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)

Red, green and blue for warrior Bue

Some things are just very hard to ignore. Whether you like it or not, even when closing your eyes, your visual memory reconstructs them in a couple of seconds and *BAM* there they are again. If I would ask you what kind of graffiti you have seen in Ghent lately, I’m quite sure that the happy, colourful and stylistic creatures of street artist Bue The Warrior will pop into your mind very quickly. If you don’t recognise the name, just scroll down to the pictures below for the AHA-Erlebnis.

Despite the fact he undeniably contributed to Ghent’s current identity, Bue‘s accent when talking ruthlessly echoes Antwerp – his mom is from Ghent, his dad from Antwerp – but he can guarantee he has been living in Ghent for a longer time now than he ever lived in Antwerp. That’s a relief; it gave us just the right energy level to jump into the questioning.

THE RABBITS: Do you remember when you held a spraying can in your hands for the first time?

BUE THE WARRIOR: I must have been sixteen, I think. Back then it was different of course: it had to be sneaky, quick and we could only work in the dark.

THE RABBITS: Now that street art has become quite transparent and public, do you sometimes miss that sneaky aspect?

BUE THE WARRIOR: Well, not really… the circumstances as mentioned before weren’t ideal to work in. Nevertheless I still go out and leave my traces on abandoned buildings or bridges from time to time.

THE RABBITS: One of the strong points of your work is that it’s very recognisable. How long did it take you to develop your own unique style?

BUE THE WARRIOR: Let’s compare it to Willy Vandersteen’s Suske & Wiske: after all those years it was still the same, but you could clearly see the evolution. My work has been evolving for the past 20 years. In 2005 I did simplify my style. I thought: if it’s simpler and more direct, it automatically becomes stronger and easily recognisable. I still prefer to put one big figure on a wall to get people’s attention than to create a cacophony where everyone just walks past.

THE RABBITS: Some of your creatures make me think of the Happy Tree Friends cartoons: cute little animals with blushing cheeks and sparkling eyes that in the end get killed because of dreadful accidents. Are your characters just happy happy or is there some kind of twist underneath?

BUE THE WARRIOR: No, it has never been my intention to add that kind of twist to it. My work is genuinely innocent and pure and therefore very child friendly. My goal is to make people laugh spontaneously when passing by and looking at it. Therefore I don’t understand people who hate my work. I understand some don’t like it, but to hate it just seems unnatural to me.

THE RABBITS: Do you pick out the walls or are the walls being picked out for you?

BUE THE WARRIOR: I explore the city and look around: it has to be the right spot, it should reach as many people as possible and it needs to go with the setting. What I don’t like is people who offer me a wall and think they do me a favour. If I think your wall is perfect, I will paint it for free, but I will always reject a wall that has been imposed to me. I don’t want to sound like the arrogant artist, but people should respect my work.

THE RABBITS: You’re well-known outside Belgium as well these days. You exhibited in Turin (Italy) and even have pieces in Mexico. How did that start?

BUE THE WARRIOR: I’m traveling a lot, I always have, and on my trips I leave my street art traces anyhow. Of course today’s social media help a lot to spread my work and to reach a wide range of people. The Mexico story started when some Mexican lady saw a wall my friend Chase and I had painted in L.A. She invited us over to Mexico and arranged everything just so we could paint a wall.

THE RABBITS: Now you mentioned your friend Chase, do you often work together with other street artists?

BUE THE WARRIOR: Let’s say it’s fifty-fifty: I equally divide it. But I must say I will start working on my own more often, since working together isn’t always rewarding. Even if you involve people, they don’t always involve you in return. Moreover the different styles need to go together and most of the time that’s not the case.

THE RABBITS: For those who want to smuggle a part of your work into their houses, there’s a collection of caps you decorated for Toykyo Kids. Is the merchandising part becoming more important?

BUE THE WARRIOR: Street art is a very appealing subject and tool for all kinds of markets: from the fashion world to automotive brands; they all want to use street art in order to reach their target audience in a “cooler” way. I truly admire artists who don’t ever compromise, but the truth is, as a street artist you also need merchandising to financially be able to continue your street activities. However, you can be sure about one thing: if I don’t believe in something, I won’t do it.   

THE RABBITS: Do you have the ideal job?

BUE THE WARRIOR: I have the ideal passion. Sometimes I need a break, like writers having a writer’s block, but that doesn’t happen too often.

THE RABBITS: Are there other dreams & plans?

BUE THE WARRIOR: Of course there are. Designing my own playground or even a carrousel would be very nice. But I prefer to carry out my plans instead of talking too much about them. What I can say is: if my ideas become reality one day, you will not be able to ignore them!

www.facebook.com/bue-thewarrior

www.toykyokids.be

Pictures: Bue the Warrior