SpY

March 8th, 2007

In this begining of the year things are looking good and one of the nicest surprises lately it’s seeing that the infamous urban artist known as SpY uploaded his personal website (www.spy.org.es) , documenting in a fantastic manner his different projects, with great images as well as with brief aclaratory texts. This could have been the excuse to choose him as the subject of our monthly interview but the real reason is that we’ve being appreciating his work for quite some time. We think that the line he is following is one of the most consistent and inteligent developed nowadays in this country, not to say in the whole continent, and is always a pleasure bumping into his street interventions in any corner of Madrid. Most of the time these don’t last for long, but even then, are hard to ignore, specially since he started to intervene street and traffic signs. Quoting the words on his wesite “SpY’s pieces want to be a break in the automat-like inertia of the urban dweller. Bits of thought that hide in a corner for whoever wants to let himself be surprised. Full of both irony and a positive sense of humor, they appear to inspire a smile, a thought, to help a conscience a little bit more lucid” We hope that this questions bring some ligth to the person behind this works.

We always start with the same question: How, when and where did you start to work in the streets?

At the end of the 80s I started to paint Graffiti around my neighborhood.

Could we say that your beginnings are directly related to old school Graffiti in Madrid?

You could say that, but the truth is that there was already one generation of people who got up a lot in the 80s. They were my first reference.

How was the atmosphere of your upbringing as a writer at that time in Madrid?

Back then, Graffiti in Madrid was divided in two. On one side you had the local style of writting, called Flecheros, the scene of writers that originated with the tags of Muelle and other people, and in the other side people who were writting based on American influences: Style wars, Spraycan Art, Subway Art… writers from all over Madrid used to go to Nuevos Ministerios (a square and a metro station north of the city) to see pictures, sign blackbooks, meet people, go painting… there you could see all types of writting.

Who did you start to paint in the streets with?

Between the mid 80s to the end I started seeing other people’s pieces. In the city, the most visible one was Muelle, due to his original way of painting. He chose really carefully the spots were he painted and that made him really stand out. On the other hand there was another writer from my neighborhood that was quite active called Kotis, and that was a more direct influence. I later met him and started painting with him. After that PTV was born and we started to go with writers from other neighborhoods. When that time was over I joined SPC and after this we formed Reyes del Mambo.

How did that happen?

Because of the good relationships we had between two crews that got together quite often: SSB and SPC. We had similar styles and we painted trains together.

When did you realize of the possibilities the streets had as a creative medium, besides writting your name in the walls?

In the mid 90s I started to see the street from a different perspective of a Graffiti writer. When you do Graffiti your perception of the city is usually limited to tags and pieces. To tell you the truth, it wasn’t premeditated, I started to have different ideas, different ways of looking at the streets. I think in some way I changed my chip. At that time people used to tell me: “this is not Graffiti”, something somewhat evident. We started calling that “urban interventions”. When I was doing Graffiti I already liked to explore new and original things, apart from forming a new style, something really important in this world, your identity. To be seen and be recognized immediately. Graffiti its been a school really helpful in the development of my work.

Who were your first references in that sense?

At the beginning of the 90s there was little press documentation, we only started to see the first european fanzines. The truth is that at that time there was nobody in our circle of Graffiti friends who were doing something similar to us… those references didn’t appear until much later.

One thing I find very interesting in your work is the irony and humor of your pieces. Also how you subtly hide them in the urban environment, straight opposite to traditional Graffiti, way more intrusive and in your face. Why this change? When did you start to do this type of interventions?

It wasn’t a premeditated change, but it is true that my current way of working is much less intrusive. I try to stay alert and really aware of what’s going on around me. Not all of my pieces tell something narrative, sometimes they are just a modification of the urban environment that ends up as letters or something else… that comes from my roots in the Graffiti world. Now my tendency is to develop interventions with a much deeper content. I like my works to tell things that awake consciousness… is something I enjoy exploring now a days.

The subjects you choose and the location of the signs are, apparently, always related. What comes first, the idea or the place? How do you develop each one of them?

I don’t have a fixed method of working. Sometimes the places gives me an idea, sometimes is certain social context what triggers the intervention and others I just want to say something and I try to find the best way to do it.
I always make an effort to stay receptive towards the city, which is the frame of my self expression and where I communicate my own ideas.

What do you try to communicate with your work?

I want people to enjoy my interventions, make them think when they find something unusual in his daily routine, make them smile, some thought or reflection… Something I am trying to do now is consolidate a personal language in my work and strength the coherence. My work is not the expansion neither the continuation of a main theme, every project comes from a new idea. In the formal side I have something very clear: not fall in tendencies or infatuated design. I try to keep my work as aseptic as possible.

Cinema, literature, cartoons, your corner store… What are your main influences?

I try to feed myself from everything I can. I love animation, movies, art, design in all of its variations… nowadays there is tons of information and is really hard to keep up to date with everything.

What is the next movement of SpY? Any interesting project coming up that we should know?

I am going to sell a church, kill a bull and put a politician in disguise.

Something that has cut your attention lately and that you want to recommend to us?

The work of Santiago Sierra.

Interview by: Zirus the virus.

Entry Filed under: Artists