GraffitiStreet

What motivated you to pursue an artistic career, and how and when did it start?

NeSpoon

I have been painting since I can remember, since kindergarten. I wanted to be a “real artist” at the age of five. However, I only started doing art on the streets in 2009, which was a kind of rebirth. Before that, I painted sad, abstract oil paintings. At one point, I found it to be a dead end. I had a two-year break, and then I started learning about ceramics. It was ceramic objects with lacy motifs that were the first works I placed on the street.

Poland 2009

Poland 2009

Poland 2009

Poland 2009

GraffitiStreet

Your fascination and passion for lace is a huge part of your artworks. When did you fall in love with this beautiful and delicate craft?

NeSpoon

I’ve never liked laces; I’ve always preferred minimalism and modern design. Before I started working with laces, I thought lace was something outdated. When I got serious about ceramics, it turned out that all over the world, one of the most popular ways to decorate dishes is by pushing the lace onto fresh clay; this is how the pattern is created.

One day I thought these motifs were interesting on their own; they don’t need an excuse such as a plate or a mug to exist. I started to make such no-purpose lace objects and glue them somewhere on the streets. Then these patterns began to appear in my head as large-scale paintings of buildings, so I started to really paint them.

Along with my travels, I began to learn more and more about the fascinating history of this craft. So I can’t say that I fell in love with lace; the laces just chose me, they came to me, and now I am working with them.

Paris

GraffitiStreet

When did you first get involved/interested in the urban art scene?

NeSpoon

As a child in the late 80s., I spent several years in West Berlin while the wall between two parts of the city still stood. I went to a German elementary school but crossed Checkpoint Charlie several times a week. The Polish school was in East Berlin, and my parents did not want me to lose touch with Polish culture. Every day I looked at the graffiti and murals in the world’s longest art gallery of that time, the Berlin Wall, which was very exciting. My interest in painting on walls started then. But as I said, I started working on the streets myself in 2009.

“Copy+Paste” | Berlin, Germany | 2018-2019

GraffitiStreet

Your name Nespoon means 'No Spoon', also taken from the film Matrix and based on the dialogue between Neo and the young monk about the spoon. There are many theories/ideas as to what this scene means. What does the quote 'there is no spoon' mean to you? How does this inspire you?

NeSpoon

NeSpoon it’s not my nickname; it is my real name written on my ID. But indeed, this name has a meaning associated with Matrix. It says that the barriers are mostly in our minds. When you realize this, you can move beyond the pattern that limits you, and maybe you can even bend spoons just by looking at them.

Or you can quit your corporate job and start painting in the streets, as I did.

APPARTENGO Festival I Stigliano I Italy 2022

GraffitiStreet

You have been able to travel the world to places such as America, Hong Kong, Italy, France, Switzerland, Sweden, Croatia, Tunisia etc., with your skills as an artist. How do different cities/ environments influence your artwork/ art medium /design?

NeSpoon

My art is always in situ made, set in a local context. I always use local lace patterns if they exist. I do research, and I check local museums. I respect and commemorate the emotional bond between individual patterns and particular cities. If there is no tradition of lace-making in the area where I work, I ask for laces in the homes of people living nearby. I always find something.

Street Arte en Baie I Yffiniac I France I 2022

GraffitiStreet

When you create your lace murals, have you ever made a mistake in the pattern?!

NeSpoon

I don’t remember such a case, and I’m preparing for work quite well. The only mural I haven’t finished was painted in early spring in French Brittany. It rained daily, the temperature oscillated around 5 degrees, and the gusty wind blew for six days. On the last day, it was so strong that the elevator rental employee forbade me to go up and finish the mural. Fortunately, the unfinished part imitated the deliberate design intent quite well.

Festival écologique d’Arts Urbains | Callac, France | 2021

GraffitiStreet

What is the most interesting historical fact you have learnt about lace-making?

NeSpoon

There are so many of them. For example, today, we don’t realise how precious lace is and how big the lace industry was.

By the 18th century, before machines came along, only the richest people wore laces. The lace collar embodied the value of two years of work by a skilled craftsman and was more expensive than a diamond ring.

Then, in the 19th century, when the industrial revolution broke out, only in France and the city of Calais did local factories employ 40,000 people in the lace-making industry. At the same time, 100,000 lace makers, mostly women, worked in the Haute-Loire department. And there were several such centres in Europe.

Museum of Lace, Calais, France | 2020

GraffitiStreet

Does any project stand out for you, and why?

NeSpoon

My most important project is “Thoughts”. I started it by accident ten years ago and will continue until 2042. I wanted to use the remnants of clay left after making china laces, and I had a lot of it. One day I started making thin porcelain petals from this clay. During this work, I became calmer and more focused, and it was like meditation. I noticed that the longer I make them, the petals become more and more delicate and regular. It was like recording my calming thoughts in the clay. This process somehow reminds me of the old way of making records, when the vibrating needle carved grooves in the wax matrix, recording the sound. The project combines urban art, ceramic art and conceptual art. I make petals sitting directly on the streets of the cities I visit, observing life and letting my thoughts flow. I decided that each year I find 2-3 months to calm down and focus solely on making just it. Every year I produce about 50 kg of “Thoughts”; over 450 kgs are ready, and ultimately there will be 1.500 kg of them at the final exhibition in 2042.

