At 27, Etienne Bardelli, who goes by the name of Akroe, is one of the most stunning French players on the post-graffiti scene.Fascinated by drawing and illustration, he began graffing on the streets in the 1990s, and went on to study applied arts and graphic design. With this training he was able to take his art down a more professional path. Today his graphic design strongly influences his graffiti, wich he has never left behind.

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AkroeOff Beats, My Fur Lady, Paris, 2003.

AkroeAkroe x Teki Latex

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A lauded and much-respected cult figure in a bi-coastal subculture that comprises skaters, graffiti artists, and West Coast surfers, Barry McGee was born in 1966 in California, where he continues to live and work. In 1991 he received a BFA in painting and printmaking from the San Francisco Art Institute. His drawings, paintings, and mixed-media installations take their inspira-tion from contemporary urban culture, incorpo-rating elements such as empty liquor bottles and spray-paint cans, tagged signs, wrenches, and scrap wood or metal. McGee is also a graffiti artist, working on the streets of America’s cities since the 1980s, where he is known by the tag name “Twist.” He views graffiti as a vital method of communication, one that keeps him in touch with a larger, more diverse audience than can be reached through the traditional spaces of a gal-lery or museum. His trademark icon, a carica-tured male figure with sagging eyes and a bemused expression, recalls the homeless people and transients who call the streets their home.

“Compelling art to me is a name carved into a tree,” says McGee. His work has been shown at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the UCLA/Armand Hammer Museum in Los Ange-les, and on streets and trains all over the United States. He and his daughter, Asha, live in San Francisco.UCLA/Armand Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, and on streets and trains all over the United States. He and his daughter, Asha, live in San Francisco.

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In 1986 Jan (aka KRSN) Garet's neck and back were completly jammed. He couldn't move except his arms and he had to stay in bed for several weeks. The doctors gave Jan medecines including tranquilizers, these pills mixed with cheap wodka gave him a lot of relief. His girl-friend gave him a lot of candies and chocolate bars, it was the happiest time of his life ! To keep in touch with the world outside of his room (back then TV didn't exist in France), Jan's girldfriend brought him flyers and free magazines she found in trendy hairdresser shops. In one of them was a article about graffiti and street art. Jan told myself that this was what he wanted to do he couldn't move but he could draw a lot. So this is what he did for several years, until 1999, the time it took for his neck to work properly again. Since then he lives and works in Paris.

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