Walk around Athens

Walk around Athens, and one of the most salient features is the abundance of graffiti that covers a large proportion of the city, giving it a grungy post apocalyptic atmosphere, with layers upon layers of text, messages, and images on the sides of the dilapidated buildings.

Indeed graffiti is not new in Greece, and the word itself comes from the word Graphi, which means “to write”.

Whilst graffiti now is more a testimony to the influence of hip hop culture, and is widely considered in the public eye, as a form of vandalism, the graffiti of Athens is another way that people are reclaiming space, and personalizing the urban experience.

We met with b., a street artist who says he “creates life in the cities” and has his trademark yellow and black murals that wrap around doorways, and window frames of the decrepit buildings of the Psiri area, incorporating the architectural characteristics of the building into his creations.

His somewhat adorable work is like a logo in its simplicity, and he considers it necessary to have this kind of graphical impact to aggressively compete with the dominant images in the city- that of advertisers from whom he wants to reclaim the space.

What’s the appeal of painting the street?

Instead of painting like, a white canvas? I try to live in the city first, and search for situations in the city, …people like little kids, gypsies and pikeys, who live there, and create a whole atmosphere, and then my work becomes part of that, so in a way it has life, it lives there. It’s not on a white canvas and only in my mind, it’s like I’m creating life in the city too, and I’m taking from the city inspiration, and I give it back with that. So from a white canvas I can’t take anything, I can’t interact easily.


When you look at a surface, what aspects of it make you want to use it as your canvas?

I try to find walls that have a little story, like, the Psiri area, (in Athens) with the Pakistanis, there was an old barber shop, and I can imagine what would have happened there 30 years before, so it gives me energy. You can see a little window, and I can transform that window into something else, so my work is parasitical to the city, it’s breathing,… like a virus.

I try to transform the buildings, in my way, the way that other people see the city and the buildings. You can play with your city, you can play with the walls, and what you can see, a little hole, a window, or a door, you can paint it pink, and do little eyes on it, and turn it into a big monster.

What is your favorite place to paint?

I’ve painted all over Europe, like in Amsterdam, Barcelona, in London and Berlin, …Berlin I have done a lot, but every city has its own energy, I can get inspired by different things in each place. Like, in London, there are many brick walls, and you can play with those bricks. I made little stairs, and the girls stand on the stairs. In London you can find old buildings easily.
In Beijing it was crazy cause I wanted to paint everywhere but I felt like I was destroying the image, it was so nice; I didn’t want to do anything. In London I’m not thinking that.

My favorite place is, Gite, (in Athens), inside alleys, back facades of the buildings where you see the life that is not on the street;-it’s more chaotic from the backside of every buildings. I like the chaotic atmosphere of the overdraft spaces.