BIZ 360 Interview

Hi, you are welcome! I’m originally from Patrai, a city in the southwest part of Greece. That’s where I was born and grew up but left almost 6 years ago. As  for  my crew, its 360 and most of us are from different parts of the country.

I could say that what I am doing on the wall are shapes and forms that constitute letters. I am really interested in some new forms of graffiti, some new ways to express the letters. This is still within graffiti and I always feel I want to push lettering to another level, something that has never happened before. First, I care about the whole structure of the piece as one thing and then about the individual parts of it. I also try to shake down some rules of the classical graffiti. First of all you have to learn, the rules and then you can try to break them.

Back in the days when I was painting following all the rules: first lines, back, outline, lights, strict simple letters and so on. I got bored a bit of this after doing it for so long, and I tried to change it. I am still in the process! A lot of things from my environment has also contributed consciously or unconsciously in my project and have inspired me by becoming a part of my style.

It’s very important for me to do them all. So that’s what I do! I started with illegal, so it’s still running in my blood. I still get the itch for street action and got the virus for doing my tag and throw-ups everywhere. I continue with this nonstop. On the other hand, I was always interested in improving my style, my skills and try new things on the wall. Trying to reach my child dreams of the ultimate, space dimensional, masterpiece graffiti, the imposing one.

Anyway, it also depends on the period of my life; sometimes I am more focus on actions, some others on walls, because of the surrounding conditions.

Yes, it’s true I like travelling a lot, exploring new places, meeting different people and mostly doing a lot of painting everywhere I go. So, if you combine these with the craziness in my head, you have the absolute motivation for travelling!

Concerning any place or country or continent I would like to go, I have to say I want to go everywhere in the world. Every city and country counts for me as a possible next target.

All the places have something different and unique to show. Every place from a near city to a far country is another experience. Maybe, two places I can have first in mind as a possible destination for another time in the future are Portugal and Turkey. They are really beautiful and noticeable places with kind people. Also, it is important to mention the really nice time and good memories I have from Mexico and the lovely Italy.

Well, while painting there is all the time an intense feeling in the air, especially in difficult spots, like deep down or high up. For sure, there are some more strange cases. For example, some abandoned places that may hide dangers, some face to face contacts with police and security guys, some little injuries etc. Probably, one of the most strange and dangerous situation to mention is in a tunnel that we had no access to the emergency exit and we had to run along the rails to the next station when we heard the train coming to our way. It passed next to us just some centimeters far. We didn’t realize the danger because of the adrenaline and the need for going immediately out of the tunnel. When I calmed down I perceived what really had happened.

You are known for the big size walls you do. Size matters? How about managing it in collaboration walls with others and how about in trains? 

Style matters. What I love more while painting from a wall to a fast throw-up is to act with the whole body not only the hand. I like big moves of body to do a line not only just a small move of the hand.  Big size pieces, long length styles are a result of this. In addition, it is more difficult to keep the style in a big scale piece, which is another challenge for me! In case of a small wall with other guys I move flexibly doing my shit as the whole wall project ordain. About trains, fitting the piece in the current train panel is another new challenge. To be honest, most of my train panels are simple letters so the deal with the space is easier.

As a writer, having a good flick of my piece is an important thing. So, as time passes, I practice a bit my photographic skills and I go more into it. But, nowadays I keep it only in relation with graffiti.

About fine arts and things like this, I would say they are interesting, but it is just a small part of my life for the moment. I have done some works, collaborations and exhibitions in the past. I also do some canvases occasionally.

Everything in life has a good and a bad side. What makes the difference is the knowledge on how to use something to reap the advantages that possibly can offer you. I am personally not using the Internet so much; I never feel I need it as a part of what I am doing. I really do not care if a writer is Internet addicted; that’s his own decision and not a reason for me to avoid him. The Internet has become a fast way to show your things and have a five minute fame, because, in the next five minutes, another “fascinating” thing is going to appear on the screen. I feel this is a discussion that should have been done some years before. Now it’s a bit useless to say if graffiti can be viewed in social media, because nowadays they are unfortunately a big part of graffiti. The fact and the most important thing we need to worry about is if the social media are safe enough for sharing so many things, like photos and other graffiti stuff, just from a web profile or a cell phone. Are we able to filter all the huge quantity of information which is trash?

I have a lot of graffiti plans for the future. I want to travel more, create more, improve, paint as much as possible. I hope I will be able to continue this for a long long time!

Greetings to Canada!

Thanks a lot for sharing your thoughts and experiences with us. You can find and check Biz’s work and updates at:

Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/biz_one/

Tumblr: http://biz360citycat.tumblr.com/