GROG BLITZ DAYS x INTERVIEW & GROG LAB WITH NEOH
Gerade laufen bei uns im Online Shop in Kooperation mit der Firma Grog die “Grog Blitz Days”. Aus diesem Anlass haben wir von den Italienern ein exklusives Interview mit dem Writer “Neoh” zur Verfügung gestellt bekommen welches wir euch natürlich nicht vorenthalten wollen!
Graffiti is for writers, it’s the search for a style, for one’s own style to stand out from the others.
Seit Jahren ist Neoh nicht mehr aus der italienischen Szene weg zu denken. Sein Oldschooliger Style kombiniert mit coolen Elementen aus der Welt der Comics sorgen dafür das man jedes seiner bunten Pieces gerne anschaut..
Ob auf Kiste oder an der Hall, die Qualität seiner Bilder steht für sich und macht schnell klar warum es Neoh in Italien so weit gebracht hat. Aber verschafft euch selber durch die Bilder einen Überblick über sein breit gefächertes Schaffen.
Angefangen hat für Neoh alles auf Zügen aber zu seiner Motivation, was Ihn antreibt und ähnliches gibt es jetzt mehr Informationen im Interview.
INTERVIEW
1: Introduce yourself
Neoh: Hey, my name is Neoh and my crews are TGF and QSMD.
I approached writing in 1991 and, through thick and thin, it still plays a big role in my life. Around 2000 I started painting seriously on trains and from that moment they became my fixation until 2008, when I started to slow a bit down. I remember that, at that time, every time I did a sketch I had to do the best of my life, I had to overcome myself and it was from that moment that I started seeing graffiti differently. I came to think that graffiti were pure elitist ego-trippin’ and that this aspect was moving me away from them. I felt that graffiti were becoming more and more self-referential, because in part understandable only by those who made them, and elitist because only those who painted so much and had good foundations and knowledge had the opportunity to understand better each finesse and each distinctive element.
The graffiti self-referentiality grew more and more, basically because I wasn’t able to confront myself with the new generations that didn’t have the least conception of style and purity, except in rare cases.
I could no longer find any stimulus and everything I saw seemed flat and already seen. A little for this and a little for personal reasons I slowly gave up the blow. Over the next few years I seldom painted, but since a couple of years now I started back again. Without constraints, beefs or pressure, without having to prove anything to anyone, but doing what I haven’t done before on the walls, which were not on the top list due to panels. Nowadays I want to experiment and work even more on letters, on style and at the same time take care of colors, background and puppets.
2: Describe your style in max 10 words.
Neoh: It’s Funky, sometimes Jazz becoming a Swing!
3: What are your inspirations, regardless of writing?
Neoh: I am very interested in the study of colors, how to use them, in order to give strength to the letters’ structure. I’m deeply inspired by cartoons from various eras, from calligraphy. Some illustrators. And bike riding!
4: How do you think the Internet has changed the graffiti game and the scene?
Neoh: Internet has turned graffiti upside down. On one side it made everything affordable for everyone and it helped a general flattening of styles, but at the same time it was the real turning point: It has made people to get in touch with each others in an easier way and it increased stimuli. Moreover, it has allowed a much more direct comparison of the various scenes at the international level, creating an exchange that made graffiti evolve at the speed of light. It contributed a radical mentality change.
5: How do you imagine graffiti in 20 years?
Neoh: I hope there will still be those who want to take trainbombing seriously. Style-wise, I hope that the approach to origins, the foundations will never be lost. I hope there will still be people willing to study and evolve letters.
6: Which city do you think is more “sparkling”, regarding the scene, in Italy? And in Europe?
Neoh: In my opinion, Milan has always been the point of reference in Italy and it still is, but I always liked the Naples scene and today I think is really sparkling. In Europe, Copenhagen above all, then Hamburg and Paris.
7: Do you believe that graffiti, at the level of language, is suitable for art galleries?
Neoh: I think I’m pretty fundamentalist about the subject. Graffiti was born on trains and it must remain, everything else is a side dish, It’s pure Show-Biz.
Graffiti is for writers, it’s the search for a style, for one’s own style to stand out from the others.
I believe that you can’t really understand the language of graffiti without having studied the letters, without being a good writer, without spending hidden nights in the cold studying a move. You don’t really know what the writing culture is without having lost your time in beefs, without having made dozens of escapes from cops and without having waited for the dawn hundreds and hurdreds of times to have a damn picture!
8: How heavy was leaving the metal? Do you feel equally satisfied after a wall?
Neoh: Leaving the metal weighs a lot. Trainbombing has its own practice, its rules, it has a different way of getting in touch with other writers, it has a different way of seeing situations. Metal leads you to exceed your limit and to improve yourself, to push yourself always further. Metal is ALL in graffiti. For those reasons I don’t feel deeply satisfied after a wall. It’s a different satisfaction, because the references and the stimuli are different, by the way I’m enjoying this new dimension. I’m trying to do things I didn’t have time to do before, more complicated and structured sketches. 10 years ago I would never have used 20 colors to make a wall, I would have preferred to paint 3 panels. Style-wise, on the other hand, painting walls is giving me the opportunity to stop and study more, both on sketches and when I’m in the hall of fame. I enjoy experimenting with lettering and having time to take care of the details.