Yanoe got his start in the City of Angels during the tag banging years of the 90s. He’s since travelled and lived all over the world – from LA, to Houston, Atlanta, Brussels, and Australia. It was in Brisbane, Australia that I first met Yanoe, many years ago. He was moonlighting as an American tourist and bringing his Los Angeles-raised graffiti approach to the streets of the river city. Namely climbing a lot and writing his name sky high. People took notice.
“Los Angeles was a tough place to grow up. It was definitely not for the faint of heart. Carrying a gun, selling drugs, and getting shot at was a normal thing when I was a kid.”
For the last 20 years, he was painting his name on everything and anything – “the name of the game was fame”. More recently, Yanoe felt he needed to push himself more and needed a challenge. Nowadays his focus is on art that represents humanity, equality, and freedom of expression.
I last saw Yanoe in June of this year, in the Mohave Desert, Nevada. Soon after, he spent ten days in Israel, painting murals and exploring different parts of the country. I tracked him down to ask him about the journey and any new experience gained from visiting Israel.
Yo. What’s good?! It’s been a month or two since Nevada, it feels like a lifetime ago. Where you at now?
I’m in Columbus, Ohio working on an 11 story, 11,000sq ft mural (1,021 sq m) with my boy Zoueh from Los Angeles.
You just got back from Israel, right? Give us the skinny on how the trip came to be, who you were there with etc.
Yup, I just got back from Israel. I was painting bomb shelters in the town of Sderot – right along the Gaza Strip. I was invited by a group called Artists 4 Israel and flew out with Zoueh.
It looked like it was hot as fuck out there! Like, 40 degrees (°C) in my language (104 °F). How’d you cope? Hahah.
Hahah, yeah man. It was brutally hot but luckily both my walls had a bit of shade. I also decided after a couple of days to only paint after 1pm and asked them to provide lights and generators so I could continue painting through the night.
Israel is considered Holy Land by Jews, Christians, and Muslims. What was it like to visit a place with such a deep history?
It was very interesting, to say the least. I’m not religious by any means but have an understanding of what it means to believe in something greater than yourself. I ended up getting a tattoo using a 300yr old olive wood template at the oldest tattoo shop in the world – 28 generations strong! There was a line of religious men and women getting their first tattoos at this spot, it was pretty crazy to see.
Tell us about some of the places you visited there. I assume you visited some sacred/ historically relevant sites. Any special moments?
I visited the western wall in the Old City of Jerusalem which is inhabited by all three religions and honestly it felt like there was a very powerful energy surrounding the area. We also spent a day at the Dead Sea which was pretty mind-boggling. Floating on water felt very unnatural but definitely a wild experience. I painted a few pieces around the different cities we visited, Tel Aviv being the best. So much graffiti in that city, makes me want to go back and do it right, hahaha!
Tell me about any local arts, music, or culture that you got to experience while you were there.
In Sderot, there was literally no art. Us being there was a huge step forward for the community. The locals seemed to really appreciate us and what we were doing there. The question I got the most was why are you here? My answer was “To simply bring a smile to your face”. Tel Aviv, on the other hand, was rife with a booming art and culture scene. Unfortunately, we were only there for one day, but I do hope to return again.
I saw at least one of your projects was in Gaza, which is a conflict zone. Did anything ever get a little hairy? I remember a friend telling me he had warning shots fired for getting a little too close to the border.
Yes, Sderot is about 100 ft (30 m) from the Gaza Strip, and yes, it was a little scary at times. Alarms and bomb shelters are very 50 ft in the town. When you hear an alarm, you have about 9 to 12 seconds to get to a bomb shelter. Sometimes 20-30 rockets a day can be launched at the city from the Gaza Strip. Luckily, we were actually painting the bomb shelters, so if I heard an alarm, I would just walk right in. It’s an unfortunate situation there – over 95% of children have PTSD from living under these conditions. We as westerners have no clue what it feels like growing up like this. It is very sad, and hopefully bringing a little color to the town uplifts them in even the slightest way.
Obviously, it’s quite a political charged region, and the subject of, let’s say, ‘friction’ around the world. Do you follow any of this stuff politically? How did your views change once you were on the ground?
No, I don’t follow any of the politics involving most countries. I went there with an open heart and open mind. The idea was to beautify a place war-torn by political unrest and I believe I did what I set out to do. To bring a lil happiness to the people affected by their leaders without any input or say into their feelings on the matter. I walked away realizing that most locals don’t agree with what is happening and all they want to do is live in peace.
Beyond transforming space visually, I believe art has the ability to be a catalyst for change, and to bring people together. Do you feel art projects have the potential of (even mildly) bringing about small moments of unity between individuals within the region?
I do feel strongly about this and my goal in doing art around the globe is intended for exactly that, to bring a discussion to the forefront and bringing people together through art.
You were painting bomb shelters when you were there. A4I founder, Craig Dershowitz, has expressed a motivation to turn “gruesome reminders of war … into something that will uplift the community.” What was the vibe when you were painting these structures? What was the reaction to your work from the local community?
Most of the locals were at first confused by why we were there, but after a few days I was embraced by locals and was approached in an amazing way by people every day. Strange fact: Israeli’s love Coca-Cola and everyday someone would buy me a Coke and bring me food to thank me for what I was doing.
Funny story; on the last day I went to sign my walls, and when I was doing so on one of the walls, I heard screaming and turned around to see a man running towards me with a bat. Once he saw it was me, he stopped and waved in acknowledgment realizing I was the artist. It was crazy he was defending my wall. All in all, I walked away feeling really good for what I did there and honestly would do it again in a heartbeat.
How did the intended use of the structures impact your process – before and during painting? How did you approach the theme/s to the work you made in Israel?
My first wall was called ‘Mother and Child’, depicting just that. The idea here was to represent the people affected by the rockets being launched at the town of Sderot. The second wall was a reference taken from a photograph by a local Israeli photographer, Roni Caspi. Depicting a shopping cart full of items you’d find in a home, as well as flowers falling from the cart along its journey. I called this wall ‘Home on the Road’. It represents my journey, painting all over the globe and leaving little remnants of my paintings in every city I visit.
Quick questions:
-Favourite historical site you visited?
Western Wall.
-Best place to grab a feed?
Tel Aviv.
-Tell me something about Israel the guidebooks won’t tell me.
Beautiful woman everywhere.
-What’s the biggest difference between Israel and USA?
Air conditioning, lol.
What’s next?
I’m in the process of painting my largest vertical mural I have ever painted in Columbus, Ohio. Stay tuned!
To stay updated with YANOE, visit:
Instagram: @oh_yanoe
Website: www.ohyanoe.com
Luke Shirlaw is the founder of Artillery Projects – a graffiti art publisher, and visual studio specialising in mural production, graphic design, and content creation. Follow him on Instagram, or subscribe to Artillery’s ‘The Drop’ for exclusive email interviews.