Hello My Name Is: China

Name: China
Crew: Athens Pigs, Till Death, GDS
City/Country: Athens, Greece
When did you start writing? Around 2000

What’s graffiti for you?
Putting some letters in a row with my style.

Influences?
A lot from different eras and writers. NY 90’s stuff are my all time favs though.

Tell us about your city, how is life and graffiti there?
As you already know when financial crisis hit Greece made people’s living harder. As a result, when it comes to art, Athens is pretty behind to that part, compared to other big EU cities. Athens is a city that is fully bombed, but it’s most crap pieces, toys and soccer hools.

What keeps you still writing?
It’s a reason to meet with good friends and of course it’s something creative.

What trends are you seeing now in the graffiti world that you don’t like?
I don’t like to see old friends of mine to quit writing. I don’t care about the evolution of graff, and what “trends” are hot right now, because i do my thing.

What do you do when you’re not painting?
Actually i would love writing to be my main occupation, but it isn’t.

Can you remember the first piece you did?
Of course i can, nothing special though.

Future plans?
I hope to be strong enough, to keep writing as much as i can.

Do you adapt your pieces and tags to the spot/surface?
I think that most of the writers do that.

What do you think about the new generation of writers in your city?
One of the first things that definitely graffiti taught me, is to respect. So starting writing with respect for the others, and i think that the missing value for some of the youngsters here.

Who do you paint for?
For me.

What writers have inspired you?
People that also taught me to keep my head down and work. Speg, Lent, Saz aka Nuts. I’ve had also the luck to meet Dask, that taught me how flow and swerve have to be.

Can you ever feel tired of graffiti?
With the meaning of body tiredness that would be yes!

What do you hope people will think and feel when they see your stuff? Hope you like it people!

FIVE FAVORITES
Spray Paint: Montana Black & MTN 94
City: Berlin, Germany
Markers/pens: Any pencil
Surface: Black roller painted wall
Cap: Level 1 Skinny

Instagram: @Onechineze