TILT – Never Ending Story
In episode four of KIND REGRETS, TILT sits down for a long conversation about his history in graffiti, his obsession with throw-ups and the story behind his new book, Never Ending Story, published with The Grifters.
TILT – Never Ending Story is available now in the Unfade shop.
TILT started writing in Toulouse in the late 1980s, coming into graffiti through skateboarding and the small local scene around him. In the interview, he talks about discovering graffiti through skate videos, meeting older writers in Toulouse and gradually moving from tags and pieces toward the throw-up that would eventually become the centre of his practice.
For TILT, the attraction of the throw-up is closely connected to speed, repetition and freedom. He describes it as something between tagging and piecing: fast enough to keep the spontaneous movement of a tag, but substantial enough to develop its own recognisable visual identity. His first version of the TILT throw-up that resembles what he still paints today came after a trip to New York in 1994, where he saw how strongly throw-ups functioned as a style in their own right.
Repetition quickly became part of the process. In 1997, TILT set himself the goal of painting 365 throw-ups during the year. Rather than constantly reinventing the letters, the same basic form could be repeated again and again, slowly changing through movement, location and small adjustments.
The story behind Never Ending Story
The idea for Never Ending Story began during the COVID lockdown in 2020. With unusually empty streets, TILT decided to revisit his old challenge, this time aiming for roughly two throw-ups a day. By the end of the project he had painted 667 of them.
When restrictions ended, something else started happening. Municipal workers returned and many of the throw-ups were quickly buffed. TILT began photographing not only the original graffiti but also what happened afterwards: partially removed letters, blocks of buff paint, shadows, fragments and traces left on the surface.
That changed the direction of the book. Instead of simply becoming an archive of hundreds of TILT throw-ups, Never Ending Story developed into a book about repetition and the complete life cycle of graffiti — painting, removal, traces and painting again.
The title comes directly from that cycle. TILT describes the structure as a loop: the book moves gradually from complete throw-ups into buffed surfaces and traces before returning to graffiti again. Birth, death and rebirth repeat through the sequence, just as they do on the street.
This approach also connects the book to TILT’s studio work. For years, part of that work has focused on the marks produced when graffiti and buffing meet — layers of paint, covered letters, textures and accidental compositions created through attempts to remove graffiti.
Never Ending Story gives that process its own photographic form.
More than an archive
The book took more than three years to develop. Alongside the photographs, it includes writing examining repetition and buffing, as well as a foreword by legendary graffiti photographer Henry Chalfant.
TILT also wanted to include the writers he has shared walls and sessions with. A separate 48-page colour section is dedicated to collaborations, reflecting another important part of his approach to throw-ups: travelling, meeting local writers and painting together.
At 440 pages, Never Ending Story is not simply a chronological collection of graffiti photographs. The sequencing, repetition, buffed surfaces and return of the throw-up are what form the book itself.
The KIND REGRETS interview gives useful context to all of this. It goes back through TILT’s beginnings in Toulouse, the influence of New York, his relationship with repetition, the connection between his street and studio work, and finally the process that turned years of painting into Never Ending Story. The book is the main focus, but the conversation also explains why the same apparently simple throw-up has remained so important to TILT for decades.
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