“Thoughts”

“Thoughts”

“Thoughts”

GraffitiStreet

As a street artist, do you think it is essential to use your creativity to reach and inform the public about the history of lace and keep the conversations about this traditional craft current?

NeSpoon

The combination of tradition and modern forms of expression always gives absorbing results; it arouses interest in the past because it shows forgotten matters in a new context. However, street art inspired by lace making is just one of my many art projects. People like lace patterns and smile when they see them on a large scale, but it’s just a decorative art, and I don’t think this is my most substantial topic.

LeMure OBERKAMPF I Paris I France I 2022

In my other projects, I try to draw attention to more important issues, such as dwindling drinking water resources, increasing logging of primaeval forests, industrial animal husbandry, disinformation in the mass media or the renaissance of chauvinism in the world.

GraffitiStreet

Yes, your work often comments on political and social issues you find important. How vital is it for you to use your skills to spread these messages?

NeSpoon

I come from a country where street art was used by young oppositionists, often coming from punk-anarchist backgrounds, to fight communist dictatorship. At the turn of the 80s and 90s, the walls of Polish cities were literally covered with political stencil graffiti with a message of freedom. This is where I grew up; this early period of Polish urban art defined how I see my role as an artist. Lacy urban art is the project in which I am looking for the basic codes of beauty; it is an attempt to spread good energy through decorative art, whatever that means. But for me, as an artist, it is also important to carry a message, draw attention to real problems, and make people think.

GraffitiStreet

You drew a lot of attention with your subvertising campaign, “For Those Who Know” in Warsaw, Poland. Tell us more about the Einstein takeover.

NeSpoon

This single episode of adbusting was only meant as a joke, but in actual fact, it symbolically summed up many years of my work as a social activist.

After the fall of communism in 1989, my country was bombarded with advertisements. There were no legal tools to control this process. Until then, laws were not needed because outdoor advertising behind the Iron Curtain was almost non-existent. Later, both international corporations and local businessmen used all the legal loopholes to transform the city landscape into a visual dump.

I couldn’t stand it, and in 2007, together with a group of friends, we launched an NGO, MiastoMojeAwNim. It had one aim, to introduce a law that would control and limit the presence of adverts in public spaces.

After seven years of lobbying, we managed to convince the parliament to pass a suitable act. Today, the excess of unwanted advertisements are disappearing from the streets, but there is still much to do.

“For Those Who Know” | Warsaw, Poland | 2014

“For Those Who Know” | Warsaw, Poland | 2014

“For Those Who Know” | Warsaw, Poland | 2014

“For Those Who Know” | Warsaw, Poland | 2014

GraffitiStreet

How do you feel about more and more murals being painted for commercial advertising?

NeSpoon

If I could, I would completely ban advertising in public spaces. Many years ago, I read ‘No Logo’ by Naomi Klein and I am still influenced by this book. In my country, corporate-funded consumerism propaganda and government-funded patriotic propaganda account for 90% of all newly created murals. This is bad on so many levels.

Ultimately, this will kill the current popularity of muralism.

GraffitiStreet

You use lace in many art mediums, such as ceramics, paintings, crocheted webbing, stencils, sculptures, video installations, and screen printings. Have you considered translating your lace works into digital artwork/ NFT's?

NeSpoon

Yes, who doesn’t?

Concrete Jungle, Helsinki, Finland | 2018

GraffitiStreet

You are naturally optimistic. What are your must-haves in life to feel good on the inside?

NeSpoon

As cliché as it sounds, you have to follow your dreams and not let others take them away from you. If you are not at peace with who you are and what you want, you will never be happy.

A Bird With One Wing Does Not Fly

GraffitiStreet

Taking place on Wednesday, the eighth of March 2023, it is an opportunity to celebrate women's rights and inspire people to act in the ongoing battle for gender equality. This year's theme is 'Embrace Equity', which highlights the importance of how gender equity needs to be part of every society's DNA. Do you find there is gender equity within the street art scene? Do you find there is gender equity within the lace-making scene?

NeSpoon

It’s funny, but you gave two examples of the least gender-balanced areas of creativity. Anyone can make lace or go out and paint on some wall, and there is no gender restriction here. Despite this, lacemaking is dominated by women; in 15 years, I have met hundreds of women and only two men making lace.

The world of illegal graffiti, in turn, is strongly dominated by men; fortunately, there are more and more women in street art. I think it shows that gender balance has to come from freedom of choice. It is the freedom of choice that should be inscribed in the DNA of every society; gender equality or reproductive rights are a natural result of it.

Graffiti

GraffitiStreet

As a strong female figure within the urban art scene, have you got any advice for others who wish to follow their passion?

NeSpoon

Just do it. Laborious sowing will bring a rich harvest.

WHAT ARE YOU DREAMING ABOUT?/O CZYM MARZYSZ?