Artists
EST
Lé 60 = RYREREI + OBY
Lé 60 is a collective based in Tallinn, Estonia. It consists of Carl-Robert Kagge and Kert Obi Viiart, whose work ranges from graphic design, illustration, patterns, street art and silkscreen printed posters to T-shirts and fabrics.
Carl recently graduated from the Estonian Academy of Arts (Graphic Design BA) and has been involved in different projects (Street art festival Kont 2010/2011 and the audio-visual performance group CLOE).
Kert completed an internship in 2012 at Dog Day print-studio in Berlin, where he focused on silkscreen printing. He is currently studying textile design at Estonian Academy of Arts.
As a new group, their aim is to cross the boundaries of various medias by combining their wide-based skills. Working together since 2005 and both having their roots in street art, they continue to move towards a larger degree of integration in different fields of art and design.
MINA JA LYDIA
MinaJaLydia from Tartu describes herself as follows: "I’m an Estonian street artist called MinaJaLydia. It means Me and Lydia. I’m me and I’m Lydia at the same time. I like riddles, games and pink paint. I like shifts and streets. It's all for you, my lovely stranger."
MULTISTAB
Under the name Multistab (Multistability) three young street artists from the capital of Estonia present their artwork: Signor Sick, Karma and Pheriskoop. Multistab has been active since 2010. Multistab is well known in Estonian Street Art. They have taken part in different exhibitions and festivals in Estonia. They also design street wear, clothes and accessories.
UKU SEPSIVART
Uku Sepsivart’s active street art work is based on graffiti. UKU is one of the authors of the first Estonian book about street art in Estonia "Haiguste ravi, Kontrollitud“ (Treatment of diseases. Checked). The name of the book got its name from a mentally challenged Estonian called Ülo Kiple. He became famous in Estonia during the 1980s, because he used to write crazy stories on the walls of houses, for example "Haiguste ravi. Kontrollitud." as the title of the book says too.
Uku Sepsivart has had numerous private exhibitions in Estonia. He is also a co-ordinator of the Estonian Street Art Festival Kont in Tallinn.
FIN
EGS
Egs is the most internationally recognized Finnish graffiti artist. His career started in Helsinki during the late 1980s and was part of the country’s first graffiti wave.
Egs sees his art as an anthropological research into graffiti. At first he investigated every piece of graffiti in his own neighbourhood and then in the rest of Helsinki before meeting and painting together with like-minded writers in all corners of Europe. During the past 25 years he has extended his travels to five continents and has painted in over 40 countries. He has sought inspiration in local graffiti scenes worldwide and collected global graffiti folklore for his own art. Egs' works are inspired by graffiti art in its most distilled form: a name painted in black.
"Every wave, star, drip or block I have ever painted can be traced to this attitude of graffiti anthropologist. Every fade is reminiscent of some graffiti that I have seen. Every 3rd or bubble has a story to tell. Every piece I have done pays homage to the great graffiti folklore." - Egs
FRANK AND JAPHY
JUSSITWOSEVEN
Jussi TwoSeven is a Helsinki based artist whose artistic roots are originating from traditional graffiti and street art. Jussi got interested in graffiti as a teenager, in mid 90s, and street art has been a big part of his life ever since. Jussi painted his first graffiti in ‘96 and moved on to stenciling in 2004. Nowadays, handcut stencils and spray can is the favorite medium to do art . Nevertheless, Jussi TwoSeven grew up with graffiti culture and influence of traditional graffiti can still be seen in his works. Lately, Jussi have had various exhibitions in Finland and also few group exhibitions abroad. He has painted in many live-painting events and continued to do what he loves the most; doing art in public spaces.
PALLO
Pallo is a 28-year-old graffiti artist from Turku, Finland, known also abroad. He became interested in graffiti about a decade ago. He was never keen on traditional graffiti and he began painting various characters instead of the alphabet-based graffiti. The figures have already changed their shape and size several times. He works with both photo and wall painting: after a painting is ready, he works with photo stageing.
POE
Maintaining a dual-core existence Poe fell in love with history, decay and abandoned places long ago, and somehow tries to express this through various activities. His tools include traditional graffiti painting, documenting, publishing, graphics, architecture and making strategies in order to contribute to the visual spaces we live in.
FRA
2SHY
Thanks to studies in Calligraphy and the new connections made by travelling, 2shy embodies both graffiti and graphic design worlds. 2shy makes use of paints, drawings, ideas from all over the world, everytime and everywhere.
Nowadays he lives in Paris after leaving his native country ten years ago to discover our Belgian neighbours. Just back in Paris, he’s taking advantage of all the city opportunities to improve his childish and rebellious style. A bipolar identity enriched by the numerous trips in Europe, USA, Asia and of course, on the Web 2.0 as a second house for his brain, that’s how he can explain his complex and fascinating style.
GER
FLYING FÖRTRESS
Flying Förtress is a German street artist.
www.flying-fortress.de
www.facebook.com/pages/Flying-Förtress/62746301978
SWE
NUG
Nug is one of Sweden’s most renowned and internationally reputed graffiti artist. The Swedish Minister of Culture publicly stated that Nugs work “is not art”. The Finnish Minister of Culture bought one of his pictures. Both statements should probably be considered as equally great acknowledgements of his work.
Nug studied at the Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm earning a Master of Arts degree in 2008. His Masters project, presented in 2008, is a film showing a masked man spraying a subway car and the Stockholm station entrance. The project created a media storm when it was exhibited by an art gallery in February 2009, and led to widespread criticism of the Royal Institute of Art. The criminal investigation against Nug was dropped in April 2009 since it was not clear if he is the masked man in the film.
UK
PETRO
Petro is a renowned British graffiti writer, with a career of emptying spray cans, spanning over 25 years. Petro lives a nomadic existence, painting and exhibiting world wide. Petros unhealthy obsession with bending the laws of alphabet, identity, childhood nostalgia, Ralph Lauren and his ever changing environment, inform his eternal quest to create a personal narrative. Petro’s work is characterized by its endless experimentation with letter formation, a sometimes naive and nostalgic early eighties aesthetic and a constant drive to subvert the laws of the alphabet and even graffiti.