.: SPRAYBEAST

Spray Beast meets Puaks…

Puaks has taken some time out to answer a few questions and has done a seriously nice pair of sketches for Le Beast. Also i hope he can teach me a bit about the Netherlands, as it is a place i am embarrassingly ignorant of.

Greetings Puaks, how do you do?

I’m doing very well, despite of the weather conditions outside, thanks!

Please give me a bit of insight into how long you have been writing, how you got in to it and anything else you think we should know?

I started to write about ten years ago, drawn to it by some burner walls a few oldskool kings from Nijmegen did in my neighbourhood. I also used to live really close to on of the oldest halls of fame in Holland, and the first time I walked in there was no turning back. Loved it instantly.

Now, you are from the Netherlands, Nijmegen i believe. For those of us who cant speak Dutch, could you spell this phonetically for us?

I really don’t know, Nej-mee-ken perhaps! It’s a pretty small place, but with a great history. We believe it’s the oldest town in Holland, it exists for over 2000 years now. Also from a graff-point of view there is quite a legacy. Back in the 80’s NMGN had some serious stylewriters and a lively scene.

Nijmegen is relatively small, you must know all the writers there?

Nowadays Nijmegen has a small but consistent scene and the styles vary a lot, that keeps it interesting. It is a big difference compared to bigger cities in Europe with countless crews and writers ofcourse..

What is Nijmegen like for painting this time of year, do you have to wear 2 pairs of gloves?

COLD, that’s what it is…this is the season that your beer is warmer than your hands when you are painting outside, although they were laying in the fridge all night!!! Luckily we also have some inside spots to paint for the rainy/snowy days, but I prefer to paint outside.

I have been watching your stuff on the internet for a few years now, both ‘Puaks’ and ‘Zekor’ pieces. You have always painted nice letters with bright colour schemes and really clean lines. What has been most inspiring for your painting over the last few years for painting?

That’s really hard to point out I think…I just want to do better every time I paint or do a sketch. When I look around I see the standards in general going up, style-wise, technique-wise and mentality-wise, and I’m always striving to push myself to do better then my next piece. A lot of things inspire me, not only graffiti. Friends, travelling, music.

I always like to see other peoples approaches to letters, techniques, colour schemes and how to paint a piece. Does and Chas organised this jam last spring in Holland, with a great line up stylewriters. It was inspiring to talk about style and the different approaches to it.

What do you think of graffiti at the moment, can you see a change in the scene with all the paint sponsorships and corporate style jams that seem to be popping up a lot?

Graffiti is definitely changing, as is any other subculture. I don’t think it’s a bad thing actually. It just creates different possibilities. I think foremost that people have to do whatever they like. Some people only do canvasses, some do burners with 1000’s of colours, some only do steel or street bombing and some do it both. One thing doesn’t rule out the other in my opinion.. I wouldn’t mind if a paintcompany offers me 75 free cans a month!

What does Puaks mean, if anything?

I found out it means ‘group’ or ‘tribe’ in Indonesian, but it doesn’t mean shit actually. I just made it up because I liked the letters at the time and the sound of it.

Who do you paint with mostly, i like the stuff you have done with Rems!

I have done a lot of pieces together with Rems, we make a really good team. We sketched quite a few pieces together actually. He begins to sketch al letter, I jump in and vice versa. I think we both learned a lot from that stuff because we look at letters in a different way sometimes, and his style is quite different from mine! Besides that he’s one of my best mate’s for a long time!

A few times a year I paint with Chas LL. Really digging the stuff he has done over the years!! He pushes his style constantly, has great technique and is full of good ideas. Big up!

I also paint regularly with Poen & Knal from my crew and of course my man Area, who is going strong these days!

Are there any writers you are particularly feeling at the moment?

I dig a lot of stuff. Most of the content on SprayBeast I like actually! There are so many good writers that are killing it out there. Really too much to mention..

Please show me a tune that best accompanies your graffiti or if this question is terrible then just a good tune! (youtube link will be fine)

I’m always up for some hiphop, but last week I was really feeling the Dubstep list on http://www.22tracks.com ! Check out that website, good stuff!! This tune was also on there…a bit more chilled out then the rest. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGzeicLc5u8

The sketches you did for Spraybeast are fucking nice, as are all the outlines i have seen from you, do you take outlines to the wall when you paint?

Almost never. Most of the stuff I do is freestyle. When I really take the time for a piece, I take a sketch with me. As you may have seen I sketch a lot. For me its an important part of graffiti.