GLOWING IN THE DARK AGAIN!
#dirtythirty/07.2009/X/216/185/phosphorfile
first row: adonis: stuttgart / ecb: koblenz / slayer: dortmund second row: keats. heis: hamburg / taj. rr: cologne form. green: hamburg third row: kozi. arkor: berlin / wow123. atom: bremen
first row: big balls since 1987: berlin / phos: berlin second row: phos. ice. inka: berlin / moe. phos. ice: berlin third row: dejoe. kane. phos: berlin
PHOSPHOR
HANDWRITERS
first row: amir. ezay: up north / herr orm: dortmund neis: greece / nek: wuerzburg second row: showee: chemnitz third row: hocus: berlin / k-spatz: berlin / ghetto: ruhrpott
HOW and NOSM. These names belong together. As well with each other as with graffiti itself. There are just a very few graffiti writers in this world, who spread their names further. Many have been there, but just a very few dared to jump into the Mekka of graffiti New York City and became established. Lots have been travelling around, leaving their names on the train systems and walls of the world, but – just a few have been in that many countries as HOW and NOSM. What started for these twins in a smalltown in Germany, developed into a graffiti story full of pioneering spirit, friendship and adventure. And, nowadays, an end isn’t in sight. More than a reason for us to get to know them a little closer within our 30th issue…
Just for the case that anyone out there doesn’t know who HOW and NOSM are, please introduce yourself. We're twin brothers born in San Sebastian in the Basque country of Spain. We moved to Germany when we were about 6 years old as the result of our parents divorce, where we spent most of our time outside playing. The German word “Schluesselkinder”(kids with keys) describes our childhood perfectly. Running the streets unattended, we were introduced to graffiti when we were around 13 years of age. We spend the first year or two mostly doing tags and some throw-ups in a suburb near Duesseldorf. Then we progressed to doing pieces around town and continued our illegal activities by experimenting with trains. Shortly thereafter we began travelling. Since our city had become to small for us and as our painting became more elaborate and bigger in size, we began painting legally more, which led to us making a living of our art. After years of travelling and forming many graffiti friendships, we now reside in New York City. We're pretty well known in the mural scene, as well in the underground train bombing movement. You were born in Germany, now living in New York. How come, and when did you leave Germany? We moved to New York City in the summer of 1999 and have been living in the United States ever since. I guess it was a result of our prior visits to New York City in 1997 and 1998. We had made friends with BIO, BG 183, and Nicer, got along very well personally as well as professionally, and they asked us to join their crew. Back in Germany we represented our own RAL crew and TATS CRU, and we intensified our traveling, pushing their name hard and giving the New York based crew a wider audience and some new life. At the same time, we were feeling more and more alienated in our surroundings. Especially since we weren't born in Germany we had always felt misplaced, but as kids we had no other choice. So when we had the chance to make a living, establish more friendships, and have somewhat of a family, we finally moved from Germany to New York fuckin’ City.
this page: seoul, copenhagen, paris, bucharest, stockholm
So do you feel as Germans or as Americans? Or a part of both? We can’t really say we feel like Germans or Americans. Like I said before, we were born in the country of Basque that seeks autonomy and independence. A place with multiple identities. Spanish or Basque, German or American? We don't feel that any of that really applies to us, especially after having been so many different places all around the world, and relating to those different cultures and their people. But we represent Germany and New York City (not to be confused the United States of America) wherever we go. You made your first graffiti experiences in Germany. Do you still have an eye on what’s going on over here? How do you think has everything changed over here since then? We certainly have kept an eye on Germany’s ever growing graffiti culture and movement since we left for New York City. It's essential for us to follow artists we worked with and befriended during the years we were in Germany. In contrast to many other writers, we like to see artists grow and develop, and actually make a living at what their love doing. We do also appreciate the younger generations and their ability to take this whole thing to another level... hopefully. The graffiti scene in Germany has drastically changed throughout the recent years and has gone in a lot of positive directions. The quality is getting better and better, and everything is developing at such a fast pace it's hard to keep up. There are books, magazines and galleries all over and for the last few years a new brand of spray paint has even been on the commercial market. Thanks to the internet it's definetly easier to keep an eye on you guys, but we also have a whole bunch of active resources that keep us posted. The illegal bombing scene has decreased a bit in a lot of cities but there's always someone resurrecting old activities, and others follow. That's been the case of most big cities in Germany to our knowledge. We try our best to keep up, but sometimes we fail to know something or someone. Who doesn’t nowadays? The older guys have also been more focusing on their personal work and lives, so they visually disappear to some extent. But that’s building
on Germanys future as well, since they are breaking ground and becoming respected artists. In the end that benefits everybody. What phase was New York in, when you went there? Still the “wild style” look or already clean? At the time of our arrival, and also our first visit in 1997, graffiti in New York City was experiencing a revival. That had a lot to do with Germanys graffiti tourism. Guys like Loomit, Daim, and Hesh had recently joined the (no longer existing) FX crew and were doing enormous productions with imported spray paint. It gave walls a new look. The only ones still doing their thing on the other side were the TATS CRU. We joined them and somewhat of a competition started, resulting in a lot of great productions, mainly in the Bronx borough. Both crews were leading the graffiti movement and made such a tremendous impression that it influenced lots of retired writers to restart their graff careers. One of them was Seen UA. Back then the streets were totally bombed and it was hard to find spots to hit on walls or gates. That was nice to look at for any writer, but not for many landlords and business owners. So landlords would give wall space to writers to do murals on the regular basis as an effort to deter illegal graffiti. New York had lots of productions all over, trains were all clean and the clean train area was almost non existent... –but not for long! What’s with the New York scene nowadays? We don’t really hear too many news from it over here... The New York scene is actually sad nowadays compared to earlier years. Over the last few years graffiti has suffered a lot from harsh punishments and intense persecution of writers. The police state that New York is in discourages a lot of young kids, so they don't pick up the tools of the trade seriously. A generation of writers to follow the last one is missing, and the newly restructed vandal task force and its eradication program are taking a toll on the movement. There are so many walls cleaned, productions buffed, and gates replaced that New York really lost its edge. Yes, sure
