Imagine we fast forwarded the clock 20 years from now when graffiti has probably evolved into something completely different to what it is now, and then standing next your old writing partner and saying „Do you remember graffiti“. This is a scenario that for viewers of N.O.MADSKI paintings is probably happening right now! The Hamburg based artists artwork is as close to graffiti as it is removed. Futuristic with unconventional symbolism, yet slathered in a traditional graffiti aesthetic that could have been similar to that of a classic New York painted train running through Manhattan in the early 80’s. A true innovator of letter forms yet with nothing to do with letters or so it appears? N.O.MADSKI can use a little and make it look like a lot. Simple geometry is carefully complimented with just the right curve or rounded edge. Black and white are juxtopsed with a splash of color. And the opaque and the formal are cleverly layered with transparent and the organic. Hidden deep within these works is 20+ years of „the game“, but not the art school one. INTRODUCING GRAFFITI ARTIST N O MADSKI

Take some time and be lured into the aesthetic world of N.O.MADSKI

N.O.MADSKI „THE ESSENCE“

The Broken Window

Since beginning of the media-driven debate about graffiti, we are constantly confronted with the same shallow opinions: Graffiti create spaces of fear, promote rule-breaking, and thus ultimately promote decay. Meanwhile, the socalled “broken windows theory” is abused as a scientific basis of this conclusion. At the same time, it is claimed that the common sprayer wants to “immortalize” himself, wants to “put his mark on society.” But how does an abandoned place, condemned to downfall, fit this as a medium? And what leads to what; graffiti the decay or decay graffiti? On the other hand, graffiti as illustrative kitsch is gladly seen here, where urban spaces need to be upgraded cheaply, or where some distillery or brewery combines both to be “socially-accep-table” again. Good graffiti exist as an end in itself – but never without context.

Indeed, graffiti accompanies an eternal, all-embracing process of renewal and thus is also part of the cycle of creative destruction. With fascinating objectivity, N.O.Madski has tasked himself with the search for his definition of graffiti’s quintessence. If you’re familiar with his otherwise brightly colored, large-format murals, you can only guess how difficult it must have been for him to figuratively remove himself in such a way as to give the more reserved venues the necessary and deserved attention.

It was the right decision. What arises after reduction to the essential – namely the name “Nomad” in an increasingly individual style – is an interplay with the space, putting the observer in a melancholic mood. Here they are again, the spaces of fear. Places of decay, which show you the border of your own finiteness in an unvarnished way. A melancholy which nevertheless in the next moment turns to interest: Where is it/what was it/why it is abandoned? Thus N.O.Madski has succeeded in not only placing graffiti in a spatial context, but also creating a surplus value that transcends style and place, and which stimulates reflection. Illustrative kitsch for embellishing morbid areas can stay where frightened people need their shallow façade. MOSES

Buy the Book „THE ESSENCE“ by N.O.MADSKI

www.n-o-madski.com

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