Hey Fatcap readers, here’s an interview of SAN. We love his work. Enjoy the style and try to find the meaning of his pieces!
Check his site to find more beautiful artwork by SAN : SAN’S SITE
FC: Where are you from SAN? Tell us about your beginnings…
I was born in a little village called Moraleja, really close to the Portugal border line. I grew up in the middle of nature with no info about graffiti or other cultural ways to depelop myself. Sometimes I visited Madrid and Barcelona and I was really impressed by the Graffiti tags on the walls and trains in those cities. After that, I decided to write my name on the walls of my villag. Anyway I started to do tags and my first pieces in 1993,after that the chaos invaded me untill today.
FC: What’s the meaning of your name?
I started to write SAN because at school,everybody called me “Daniel San” like Karate Kid movie. I apreciate the writers who write a name with a conexion in their lifes, and not an invention with a beatiful conbination of letters.
FC: What was your interest in art and what led you to create all those things?
My main passion was to draw to develop my style in the streets. Since I started I am a really prolific drawer: I draw every single day. This activity introduces me into art ,my curiosity is the main reason to do everything I did.
FC: Tell us about the graffiti and street art scene from your town.
From 1993 to 2000 the little village was really bombed of murals,tags and throw ups. We were around 15 writers in a town with 7000 people living,and now I´m almost alone there, I paint when I visit my mom,cause I live and work in Madrid. The best thing is that you can find murals from 1994-2009 in the walls of my village.
FC: How would you define your work and what inspires you?
My main inspiration is the conflict of our time:
- Humans against Nature
- Nature against human´s progress.
- My speech feeds from this thin line that suport our existence.
FC: What are your tastes in movies and books?
Last days I watched:
- 1984 (from the novel by George Orwell)
- Blue Velvet (David Lynch)
-8 1/2( Federico Fellinni)
Now I´m reading a really extense book about art History by Arnold Hausser, really interesting.
FC: Favourite quote?
No great artist see things as they really are, if it did, it wouldn´t be an artist. (Oscar Wilde)
FC: Name an artist (or many) whose work you respect and admire.
Too many: Herbert Baglione,Liken,Blu,Juan Muñoz, Velazquez…It could be endless….
FC: If your style was a music band or a song? Which one would it be?
Calssical music composed by an contemporary mind.
FC: You create on walls, canvases, stickers, print on wood, photoshop. What is your favourite tool or media and why?
My favourite weapon is the pen.
FC: We love the surrealistic side of your work, some paintings seems to take place in a dream. Do you dream your painting? Or do you paint your dream?
Both of things. It´s necesary to mix the reallity that the people see and the reallity that I see.
FC: How do you organize your paintings? Do you do sketches before? Do you have any “gestures”, characteristics or paint habits?
Always sketching. I have a lot of little ideas on my book. I develop Some of them to create the artwork for my shows and I use others to my work in the street.
FC: Do you need something particular to be creative?
Draw!
FC: What was your most adventurous and dangerous painting?
Trains for sure! I remember a day that I painted into a abandonated jail in Madrid and a lot of people were stealing all the iron stuff in the jail, like doors, windows… They were really agressive. The police came and they runed away from Police and I runned away from both. Finally I went out with no scars and no bills to pay.
FC: How do you choose your images and where they are placed in the street?
I love to paint walls with textures. Use it and respect the nature of the surface.
FC:What kind of reaction do you want your art to evoke?
Questions.
FC : How’s the collaboration with other artists going? You’ve done a collab with Blu and Liquen.
They are really friends of mine. We think in an idea, a message. We don’t sketch before, we just paint and let the forms rise by themselves.
FC: In which way do you want your art to evolve?
In the same that i´m doing, but more murals in downtown cities. I´m not hungry for fame and money, I just want to keep walking in my way.
FC: What makes a good piece?
A good combination of concept and aestethic. The balance of an artist´s mind and hands.
FC : Does Graffiti make you free?
For sure! It’s the best way to do whatever you want wherever you want.
FC: Did your views on street art change over time?
A lot. Now the scene is more like a virtual show in internet.People paints for the picture and upload it inmediately.
When I started to do it,you found pieces in the street and enjoy it. Now mostly pieces are buffed inmediately or hidden in suburbs. For this reason the “real” Street art scene doesn´t exist. Only in internet.
FC: How do you see the street-art in 10 years?
I don´t know.I hope the people will be more interested in use or let use us the public spaces for art projects,not only for fucking advertisement.
FC: Who’s the owner of the street?
The Graffiti writers who do tags. People like me, who need a few more time to do a good piece can´t do all the actions that we want to do.
FC : Your favorite time to create?
Morning.
FC : Your favorite colour ?
White because every color works on white.
FC : Music that you listen to while painting?
Depends of the part of the process of creating. Quiet music for start and fill and hard music for outlines.
FC:What are your plans for the future?
Keep walking my way.
FC: What do you think about hype?
To Work hard is the best Hype.
FC:What’s your real goal?
Paint every palces that I visit.
FC:Any words of wisdom?
Power to every artist who wants to change his environment!
Thank you San!
This month we have one man army painting, the legendary comic book artist: ‘Lorenzo!’HIP HOP & DUBSTEP:Album launch party forTHE
