EGS, FINLAND´S FINEST

If you are going to talk about finnish graffiti or the finnish style, this mans name can not be left out of the discussion. Versatile and always active, and has been developing style on the scene since back the late 1980s. EGS (WMD, MSN) showed up in Barcelona for his annual christmas visit, so we sat down and had a chat and asked him some questions.

“I think my styles become more simple the older i get. I try take out what is not essential. And I think that the more you know, the less you have to do.”

“My graffiti is like making music with a sampler. I use little bits from everywhere and try combine them into something new. I guess my method is based on doing a lot of reserach.When I travel and see stuff on on walls and trains or if see stuff in magazines or books, i don’t copy or bite it, but i try to understand the story behind the styles.“

In what direction do you imagine and believe that your style and your graffiti is going to take you?

I hope and imagine that my relation with graffiti will be pretty much the same as now, cause I don’t know any better way to do it. I have a lot of friends all over the world that paint, and i want to see myself painting with them forever. That is most important thing in graffiti for me.

What is the differences between galleries and graff?

There is a big difference. The fun in painting graffiti is very hard to translate or apply to making art for a gallery. I have tried to find a way to have fun in making gallery work, but it is different to the one you have in the street. I want to treat the two worlds as separate things. I want to paint with silver and black on streets for the rest of my life, but in a gallery i try to do more civilized work. It is completely different when you do a chrome piece or a panel, or even a wildstyle piece to a painting in a gallery… You always have to consider what  looks good in that very environment.

When you build your letters, what is the quality you are looking for?

I try to surprise people. My style is based on a lot of research on graffiti from the past. I try to combine good stuff that i like. My graffiti is like making music with a sampler. I use little bits from everywhere and try combine them into something new. I guess my method is based on doing a lot of reserach.

When I travel and see stuff on on walls and trains or if see stuff in magazines or books, i don’t copy or bite it, but i try to understand the story behind the styles.

You have been painting since the late 1980s, what keeps the love alive?

The last ten years has been really great, like a good high. During some years in the early 2000s there were a couple of years when I slowed down a bit since I had just finished my art studies and started to work in creative industry. My lifestyle had to adapt to this new situation for while, but i was still looking around for new stuff and new spots to paint. Now I try to paint as much as i can. Which is really not that much compared to some of the really active writers of today. I want to feel comfortabIe with painting.  I can never be bored of graffiti, it is with no doubt one of the best things in life.