Artillery Magazine copped this exclusive interview with Neils SHOE Meulman.
Interview and foreword by Kristoff the Russian, exclusively for Artillery Magazine.
Artillery Calligraffiti by Niels SHOE Meulman.
Images courtesy of Niels SHOE Meulman and Unruly Gallery.
Like many artists with roots planted firmly in graffiti, Niels SHOE Meulman looked to the Subway Art era for inspiration and early influence. What separates SHOE from so many of the rest, however, is that he was dissecting the movement as it was happening – riding the shockwaves of the New York City graffiti explosion some 3,600 miles away in his native Amsterdam.
Applying his talents from an early age, SHOE explored and experimented with a varied array of media. Through a fortuitous turn of fate, and the opportunity of an advertising apprenticeship, he took avidly to print design – and the beginning of a career in art and design that has most recently led him to Australia to continue on his path of creative destruction, or exhibition at least, and the demonstration of (in a word) ‘style’.
The latest direction to be adopted by SHOE is the fusing of traditional Gothic calligraphy and it’s Ye Olde England-ish flair with the more contemporary approach of graffiti, getting loose with the brush and, in doing so, shaking off the Old World stigma associated with the calligraphic letter forms.
He calls it ‘Calligraffiti’.
We can see why. –Kristoff the Russian.
Going back to the very beginning for a moment, do you think that coming up and creating your style in Amsterdam helped you to separate yourself from your European neighbours?
Back in the 80s there were just a few people in Europe painting graffiti. First we were copying the New York pioneers and then each other. We were just trying out all kinds of styles before settling into an individual style. Looking back, I think my style was (and is) influenced by Dondi White and Herb Lubalin, to name just two.
Did you draw your style inspiration from Amsterdam writers at the time? Or was more of it pioneering, even at the start?
It was definitely pioneering but the real pioneers were of course the kids painting the New York subway trains in the 70s and 80s. They invented this shit! Without them there wouldn’t be any graffiti as we know it today. During those years there was a pioneer in Amsterdam too, called Ivar Vics aka Dr. Rat aka Dr. Art.
Read the full interview here.
More info:
– ArtilleryMagazine.com.au
– Calligraffiti.nl