OH
Painting freighttrains became more and more attractive to European writers within the last 15 years. After decades in which boxcar trains have most often been ignored by writers it seems as if the promise of an alleged everlasting piece which travels thousands of kilometers and several countries evolved into a novel genre of writing.
According to blogs, magazines and observations in train yards, it’s not hard to discover that certain train models are more often selected to paint on than others. One of the obviously less popular models is the DB (Deutsche Bahn) “Falns121”. Compared to large scale canvases like the “Transwaggon” model, it offers only a small (but plain) surface which is divided into four spaces. The serial numbers are constantly repainted if overdrawn by graffiti. The consequence is a high number of ugly patched wagons, showing hard to identify pieces, crossed out by red and brown squares.
Some years ago suddenly in long rows of these “Falns”-wagons single cars popped out of the colorful-brown-red mess. After a few months, it did become clear what was happening here: DELTA, one of Europe’s most important stylewriters since the 80s did enter the game. He used the seemingly endless amount of these ugly cars to exercise sketching-sessions by painting exclusively white and black pieces.
With this publication DELTA turns inside out the whole concept of a traingraffiti book: While writers usually would present the best shots of pieces which do not exist anymore, he did simply publish the drafts of trains which most likely still travel the rails of Europe right now. Including hundreds of styles, OH surprises by not showing a photo of the result placed next to the sketch, it rather keeps you curious when and where the counterpart might appear next, whether online or on line.
Now available at Hitzerot.