honest feeling about people who “bite” other people’s styles? Do you think that the concept of “biting” has died due to the constant growth in styles? I look upon graffiti as a pool of ideas that you can contribute to and profit from. When starting your career as a graffiti-writer you usually take more than you give since you have to derive parts of your own style form those of others. After that, one should try to give some of that back. Nobody can claim to have invented graffiti so everyone is building upon stuff that others have started and developed beforehand. I don’ t mind when others copy ideas, techniques or styles I have invented as long as they do not claim them to be theirs, especially if they do not contribute something to the pool in return. How has American styles in graffiti impacted your concepts? Has it impacted your concepts, or do you think that the European styles have affected and changed the American ideas of style concepts? The classic “graffiti-writing“ that we refer to in our work originated in the USA. So it is no surprise that we orientated ourselves by it and copied it in the beginning. Especially in the time around 1983 when graffiti hit Europe that was the case. Since I only started doing graffiti in 1989 I do not belong to the first generation of artist, which is why I was strongly influenced by writers from Germany, France and the Netherlands. This, combined with my interest in photo realistic illustrations and art lead to a further alienation from the traditional graffiti from New York. In addition, the typical German mentality of perfecting things helped to organize a well functioning graffiti scene that fostered a fast independent development. Good examples for this are the close collaboration between active graffiti writers and the companies producing spray cans, offering mail-order services, publishing books and organizing events. It is nice to see that some of those things are adapted by the Americans from us. Let’s close with the classic ending: Do you have any shout-outs you’d like to make or anything else that you may want to say? In less than two years I will have been spraying for 20 years. This anniversary is of course a little special to me. It might well be that I will publish a new book covering the last two decades on that occasion. Until then I want to do more and larger exhibitions displaying my art. And last but not least I want to push my streetwear label DAIMartwear to an extend that keeps the balance between exclusiveness and availability. I want to say Thanks to everybody I worked with all these years. Thank you for doing this interview with Refused Art Culture magazine. I hope that the questions have been both interesting to read and thought evoking. To those who have read this interview, I hope that moving forward with your styles and learning something new from those that you paint or share drinks with has become a priority. And in closing, remember that the only thing that comes from stagnant water are mosquitoes. Thank you again to Daim for this interview.
More Infos: www.daim.org www.daimartwear.com
daim.indd 2
3/11/2008 8:21:33 PM
I was looking at your website, studying your artwork for this interview, and I noticed that you seem to have a gap between the verge of the 2000’s and the late 1990’s, what was occupying your artwork during this great divide of work? It seems that in the early 2000’s, your artwork went on a wild turn and you seemed to explode with the Abstrakte Letters show in Los Angeles in 2003 at Crewest Gallery. Would it be safe to say that there was a revitalization or new inspiration in your artwork and career? If so, what was it and does it still affect your life? My development can be divided fairly distinctly in separate phases. Firstly, my development of 3D styles till the middle of the nineties. Secondly, my studies of the liberal arts in Switzerland until the end of the nineties, during which I concentrated on the contents of my works and experimented with a large range of techniques and media such as canvas, sculpturing and even copperplate etching. After that, a real turning point was the founding of the studio group “getting-up“ in 1999. Organizing and executing large projects rather than putting pieces on canvas were the most dominant preoccupations. We did the almost 22,000 square feet dock art project in the year 2000 and initiated the exhibition series “Urban Discipline“. During those years I spent most time on organizing rather than executing projects. I only started to refocus on painting while being on a 6-week tour through the US in 2003 with SEAK during which we did more than 50 canvases. While on trips, I can really focus on sketching in my black book. When coming home, their elaborations on the computer lead to new ideas, improvements and more complexity. This clearly marks the beginning of the next phase – the area of the computer. It is a powerful tool that, for example, enabled me to find the streetwear label DAIMartwear together with partners using the designs I did digitally. In the last couple of years I invested lots of energy into establishing and expanding our brand. By now I can again allocate more time on the presentation of my artistic work in larger exhibitions such as “smell of paint in the air”,” still on and non the wiser“ or currently “fresh air smells funny“ at the Kunsthalle Osnabrueck here in Germany. Do the people that you paint with have any impression on your style of artwork? Anyone you work with has in influence on you own work in one way or another. Making compromises during cooperation with other artists is very typical for graffiti. After starting to concentrate on the definition of my own positioning as an artist I do not as often work together with others anymore as I used to. Even though I have always enjoyed working with others I relish the opportunity of only having to be considerate of my own eccentricity. However, due to the intense interaction during exhibitions, inspiration by others never ceases completely. How has graffiti affected your abilities to make graphic artwork? Do you find yourself doing a lot of commissioned work? Since I am not a graphic designer I do not take on commission work like this. Today, the traditional graffiti contract work that has earned me a living for many years makes up only a small part of my work.
