'It's your world'  Mr P, or better known as Panik might not be a too familiar face around Amsterdam, but take a walk down the streets of London and you are bound to run into his work. Having an extensive background in graffiti formed Panik to the artist that he is nowadays. Vivid, charismatic and as he describes himself “in a constant negotiation between love and anxiety”. In London backed by the influential graffiti crew ATG, but for the past two months on a trip to Amsterdam to break away from the hectic life that is London. The exhibition 'It's your world' marks the end of Panik's stay in Amsterdam, in which he showed his London mentality; "get shit done". Painting a four by four meters mural at De Hallen, having preview exhibitions at a Strawberry Earth night in Rialto, as well as in the graffiti store Henxs, and ofcourse the occasional street bombing. Your a born London head. But recently you've moved to Amsterdam. Did you need a break from London? I've lived in London all my life, and while I love the place it can also get pretty stressful and suffocating at times. I have been traveling quite a bit but only for like a month at a time so i thought it was about time to take an extended break from London. I wanted to go and live somewhere else for a bit but needed to have some kind of work/focus wherever that place was going to be. Also being a freelance artist and still young i couldnt condone myself spending all my cash on exotic white beaches and fresh fruit for two months. I also like the idea of having somewhere outside of the UK that i can call a second home. If i could spend 2 months a year out here then i'm sure my stress levels would reduce somewhat and i'd probably gain a couple of months on my life span. So why Amsterdam? Weed, Red Light District and the parties? I've been coming to Amsterdam for nearly ten years now and have always loved the way it is out here. Of course when i was a teenager i was like "Shit man you can buy weed in the shops. I love this place!". But of course that wears thin after a while and nowadays i just appreciate the beautiful scenery and the pace of life. I have a few friends out here and i know the place quite well so it made it an approachable place in that sense. Trough my friend Joe Holbrook i got a connection to the gallery, and from there on to other projects again. For example with Henxs, Strawberry Earth and Mather:Kunst. Everybody responded well to my work and as long as you're putting yourself out there there are so much projects here for artists to be involved with. How long have you been working in London as an artist, and how did that all come about? I started painting graffiti in 1999 and was bombing pretty much all the time between 2001-2005. Through graffiti I learnt a lot about balancing shapes and colours in order to convey a feeling or grab attention. By 2005 i felt like i had achieved what i wanted with regards to getting my name up in london. On top of that a lot of the people from my crew had stopped or were not so active at the time. I remember getting the bus back from south london after a mission and just having this feeling of dissatisfaction from what i'd been painting. Right there I decided with myself that i was gonna start taking things in a new direction. For the last 5 years i have been on a pursuit of always trying push my artwork in to new places. I wouldn't be doing this without graffiti but at the same time unless you find the right time to move on to other aspects of life, which i found in my art, i think graffiti can end turning up on you. Have you been taking some of your London attitude of your work to Amsterdam? I definitely try to take a bit of London mentality wherever i go, which is basically to get shit done and try and get up on top of whatever it is you're approaching. That might sound a bit egotistical or over competitive but when you live in a place like London it is necessary. The pace is so fast, you kind of need to carry a bit of that mind state in order to be in control of where you want to go, otherwise you can feel a bit lost in a sea of people on the paper chase. As far as Amsterdam goes I've been really impressed with the variety of great artists living in Amsterdam and it feels good to be contributing to the scene out here. What i like is that you can really indulge yourself in art out here as i think the laid back attitude towards life allows that. How much of that London attitude is related to your graffiti crew, ATG? My crew ATG has been going since the year 2000 and has gone through a few different phases or eras if you like. Within the London scene we stand for a certain quality control not only within graffiti but now also art and music. We are constantly evolving and growing in different ways so by me representing ATG through my gallery work i am contributing to a movement that has taken a decade to build. I guess one of the reasons i still represent ATG through my artwork is to let people know where I'm coming from. My heritage as an artist and a person is very important to me so i like to remind myself of it when and where i can. I don't think art connoisseurs around the world really care if your from a respected graffiti crew or not, but it's just me. Talking about your own work is a dread, but what kind of reactions have you been getting to your work? People often reference aztec art when they look at my characters but my style didn't directly come from that. My work is usually vibrant, abstract bursts of colour, that look like its about to get up and leave. I love playing with how the face can convey emotion and when i get in a rhythm they end up matching my moods or resembling my expressions. A lot of my paintings or drawings has stemmed from formulas and techniques i learnt while painting large scale stuff in the streets and will often reflect the energy of someone trying to work out who they are and where they are going. I feel sometimes that my work is driven by love and anxiety and my paintings are often the outcome of me negotiating with the two. Essentially it's there for you to take however you like, when you look at my work your basically looking at a therapy session so if it helps you dissect your own emotions as well then great, and if everything in your world is worryingly balanced and neutral and it momentarily spins you out than i would also be satisfied with this outcome. More information on Panik; www.mrp-ldn.com Official opening: Friday 21th of May YOUR:OWN Gallery Oude Waal 35 19:00/22.00 |
Agenda: 26/03: Gijs Kast (NL) 09/04: The Things We Are (NL) 23/04: Lasse Netterstrom (DK) 06/05: Ed Templeton (USA) 21/05: Panik (UK) 04/06: Stefan Glerum (NL) 18/06: Lennard Schuurmans (NL) 02/07: Lil' Shy (FR) 16/07: Joe Holbrook (UK) (closing exhibition) Contact: YOUR:OWN Oude Waal 35 1011 CC Amsterdam info@your-own.nl Opening times: Monday - friday 10.00 -18.00 
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