AFt: smiles to think about

AFt − Smiling is contagious

During this cold and long winter even exceptionally optimistic people can feel a little grumpy when wandering through the city. If you are one of those people however, we have good news for you: keep your eyes open because you might see this lovely smiling lady anywhere! Perceptive souls will already have noticed some funny and cheerful objects in the streets that normally aren't there, such as colourful stencils and little painted figures. Street artist AFt, which stands for Art For Thought, has a lot of fun creating them and giving them a special place on the street; his mission is only accomplished if he can make people smile. Since AFt himself is just as mysterious as his work, we asked our questions via e-mail and constructed this interview without ever meeting our guest.



Rosie & The Rabbits: Was Art For Thought a slow process evolving gradually or did you wake up one day with the idea of restyling these little statues and giving them a new life?

AFt (street artist): It was a very slow process. Ever since I was a child I was interested in graffiti, but I have to admit I wasn't really good at it myself. It didn't go any further than a couple of forced tags. A new impulse only came when I was thirty: I was in Paris and saw mosaic figures from an old computer game popping up.  I thought it was a genius idea; it was surprising, original, new. The street artist behind these figures was Space Invader. I wanted to do something similar but it still took me a couple of years to shape my thoughts. 

Rosie & The Rabbits: Do you remember the exact moment when you were thinking: "now I'm going to do this"? 

AFt: A bottle of good Scotch can work miracles! One evening some friends and I were talking about street art when suddenly I knew what I wanted to do. The idea of painting the little statues was born. In this early phase Pieter De Kegel, a friend of mine, editor of PostrMagazin and notorious connoisseur of street art, had an undeniable role. He really convinced me to actually go through with it; at that moment I was (and still am) quite uncertain about my work.  It's so valuable to have someone believing in you then. 


Rosie & The Rabbits: Where do you find these typical statues?

AFt: It's a plague! In Flanders we definitely have more of these figures than inhabitants. Flea markets, thrift stores ..., you can find them everywhere. At home, when the children are asleep, I "tackle" these statues: I cut pieces out, add details or accessories, paint them, add text, etc. It depends on the moment.


Rosie & The Rabbits: What inspires you most?

AFt: The world we're living in is crazy enough. We take things for granted all the time but if you look around in an an open-minded and unprejudiced way, you get inspired by pretty much anything. I'm lucky to be travelling by train a couple of hours per day; gives me lots of time to think. What else inspires me? Literature, indignation, critical journalists (PostrMagazine), the internet, my job, art, my wife and children, irritation ..., but most of all: my own imagination! I want to send the world a positive message, pleasantly surprise people and perhaps make them reflect on things. Most of the people are living incredibly well here and still a lot of them are complaining, nagging, negative and bitter. What I'm doing is nothing more than a drop in the ocean, but at least it's a drop.

Rosie & The Rabbits: Does the work of other artists inspire you as well?

AFt: At first I didn't know very well what was going on in the street art scene. I knew Banksy and a couple of Ghent graffiti artists like Bue The Warrior and ROA, but that was about it. In the meantime I got to know the work of Isaac Cordal, C215, the Pothole Gardener, Max Zorn, Sara Conti, ... All very interesting artists and immersing yourself in what they do works very inspiring. Recently I discovered My Dog Sighs, a British artist who paints funny faces on crushed cans to leave these on the street. Isn't that great?

Rosie & The Rabbits: Does the anonymous aspect give you a kick?

AFt: It's more a necessity really. Even if the "illegal" aspect is quite small in my case, I don't want to get one of these local administrative fines. It gives me more freedom as well: I can kick people in the shins, break taboos and express my opinion in an uncensored way, without having to worry about the reactions. Moreover I don't think I as a person matter. My work should speak for itself, the person behind it is not that important. 

Rosie & The Rabbits: In what respect would your work be different if it would be shown in a museum?

AFt: Funny question. First of all I don't think my work will ever be shown in a big museum, but it is a "tension field" to which contemporary artists are confronted more often these days. Within short I will be participating in an exposition and that was a challenge. The street context unmistakably adds an extra dimension to your work, but how do you reproduce this effect in a gallery or exposition? Recently I started to cooperate with a very talented photographer (Hanne Lamon) and she succeeds perfectly in capturing this extra dimension in her pictures. An advantage for myself is that I can keep a tangible souvenir of my work when it has been taken away by someone. 

Rosie & The Rabbits: Do you sometimes hear from people who found a little statue of yours? 

AFt: Unfortunately not... I'm curious about it, that's for sure, and via Facebook I asked for it already but without any result. The work of street artists is more and more taken away by people who think they can make money out of it. Banksy is a well know example, but I cannot imaging that in my case that would be the reason. 

Rosie & The Rabbits: Do you sign your work?

AFt: It always has AFt written on it and because I don't want the statues to fall on someone's head, I always glue them quite thoroughly.


Rosie & The Rabbits: Do you leave your creations out there when travelling abroad or in other Belgian cities?

AFt: Yes. You can (or at least could) find my work in Ghent, Antwerp, Ronse, Berlin, Glasgow and even South Africa.

Rosie & The Rabbits: You also use stencils. Who is the mysterious smiling girl on these stencils?

AFt: First of all: working with stencils is great! I prefer minimalistic stencils with one or two colours. I was looking for a powerful image that would make people feel better instantly. And then I bumped into a picture of a friend of mine who has one of the most expressive faces I have ever seen. In the past she was quite well known so people have the feeling they have seen here before but they never know exactly where. 
Recently I heard a story of a little girl who saw one of my stencils and said to her mother: "when I see that lady, I immediately want to smile too". That must have been the nicest compliment I got about my work.


Rosie & The Rabbits: Do your children know about your secret mission?

AFt: My children are a little bit too young to completely understand what I'm doing. Nevertheless, the eldest will definitely  "blab it out" one day: when passing by one of my figures he always says in a very enthusiastic way: "that's from daddy, right?".  Anyhow, in our house it's very obvious, it's one big studio, you can imagine how happy my wife is with that. Soon my godchild will drop by and he already asked once if he could make such a little statue as well and than go out at night to put it somewhere. I'm not sure whether this makes me a good or a bad godfather. (smiles)



www.facebook.com/ArtForThought

AFt: Stencils and little painted statues in Ghent
(Pictures: AFt)