Hi Eye Candies. My name is Stamatis Laskos. I’ve been painting since I was a little kid cause it’s something I always liked. During the period 2002-2007 I studied painting at the Athens School of Fine Arts with my dissertation subject being “Contemporary Saints”.
For two years now I have taken my job “street side” or street art if you like. My nickname (a.k.a tag) is Sive. My work subjects are various, however for a long period of time I got involved in religious matters, trying to travesty all kind of dogmas. My inner conviction that God is something above religions was trying to find a way of expression through my drawings. Nowadays, my favourite theme is communication and everyday life. I work as a freelancer, painting from tiny canvases to massive scale murals.
As a term, “street art” is a strange one and it refers to a hybrid that starts from the fringes of graffiti and ends to its most developed form. That is to say murals that decorate factory stockyards, galleries, parks even first and second class restaurants in Kolonaki.
As far as “street” is concerned it’s an easily accessible way of self expression, for anyone that comes across it, even for those that don’t have the chance to visit an art gallery. This is the main reason I got so much involved in “street art”.
In Athens, there has been some progress in “street art’ going through the middle 90’s to the academic artistic activity. However, it can’t be compared to the progress that has been made in other countries abroad.
Most of the times I paint and listen to music at the same time. It’s a great inspiration to me for sure. My music tastes are not specific but they vary depending on my mood. However my favourite music groups are Radiohead, FF.C, and I also dig traditional Indian music a lot.
Have you ever been involved in a “weird” incident while painting in public?
Haha, nice question! In the past I’ve been involved in “weird” incidents, meaning that I had to leave my graffiti works unfinished and start running!!! However I’ve never been arrested :)
1. www.woostercollective.com
2. www.ekosystem.org
3. www.behance.net
4. www.graffiti.org
5. www.lost.art.br
What in your opinion are the main attributes an artist should have in order to succeed in his/hers creative pursues?
As far as painting is concerned the basic elements in my opinion are: a good basis on drawing, fair enough knowledge on the history of arts but also to keep in touch with the contemporary developments. Also, an artist should have a personal, unique style so as to create his own identity and his messages must be readable. At last the most important of all is INSPIRATION.
Would it be too much to
ask for a quick sketch
dedicated to EyeCandies?
For the time being, I take part in various exhibitions(mainly in Athens) and at the same time I paint murals on buildings both on internal and external spaces. I also participate in graffiti festivals and of course I continue practicing graffiti with my friends. For the upcoming year my main goal is to make my own artwork exhibition as an individual artist.
You can find my work @:
www.behance.net/siveone
www.myspace.com/siveone2