Mobstr
“I think so long as advertising visually dominates our urban environments something has got to be said for the importance of graffiti competing with it. If I am truly honest I am not sure if I would carry on doing what I do if it was legal as, for me, it would lose its edge. Now that street art has gained credentials a lot of legal work is possible and the big mural stuff seems to be dominating the scene. However, these large mural pieces you see popping up around the world aren’t street art for me. It’s the little subversions which interact and play with its surroundings that I define as street art.”
Interview by Caroline Caldwell, Vandalog.com, April 2014.
Mobstr was born in Newcastle. His name is both a pun on the mob syndicate term, relating to his illegal practice of graffiti, as well as the word ‘lobster’, the former nickname of the artist.
His practice is mainly focused on graffiti in public spaces. He painted his first works in East London over the course of the 2000s.
His works are simple sentences, smart, funny and challenging. They are sarcastic but also profound and revealing, whether they deal with the behavior of artists, the public, or the art market and the authorities. Graffiti is, according to the artist, the perfect way to question what surrounds us.
His style is always minimalist, to say as little as possible in order to convey the strongest message. His artistic process is concerned with a certain minimalist aesthetic but also with a quest for efficiency and pertinency.
“I think so long as advertising visually dominates our urban environments something has got to be said for the importance of graffiti competing with it. If I am truly honest I am not sure if I would carry on doing what I do if it was legal as, for me, it would lose its edge. Now that street art has gained credentials a lot of legal work is possible and the big mural stuff seems to be dominating the scene. However, these large mural pieces you see popping up around the world aren’t street art for me. It’s the little subversions which interact and play with its surroundings that I define as street art.”
Interview by Caroline Caldwell, Vandalog.com, April 2014.
Mobstr est né à Newcastle. Son patronyme est à la fois un jeu de mots sur le terme truand, lié à sa pratique illégale du graffiti, ainsi que sur le terme homard, ancien animal de compagnie de l’artiste.
Sa pratique artistique est principalement centrée sur le graffiti dans l’espace public. Il peint ses premières œuvres dans l’Est londonien dans le courant des années 2000.
Ses œuvres sont des phrases simples, intelligentes, drôles et stimulantes. Elles sont à la fois sarcastiques mais aussi très révélatrices. Et cela aussi bien au sujet du comportement des artistes, du public, mais aussi du marché de l’art et des autorités. Le graffiti étant, selon l’artiste, le moyen idéal de remettre en cause ce qui l’entoure.
Son style est toujours minimaliste, il tente d’en faire le moins possible pour en dire d’autant plus. Il y a dans cette démarche, à la fois une recherche esthétique mais aussi une recherche d’efficacité. En effet, par cette esthétique sobre, il tente de rendre son message toujours plus percutant, plus interpellant.
“I think so long as advertising visually dominates our urban environments something has got to be said for the importance of graffiti competing with it. If I am truly honest I am not sure if I would carry on doing what I do if it was legal as, for me, it would lose its edge. Now that street art has gained credentials a lot of legal work is possible and the big mural stuff seems to be dominating the scene. However, these large mural pieces you see popping up around the world aren’t street art for me. It’s the little subversions which interact and play with its surroundings that I define as street art.”
Interview by Caroline Caldwell, Vandalog.com, April 2014.
Mobstr is geboren in Newcastle. Zijn naam is zowel een woordspeling op de syndicaatsterm mob (als verwijzing naar zijn illegale graffiti) als een herinnering aan zijn oude nickname ‘lobster’.
Hij houdt zich vooral bezig met graffiti in openbare ruimtes.
Zijn werk bestaat uit simpele zinnen: intelligent, grappig en uitdagend. Ze zijn vaak sarcastisch, maar tegelijkertijd ook diepgaand en onthullend, en focussen op het gedrag van artiesten, het publiek, de kunstmarkt en de autoriteiten. Graffiti is volgens hem de perfecte manier om onze omgeving in vraag te stellen.
Zijn stijl is altijd minimalistisch, om met zo weinig mogelijk woorden een zo sterk mogelijke boodschap over te brengen. Als kunstenaar laat hij zich niet alleen gelden door zijn minimalistische esthetiek, maar ook door zijn zoektocht naar efficiëntie en pertinentie.
