“Graffiti is about designing a certain combination of letters in various ways at miscellaneous places.”
Graffiti Writers see the world with a different eye. Focus is brought intensely on spots for future works and wherever we walk we are constantly checking for new ones. This worldview is deep inside and will hardly ever go away. Each one of us has their own priorities in the final choice of what is good and what is bad about a wall and if it is finally painted or not. Most tend to share the idea that the best suitable place for the beloved piece is a facility that is most public and can be seen by as much people as possible in everyday life. The driving factor fame and the eternal wish of being literally everywhere is the basic idea behind this perspective, I understand. You gotta be fast, you have to run and sometimes you have to fight to paint those places to earn your portion of fame in our funny little hierarchical society of writers. There exists a variety of laws and attributes to judge “the worth” of a piece and you have to vague each factor carefully before you take action. There is of course those type of spots that involve the above and then there is those, that are the total opposite. Quiet places far away from stress and hassle. Places that have been forgotten by society or never ever even have been discovered in the first place. Urban- and natural areas offer them both splendidly to those who take some time to look carefully and accept the adventure of getting away from the beaten tracks of worn feet. Abandoned factories, – drainage channels, -military bases and long forgotten rotten residences on the countryside and in the city are found in every part of the world alike. Also rocks and smooth stonewalls in mountaineous terrain are most welcome to be redesigned by the ambitious artistic dude. Everyone who has ever roamed around one or more of the mentioned scenarios knows the special atmosphere that inhabits them. Each is host to a mix of features, unique in their composition. Be it the variety of rotten smells, the splashing of raging waves, dripping and cracking noises from decaying construction or the sighing and roaring of wind around it, the setup is special and never to be found again similarily. Most of the time you are the first one to feel those vibes in a long time and probably again for a long time. The remoteness assures a meditative silence in which a stressfree and concentrated artistic process is much more likely to be given. The atmosphere interacts with you and your creative output is affected by it.
For many people abandoned and farout places don’t offer the real deal. Painting them is not what true graffiti is about. They are lacking the action, illegal- and therefore “hardcore”-factors. To most writers they are just good enough for training style and seem to be simply worse halls of fame.
To me they always had an undeniable attraction and surge and seemed perfect breeding ground for graffiti, as I desired to do it. Time and daylight (most times) are factors that I found very valuable to achieve a certain quality in a piece of art and also the unique surfaces and interiors I could discover in the rooms and enviroments I was exploring inspired me in many ways. I always tried to see a piece rather as an installation that corresponded to its surroundings than a kind of sticker, that was quickly patched in. Of course I mostly tried not to forget that it was about letters and styling them. The task of combining those two claims – synthesis and style – is not a simple one and regularly forces your creative chaffer to go new ways. And that is for me a very desirable demand of the better graffiti writer, seen as an artist. The reinvention of ones style. The approach of new methods and new forms on a regular basis. Failure is nearly impossible. The expression “everything´s allowed” counts more than anywhere else in our guilde of art. Spots included. And there are so many out there! The whole world is full with beautiful places that just wait to be redesigned. It does not only stop at your backyard. It speaks so many visual languages that can lead you towards new experiences. The whole world is full with moments of compassion in the act of painting and the range of feelings that it offers. And all of them are waiting just there. If a style doesn’t fit, try a new one. If you fuck up a wall, find a new one. Space is there. Time as well.
Artist info:
Originally born and raised in Hottenrode, Germany, Jonas Ihlenfeldt became involved in graffiti-writing at the beginning of this millennium. Since then he has eagerly committed himself to examining new ways of composing letters and calligraphic ways of expression, as well as modes of fine arts and graphic design. His permanent longing for transformation and variation in terms of material and style is cultivated through extensive travelling as well as the search for environments and sceneries that inspire new pieces interactively. The artistic map of “Bond” and “TruLuv” (some of his pseudonyms) features works all over Europe as well as Egypt, and especially in the vibrant country of India. There he found social life and culture happening extensively on the streets, offering a public forum where his graffiti would be appreciated by the locals and would adopt the various dominating atmospheres and emotions – be it within the wild atmosphere of urban street life in Delhi, the majestic Himalayas of Kashmir and Tibet, or the Guajarati city of Ahmadabad. Within this street culture of India he found a suitable playground for his ideas and pieces. He currently lives and works in Leipzig (Germany) and Delhi (India) after receiving his MA in Anthropology in 2010.
