Alex Partola

Ghosts

Alex Partola, a graduate of the British Higher School of Art and Design, presents a project about train bombing that brings together leading proponents of the movement. According to the laws of this genre the process of creating graffiti must be unseen by others, but Partola has managed to capture an act that remains hidden from the rest of us.

The heroes of the ‘Ghosts’ project are not those for whom graffiti is merely a hobby, a way to fill time. His heroes are the genuine article, the bombers who paint on metro carriages, suburban trains or ‘electrichkas’ and walls. For such people this is a way of life and they have their own philosophy, rules, taboos and hierarchy, with no more than 5 to 10 minutes to produce their message to mankind before fleeing the scene. They include Sanex, Gets, Kvadrat, Robe, Snek, Auto, Bruk, Rambo, Waspe, Blesg, Ros, Oser, Host, Humor, Debut, Bazuk, Men, Wen, Brok, Sker, Rude, Slack and Spacer.

To quote Alex Partola, all these people are united by ‘...a desire to modify space. Every artist has his canvas and his brushes: some paint with oils and others with aerosol cans, 150 kilometres outside Moscow, on electrichkas or the concrete barriers that line the railway track...’