I caught up with my old mate The Krah recently. We talked about his upbringing in Athens, his recent move to Bristol, and his design for Fableware amongst other things. All the pics in this post are of his mural on Jamaica Street, Bristol. Now read on…
FW: What does your name: ‘The Krah’ mean?
TK: Krah is a Greek word that signifies the crash of a government after an economic crisis or a period of social unrest.
FW: You grew up in Athens right? When did you start painting?
TK: I started tagging the streets from a young age but only started doing more illustrative graffiti in 1997 with spray cans. Back then we painted lots of trains and illegal spots in the centre of Athens. I was more into painting characters when most other writers were painting letter forms. I joined one of the top Greek crews called SR Squad that was the elite bombing crew in Athens. Then I also joined the 101ers crew that is a more international crew with members from different countries.
FW: What were the police like in Athens? Did you ever have any problems with them?
TK: The police in Greece are nothing like here - they don’t smile at you and say good afternoon! As a kid living in central Athens, you have a lot of things to worry about walking the streets, and one of them is the police. They have lots of riot squads parked up, and usually they would search us and take us to the police station if we didn’t have any ID on us. They were not friendly and didn’t think twice to slap you around a bit. I have been chased and arrested lots of times for graffiti but never got caught red handed so never had a criminal record.
FW: Earlier this year you moved to Bristol. How does it differ from London culturally ?
TH: I lived in East London, in Bethnal Green and Bow for 8 years. I used to paint, do shows and hang out around Brick Lane, Shoreditch and Old Street. Now I live in Montpelier in Bristol, it’s got that creative feel to it like East London has, but a lot more chilled out, people are very friendly so its easy to make new mates, and full of cool spots to do street art. In the summer there is a free outdoor festival every weekend - Bristolians are always up for a party! I feel there is more of a sense of community here that London hasn’t got, and we use bikes instead of tubes. Everyone you meet is an artist, but some don’t know what kind of art they do! It might be that it’s too bohemian here, London is definitely got a better market for selling art. But Bristol feels like the graffiti capital of Britain.
FW: Are there any other Bristol street artists you recommend?
TH: My mate Ryan Kai (limited press) has got a really cool style, with characters that have a very South American feel, check his work here: http://ryankaiwonder.wordpress.com
FW: I love the Jamaica Street mural. How long did it take you to paint?
TH: It took me one week painting but I had help from my mate Jack, who was helping with my street art missions before he moved to San Francisco (lucky bastard!!!) It was good fun - nice weather, drinking beers and meeting lots of people. The wall is in a very central spot and every month a different artist gets to paint it, it’s organised by the Peoples Republic of Stokes Croft, an art collective that has made Bristol streets look more colourful and funky for years now.
FW: What was the concept behind the mural?
TH: The wall is a dreamy landscape full of giant mushrooms, and on closer inspection you see the dark socio-political imagery, such as police brutality and homeless crackheads in a surreal wonderland.
The mural was inspired by two of my favourite artists, firstly the British painter William Hogarth. He was the first painter to show the dark side of the streets of London back in the Georgian era, instead of the classical romantic paintings that the aristocracy wanted art to look like at the time.The other big influence is Hieronymus Bosch, a Dutch painter that was the first surrealist at the end of the dark ages and beginning of the renaissance.
FW: Is there a difference between graffiti and street art? Or is it all the same thing?
TH: When I started doing graffiti it was all the same, then it got separated because some graffiti writers didn’t want to be associated with the new wave of street art. The old school writers wanted to keep the graffiti culture strictly freehand spray paint, and focus on the urban calligraphy and experimental letter forms. So ‘street art’ became any other way of getting up, using different materials and focussing on characters etc.
I do both and don’t care what people think.
FW: Finally, can you explain the idea behind your mug design, in your own words ?
TK: The original idea was from the fable of the cricket and the ant, but I changed it into the mouse and the bee to make it a bit different.
In the story the mouse just chills, enjoying the summer when the bee is working hard, but then the winter comes, the mouse has nothing and the bees are partying, while they eat the honey they collected all summer.
Check out the The Krah’s Fableware design here
Or you can visit The Krah’s own website here
