Street art is seen all around us, on buildings and in magazines. It's sometimes used as decoration to make things look cool, or for packaging to make it look more colorful. But where did street art come from? Was it always this popular and how has it developed over time? I spoke to a street artist who has been doing graffiti since 1994 and asked him about his story, his influences, his art and his opinion on where the future lie in this genre of art?
Paul, or Dezio as he is more commonly known, started doing graffiti in 1994. "As a kid I would take the subway and would see tracksides covered in graffiti. I didn’t know anything about it or how it was being done, but I wanted to be a part of it." From there he grabbed some paint and started painting. At the beginning it was "random words and phrases" as he puts it, but later he met some writers and from that moment he was hooked forever, painting almost every week after.
When Dezio started painting it was a completely different ballgame to what it is now. He explains to me how 'graffiti' and 'street art' are two different kettles of fish. "When I started painting street art, as we see it today, didn’t really exist as a movement in itself. There was 'graffiti' and there was 'art in the street', but it didn’t mix. Some famous artists had been painting in the streets, I can take Ernest Pignon Ernest for instance with his massive charcoal collages, but they were on their own path and it wasn’t belonging to any global movement."
"So at the time street art would be categorized as two things: either it was 'graffiti', and thought of as a public disturbance of young vandals that needed to be eradicated, or it was art, commissioned by the city or a major corporation in a bid to 'beautify' and 'unite' a city’s neighborhood," Dezio reflected.
The debate rages on about whether street art is vandalism. Is graffiti an ugly stain that is associated with themes of dirtiness and all things unwholesome? Is there a dark underworld in the realms of graffiti writers? Dezio reveals to me something quite interesting: "I consider street art to be a different form of graffiti. Graffiti is in a world of itself and speaks to other graffiti writers only. A graffiti writer will paint his name for another graffiti writer to see and appreciate, not for the general public to understand. They do not belong in the equation."
"Street art, on the other hand, is directed towards the public. It usually depicts a message targeted at the general population. That message can be political, whimsical or just aesthetic. It doesn’t follow the rules of graffiti, but instead follows that of the art world." Dezio's involvement in street art has been quite a recent one: "Until now I was doing graffiti in the street and studio work on canvases. Only recently have I decided to merge the two with this work that I am doing on brushstrokes, where I try to bring the focus on the movement and structure of a painting rather than on its subject. I like to consider it as painting paint."
Dezio's work at the moment revolves around brushstrokes and a mix of shapes and colors to form a global image. "My street work remains figurative, but my canvas work is becoming more and more abstract." I was curious to ask Dezio if he has a process or a certain modus operandi? "In a certain way I do. I usually have a global direction before I start, but I improvise as I go along."
He continued: "However, I like to see it as if I’m building my painting from the inside. I’ll first place the basic forms then I slowly build onto it, adding details and colors. Like I said before, I now start thinking much more with color. I’ll find myself thinking, 'I need to put some yellow here', then figuring out how and what it could be… rather than 'I want to draw a tree' and figuring out what color to paint it in."
Dezio's influences comes from a lot of different places, both in the artistic world, the design world and just everyday imagery, but there is a special story as well behind his inspiration. "I spend a lot of time observing my surroundings, picking up details and imagining combinations in my head. Recently as my search is becoming more and more abstract into shapes and colors, I feel that a quote from Mrs Benet (a UK artist who was the mother of one of my good friends) has inspired me a lot."
"I remember being in awe in front of her paintings and asking how she could see and mix colors like she does. The answer I got stunned me, as she said, 'every color works together as they all come from light, it’s all about figuring out the proportions and placements.' From that point on I stopped thinking of color as just an attribute. I think this was a big breakthrough in my paintings."
Street art has come a long way since Dezio arrived in China 10 years ago. "It was virtually unknown, nowadays people appreciate it a lot more and don't just look at it as a curiosity. I think back then it was more considered a performance to entertain than a serious form of art." With all the talk about the past I asked what does the future hold for street art, globally and within China. Will the trend stop. Will it evolve into something we don't foresee?
"I think it’s becoming much more professionalized and wide spread. More and more artists are becoming known and are making it into a lifestyle to travel and paint around the world. I hope that trend stays and cities accept and integrate it in their environment. In China the trend is catching on and many 'art' villages are popping up here and there with events such as 'Way home', and 'Wallskars' that are attracting a number of internationally known artists to paint murals for the public to appreciate."
As I wrap up the interview, I ask if there are any wise words to pass on to the next bunch of street artists who have that same glint in their eye as he did back in 1994. "Stay away from trends and don’t be in a rush for success as you’ll probably disappear just as quickly if you don’t have the work behind it to back it up." Dezio's own personal journey has been a very insightful and fruitful one. I ask how he reflects on it? "I do it for myself and have been for 25 years now. It’s a personal journey and I’ll see where it leads."
From the very beginning to now, Dezio has seen street art progress and change from something that was sneered at, to evolving into something that is used widely and respected equally. His journey, his life and inspirational story are intertwined with the development of this art form and a major genre of art today.