Shilo on Street Art

Q: How did you get into street art?

S: In the beginning? For me, my mother's an artist - we have art in my house non-stop. I was tired of seeing art in my house and complaining how bad the walls are in Bangalore.  Wall art is os two kinds - either it's paid work - or pro bono community art. Where you interact with people, have fun. 

Q: So you have no experience in vandalism?

S: No - that's not true - my group is called the Vandals in Sandals. I've come to a conclusion about why there's no graffiti in India. There aren't any spray paints like this.

Q: What time is best for graffiti?

S: 5 o'clock in the morning. At night they're all looking out for drunken people. 

Q: What do you think about this project?

S: This is quite interesting - brings two things together - art on the street but not necessarily. (?)

Q: SO how did you get into street art in particular?

S: This has excited me for a long time. I've alway wanted to get back to street art. EVen while I was in Srishti - but Khoya took over completely. The first thing I did when I came out was to go back into the street. 

Q: What do you think of your art being on a bus?

S: That's really sweet. Everybody has different styles. Also, this is my first time using spray paints. It's quite exciting. I'm also painting at the train station. 

Q: What is it like painting in this place?

S: I've been doing lots of walls with kids - and even though I set out doingthis bus myself - I ended up collaborating with the people who spray the buses - they're all hidden artists. This guy sprays the blues on the buses. Lots of guys helped with the outlines, getting water for the paint. They showed me their portfolios. They've drawn Rajnikant. And I asked someone to paint lines with me. He said: "yeh toh bahut sukoon ka kaam hai."  They say they just get bored painting the buses a single colour.

Q: WHat kind of paints are you using?

S: Mostly spray paint cans they've brought. The base is the usual paint the use on buses. Robert only used BMTC paints. 

Q: What's the route to get permission for street art?

S: It's a bit of a mix. First wall I did was on litigation. We didn't have permission. After we painted, someone spray painted over it. So we were excited - there's some dialogue happening. That unused space became an art gallery - Rococo? They carefully panted around our painting. It's been a mixed experience. Once cops came after us - fun. We had got permission from the guy who owned the wall. He was a tailor and we were going to paint scissors and all on the wall. But the neighbours across the road started yelling at us and called the cops. This was a wall at Shantinagar. When we called the tailor, he said ok, if he doesn't want it, I don't want it. So we had to run before the cops came. The best thing is when people come and join us from the streets. Those rose girls on Church Street -These are the most special things for me. I don't really care about getting my work out there - my work is already out there - it doesn't matter now. Doesn't matter what it looks like in the end. Wallflower was a breath of fresh air. No this thing - that thing - no rules. You realize how afraid people are of actually painting a wall. It's a good thing for people to say - we'll just paint the wall red and see.