1) Alright so thanks for taking the time out to do this interview, can we get a brief run down of who you are and how long have you been in the game? What crew do you rep and how did you start writing tars one?
I write Tars One and I represent AA Crew, EDK and DVS. I officially started writing around 98. I picked the name Tars because prior to that name, all the names I chose ended up being taken by an established writer or it sounded too similar to a famous writer. So I started thinking of more unorthodox names, and at that time I felt like I could make this name flow like the writers I was inspired by.
2) Man you are crazy prolific and your work is always fresh, I really dig the style you put into your work and it looks like you do collabs too. Is doing collabs one of the things that you love about being a creative and a graffiti artist in particular? Do you think you grow as an artist by collabing with others?
Thanks. I paint alone for the most part, but yes I do collab with others. I was never really interested in painting with others, but that changed when my homie Tones from Switzerland visited me and we went on a painting spree for a couple of weeks. I realized when you paint alone, you can just go at your own pace and just “do you”, but when you’re painting with someone else, you have to bring your A-game each time and you have to step it up from your last piece and get out of your comfort zone and come up with new ideas on the spot, freestyle, etc.
So since then, I’ve made more of an effort to paint with others, particularly my crewmates. It takes me out of my comfort zone and I always make sure it’s a learning experience in some way. I definitely think you do grow as an artist when you collab with others but it depends on who you collab with and how.
3) What is it that drew you to doing graffiti over doing something else? I mean you definitely have a talent, so I’m curious what was the thing that made you say it’s gotta be graffiti and nothing else?
Ever since I was a little kid I liked to draw, so I think it was natural for me to be attracted to this culture. The first time I saw it was at school when my teacher played a documentary about Mother Teresa or something random like that. There was a scene in New York and the camera focused briefly on a subway train with a piece and a mugsy next to it. I was instantly fascinated by it and I would continue seeing it randomly appear on TV shows and music videos.
At first I was definitely more interested in the characters, then I saw the “FC Goes To War” production in The Source magazine and that really got me into letters. Once I started seeing pieces live in person by local dudes (particularly Jetone and Radar aka Pzes) it brought out this competitiveness in me and I had to go out and get involved. So I was interested in the artform immediately at an early age, but it took me a while to actually get out there and commit to it.
4) With so much success on social media, do you think keeping up with social media trends and changes have added to graffiti art or taken away from it? It seems like it can be a double edge sword from what I have heard, but what is your opinion?
Things like this are such a case by case situation, that I can’t give a blanket statement about it. All I know for sure is that smart-phones and social media changed the game for sure. Seeing graffiti has become so accessible because of it. And because you can see so much graffiti now and get so much info about it, there’s so many more people becoming writers and they’re getting good a hell of a lot faster than when I started writing.
But like you said, it’s a double-edged sword because you’re seeing a lot of “good” writers but only a few of them are bringing something new to the table style wise or culturally. There’s no originality, everything looks the same and everyone is rocking the same “style salad.” I personally enjoy social media, because you get to see work by the legends or your favorite writers in “real time.”
5) For those coming up now in the game I can imagine social media is a game changer because you are always able to compare yourself to people that are way further down the line than you. In that way people could get discouraged or inspired, but what kind of advice do you give to new writers on the scene? Some say to do art it takes everything from you to be successful, do you agree?
I’m not too sure. All I know is that there’s so much great information available out there on the internet and social media for free, and that not everyone takes advantage of it. People just seem to want their 15 minutes of fame and hype so they chase todays trends.
However, the more you learn about the history and where certain styles come from and who inspired who, the more you’ll be able to be original and bring something new to the table because you’ll be building on the foundation instead of building on what’s already been built. When you know your history, you can look at an established writer’s work, and trace back where they come from and see their journey without asking them.
6) You’re using the audience you have garnered online to draw attention to the food crisis in Somalia, is there any specific graffiti work you’ve done to highlight this issue? Is there anything you would like to add about that here?
No, other than doodles on paper, I haven’t really done any public work that highlights social, political, world issues unfortunately. But I do recommend people to do a bit of research on how things in the poorer countries are run, their quality of life is not as good as ours so if you have a chance to lend a hand the program I work with can be found here.
7) What is your favorite documentary or book that covers the history or major players of graffiti and why?
I know this is a very generic answer to give, but as far as my favorites go, it’s the documentary Style Wars and the book Subway Art. They both only capture a very small scene during a brief period in the culture, but they’re both iconic and the impact they made are tremendous.
But without owning any of them, I think books like Spray Can Art, The History of Los Angeles Graffiti Art, The Art of Getting Over and Mascots and Mugs are great books from what I have seen.
8) Who is your go-to hip hop artist to listen to while you’re working? Who would you say is underappreciated in either hip hop or graffiti that deserves more recognition?
I don’t listen to much hip hop these days. At the moment, Ty Da Dale and $auce Heist are a couple dudes that I’m always checking for.
9) One of the perks of graffiti art seems to be that you get to travel and see other spots, do you have any cool or fun travel stories?
I’ve gone to Seattle a fair amount, and I recently went to LA, but other than that I haven’t really had the opportunity to travel as much as I would like to.
10) Thanks again for taking the time out to chat, any shout outs you would like to give? Where can people follow you and do you have a place for people to purchase your work?
Thanks Bombing Science for having me. Peace.
You can follow Tars One here on Instagram
