By Brian Gonnella

The earth might be shrinking.
Thanks to the internet, airplanes, cell phones and the general technological-assisted evolution of the species; estranged and vastly separate cultures from across the globe are coming together and interacting—sometimes in moments of pristine understanding, sometimes in abrasive friction-heavy collisions. Today, people from all over the world are able to exchange ideas and philosophies with fellow humans from countries, 100 years ago, could have only imagined—and of course, the first thing to emerge as evidence of a increasingly global-society: a cultural and artistic chop-suey.

The fact is that graffiti exists on city walls on 6 out of 7 continents—that’s a million different writers from a million different places with unique, individual snowflake-esque contributions to a world-wide medium. And now thanks in part to the internet, websites, message boards….bombingscience.com—we all have an opportunity to pass our knowledge, craft, styles and techniques to each other. To blend the styles and aesthetics. To borrow or carry over old ideas into newer ones. And the end result is that graffiti is evolving faster than ever before.

For an insider opinion on the cultural diplomacy that seems to be inherent within the graffito-subculture, I connected with SUIKO, a writer from Japan, to talk briefly about his travels and experiences as a writer abroad. It wasn’t easy….English isn’t SUIKO’s strong point. But what came through was something a little more universal—in a weird, haiku kind of way.

Bombing Science: What were the origins of SUIKO?  When did you start noticing graffiti and thinking about it as a means of self-expression?

SUIKO: It means “Don’t stick to common sense and live how you like.”  It’s a quote from old Japanese words. I have been interested in graffiti since I was a high school student as I saw some street magazines etc. I would often go out tagging-up a lot of things like graffiti. After graduation, I started to study art and really wanted to paint on a wall. Then I knew a person who painted on the street wall, I also worked there.
 
BS: What was the scene like in Japan around the time you started writing? Was there a strong grassroots movement or just another example of American trends getting swept up  in the fervor of Japanese culture– kind of like baseball, but with paint…

SUIKO: My home town is not so big, so it was spread from Tokyo not from America. But I know American graffiti extremely influenced Tokyo and spread to my city.


 
BS: What has the scene (in Japan) become since then?

SUIKO: Today, Japanese graffiti writers gradually diversify their individual idea and has increased coming and going abroad. So they got their own feature of their art, it was reflected on local scene.
 
BS: You recently came to the United States for the first time to do a show in Miami– did you get a chance to go out and get up at all? or was that trip strictly business?
 
SUIKO: Of course I went to Miami to paint for the exhibition. I also could paint some of the pieces with local writers.

 

BS: As an artist abroad, working in different countries on different continents with different artists–what can you say about graffiti as a sort of cultural diplomacy between writers of different ethnic or cultural backgrounds?

SUIKO: Working with writers from different countries has really built cultural relations. We work while drinking and staying with each other, so we can experience not only the graffiti itself but also their customs. The greatest thing is that we understand each other through the visual sensation.
 
BS: On your website, you write that your experiences travelling through Europe, Japan and mainland Asia helped influence and manifest your current “style”. How? What kind of contributions could oh say….a Spanish graffiti writer provide for you, a writer than works in an entirely different alphabet coming from drastically different cultures?

SUIKO: Graffiti writers who worked with me have their own styles. I was assimilated by it. My style was completed by their styles and their way of thinking.

 

BS: Who were some of these foreign artists that most influenced you and how?

SUIKO: It is too difficult to select some people, but if I have to, their names are SEAK, SATONE and DYSET. While staying in Germany for half a year, they helped me. This stay made my working foundation.
 
BS: What do you feel is the real power behind graffiti?

SUIKO: Violence and desire. These  should be considered as a restraint to a certain extent, while we have social lives. But it seems that it creates persuasiveness which does not express words but paintings on a wall.


 
BS: What directions would you take graffiti in within the next 5 years?

SUIKO: I have been distressed to pursue it. I am not satisfied with my work now. Anyway I will to continue to struggle, while trying and erring, after five years.

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