Sunday 6 January 2019

my abstract to the 2019 Lund University call for papers and Graffiti artists.

The route from our indebted homes to our unfulfilling jobs and back, is the ideal place
for Absent to set his urban trap and catch you in his message…
Between cartoon and street-art, with humour and irony, laughter becomes the weapon
against authority as well as the link connecting diverse people in a common goal, freedom,
justice and democracy (a working one it is).

"With - at a first sight - rude, explicit and highly personal visual attacks, restoration of balance
between the people and authority (real or wannabe) is sought, empowering the reader through
his own laughter".

A universal reference point for the Greek Crisis, Absent's political satire posters are a part of
the permanent collection of the Greek National Museum of History.

  • Absent doesn’t come empty handed, licence for “The Wake Up Call” short documentary 
    of Kostas Kallergis has already been obtained, featuring the “first response” Greek political artist, 
    and distinguishing them from the second “tourist-aimed-political-graffiti” wave.

  • 2008-2012 Urban Snapshot, 5 years of crisis sticker collection, never before exhibited.

Sunday 1 December 2013

Massive (f), Second Layer Printed

Second color, re-developed & printed... mesh was again underdeveloped and seems impossible to be reclaimed, however i have a few aces up on my sleeve...

I wanted to print tomorrow the black layer... another delay...



Sunday 24 November 2013

Massive (e), Second Layer, Fail!

Yup FAIL!!! epic FAIL!!!.. plus it just started to rain...
2 reasons... mesh blocked for being underdeveloped, ink very liquid.
2 solutions a denser color and a water wash to unblock the mesh.

If they don't work, i'll have to re-develop which will result to a delay...


Wednesday 20 November 2013

Massive (d), Second Layer

Second layer developed, unfortunately one tiny detail got underexposed (don't forget the size of this mama)...
The Devil however Hides in the Details... so while I prefere little detail differences from one printing to another (as a matter of fact from one print to another too, and in fact this is exactly the difference between handmade and digital), Zofos must take one of three decisions...
A) leave it as it is.
B) correct it by hand (the star, not the little lines in the triangles)...
C) clean it all over, re-mesh and redevelop...


Friday 15 November 2013

Massive (c), Reclaim

Thoroughly cleaning the screen from leftover color (2nd cleaning - Nitro) and residual glue from the tape that served as color bleed protection.
Once the mesh gets reclaimed, residual color will be visible (trace) and will be cleaned once again.


GOTCHA!!!...reclamed... well allmost.. need a last one cleaning hand... but reclamed...

Thursday 14 November 2013

Massive (b), Printing

Printing #117
75% White, 25% Red.

More tape to avoid color bleed
#117 Printed



 Remnants of a day



Monday 11 November 2013

Massive

For those of you who are accustomed to my work, "make-shift" is my core concept, both in art and applied arts.

After printing for a few other fellow artists, Sonke (etching), and a few Mapet (sticker A, sticker B) projects (between them the share stickers joint project with Lotek) and following my make-shift printhouse tradition, I accepted a bigger challenge... a 50cX70cm 3 color challenge that is... for ZOFOS.

Mind you this is a make-shift printhouse... and from 12cm stickers... to 35cm t-shirts... a 50X70cm 3 color posters without prior printhouse specifications can be quite a challenge.






















Meet "Godzilla" my handmade screen frame made for the occasion... 64,5cm X 91cm (outside), inside 58,5cm X 85cm... Double Bolted!!

Cost so far:
• 3m semi-planed wood = 5 euro
• 95X70cm Mesh = 25 euro
• Bolts & screws ≈ 5 euro

What i woulde have done differently:
Maybe i should have choosen a well planed wood insead of a semi-planed one, it would make tape easier to stick on later when i'll need to stop corners from color bleeding... or i should have varnished it before putting it together.

Separations and Transparencies:
Colors separated, transparencies ready to print... in each transparency 1pt of stroke added for color trapping. Also 8 point stars added to serve as registration marks.

Transparencies:
Cost + 3.20 Euro, maybe i'll print a new transparency for the Black color since this one seems chocked in the wave lines.

Screen:
Ready to print the first colour.


Wednesday 10 July 2013

Greeks excluded

My big, fat, hairy, NON-GREEK, Greek crisis street art.

The Athens School of Fine Arts (ASKT), organizes a GREEK-CRISIS Street art... thing... from which Greek artivists are of course excluded.

No one invited us, and I wouldn't even bother to comment, however i feel compelled to do so after reading a School of Fine Arts comment to newspaper TO BHMA, which stated that Greeks were excluded due to the "dubious artistic value" of Greek street art.

ASKT's need to control and dictate "imported culture" to its "inferior greek citizens", once again shows why it never leads and always follows... and it doesn't come as a surprise.

A sorrofull salute to fellow foreign street artist that are being used as a free speech and polyphony alibi.

TRANSLATION: "The initiative also aims to highlight the differencebetween street artists who perform social criticism on walls and buildings with works that are branded and that are instantly recognizable for their personal character, as opposed to the anarchy of anonymous complaints with graffiti, which most often pollute public spaces with personal desires with dubious to none artistic value".

Monday 1 July 2013

Mapet, anti-nazi seagull

Mapet's anti-nazi seagull, that featured on stickers and the "Wake Up Call" greek politic street art documentary by Kostas Kallergis, on the YRE anti-nazi camping poster.



Sunday 23 June 2013

23 Ιουνίου 2013

Ανήμερα της μεγαλύτερης σελήνης της χρονιάς -σώμα ουράνιο συνυφασμένο και με την μητρότητα- αποφάσισα να γράψω για τη μάνα μου.
Την άλλη, την πολιτιστική.

Εκείνης που για να νοιώσουμε την έ(κ)λειψη της, έπρεπε να πεθάνει.

Μετά το "μαύρο", παραπέτασμα της απώλειας, οι μπάρες οι πολύχρωμες, σκόπιμη απόσπαση από το πένθος.
"Αρoν-άρoν", στο σπίτι μας, μιά άλλη... μιά μητριά.

"Συνετή" αυτή... Α!.. και νοικοκοιρά!
Αποδεκτή και απ'αυτούς που χαρήκαν τον θάνατο της "αμαρτωλής".

Για το αύριο φοβάμαι, μέσα από το Ιστορικό Αρχείο της ΕΡΤ το κοινό μας παρελθόν είναι δεδομένο.

Για εκείνο το "αύριο" που ξεκίνησε την Τρίτη (11 Ιουνίου 2013) και ξανοίγεται μπροστά μας...
Ποιός θα μας σταθεί σε αυτό;
Ποιος θα μας καταλάβει;
Ποιός θα μας πονέσει;
Ποιός θα μας μαλώσει πριν μας αγκαλιάσει και πάλι;
...τέλος, ποιός θα το καταγράψει; Πως;

Γράφω απόψε για τη μάνα μου,
και γράφω με τη βαθιά πεποίθηση πως ακόμα και η χειρότερη γυναίκα,
δεν μπορεί παρά να είναι η καλύτερη μάνα για τα παιδιά της.