cnskillz crew. graffiti. for real.
graffiti art by ate1 graffiti art by efas graffiti art by meric graffiti art by moritz graffiti art by neck graffiti art by scien & klor graffiti art by seak
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June 19, 2006:

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Graffiti styles, pieces and murals from the graffiti photo archive of Neck.CNS

May 2, 2006:

ILoveGraffiti.com is the online graffiti photo archive of Neck.CNS. All the pieces and murals that I've taken pictures of since i began painting in 1989 were starting to collect dust in the attic. So I got the idea to open up my graffiti archive and share all these amazing graffiti pieces with you.

 

interviews

neck, in Arteam Webzine, USA, 2004

interviews_arteam_cover.gifWHAT DO YOU WRITE?
WHAT CREWS DO YOU REPRESENT?
WHAT OTHER CREWS ARE YOU FROM?

my name is oliver, i write neck and represent cnskillz crew exclusively.

WHAT DOES GRAFFITI, PAINTING OR WHATEVER YOU WOULD LIKE TO CALL IT MEAN TO YOU?

individuality. expressing your skills and creativity. style. nothing else. not the surface (train wall canvas). not the technique (special caps, tape, stencils). just your own style, no matter how you bring it into being. people will always strive for recognition and respect, so i think they will always keep writing their names. maybe graffiti will 'fall asleep' somewhere but i'm sure it will eventually resurface in a later generation.

WHO OR WHAT GOT YOU INTO GRAFFITI?
WHEN DID YOU STARTED PAINTING?
HOW OLD WERE YOU?

i did not take the 'traditional' way of seeing the movies, then tagging etc... in spring of 1989 at the age of 15 a friend from school took me to a wall that was on his way to school. i was really impressed and sat there day after day, just looking at the wall and sketching the pieces that were there (CHIP, CEMNOZ, NEON and some more which i forget).

i had tasted blood and then started to look around munich for other graffiti walls, and well, there's a lot to see in munich. so i spent my summer watching people paint at the halls of fame, among them LOOMIT, SCOUT, HARLEKIN, RETCH, SITE, FLIN, MOON, SONIC... i started sketching my own stuff, and then did my first piece end of 1989 for my girlfriend's birthday.

HOW DID "C.N.S" GOT STARTED?
HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN A MEMBER OF CNS?

CNS was founded in late summer 1995 by meric, neck, efas and moritz from dÔø‡sseldorf/germany. seak and dj ate 1 from cologne/germany and scien & miss klor from lille/france joined in the winter of the same year. the first aim of the crew is not getting fame and popularity. it's more of a group of friends whose activites together go further than just going out painting. we meet and have fun, as far as work, school and distance allow it.

the crew tries to represent the aspect of 'style' in its complete spectrum. the writers show everything from simple styles, funky ill styles, flowing 3d styles, semi-wildstyles to complex wildstyles. characters, illustrations and photorealism are included in the crew's repertoire. theme walls and murals round off our view of the complex system people call 'graffiti'.

the members are also active in other areas of hiphop culture: producing beats, mixtapes, working in graffiti workshops, legalizing halls of fame, designing hiphop-wear, layouting magazines and organizing jams.

WHAT DOES "C.N.S" MEAN?

cnskillz is short for Checkin' New Skillz. the name represents our constant urge to develop our artform, to push boundaries and tear down visual walls and preconceived concepts. over the years, cnskillz has pushed the limits of what was possible in big concept wall productions, introduced graphic design and typographic influences into writing and established the internet as a major means of communication to the public in a graffiti context, being one of the very first graffiti crews to have a crew homepage: www.cnskillz.com.

that has always been the foremost strength of cnskillz: freedom to try different approaches to the traditionally very conservative concept of graffiti writing.

WHAT WOULD YOU CALL YOUR STYLE?

tight, simple, 3d, graphic. low-profile colors. i started out 2d until someday i had this idea on how to construct a 3d style and i tried it out in early 1995. all the letters were seperate for a long time, and someday i found out how to connect them to each other.

since then i've been "finetuning" my style, trying to give it more speed and depth.

WHAT ARE YOU CURRENTLY WORKING ON?
WHAT OTHER PLANS DO YOU HAVE FOR THE FUTURE?
YOU GOT ANY GOALS?

at the moment, i have an exhibition going on in krefeld/germany until december 12, together with efas, moritz, asket, retroe, monika leitner and seak. if you're in the area, come by and visit! all infos regarding that are online at http://www.offthewall04.de

we are slowly starting the preparations for a huge thing coming next year for cnskillz' 10 year anniversary featuring all crew members on the same wall, reunited at last ; ) so prepare yourself for cnskillz summit 2005.

another big thing coming up is the pending redesign of http://www.cnskillz.com, which has last been redesigned in 1999 and has become pretty clumsy to operate. but with all the content we have on the site, it's going to be a bit of work moving that across to the new site. expect something 2nd or 3rd quarter of 2004.

personally, i have a few ideas about typography that i would like to incorporate into some walls pretty soon, probably when the weather clears up and it's getting a little warmer. check www.neckcns.com to be informed.

i someday want to try and twist the style so you can see the backside as well, or warp it into all kinds of weird shapoes, as if it was made out of rubber. but that is definitely the future, i'll have to sit down and think about this more thoroughly.

