I’m pleased to introduce Merlot, who’s larger than life’s bright and colorful pieces always catch the eye of passerby's. Influenced by design, Merlot’s style appeases even the most critical opinion of graffiti.
What artist movement has been particularly influential in your development M: Graffiti itself has been an extremely impactful movement. It wasn’t new when I started, it was already happening and there was amazing work being produced around the world which has inspired me to push my self and try new things. Outside of graffiti, there are so many movements that have not only been influential to the way I paint and come up with new ideas, but to the graffiti culture itself. For example; Cubism and Dada. In Cubism, objects are analyzed, broken up, and reassembled in abstract forms. You can say the same thing about the way new letter-forms come to shape. There’s so much movement and thought that goes into these abstract pieces of art, and no matter what style a graffiti artist paints in, weather it be bar forms or 3d shapes, you can always see its origins going back to the Cubism movement. The Dada movement was a way to have a voice in society through your artwork. Dada was known as “anti-art†and representing the opposite of everything which art stood for. Where art was concerned with tradition aesthetics, Dada ignored aesthetics and was intended to offend. Graffiti can be used to send a message and make an impact in society, although done differently than Dada, you can find many similarities in the rebellious nature of the art-forms.
How/ Why did you start writing Graffiti? M: I grew up around graffiti, with friends painting graffiti, and have always enjoyed it. It was my create to create another world in which I could let lost in my artwork and take my mind off of reality.
There are a lot of kids that have aspirations of being artists, what advice would you have for them in pursuing this? M: Work hard, don’t be afraid to try new things, and don’t give up.
