Q: First of all, thank you for taking the time to sit down for this interview. I really appreciate it. Now, getting right to it - who are you and where are you from? O: My name is Oskar and I am from Colombia. Bogota Colombia specifically. Q: You said earlier that you’ve moved to Australia in the last - five years or something right? O: Yeah about five years ago, when I first arrived to Australia I lived in Melbourne. I lived down there for three years and then I moved to Brisbane. Q: That's interesting. Melbourne is usually seen as the you know - graffiti and art capital. So, why did you go from Melbourne up to Brisbane? With @Chino.art (2023) O: Because I am from Bogota. Bogota is a cold city, it is in the mountains with a really high and cold climate. So I’ve always lived in a cold city, when I arrived in Melbourne it was almost the same weather you know? So I decided I’d like to go to a city where it is really warm and I moved here. For the weather haha. Q: That's really interesting, I’ve lived here my whole life and yeah it’s always hot. So for people to say oh I love that it’s hot is- O: Haha yeah! They are probably like me, always in the cold and when they get here they say “oh I really like this change!” Q: So your graffiti style that you do. Calligraffiti, when did you start getting interested in that? Was it back when you lived in Colombia? O: Yeah, when I was a child I always liked hip hop music and rap music. Growing up with that kind of music, well graffiti is part of it. I just started by making the tags when I was a child, I tagged my school - everything. Then I saw my friends as we grew up getting into graffiti I said to them I really want to learn graffiti as well. But I want to do it more professionally, better. Normal street art but one level up. Q: Professionally - so you wanted to do it as a career? O: Not really, I see them painting normal street art things like faces or things like that. I want to develop one level up from that, I was looking for something to progress to. Then I saw one of my friends - he’s a graffiti artist in Colombia - and he started to make lettering his focus. With @larry_ejc (2022) I always try to support people in my country because Colombia has many really beautiful artists there but they don’t have too many opportunities. Graffiti has started growing up now, but before they didn’t have many chances to sell art. Maybe people pay a little for the art but not much you know. So they have to be in the street - vandalising or something like that. So my friend started to do lettering so I tried to support him. I said to him I’d like to learn a little bit, he made courses online so we made one together. Q: Like on youtube? O: No like private courses, so I decided I’d like to learn with him and support him as well. I support my friends always and by that to support Colombian artists. From there I started to practise by myself just from the basics. But always trying to improve myself, always trying to make something different. Q: What kind of year was this? Just so I can set the time frame of this in my head. O: Well, I was born in the 90’s but I started listening to hip hop maybe, 96 or 97 and then I grew up with hip hop always after that. I started to make tags when I started listening to hip hop but I started graffiti, proper graffiti maybe four or five years ago. (2022) Q:So when you moved over here? O: Yeah, more when I moved to Melbourne. Q: When you moved to Melbourne - did you see how much graff was there and think to yourself “Yes, I can make a go of it here”? O: Yes I made a friend from Colombia there and asked him “do you know where I can paint?” He explained to me Hosier Lane, this was pretty good because you can paint, practice and improve everyday whenever you want. You just have to bring the tools, which for me was a great opportunity because in Colombia it wasn’t easy to paint. There were no legal walls where you could paint. So when I arrived in Melbourne I felt like I could improve and practice. Q: One of your neighbours in Colombia, the country of Brazil is very famous for among other things Os Gemeos and the Pixador (Pichação) style. Your work isn’t that of course but is it influenced by anything like that? O: I think when I started to get into graffiti by seeing Calligraffiti that was it for me. Some of the best artists in that style I saw were from Brazil and Mexico. Q: Not Los Angeles style? O: Not really, I saw a lot more caligaffiti styles from Mexico. One of my favourites is Omar (On instagram as @omar.alquimista), he does a lot of 3d. There is one guy, who to me is the main originator of a lot of the style. Niels - who goes by the name Shoe. Artists personal collection (2022) Q: Oh Shoe, Shoe from Holland. I actually do know of that guy. (@nielsshoemeulman on Instagram) O: Yes he was one of the first to blend styles between calligraphy and graffiti. He uses brushes and spray, wide markers. Q: I saw a video where he used a huge broom and paint on the ground once. O: Amazing right? He was definitely one of the first. Someone I saw in Australia who I was inspired by I saw at the Brisbane street art festival - Kitt (@kitt_bennett) My main inspiration though was my teacher in calligraffiti - Loop who is from Colombia. Q: So, art - do you want to do this or do you already do this full time? O: No I work a job as well, I’m a film maker in Colombia and I can do that here for work as well. Though I mainly do photography in Brisbane and around Queensland. Q: What made you decide to make the jump to Australia? O: My wife was my main motivation to move here. She’d already lived here before for about ten years. She always pushes me! “You can do it, you can do it!” Even when it’s not so good she tells me.. “It’s good!” haha Artists equipment (2023) Q: Are you planning on staying here? O: I will always try to travel back to Colombia, to see my people, my family. If possible I would like to establish a school for art. Or a place to practise it freely. I’d like to be able to go back and teach them what I have learned with my life to help the opportunities of the children. This opportunity I have here with graffiti in Australia has shown me different styles, different people. People have been so kind to me here in Australia and I’ve learned so much from Australian graffiti. So I’d like to go back home to teach them everything I’ve learned from here to pass the knowledge on. Q: I notice you do a lot of canvasses, unusual surfaces like tables, furniture, floors and ceilings - what tools do you usually use for these, what's the process? O: I always try to recycle. Before I came to Australia I didn’t know that sometimes people would put things they didn’t want outside with signs like “Free please take” or on marketplace pickup for free. This table here was free online, I sanded it down. Black background by spray paint to make the 3d easier and marker on top. Q: So you don’t actually use spray paint much? O: No, not much. Just to get the background, same