Song of the day/to listen to whilst reading: Trimm Trabb - Blur.
Starting a phone call with "hello? Fuck" was quite a bizarre affair.
The second bizarre event was trying to conduct a casual, non-intrusive interview in both Greek and English. I bought a very large coffee for this task.
Στάθης Γκεβρεκης (Stathis Gevrekis) and I met at the Varosi, with my fluent-in-Greek-companions.
After studying Fine Art at the University of Ioannina and has since worked in Germany as well as Greece.
After asking if its weird to be making a name for himself by graffiti-ing , he says he doesn't - he makes "street art". Followed by stating that graffiti started in America and it "never left". His art is also quite strangely received by the public, with people calling him up and asking him to create murals on their buildings - including an eye graffitied on the side of someone's house.
He's also not hiding when doing work without expressed permission - he signs all of his work, and people know who he is - they just like his work so don't complain and appreciate his style.
He talked of Banksy creating what he feels is "political work" and not straight up art. - though I'm not sure I completely agree with this, Gevrekis' art isn't politically swayed and it isn't strictly a personal statement either, just a pretty painting.
His pen and ink drawings are more personal than his street art, and he actually gets paid for this work more than when he is commissioned for street-art-murals.
His first piece of street art was in '97 - when I asked about whether he covered up his old work or got embarrassed, he said that he didn't as he sees it as a way of improving and seeing old work helps evolve work. "Just like looking in the mirror" (at which point I said I refuse to look into mirrors). I was mainly asking questions I felt nervous about - when you create a piece which felt true and whole at the time, and you look back after a few years and internally cry and your own, un-evolved technique. He is without this embarrassment, which adds to his style of picking walls which everyone walks past everyday.
When talking about my fear of forgetting my art after only having time to do university work and not my own personal portfolio, he said that I only have two years left - he found it boring when he had to draw whatever still life items instructed to at Uni, but in the end it did teach him - this vague interview would have gone much better if I could actually speak Greek without stalling and acting like a flaming idiot.
We parted ways after our brief coffee-interview (and after he was strangely enticed by my companions to visit England), and as he had left the establishment for a few minutes I stole the biscuit that came with his espresso.
This collection of dots is his signature, present on all of his pieces.
Some of his work has been slightly ruined by graffiti.
Starting a phone call with "hello? Fuck" was quite a bizarre affair.
The second bizarre event was trying to conduct a casual, non-intrusive interview in both Greek and English. I bought a very large coffee for this task.
Στάθης Γκεβρεκης (Stathis Gevrekis) and I met at the Varosi, with my fluent-in-Greek-companions.
After studying Fine Art at the University of Ioannina and has since worked in Germany as well as Greece.
After asking if its weird to be making a name for himself by graffiti-ing , he says he doesn't - he makes "street art". Followed by stating that graffiti started in America and it "never left". His art is also quite strangely received by the public, with people calling him up and asking him to create murals on their buildings - including an eye graffitied on the side of someone's house.
He's also not hiding when doing work without expressed permission - he signs all of his work, and people know who he is - they just like his work so don't complain and appreciate his style.
He talked of Banksy creating what he feels is "political work" and not straight up art. - though I'm not sure I completely agree with this, Gevrekis' art isn't politically swayed and it isn't strictly a personal statement either, just a pretty painting.
His pen and ink drawings are more personal than his street art, and he actually gets paid for this work more than when he is commissioned for street-art-murals.
His first piece of street art was in '97 - when I asked about whether he covered up his old work or got embarrassed, he said that he didn't as he sees it as a way of improving and seeing old work helps evolve work. "Just like looking in the mirror" (at which point I said I refuse to look into mirrors). I was mainly asking questions I felt nervous about - when you create a piece which felt true and whole at the time, and you look back after a few years and internally cry and your own, un-evolved technique. He is without this embarrassment, which adds to his style of picking walls which everyone walks past everyday.
When talking about my fear of forgetting my art after only having time to do university work and not my own personal portfolio, he said that I only have two years left - he found it boring when he had to draw whatever still life items instructed to at Uni, but in the end it did teach him - this vague interview would have gone much better if I could actually speak Greek without stalling and acting like a flaming idiot.
We parted ways after our brief coffee-interview (and after he was strangely enticed by my companions to visit England), and as he had left the establishment for a few minutes I stole the biscuit that came with his espresso.
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