aerosolart webzine, italy, 2004


Cool Shit, 1995Hi Neck, introduce yourself to aerosolart.it visitors please...
I write Neck and represent CNSkillz crew. I did my first piece in 1989. In 1995, I moved to düsseldorf for studying, met meric, moritz and efas. Together we founded cnskillz crew. And then things moved upwards from there on, jams and pieces all over the world, magazine recognition, a little fame. A short crew history can be found on the history section of our website, www.cnskillz.com, plus a lot of pieces of all crew members: ate1, efas, meric, moritz, myself, scien, klor and seak.

What reasons drove you to interest to writing?
I have a lot to be thankful for, Graffiti has taken me to where I am today. Still, the reason behind it all... Hard to say. I think the general fascination comes from the possibility of having a captivating effect on someone else, with my work. To be able to fascinate people with something I created. The background story to this has been told quite often by now: I was standing in front of this wall on my way to school and was hooked. I returned there often just to stare at it. It emanated some kind of trapped energy, a feeling of speed standing still. Something grabbed me and didn't let go. I started sketching the pieces that were on the wall and after a while, started sketching my own. It's still motivating me today, it hasn't disappeared since then, and that moment was in 1989. That moment has given my life a pretty clear direction, you could even say a meaning.

Have you ever been influenced by other artists?
Of course, pretty much by anyone and everything. the people who influenced me the most are naturally those that i saw painting when i started, like LOOMIT, SCOUT, HARLEKIN, RETCH, CEMNOZ, SITE, FLIN, NEON, CHIP, MOON, SONIC... of course there were many more influences during my way through graffiti. but there are also a lot of influences from outside the graff world: everything that i see and like, i carry with me, and it probably has an influence on what i sketch or paint. But not in a way that i can specifically point it out. Sometimes things come back to me the day after i saw them. Sometimes maybe a year later, sometimes never.

How has your way of painting developed during the years?
I started out doing pretty traditional outline styles until someday I had this idea on how to construct a 3d style. I tried it out in early 1995, did 2 of those and then went back to outlines. Mid-1996 I grew interested in 3d again and started working on the concept I had tried earlier. I honed my skills on the emerging 3dimensional letters. There was the fascination, there was the next big thing, kind of a revolution to be taken part in. I still want to get closer to the image of my style that i have in my head.... my styles may all look the same to the public, but i feel i'm still working on it, developing it. I'm still not 100% happy with how they come out on the wall. Someday I want to try and twist the style so you can see the backside as well, or warp it into all kinds of weird shapes, as if it was made out of rubber. but that is definitely the future, i'll have to sit down and think about this more thoroughly.

What still pushes you to paint after so long time?
People will always strive for recognition and respect, so I think they will always keep writing their names. Maybe graffiti will 'fall asleep' somewhere but I'm sure it will eventually resurface in a later generation. Personally, I'm seeing myself doing maybe a piece a year when I'm forty or something. Graffiti gave so much to my life, I hope it's never going to leave completely.

do, 1995Are your computer graphics works influenced by writing?or vice versa?
There was a time in my life when I had to decide which way to go generally, in which direction to develop personally. I found that graffiti had become my main interest, so I studied communicational design as a consequence and ended up being a fulltime designer. The result? My graffiti art looks like done by a designer and my designs definitely still have that graffiti feeling to them. So I'd say my work is my work, spraycan and computer are just different media for expressing my style. i wouldn't separate the two as being different worlds, they've become different aspects of the same style for me.

You also paint on canvas, what do you think about this support inside writing?many people is still sceptic!
to me, there's not so much of a diference about graff on canvas and graff on walls. the space on a canvas is more confined, so you have to work with that. In one way, the limited space limits your possibilities, but on the other hand, it pushes your creativity to find a way to work around that problem. i paint canvases regularly, even with acrylics and brush ('unreal', yeah.). it depends on the mood. like i said, a canvas forces me to work with a certain space, a certain format, and to me that is an exciting task. on a wall, you can do it any way you want, since it is not usually constricted as much as a canvas.

Have you got some preferences for what concerns spray brands?
Which cans are the best depends on each and every writer. I started writing with sparvar, but by now I prefer Belton to anything else. their range of colours is wide enough, and (most of the time) graded finely enough to work with, so i don't need to mix new tones myself anymore. You'll find me painting with just about any brand, though. As long as paint is coming out of the cap, there I go. So go and take whatever.

Have you ever painted out of Germany?
I've been around europe, and even in some more exotic locations like iceland, hong kong or japan through graffiti. i think the travels had a big influence on the way i perceive people in hiphop. graff seems to be a good common ground for meeting and talking to people, wherever they may be, whatever age, gender or religion. i have found people to be very open and friendly wherever i've been. that's one really great thing about graffiti.

What are your future projects?
I have a few ideas about typography that I would like to incorporate into some walls pretty soon, that depends on when i find the time to do that... there's also a big project for the regional train authorities coming up end of this summer, so i'm pretty much occupied. check www.neckcns.com to be informed. another big thing happening is the pending redesign of www.cnskillz.com. the site has last been redesigned in 1999 and has become pretty clumsy to operate. but with all the content we have on the site, it's going to be a bit of work moving that across to the new site. N, 1995expect something 2nd or 3rd quarter of 2004. The whole crew is slowly starting the preparations for a huge thing coming next year for cnskillz' 10 year anniversary featuring all crew members on the same wall, reunited at last ; ) so prepare yourself for cnskillz summit 2005.

Thank you, goodbye, peace!
thank you for your attention, my name is neck/cnskillz: http://www.neckcns.com


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