thing for walls. Just for the background or to splash for a splatter effect. Q: Your style is quite intricate, complex. Do you have an exact plan before you get started or do you just go with the flow? O: A mix of design and improvisation. The larger design elements have to be exact, like the curve of circles. But inside of that you have some freedom. Q: Do you sell your work? O:Yes I do, on Instagram and on marketplace. When I moved to Melbourne I became more known and it was easier to sell. Here I am starting to build and become known. I did a street art festival and an art show at back dock arts. Some people know and ask me for a canvass. Editor's note: Backdock arts (On Instagram as @Backdockarts) was formerly known as Jugglers art space) Jugglers art space circa (2008) Q: I saw you recently at the Trellis at Chermside too. Actually, now that I think of it, I met you on the first day for Ekibin being legally painted as you were doing the ground work there. O: Yes! Nobody had done the ground, and I asked him (Tervo) I said ‘Can I paint the ground, is that okay?’ He was super happy because that day they had finished the wall, and he said he would have to ask the Lord Mayor because I don’t know if the rules allow for it. Then, he told me “Oskar - you must have read the mind of the Lord Mayor because he asked What about the floor?” I said - hey I know the person who can do it! Ekibin (2023) Q: That's really fun to hear from the other side, I remember talking to Tervo and he said almost at the exact time you turned up and asked about the ground the Lord Mayor had asked about the ground. What are the chances of that! Q: Are you planning on more large-scale work like the initial Ekibin? O: Yes absolutely, I am trying to do more big work on the ground because it gives a different perspective on the graffiti. Most people see it straight at eye height on the wall, so how about something you can appreciate from an aerial perspective, or by walking on? O: This one guy from Australia who I saw, always paints graffiti you have to see from an aerial perspective Q: Kitt Bennett right? ( on Instagram as @kitt_bennett) O: Yes, every time I want to make bigger paintings like him, he is one of my inspirations in Australia. Q: You know, I think there is a view in traditional graffiti - whatever that means. That you don’t really want to paint the ground because it can be walked on. I could be wrong, but I always remember someone being told that back in the day. I’ve seen this gradually change though, with white out tags on the ground becoming popular in the 00’s and guys like Antonio Lazarus (@Antonio_Lazarus) doing huge complicated works on the ground. O: For myself, it’s the opposite of that view. I really like people walking on my graffiti to feel the 3d effect and interact with it. When I most recently visited Colombia I made a big project where I painted a soccer field. People will play on and interact with that always, and I want to keep doing projects like that with the bright colours. Different colours have emotions associated with them, so I always try that in my work. I feel there are specific emotions evoked with colours and I want to mix them in so people get different feelings from my work. Q: In Colombian traditional art it seems there is there a lot of art which is brightly coloured, is that perhaps where some of your colour theory comes from? O: In my country everything is really colourful. Like the traditional costumes, the art... you know I haven’t thought about that but maybe! I think the intention is always to make people feel strong emotions about the work. Sometimes I work in black and white and you know that can evoke strong emotions too Q: While over here, whose work have you noticed the most? O: Sofles, Antonio, Dank Zappa.. (Now known as @reuben.zachary_) I really like his style. He mixes different styles, he uses cans, splashing paint.. All kinds of things. Q: Any further thoughts on your work? O: I think art for me is like yoga, when I work on the canvas, the walls. I start to feel similarly, I disconnect from everything. Sometimes I want to bring my wife along when I paint, but she says ‘I don’t want to come because you don’t speak to me, you are just focused on the wall!’ For me this is what I want, to disconnect and feel peace while I work. O: Yeah when you get in the zone, flow state - which means total immersion. Time flies very quickly. Q: Yeah that happens to me, people come to talk and I really - want to talk but I am super focused on the work. Q: So, what have you got planned for the future? O: I’d like to go back to Colombia and share what I have learned, and open up opportunities for people in my country. Share everything I have in my brain, filming, art. I’d also like to create an eco-friendly hotel. Maybe help pass on english language skills, because it is almost entirely spanish there. Q: What about here in Australia? O: I think I would like to do a huge building, like they do in europe. Like they do in the outback, water towers and silos. Q: What should people know about Colombia? O: That it isn’t like the, danground things they see on TV. If you come to Bogota you will see lots of beautiful street art. You can take a photo and a month later it will all be different. I’m really proud of Bogota, and hope it will help change the image of Colombia. Q: Lots of good food over there that you miss? O: Beautiful food! Fruits, you can find many fantastic types there, cheap too. I miss dishes like Aguapanela. Changua soup - made with milk. Ajiaco, they have many distinct foods. Though, what I miss the most is my family. Q: Does your family know of your artwork? O: Yeah they know it, when I was there last I had the opportunity to make one graffiti for them. In my house, in my hometown just to say thank you to them you know? My mum, she had never seen the process, only the photo at the end. So she did not know how it took so long with the background, a full day to do it. So many steps, like sketching - come early to make the background, use the brushes, choosing the colours.The whole process. She was really happy to learn how the whole process worked, I was there one day finishing the background really late into the night. Because in Bogota sometimes it rains a lot and I have to work really late. She just saw me out the window working in the dark! Q: As we wrap this up, are there any shoutouts you’d like to give? O: I’d just like to say, thank you to my friends. Loop, thank you to him for opening my mind because he was the first to support and teach me, to take the time. To all my friends in Colombia, heaps of hugs, heaps of thanks to them. Also for the Australian graffiti scene, thank you so much for the opportunities - walls, taking the time to learn. If I just come up to people and ask them to see how they paint they always take the time to talk, to teach me. So really, thanks to everyone I’ve met here to help me improve my graffiti and my art. Q: Oskar, thank you for your time!