“ Graffiti unites. A wall is a good opportunity to educate youth, to show that there is a culture behind it, a worldwide movement.“
Have you ever seen a wall on the street with graffiti on it? Have you ever tried to observe them carefully?
The colors, the edges, the shades, the roundness, the veins. And then, at the end, an inscription. Some letters. A name. A person.
Graffiti originated in the 1970s and 1980s on New York subways at the hands of boys from the ghetto who wanted to make a name for themselves. Literally, in fact, they drew their names on walls and trains to make themselves known: the more a name was drawn and reached other people, the more the writer was respected, became someone among the masses.
Gradually those writings were enriched with actual drawings until they became what we now call Street Art, which is the style of drawing that depicts more immediate figures by detaching itself from the actual writing of graffiti.
Matteo's eyes sparkled as he told us about graffiti culture. He has been a graffiti writer for more than 20 years now and continues to draw with the same enthusiasm as when he was a teenager. His graffiti has helped color cities like Treviso, Padua and Udine, as well as several towns in our province.
With a spray can in hand, he travels the world trying to convey himself and his personality through the dynamic and futuristic shapes that have always fascinated him, enveloping himself in a whirlwind of emotion that accompanies him through his life as a constant:
" in good times and bad times there has always been graffiti. "
It is from this constancy that he derives his stage name, Gafukhronics, because it's chronic, you never stop. And the satisfaction of ending the day, maybe gone wrong, with a graffiti is what drives him to continue, to not stop looking for inspiration and aim for personal and artistic growth. There is a phrase that says "you never feel you have arrived, you are always evolving, always a warrior".
Graffiti is a safe and secret haven, there is only you, your drawings and your thoughts, which you then convey in graffiti.
Unfortunately, however, it is not easy to find the right space to be able to draw, partly because of the urbanism of the city and partly because of the distrust with which graffiti is too often judged due to the very little knowledge we have of this culture.
This problem contributes to young people not informing themselves about suitable places where they can draw, thus ending up increasing the prejudices they have about graffiti and graffiti writers, who, on the other hand, are people who are very careful about what they draw and the environment in which they draw.
Matteo hopes that someday even here in Aviano there may be a wall on which to draw or even a Wall of Fame (a space where one can draw freely without having to apply for permits from time to time) on which to educate teens and observers about this art, which he claims succeeds in bringing people together, even around the world.
Want to see?
The Metelkova Quarter in Ljubljana (in Slovenia) is a huge Wall of Fame where graffiti writers from all over the world draw, get to know each other and inspire each other, creating bonds that transcend the barriers of space and language, because graffiti is an international language.
It would be great to have more Walls of Fame here as well and to see how this culture grows and evolves among our young people, clearing away any prejudice to open our minds to something new and amazing.
To learn more about Matteo and his graffiti, check out his social pages:
Facebook: Matteo Gafukhronics Marchiò
Instagram: @gafukhronics
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