GRAFFITI: TKV –
IN LOVE WITH
THE STREET ART
text & photos: Nenad Nikolić
May 2007

translation into English: Ivan Milenković
July 2008

“Patterns are a way of documenting life for me, proof of my existence and a way I deal with that existence.” – excerpt from the book Stencil Graffiti by Tristan Manco

Dorćol… a place where recently renovated shiny cafes engorge Beograd's inert nobility with their itching pants and over-developed salivary glands… Great poverty exists amongst the children of Beograd, to whom except money nothing else could be given by their parents… (Duško Radović) they flaunt their plastic beauties competing by the amount of yellow shackles they wear… modern-day Midas… Mladić, Zvezda, Žeks, and a few other proofs of “creativity” and political classification, like murals ornament the not so freshly painted walls.

But in all this fuss of self-assertion I find a neverending repeat of the same images, an effort to leave an individual mark, nothing too personal, something recognizable even for a foreigner. Stencils… it bothers me even to describe them, which I justify with the fact that there are pictures on your right, if you haven't already noticed them. So… I have decided to find out as much as I can about the relatively new scene of street seals). The Internet was quite useful in the beginning, but it wasn't enough… I needed a reason… The definition of stencil by it's authors, in a socio-political or an entertainment context, the compression of images in a confined space, their overlaps, idea-form-function-meaning. On the assumption that there exists a close bound between the meaning and the author of a graffiti, I searched for answers from a girl known by her pseudonym: TKV…

Before all else, I shall make an effort to describe the production methods of the necessary patterns... with which I was introduced through “Stencil archive”: … an image with a heightened contrast is required, which you then transfer into Photoshop, touch it up from the darkest to the lightest tones (simplify it), afterwards the image is to be transferred into Ilustrator where you can try out various colour schemes. Separate every colour into its own layer and print it in that manner. In the course of the cutting you can rectify mistakes, but you have to be careful not to destroy the stencil by overdoing it. When you are finished with cutting the layers make a test spray to point out any mistakes. If you have made a mistake repeat the process until you are satisfied. Before spraying shake the canister, and before applying the second layer you have to be sure that the paint has dried and is ready for the second layer, that is key to the process. It also advisable to spray outside where it is dry, and to wear a mask.

Upon this almost personal version she comes typing, answering my questions in our unexpectedly simple organized web meeting:

TKV:

So
I began making patterns tree years ago, in 2004, when I was 16 years old. (I'm almost 19 now) :)
The first pattern I cut was that of Amélie Poulain.

I am inspired by everything that influences me in one way or the other, be it music or art or something else that interests me. Or maybe it's something that I have to say. Patterns are a form of medium and are very easy to make. Street art gives you great freedom because it does not bound you to the canvas or paper, instead every wall you see is a potential exhibition space. Of course, you have to pay attention to what you're doing and to choose the places carefully. In our country not enough notice is given to this form of expression, which I think is a big mistake because Streetart has great influence on people.

Street art is something I can't do without, something that defines me and makes me who I am :)

Specifically regarding Frida Kahlo (since you mentioned her), I really like her work and I have studied her, so I decided to make a pattern. The same goes for Klimt. Not all patterns are connected.

Critique… well, most critique I have heard is from the facade owners (I was showered with water on several occasions and various objects were thrown at me) and bystanders who see it as vandalism and me as a pest. I think that every critique is good critique, that it improves your work i.e. makes you think.

Nobody ever complained about a specific motif.:)
All in all: if you don't like it don't look at it - I accept all comments and I'm willing to discuss them :)
It's not possible for everybody to like everything, right?

Observing my patterns you can track my personal changes and knowledge gained, I also think that it's not important who I am Personally – you see my work and that's what matters – that you extract a message or make some sense of it or you dislike it and make a negative opinion of it. Any reaction on it is ok – because the worst thing is when people are indifferent – that means nothing got through to them.

I am my patterns. Everything you see on them is something that happens around me or inside me.

Theme: GRAFFITI
Graffiti in Fruškogorska Street
TKV
Ljubljana
Street Art in Portugal