Auteur: jaspervanes

I curated the first graffiti piece on the Van Abbemuseum.

Not in the museum, but on the museum.

Graffiti started in the ’60s and ’70s in New York and Philadelphia with a core message: “Here I am.” Writers used their aliases, often combined with their street number, using simple black markers or spray paint. Today, the essence remains the same: writing your alias.

Over time, styles evolved, becoming more complex and colorful. This became known as ‘Style-writing.’ Visibility, or ‘getting up,’ is crucial in graffiti culture, with public spaces like city walls, railways, and trains being prime targets.

In recent years, more walls have been opened for street art and murals, rooted in graffiti culture. Graffiti can be likened to a wild wolf, pure in its natural habitat, unlike domesticated dogs. Similarly, raw graffiti tags are the predecessors of today’s stylized murals and street art.

How to best integrate graffiti into an art context? By placing it where it belongs: on the museum, not in it. Present it in its purest form, the alias, in public spaces.

BOMB
BOMB began writing his alias in 1998. In graffiti, ‘bombing’ means spreading your name strategically across numerous locations, a term inspired by the book “Subway Art” and the film “Wild Style.”

Between 1998 and 2003, BOMB gained fame with his iconic four letters and bomb symbols. However, post-9/11, the perception of his alias changed, leading him to stop using it.

Stezo paint and foam rollers
The SOL crew from Eindhoven, including BOMB, innovated by combining traditional spray paint with stickers, posters, wall paint, and foam rollers around 1998. Stezo paint, a cheaper option from a local family business, offered better coverage than spray paint.

To achieve clean lines, they used 5 cm foam rollers, which had both limitations and possibilities, leading to a distinctive crew style. Now, over 20 years later, BOMB is picked up the roller again.

*Besides the live painting during the Art Night i was also part of a panel discussion about the untold stories of Hiphop in Eindhoven.

Following successful exhibitions at MU in Eindhoven (NL) and the Museum Leicester (UK), we proudly presented the Repainting Subway Art project at the Colab Gallery in Weil am Rhein (DE), near Basel. This exhibition also featured a selection of his other works, which seamlessly blend traditional graffiti techniques with optical illusions and stop-motion animations. On show till the end of November 2024.

*video taken from the instagram of Tripl

Tripl/Furious is a prolific graffiti writer from the Netherlands, known for his conceptual graffiti that are best experienced on Instagram. 

He has gained a large following for his creative use of social media and his unique style that blends traditional graffiti techniques with optical illusions and stop motions. Tripl/Furious’s work is focused mainly on train graffiti, and he is considered one of the most active graffiti writers in the Netherlands. His use of vibrant colors and bold lines make his work stand out on the train lines.

Last year he completed one of the most prestigious projects in graffiti culture named ‘Repainting Subway Art’. In this project, he meticulously recreated all the train graffiti and photos from the iconic book Subway Art, capturing every detail. This decade-long endeavor resulted in a monumental tribute to the original artists and photographers.

instagram.com/whentriplgetsfurious

I curated another exhibition of the Repainting Subway Art project by Tripl/Furious at the Leicester Museum in England that opened earlier this month.

Repainting Subway Art by Tripl/Furious is an intriguing example of how a simple joke can evolve into an ambitious project. Tripl/Furious, a Dutch graffiti writer who uses both aliases, began in 2013 with a challenging project—recreating all the train graffiti from the legendary book Subway Art, down to the smallest detail. It took him 10 years to complete, but the result is a monumental tribute to the original writers and photographers.

It’s pretty amazing that a museum (which houses works by Picasso, William Turner, and others) gives space to real graffiti projects.

Thanks so much to the artist for trusting me with his project. And thanks to the organization, museum, and lovely people in Leicester.

You can still visit the show till the end of May!

• 

• 

• 

• 

As a jury member during the Blind Walls Film Fest we had to decide the winner for the best short and best feature film. The festival offered some great graffiti and street art related movies. The absolute winner for me was Painting Dhaka a film by Lukas Zeilinger. , a must see if you get a chance! We also unanimous decided Work of fiction by Jonathan Pieterse should win best short. Great weekend full of meeting new talents and catching up with old friends.

Christian Omodeo, curator of the new show at the Grand Palais Immersif in Paris asked me to select some Dutch graffiti writers for the new show called Loading that focusses on urban art in the digital age. The team did a great job in editing some greatest Dutch train writers into huge 3D-game world projections. You can still visit the show till July 2024. Thank you Tripl, Machine and Same for the trust!

• 

• 

• 

During the past Dutch Design Week, artists Thomas & Jurgen (whom I’m coaching for the next 2 years) collaborated with Antigoon (the artist I coached from 2021-2023) to create a joint exhibition. They presented a series of new works on glass, building upon previous experiments with textures, tools, and paint. In addition, they challenged themselves to incorporate more color, typography, and text. They were present in the exhibition space every day, where Thomas & Jurgen combined their human-to-human co-creation method with Antigoon’s human-to-machine approach. We welcomed around 7,000 visitors.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

I feel fortunate to not only coach talented artists but also provide them with opportunities to showcase their skills through stunning murals and commissioned projects. My collaboration with the Municipality of Eindhoven has been a fantastic journey so far, with several successful paintings already completed. The last months, the artist Martinus Papilaja, who i also coach as an artist, finished some nice colourfull paintings. With a massive 100m2 takeover underneath an concrete shroom shaped roof as a visual masterpiece.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

On the 25th of June we invited Martha Cooper to visit the exhibition inspired on her and Henry Chalfant’s book. We did a short talk and showed the documentary about her life Martha: A Picture Story. Great crowd! Great to spend these two days with her. This will be forever in my memory. Huge thanks to Tripl/Furious for trusting me with his amazing project and giving me the opportunity to make this exhibition. And of course MU for welcoming us.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

REPAINTING SUBWAY ART
Tripl  /  Furious

June 10th – August 27th
Exhibition at MU, Eindhoven (NL) as part of 25 years of MU.

A tribute to the front runners of graffiti.
With photos by Martha Cooper & Henry Chalfant
Curated by Jasper van Es

Repainting Subway Art by Tripl/Furious is an intriguing example of how a simple joke can evolve into an ambitious project. Tripl/Furious, a Dutch graffiti writer who uses both aliases, started in 2013 with a challenging project – recreating all the train graffiti from the legendary book Subway Art, down to the smallest detail. It took him 10 years to complete, but the result is a monumental tribute to the original writers and photographers. 

https://mu.nl/en/txt/repainting-subway-art-tripl-furious

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

•