WHAT OTHER PLACES HAVE YOU PIECED BESIDES GERMANY?
WHAT OTHER PLACES HAVE YOU TRAVELED TO?
HOW WAS YOUR EXPERIENCE IN THOSE COUNTRIES?
WHAT OTHER PLACES WOULD WOULD YOU LIKE TO TRAVEL AND PAINT?

i've painted in more or less all of germany, the netherlands, belgium, france, UK, austria, iceland, denmark, croatia, china and japan, either on an invitation or through my own motivation.

i don't think the travels had an influence on my style, just on the way i perceive people in hiphop. graff seems to be a good common ground for meeting and talking to people. i have found people to be very open and friendly wherever i've been.

travelling around for your art is about the best thing that can happen to any artist, graffiti writer or whatever. i guess i'll continue to go wherever i get invited, or wherever opportunities open up. there's still a lot of world left that i haven't seen yet...

WHO ARE YOUR FAVORITE PARTNERS TO BUST WITH?

depends on the possibilities. sometimes i have my piece in my mind and don't want to have to pay attention to other people's ideas, so i go out by myself to do my own stuff. but it's always fun to go out writing with a group of people, i enjoy that a lot. so i'm down with both, solo and group work.

HOW IS YOUR STORE GOING?
IS IT GOING WELL?
WHY DID YOU NAME YOUR T-SHIRT "SELL OUT"?

naming my products 'sellout' is just my tiny way to hold up a mirror to the part of the hip hop crowd that's following those weird 'real-unreal' rules and to show them that at least someone around here has got a sense of humour. as a rapper or dj, it's okay to ask for money just to appear at a jam, to make records, to have a record deal even, to rake in any amount of money for your music.

as a writer, it seems *immoral* to ask for money to appear at a jam and paint ("bring your own cans"), it seems *unreal* to paint commercial jobs or canvases to help you earn a living, it is *sellout* to appeal to the taste of people outside of hip hop culture.

fuck all that bs. i spent years practising my art, i'm not getting any younger, of course i am entitled to try and earn some money with my work. so, no matter which part of hip hop culture (or any culture) you belong to, come visit the site and see for yourself. i don't discriminate. http://www.neckcns.com/sellout

WHERE DO YOU SEE YOURSELF 10 YEARS FROM NOW?
WOULD YOU EVER STOP PAINTING?

i'm seeing myself doing maybe a piece a year when i'm forty or something. i think there is no real reason for which i will stop doing graffiti. maybe when i've done all i can think of (not very likely to happen, though). graffiti gave so much to my life, i hope it's never going to leave completely.

DO YOU LIKE THE NEW ART THAT THE YOUNG WRITERS ARE DOING?
WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE THESE GRAFFITI WRITERS TRYING TO COME UP?

be original. (never heard this before, have you? i know. not exactly original myself, am i....) people have to learn by themselves, make their own experiences, how else should they ever be able to come up with their own style? i know it's harder to get the technique down by yourself, but still: that's the way we all had to go. keep doing and developing your own stuff, be true to yourself. and if possible, wear a gas mask when painting, even outside.

ANY LAST COMMENTS?
ANY SHOUT OUTS?

hi there: ate1, efas, meric, moritz, scien&klor (http://www.123klan.com), seak (http://www.seakone.com), turna, http://www.daim.org, trol, http://www.tasek.de, stohead, daddy cool, http://www.reso.de, make 51, http://www.backspin.de, juice, olee, omo, katmando, http://www.loomit.de, steve, vince, ralph, step 2 diz, kaelimetz, joker, http://www.stylzhome.de, phenc, riz, musk, boes, dno, http://www.ta55o.de, scout, csb, kasino, blitzkrieg mag, ohne, http://www.can2.com, http://www.graffiti.org/wow123, stuka, scum, neon, kez, mint, http://www.hi.is/2def, susan, brett, http://www.graffiti.org, kao, lmf, dcs, headrush, magic, nosm, how, dzine, subworld, http://www.zgbkaos.com, gene, chek, leon, lunar, bsea, senk, spoon, syan, eric, takuma, http://www.bite.jp, doppel, asket, retroe.

THANX FOR THE INTERVIEW NECK!

thank you for your attention, my name is neck/cnskillz: http://www.neckcns.com

This interview is Ôø‡ 2004 by KOS99 / Arteam, USA and O.Gelbrich / NeckCNS. Please ask permission before using this in any way.