Daniel Martin Diaz

We got a chance to talk with Omen (YL), a Montreal based artist and influential graffiti writer. It goes a little something like this:

Galerie d'art Yves Laroche : Who are you & what are you doing later today?

Omen :Erm... I write OMEN and I don't know what I am going to do today.  The weather seems to be my only enemy these days.

YL : When's the last time you painted?

O : I painted the other day at a school in Point St-Charles. Options 2 it's called. It's a school for children that need special guidance. Their lives have been messed up by drugs and guns and all that stuff. I was there to show them fundamentals of Graff like can control and what tips to use. It was pretty cool.

With Dabs

YL : What's your favorite medium?

O : well, to paint with? I love aerosol. Love it. There is nothing more demanding and yet forgiving as far as mediums. The dry time, the size, the variety, the randomness, it's all gold. I mean you can bust a huge piece and then say,"nahhh." and take it out in less than a minute and start again cuz it will already be dry. A real medium of the future.

YL : It seems like many graffiti writers and street artists, when their work is presented in a gallery,  stop using the spray paint in favor of the brush? You seem to stick to the can. Whatup with that?

O : That is my main dissertation when it comes to graffiti to address that exact subject, funny you should bring that up, haha.  I feel kinda saddened by people that that were once graffiti writers and they lose the embrace of the medium once they get into a legitimate organization such as a museum or Gallery.  It's almost as that street stuff was temporary and used for publicity purposes only. Only so far as to get them into a gallery and now that they are in the gallery switch mediums. No one finds this weird it seems. It must be just me. It would be the same if an artist such as Henry Moore once he starts doing art shows starts to do acrylics. Or Bill Viola did  drawings. You see what I mean?  It's odd. It seems because it comes out of a can it can't be viewed as High Art but rather is doomed to remain in the streets and continue to be stigmatized. I feel this is wrong. It contains the same pigments as all other mediums and just because the carrier is a propellant it is unsuitable. It's almost as ludicrous as a writer because he now uses a computer instead of a typer-writer (or quill and ink for that matter) be shunned instead of focusing on the final product.

YL :You've lived in Asia for  a minute, right? Tell me about painting nights there.

O : It was awesome! I lived in Taichung,Taiwan. I lived there for 4 years. I can bust Chinese and everything. When I got there there was only about 12 graffiti writers in the whole country! With a population of around 25 million  you can see how that is just crazy. I was bombing around town with this paint called PP SPRAY ( all the pressure and twice the lead.haha.) with stock caps no less. And I saw some other guys were bombing as well. Mostly 3 other guys but I had no way of meeting them. So one day I was walking by my piece and underneath it was sprayed "omen. do you want to paint with me" and 2 check boxes with "yes" and  "no". later that night I checked "yes" and then went to another spot and dropped a piece with my email address. But before they could reply to that message my friend Jessica told me she ran into them (it was two guys SAME and BOBO) and they were coming to the restaurant I was eating at. It was pretty awkward because my chinese at this point sucked and all we were doing was meeting to paint. After that we did the first production in Taichung the largest piece in all of Taiwan and went bombing pretty much all the time together. I miss them. It's not the same as here. There you have freedom at the price of no laws while here it is the opposite. One day. One day. Now there is at least 30 writers there , ha, and I keep track of what is going on there via flickr.

YL :How's the Montreal graffiti scene in 2008?

O :Meh. look around you. It's weird. Now that paint is sooooooo easy to use there seems to be no pieces around anymore. Only throw-ups and tags. I love that but I still like to do street level pieces(for mad props of course hahaha) It seems people are getting conditioned into believing the hype about the negative aspects of graffiti. It annoys me because graffiti, the microscopic layer of paint on a wall, is getting all the focus city-wide whilst gentrification projects get no criticism at all. But both of us (city planners and graffiti artists) are in the realm of public space. Ask yourself: which one is more about the people and which one is more about the dollar.

YL : How was it in '98?

O :Crazy. Everyone and there dog had a tag. that was the minimum and everything that could be painted on was.  For those that aren't from Montreal and aren't in the know. All of the walls of gray nuns were destroyed! It was only Krylon. fatcaps. I don't know why the next gen isn't into the risk factors.Or rather why there aren't as many.

YL : There's these "rules" in graffiti. They're pretty well known in the culture. A throwup can go over a signature, a piece over a throwup, etc. Can anybody go over an Omen character?

O : Not just anyone, haha... Well it is the name of the game. It is transitory. But if I know who it is and it a throw up that goes over a piece...well that's another story. toys will be toys...

YL : How important to you is it to document your work?

O : Haha. Waay more important now that I realize that I have almost no old flicks. I would go painting with other graff heads and they would piss me off because they would only take pictures of their pieces and not mine. This was the time before digital cameras. So I didn't take many flix back then, but since I got my digital going on I bust as many as I possibly can and upload them to my flicker blog etc. I feel it's still not documented well enough tho. In particular I am talking about my canvasses. I never finished school and never learnt the correct process of documentation.

YL : Black and white VS color, which is more powerfull?

O :  I think they are all artistic choices and wielded correctly both can produce powerful effects. Stella or Riopelle? Charlie Chaplin or  David Lynch. I think its all about context.

YL : What do you think is the importance of architecture in everyday life and does graffiti influence architecture in any way?

O : Architecture is an awesome field of study and it greatly influenced my life for many years. The reality of it is that it is an insulated discussion between architect and city and/or Private developer. The public rarely has a say in matters. This is unfortunate because it is the public that will be forced to look at the unchanging design of an architect for the duration of our lifetimes and if it is unappealing one; then that is a real tragedy.

YL : As an artist, do you enjoy the business side?  Does it upset you? How do you deal with it?

O : I have no business side. I can't. I went through a small period when I would look down at a drawing I am doing and ask myself, "what should I sell this for".  Absurd. I stopped myself right away and focussed at the matter at which was creating. Yes, It upsets me. To remedy the situation I let other people deal with it because with me it is really hit or miss as far as selling. I leave that to the proffesionals. I do art for the love the second I change my focus I will go into speculative investing or banking if I want to think about price all the time.

YL : Is free public art more or less valuable than expensive gallery work?

O : Valuable is a subjective term. free is free. non? I saw paintings that changed my life at no price to me but it was of immesurable value. Everyone seem to be obsessed with cost and no one really focuses on value. I think Graffiti is termed as free art as well as street art. In the same measure, one can view video works and happenings and installations as "free" because there is nothing you can take with you. No real ownership. The only true ownership is the fluxus based relationship that the viewer brings to all interactions with art. The more one brings to the art the more one gets out.

YL : Any shoutouts, beefs, promo?

O : Sista Sinista for being my queen. 4crew, TA, AG, VC, TL, KOP, and any other Montreal crews I rolled with. Gallery Yves Laroche for taking a chance on a head case like me.  All my fans and supporters over the years. And to all the Refus Global signatories- "Objets tangibles, ils requièrent une relation constamment renouvelée, confrontée, remise en question. Relation impalpable, exigeante qui demande les forces vives de l'action." word!

Avec Zeck