Bingoe
I got into graffiti in 1998. It was my first year in high school and my school was full of writers. I had looked at the graffiti along the tram tracks when I was younger though. I was fascinated by it all but I didn’t really understand much about it. I did a few tags in sixth grade (1994). I found a can of white hair color spray at home that my sister had used for some masquerade – I wrote LBC as I was a big fan of Snoop Dogg and Long Beach seemed to be the coolest place on earth at the time. Then nothing till that first year of high school.
From 1998 till 2003 I experimented with loads of different styles. In 2003 I finally found a style I could call my own. Simple, hard letters inspired by German and Czech writers. A year later I had already moved on. It was still simple but this time around it was softer shapes.
For the first time I felt completely comfortable in my style – I felt as these round and simple letters were in my DNA. They're the foundation of my style to this very day.
It wasn’t until 2006 that I really got a hang of graffiti though. Like really understood it all. Tags, throw-ups and pieces, I could finally master it all. 8 years can seem like a long time to masters the basics but I know writers that’s been doing burners for 20+ years that still don’t know how to do a proper throw-up or have a handstyle of a toy year old.
Around this time is when I started being a lot more consistent as far as my quality output as well. The basics were so deeply rooted now that I’d manage a decent tag or piece no matter how drunk, hungover, shook, stressed, cold or whatever else excuse I might have had before to fail.
Being from Sweden I was exposed to some of the best graffiti in the world made in the 00s. However I think most people enjoy looking a little further than your own country for inspiration. I looked a lot towards the US for tags and throws. And as far as pieces go, Paris will always have a special place in my heart. Inxs, Opak, Pum, Foe, Seb and Diego are some of the most iconic writers this world has ever seen in my opinion. The common theme for all these guys and basically all writers I’ve ever idolized is that they keep it rather simple.
Today’s spray cans are amazing. Unfortunately all these new caps and vaults got writers covering up their lame styles with flare outlines and highlights. That technical bullshit don’t impress me at all. Graffiti is about letters and an occasional character for that little extra special something.
I believe the challenge when painting graffiti over many years is to be able to master something very, very simple and then also be able to build something more complex from that base. Some level of technique is necessary or it will look like crap. But when the piece itself revolves around the technical aspects and not the letters, well... That's the stuff I don't like.
As I’ve been sitting here sharing some of my thoughts about my style I thought it would be fun to end it all by giving you a list of some of my favorite writers then and now. Inxs, Opak, Romeo, Rens, Sabe, Cave, Egs, Cesar, Triss, Nose, Chob, Haker, Kegr, Jaroe, Aster, Trane, Sne, Ayes, Mkis, Seb, Diego, Hound, Grey, Geso and Amaze.