first row: skil: sweden / jeroo: spain / daim: italy second row: skew. fact. dizer. kide. stage: france third row: amit. movin. shake. ezay: groningen fourth row: ces. t-kid. kacao77. tiws: ireland / taylor: france bone. chucky: denmark
first row: aroe. wany: uk / real angle: brasil / kid kash. switzerland second row: camel. mosk. nemo: sarajevo / jake. again: amsterdam third row: roket. ozone. mint: greece fourth row: gemzo. kies. chok. dans: spain / rage. sune. frik: spain
ruedione
When was the time you noticed, that expressing yourself in taking photos was more important to you than leaving your name with graffiti? It was my job that slowed down my writing. I guess this is a phenomenon a lot of writers are being faced when they start to financially take care of themselves. Writing was my life for years, but if you do it right, it takes a lot of time – starting up a company (which takes much time as well) and being a writer the same time, can just be a compromise to both things. I tried it for some time until I realized that I had to focus. Shortly after that time I bought a digisnap and after some months I became totally fascinated by this form of expression. Soon I did a second, a third, a fourth… many steps towards being able to control this technic. Today I shoot from digisnap up to medium format digital and in film from small format up to large format – so to say almost every kind of photographic format.
Our second interview partner this time is Ruediger Glatz aka ruedione from Heidelberg, Germany. He started long time ago as a writer, followed up as a successful businessman and finally found himself as a professional photographer. Everybody who knows him at least a little can witness, that there is nothing he does less than 100% – and his day must have definitely more hours than a usual workers or writers day has. Within the last years, he spent many hours in taking great photos trying to capture the feelings and impressions of writers at work. This huge project came now to an end and the most beautiful shots can be found in the book “BACKFLASHES – GRAFFITITALES” that we published recently with him. We took the chance to have a small conversation with the man behind the lense – ruedione, addicted to click!
Don’t you miss painting? What is the motivation to do “only” photos of other writers by now? Over my BACKFLASHES series, I still touched the base and even had the chance to intensify my feelings. Over the years I got the experience to judge graffitistyle on a very high level – even higher than I was able to perform, what was kind of a problem to me. In my photography I was way more skilled and soon had the chance to fulfill my feeling of style. Imagine you enter a yard, you leave after 2-3 hours and you did 15-30 panels without outlines. This is how I felt every time I shot a series. Than you sit later at your computer with some great sound and you can finish your pieces in a secure area – a perfect moment! This is how much I miss writing myself ;-). In BACKFLASHES I had the intention to visualize and preserve the bombing feeling. I didn´t care who was writing (of course I needed to trust the writers and I always preferred friends) and even the place was secondary. My focus was on grabbing the feeling, so I didn´t shoot writers – I shot moments. In fact I work already for some years on another series about writers, but that is something we can talk about in 2-3 more years when it is finished. Aren’t you scared while attending an illegal action, especially if it is a subway? It is just what I did years before as a writer… no difference. But you get older, don’t you? Many of the older generation of trainwriters don’t dare entering a yard anymore once they have something to loose… That’s true. Of course you think more about what you do and why you do it. Sometimes this makes writers stop their missions – in my case it makes me fulfill my mission. Heidelberg, Germany, 2004
What was the craziest spot for you so far? I guess it was a series I shot in the suburbs of Santiago de Chile. The locals bombed a bus at night, what is to an European writer just a minor mission. But there I realized, that the level of game that being played at the moment, was way higher than bombing a subway in New York or a subway in Stockholm. If the owner, who was sleeping next door, catches you, he would probably try to hurt you in a way that you won´t forget. Compared to this, getting some jailtime is a bagatelle. Did already problems show up? Any bust or chase story? I wouldn´t say I had more extreme chases as a writer. Maybe a chase I once had in Amsterdam was kinda special. Cops on motorbikes checking the inner part of the town, just like cowboys, was something new to me. You told me the chapter “graffiti on trains” is closed for you after this book will be published. Why that? My mission was to visualize and preserve this feeling for me. I did that and with this book, I try to give others the chance to participate. Now I need to focus on other projects. I guess I will shoot on my other project about the writers with some missions as well, but the focus will be on the person, not on the bombing feeling. This will be totally different. What are your plans for the future? I have 2-3 more books to do which are connected to writing. I started years ago on each one. Now after finishing BACKFLASHES, I will focus on the writer portraits… then I will see. Sooner or later I will turn to social critical topics. I guess these will be more relevant to the world, but first I want to give back something to the scene, which formed my life in the last 18 years so strong, something that will be part of its history and be relevant for this underground movement. We only know those black and white photos from you. No doubt, they look very artistic, but we also got told that the audience considers them sometimes as limited or boring. What would you reply on this? First of all I need to cope with myself, then I am happy if others appreciate. Black and white is reducing photographs to objects, to persons or to feelings. I had the feeling this is the best way to fulfill my intentions.
featuring trains from: france / holland / italy / belgium...