Researchers at University Center of Viçosa and Univiçosa in Brazil invited Fuer Panda to participate in a research on the impact that urban art has on the formation of the subjectivities of artists of street.
The power of urban art in the formation of subjectivities in the view of humanist psychology, which seeks to understand how urban art influences the formation of subjectivities, how the artist relates to their artistic work, and how it influences their life. This research work seeks to understand this dynamic in the specificities of art made on the streets, for the streets.
Street art specifically has always been an interest. I like how public spaces can be transformed into something completely different. I do think street art fits certain places better than others. There are often neglected areas of cities with no historical or architectural importance that have been given a breath of life with art. I think it is somehow in my DNA to express visually and especially in public places. Too many good artists never make it away from their computer or studio. The streets are a free gallery to be taken, free from elitist galleries.
To answer that we have to understand the difference between street art and graffiti. Graffiti was a strong interest from the age of 8 during what can be described as a golden era of graffiti in London. I was fascinated with creative letterforms. Practicing graffiti started in 2000 after acquiring a copy of the book Subway Art. Graffiti became a huge part of my life until around the age of 27 when it became completely absorbing. Everything I did revolved around graffiti. Getting-up is a mindset: the first thing you think about when you wake-up and last thing you think about at night before you sleep. Like most graffiti writers, a break was needed. It was at the beginning of the pandemic that friends encouraged me back into making art on the streets. This time under a different (although subtly related) identity. I wanted something with a stronger and more recognisable visual identity than just a word and to stand-out from the many graffiti writers in London. An icon would speak to a greater audience and a friendly panda was more welcomed than a tag or generic graffiti lettering.
Having graffiti run through my veins from a very young age and now as a practicing street artist: in my opinion, there is a clear distinction between street art and graffiti, although others might disagree (as the boundaries can be blurred). Graffiti has a strong tradition around transit systems and is by nature anti-establishment, whereas street art isn’t as focussed on letterforms and is perhaps welcomed by a larger audience. Graffiti often seems to push the boundaries of risk, gaining respect with other graffiti writers, whereas the public often turn a blind-eye to street art being illegal (if it improves the visual appearance of a place).
However, in my opinion, both are about identity and getting-up. This is where some boundaries are blurred, especially when some street art techniques are used in a graffiti-like manner, such as roller pieces (as opposed to the traditional freehand spray can). Also you could argue many freehand spray-can rendered characters are street art. The definition here is really down to the observer. Claiming your work is street art legally brings less punishment than graffiti. I have been stopped multiple times in various cities by police and because my mark is a cute panda, they have often just given me a warning.
There are huge benefits to having a anonymous public identity: although Fuer Panda is not my government identity, you can visit various cities worldwide and people will recognise your character. It is basically like having a worldwide network of family and you are accepted into various street art circles and invited to paint with local crews. That is the social benefit regarding other underground artists, then there is the more mainstream side. By having an online presence, driven mainly by many hours dedicated to getting-up on the street, the public want to know about you. They often want to own your work. This has led to many commissions and I now have a clothing line. Selling the Fuer Panda clothes further promotes the brand.
This is a very open question, something you could probably write a book about. But the questions invites a subjective response. I actually come from a design background, so art has provided me with an open brief to express myself visually without the constraints of a client. I’m not necessarily out there to solve a problem like design although there are obviously design-like aesthetics to some of my work. Painting some surfaces / environments do have challenges (where your work needs some design thought), so in that respect you adapt your art around the environment. Sometimes a client requests a certain piece, so that feels more like a design brief. But in my eyes art is less about the client and more about the artist’s expression.
I try to keep the pandas upbeat and playful: now I have established the recognition of the panda design, I have started adapting the panda design into clouds, spray cans and popsicles.
The panda was designed to bring smiles across London during some of the most miserable times (the pandemic). I have heard people say they ‘catch a panda out of the corner of their eye and smile’. People would contact me thanking me for covering their neighbourhood in pandas.
That is a good question. There are blurred boundaries. Is there a difference between art outside in an urban context and street art? You might say art outside has wider scope for definition: it could be sculpture or live performance. Whereas typically street art uses a medium to modify a space, often illegally and typically (but not always) using materials more closely associated with graffiti.
Repetition plays a large part in what I do. The panda design doesn’t change that much and I’m not really trying to communicate deep philosophical ideas. Perhaps one message is that you can make a real visual impact with art. Why stay in your studio when you can hack visual systems and get recognition in a very short time: don’t be disheartened by astronomical advertising costs and snooty galleries. Getting your design out there can be almost free. You just have to do the hard-graft work on the streets.