it's five days now that I arrived here. I came on new years eve, from Zürich over Dubai and the first really cool thing here was the warm air with the smell of sandlewood, seabreeze and a bit of smoke from the woodfire on the hills the day before. I met a lot of new and already liked people. had nice views, hikes, braais, swims and room rearranging-actions... it's good to be with the people here and in summer!
as it's my first post I'd like to introduce myself and tell a bit about what I did before:
I write TIKA. originally the name came from Antibiotika (german for antibiotics) I liked the letters and their sound. also antibiotics rescued me several times. later on I found out that TIKA is hindi-slang for tilaka. the diffrent blessing-signs hindus wear mostly on their forehead. it also can be understood as a symbol of power to protect the third eye.
what occupies my mind most is the diversity of points of views on life. like development of cities. how this affects spaces for self-determined living and projects. how buildings full of history get ripped down for glass cubes. what effects globalisation has on regional and traditional habits and architecture. vanity and love of people. how long and short at the same time a life can be and the before and after of it. I like to read about sagas and myth and also about the written down and told to be true history. also the actual circumstances in politics/economy/environment.
for the style of my work…
the inspiration and my broad nosed caracter came to me in 2003 while i had the opportunity to work as a designer in mexicoDF. I drew the first face on a busride after a walk through aztec sculptures in the Parque Hundido. since then I worked with what I learned at ZHDK about swiss grapfic design, typography and grid-patterns. inspired by traditional papercut and wallpainting from Switzerland, mexican murales. when I went to Brasil for the first time in 2007 also the vivid tradition and ceremonies of carnaval and Candomblé/Umbanda/Macumba left traces in my style.
I scribbled, drew and created since I was able to hold a pen. as 11 year old kid I drew circusposters of our own childrencircus papaya and glued them in our town.
as a teenager I had a verycool art-teacher who opened my mind for works from Picasso, dutch still live, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Picasso, Lichtenstein, Giacometti, Mucha. in 1998 i made my first expiriences with graffiti and after a confused year of fine art studies I decided to make my diploma in visual communication. This was in Zürich. I grew up in Cairo, Bruxelles and Cologne.
musicwise I like rap, miami bass, baile funk, kuduro, dancehall, samba, jazz, dubstep etc. scenes like hiphop graffiti bikemessengers and cultural squats made a big part to who I am today.
besides all this I love to take waves in the sea, drink good strong black coffee, cook, ride singlespeed bikes and party on bass music and in D.I.Y. I trust.
now I'm curious and excited about what in the next 3 month I will take of my experience in South Africa into my work.
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