“[…] I find the graffiti-mapping match very intriguing; writers now find themselves “playing” with a time-animation dimension that makes their lettering “stand out” while they still remain within their urban environment.
There is also a sort of temporal reversal: at first we worked at night so as to be visible by day; now we work by day to be visible at night (or in the dark).”
Asker interviewed by Giada Pellicari
Usually when artists produce work there are different phases that range from the initial idea to the choice of a specific technique, up to the completed visual expression in all respects, considered to be the hallmark of a particular experience.
Over the course of the years Asker has extended his activity into different areas through languages that, conceptually, should be seen as ramifications of that same research and complementary to each other, namely Graffiti Writing and Video Mapping. They are aesthetic codes that have a common and coexistent aspect, which becomes the denominator, or rather, the choice of the third dimension as a generative force in imaging.
Asker is first and foremost a graffiti writer, which means that his artistic modus operandi has been shaped within a visual culture outlined by specific determining factors: the choice of a unique style in lettering, his gestuality, the actual way he paints and the use of spray can as a means of translating his chosen sign style onto the wall before him.
He began painting graffiti in 1998, approaching the characteristic forms of Milanese Writing, which are related to certain technique dynamics that can be attributed to the New York-rooted wild style. Subsequently though Asker moved towards creating graffiti with forms more inclined to the European tradition, found in the use of 3D, in other words distinctively aimed at giving depth to the piece.
Some classic writers, mainly German or Dutch, such as Daim, Delta or Loomit, among the best known in this field, have greatly influenced the transmission of these traits, in which the fundamental model is precisely the three-dimensionality of lettering, which then brought about the Continental tradition more focused on the use of accentuated perspectives and on an almost “sculptural” or architectural representation of the writer’s name.
For Asker, in addition to these interests, there was also his affinity with several crews from northern Italy, such as Interplay and ACV, which meant that the entire tradition analysed at studio level was then successfully put into practice as a stylistic definition more inclined towards sinuous and curvilinear forms, which can be considered emblematic of his path. His subsequent joining TDK, one of the best known and historic Italian groups, confirmed Asker as a writer of unique abilities and exponent of a truly original style.
Currently, the artist’s mural work can be seen in forms of movement, sinuous and curvilinear shapes where there is a strong spatiality, as if the wall becomes an architectural backdrop. Thus his lettering is transformed into an image that is both abstract and concrete at the same time. The “tag” (artist name) becomes difficult to read because it consists of barely recognisable structures, but on the other hand it gives rise to that three-dimensional sense of emerging from the wall. To all this are added elements of transparency and incompleteness, which accentuate perspective and give his work elegance.
His relationship with technology came about because of his studies at Milan’s Academy of Fine Arts and the Politecnico, where Asker was able to deepen his knowledge of these aspects. As a result he is now considered an expert, given the skills he has achieved over the years in the use of video mapping: a visual tool that he experiments both at a working level and on projects centred on aesthetic forms such as architectural surfaces.
Video mapping consists in creating site-specific projects on pre-existing architectural structures (and objects), with the intention of redesigning the space as well as the architectural aspect itself of the building, through the use of specific software and the visualisation, through projection, of creative ideas.
Asker’s research in this field has its origins in his ability to work at a pictorial level on the three-dimensionality of lettering and on the use of extreme perspective, elements which can reach their maximum potential with this type of technology. Consequently, it is not difficult to understand the connection between the two aesthetic areas that Asker is pursuing, since both are developed on a site-specific level with architecture and urban space. These are configured in close contact with them and are self-determined thanks to a temporal perception consisting of the contigency of a particular moment and defined in both cases by performative aspects.
This is how the third dimension arises as the actual driving force in the spheres in which Asker moves comfortably and with unique results, where the elegance in his work becomes a significant element for his imaginary vision.
Giada Pellicari
© All rights reserved. Pellicari, Carioni. Marzo 2015
Giada Pellicari, curator of contemporary art, has concentrated her research on the areas of Writing and Street Art, public art and New Media, through exhibtions, conferences and publications. She was speaker at the “Lisbon Street Art and Urban Creativity International Conference” (2014). She is author of “Scrivere di Writing | Note sul mondo dei Graffiti”, Cleup, 2014.
Davide “Asker” Carioni
WOA Creative Company
Via Roald Amundsen 8, 20148 Milan (Italy)