Doing it Russian style, even in Berlin
There is nothing better than getting information from its source. In this article, we listen to the words of the artist SAKVO from Russia, who gives his perspective on the topics of graffiti, lifestyle, and being grateful for where he is.
“Hello, my name is Anton. In the world of graffiti, I am known as Sakvo. or Сакво in Cyrillic letters. You are probably asking yourself who I am? I am a graffiti-writer, illustrator, and tattoo artist from Moscow, Russia, where I was born. I lived there for most of my life. I painted for the first time with an old classmate in January 2000. Since that moment, pretty much all the activities I do, my lifestyle, and my friendship circle revolve around graffiti, which I assume is common for most graffiti writers. During the last 20 years or so, I have tried different styles. Clean, dirty, technical, colorful full production pieces, minimalistic throw-ups, characters, murals, and so on. All with the help of my trusty Montana BLACK and GOLD cans. I’m trying to keep it fresh and always look around for new experiences. I’m flexible enough to roll with the punches and for the last 5 years, I paint mostly without sketches. Spending a relatively long time in the game helped me to build letterforms, and my experience as an illustrator gave me a solid base for my characters. My tattooing experience helps me to deal easier with imperfections and mistakes, so I have learned to give myself much more to the process and enjoy it. My guilty pleasure is my fat outlines.
Despite the fact that art (and especially graffiti), leads to the growth of an over-inflated ego, I never had the ambition to become the first or the best. I have always felt as if I am just one, of a long list of graffiti artists that exist in the global scene. For the last four years, I have been based part of the time in Berlin and the other half in Moscow. I usually travel often, even during the last year, because in Russia it’s easier now. I’ve met a huge number of gifted and inspiring artists from everywhere, and we have always had something to talk to each other about. I am grateful to the graffiti for that. Some of the urban contemporary artists who have a graffiti background say that they were cramped in graffiti, and grew out of it. I don’t know these guys are coming from? I’ve been into graffiti for more than half of my life, and there is always a direction to grow in and I’m still interested in drawing letters. I really enjoy it!”
We look forward to seeing where the SAKVO adventure takes us. But until then, take a moment to familiarize yourself with his work here.
Images by the artist SAKVO