While on the subject, when doing a commissioned piece, do you find that the clients wants tend to slow your ability to create something or does it tend to make the artwork more interesting because of the difference in ideas? I have always also looked upon commissioned pieces as a chance to makes one’s work subject to new ideas or necessities and learn from them. However, since these have continued to conflict more and more with my further developing style over the years, I lately have rarely taken them on. If I do I make sure that my own picture language does not have to adapt to ideas coming out of marketing departments. Some artists, like you, are very methodical, where as others are not. Do you ever allow a painting to “create itself?” Or do you control the painting/drawing to the very last brush stroke or line? The creation of a painting does not begin with the first stroke of a bush. The inspirations, the forming of the picture in my mind, bringing it to paper by means of a quick sketch and perfecting it on the computer are just as much part of my work as painting with the spray can on canvas or wall. These steps of the workflow are seamlessly interwoven and help to enhance the result. Nevertheless, even though I plan those steps well in advance and am usually highly concentrated while painting I always like those pictures the best that felt like they have “painted themselves“. How much of your work is accidental? Have you ever been so upset at a painting that you have become angry enough to destroy it? I would only paint over a canvas if I had allowed a painting to “create itself”. Then again, destroying i.e painting over of pieces is part of graffiti - no matter whether illegal walls are being painted over by different writers or legal walls that one artist keeps on redoing himself. Even some of my works done on walls rather than canvas for exhibitions vanish at the end of them. For me, this is completely normal and a kind of cleansing process, which enables me to put more energy in the artwork. Is there a separation between emotion and your artwork while creating it? Do certain colors in a painting represent a certain attitude at the time of creating that specific painting? Colors have always played an important part in my paintings. I actually started with colored pieces and years later did my first silver piece. I suppose that I developed a pretty good feeling for colors over the years. The use of color is very particular in graffiti compared with traditional painting where one can mix colors and create any given shade of color wanted. With spray cans, you are restricted to a certain repertoire of coloring. This is really quite fascinating. The whole graffiti movement was and is, to a large extent, still is defined by the restrictions of the available surroundings and materials. Making the most of these narrowly defined limitations was the exciting challenge and goal. Learning to work with them while expanding your knowhow was what motivated me to try out new things.
The choice of color I made was again connected to the above aspects since it was dependent on the color’s availability in my city. Another limiting factor is everyone’s preference for opaque colors. Today, with a very large color palette available in high quality cans the situation has changed. For me – and quite a few others – this has actually lead to a reduction of colors. My paintings tend to have a higher share of shades of gray and are reduced to highlight the essential. If there was one famous artist (dead or alive) who would it be? Evolution has produced the largest diversity and highest quality – no artist can match that. Furthermore, do the classical artists have or had any effect on your artwork? I was lucky enough to not only get confronted with different techniques but also various epochs of art during my studies in Switzerland. This of course has left behind traces in my work that might even reveal themselves as subconscious references to other artists. However, I believe that living in a city the daily visual reception of my environment is my biggest inspiration. Everything that I experience here can be used as a motivation for my work. Back to discussing the graffiti part of your career. Do you look at a lot of graffiti artists work and ever wonder if you’ve influenced their artwork? Have you ever looked at another artist’s painting and felt as though he/she has stolen your ideas and used them? What is your honest feeling about people who “bite” other people’s styles? Do you think that the concept of “biting” has died due to the constant growth in styles? I look upon graffiti as a pool of ideas that you can contribute to and profit from. When starting your career as a graffiti-writer you usually take more than you give since you have to derive parts of your own style form those of others. After that, one should try to give some of that back. Nobody can claim to have invented graffiti so everyone is building upon stuff that others have started and developed beforehand. I don’ t mind when others copy ideas, techniques or styles I have invented as long as they do not claim them to be theirs, especially if they do not contribute something to the pool in return. How has American styles in graffiti impacted your concepts? Has it impacted your concepts, or do you think that the European styles have affected and changed the American ideas of style concepts? The classic “graffiti-writing“ that we refer to in our work originated in the USA. So it is no surprise that we orientated ourselves by it and copied it in the beginning. Especially in the time around 1983 when graffiti hit Europe that was the case. Since I only started doing graffiti in 1989 I do not belong to the first generation of artist, which is why I was strongly influenced by writers from Germany, France and the Netherlands. This, combined with my interest in photo realistic illustrations and art lead to a further alienation from the traditional graffiti from New York. In addition, the typical German mentality of perfecting things helped to organize a well functioning graffiti scene that fostered a fast independent development. Good examples for this are the close collaboration between active graffiti writers and the companies producing spray cans, offering mail-order services, publishing books and organizing events. It is nice to see that some of those things are adapted by the Americans from us. Let’s close with the classic ending: Do you have any shout-outs you’d like to make or anything else that you may want to say? In less than two years I will have been spraying for 20 years. This anniversary is of course a little special to me. It might well be that I will publish a new book covering the last two decades on that occasion. Until then I want to do more and larger exhibitions displaying my art. And last but not least I want to push my streetwear label DAIMartwear to an extend that keeps the balance between exclusiveness and availability. I want to say Thanks to everybody I worked with all these years. Thank you for doing this interview with Refused Art Culture magazine. I hope that the questions have been both interesting to read and thought evoking. To those who have read this interview, I hope that moving forward with your styles and learning something new from those that you paint or share drinks with has become a priority. And in closing, remember that the only thing that comes from stagnant water are mosquitoes. Thank you again to Daim for this interview.
More Infos: www.daim.org www.daimartwear.com
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3/11/2008 8:21:33 PM