Vantagepoint Radio

Iranian artist Nafir creates work that combines traditional hand crafts from around the world with modern street art painting techniques to create works that are both beautiful and subversive at the same time.  Tying cultural traditions of the past to modern techniques and aesthetics allows Nafir to layer multiple meanings and interpretations into his work, simultaneously paying respect to and commenting on ideas and traditions from past generations. Living in Tehran, Iran presents challenges that most other artists around the globe do not deal with but this hasn’t stopped Nafir from traveling and exhibiting his work across Europe and beyond in addition to the streets and galleries of his native Iran.  

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Goldie needs no introduction… that is to say, it is nearly impossible to give a proper introduction to such a prolific and successful cultural shapeshifter as Goldie. From his early days in the 80s as a b-boy and graffiti writer in England and New York (where he first joined forces with the legendary Tats Crew), to the mid 90s when he founded one of the most influential record labels in Britain (Metalheadz) and become an international musical icon and eventually becoming a household name globally through acting in tv and films such as Snatch and James Bond, you’d be hard-pressed to come across anyone who hasn’t been touched by Goldie in one way or another.  In 2020 Goldie embarked on his newest endeavor with the launching of Aurum Art Gallery in Bangkok, Thailand showcasing his own paintings and sculptures alongside some of the most sought after street and urban artists from around the globe. We sat down with Goldie in Berlin after a long and late night DJ gig to discuss the enormity of his life so far and how creating art seems to be the golden thread tying all of his varied interests and successes together.

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Mr. June has been painting on walls since 1985 and in the nearly 40 years since then much has changed but his core love of graffiti and painting has not.  After graduating with a Graphic Design degree from the Royal School of Arts in his native Holland Mr. June started his own design firm in Amsterdam which he ran with great success until his desire to work for clients gave way to his need for artistic freedom and independence.  By combining his graffiti background with his design knowledge he condensed decades of training down into one single shape upon which he has developed an entire fine art career spanning over a decade.  With the humble hexagon as the starting point for every piece of art he makes, Mr. June is forced to pull inspiration from elsewhere.  Guided by the architecture and environments in which he paints or simply expanding on ideas from his past works, Mr. June finds endless design possibilities and offers them up to the viewer wrapped in his trademark bands of gradient color.

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DREZ is making big waves with his bold colorful murals across his native Australia and beyond.  Monumental bands of gradient color, which the artist calls “Chromatic Pulse”, designed to mirror the existing architecture of a space, vibrate with glowing energy and engulf any viewer that enters their orbit.  As a departure from his roots in the music scene and graffiti, DREZ’s murals and studio work lean hard into the world or abstract and even minimalism.  Rather than subject matter, it’s the emphasis on space and color that become the focal point of his work and with intense effectiveness.  A relative newcomer on the mural scene, DREZ's understanding of his own path in the art world is surprisingly mature and we expect big things from him in the future.

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Widely considered one of the seminal figures in the Australian graffiti scene, Phibs has enjoyed a crossover career spanning decades and cross-pollinating artistic borders from graffiti, to corporate work, to curation, muralism and gallery work.  As a long time key member of the globally recognized Everfresh studio in Melbourne Phibs has been a household name to street art fans for a very long time.  Whether painting figurative work, letter styles, animals, plants, or just abstract, his distinctive use of densely detailed twisting organic shapes trapped with thick black outlines give his work an instantly identifiable quality regardless of subject matter.

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Artists Ryan 'Yanoe’ Sarfati and Eric ‘Zoueh’ Skotnes joined forces a few years ago and have quietly established themselves as one of the most respected mural painting duos on the scene.  Together they’ve clocked a handful of the largest and most impressive murals form the past couple years including the The Majestic in Tulsa Oklahoma which has been deemed the 'largest augmented reality mural in the world’.  Yanoe and Zoueh first encountered each other in the LA graffiti scene as teenagers in rival crews.  Fate eventually brought them together years later and they quickly developed a friendship which grew into a working partnership. Their murals combine the two artist's styles seamlessly and incorporate a nice balance of contemporary art with their graffiti backgrounds.  Technology is a big part of their work as well with nearly every mural getting augmented digitally and the duo has now entered the NFT world with digital versions of their Majestic mural.  The sky is the limit with these two both individually and as a duo and we at VantagePoint are extremely excited to be along for the ride.

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The world of Tatiana Suarez is inhabited by exotic figures that float somewhere in the realm between human, animal, and plant life.  Their oversized eyes concealing truths while emitting emotion.  Wether with watercolor, oil, or spray paint, Tati creates milky dreamlike environments that allow her ladies to be simultaneously dark and soft, creepy and lovely, powerfully feminine and unapologetically erotic.  Tati’s unique voice and aesthetic have thrust her into the global mural art scene with walls in Japan, Mexico, Sweden, Jamaica, and throughout the US including the prestigious Wynwood Walls in her hometown of Miami.

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Few artists if any are more synonymous with the city in which they live than Miami’s Atomik.  His iconic Orange character is visible in every corner of the city, from walls to street signs to tee-shirts and beyond .  It could be argued that there is not a single spot in Wynwood where you can stand and not have an Atomik orange within your line of vision.  Surprisingly however, the thing that sets Atomik apart from other graffiti writers is not how prolific he is, but rather how much the city has embraced him and adopted his character as the unofficial mascot of Miami.  Most graffiti communicates in a coded language speaking only to those who understand the source code leaving the majority of society out of the conversation.  Atomik’s orange on the other hand speaks directly to the people of the city drawing on historical and sentimental imagery and presented in a way that inspires pride and ownership within the community.

Beyond the orange, Atomik is a staple in the Miami art and graffiti scene with his fingers in many different pies.  Decades of painting graffiti in just about every corner of the world has led him to running galleries, producing his own original toys and merchandise, organizing local youth art events through his shared studio space and still finding time for his family and his own professional art practice.

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Miami native Alex Yanes has developed a unique blend of painting and sculpture that combines urban art aesthetics with pop imagery and a sunshiny tropical vibe.  His imagery, featuring a mix of abstract geometry with tropical plants and animals woven between text and uplifting messages, is reminiscent of a life spent in the sunshine state.  For nearly a decade his colorful sculptures, wall hanging relief paintings, and installations have been gracing galleries and art fares around the globe. While in town for Miami Art Week, VantagePoint sat down with Yanes to get a local perspective on the Miami art scene and what the craziness of Art Basel and the other art fairs has done for the city of Miami and the careers of local artists.

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Sydney based artist The Ox King has positioned himself as a leading mural painter in Australia through his stylized pop imagery influenced heavily by his obsession with manga as a kid.  His strong emphasis on color and design make his work immediately recognizable and easily accessible to the public.

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