Tona

Tona, German street art artist, began painting his stencils in Hamburg in 1999. He is one of the artists close to WCA of Artiste Ouvrier. His work has been exhibited in New York, Venezuela, Canada, South Africa, Tel Aviv, New Delhi and recently at the Galerie Lithium in Paris. Frequent traveler, Tona's work talks about his artist residencies around the world. Essentially India for his latest artworks.

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Painting on the streets; painting for the streets.

A dogma internalized by Tona.

Painting breaks all barriers as it doesn't require a language to communicate.

Whilst painting, kids are usually seen curiously hanging around him, and their lives are captured by him, through photographs.

These photos then transform into heavily detailed stencils, which are then painted in another city on another wall.

And so, their personalised stories start journeying across the crumbling facades of this world.

How will these images communicate with the passerby's?

Elucidated by the response and interaction that is brought upon whilst viewing.

It`s a game. A visualization. A alleged observation without comment.

These images don`t try and change the course of society.

Instead they are interested in a slow and cautious contact with the onlookers – extracting a visual and emotional frequency from within.

Tona's neverending search for an emotional connect becomes a permanent activity for him. Preferring the most unclean spaces to paint, with his keen interest in decay- One of life's paradoxes; since his stencils are overtly clean in appearance.

Tona's motifs travel with him and often spreads independently through digital networks. From the photo, to the stencil, to the wall, to the memory, through the lens of a camera, into the world, into the universe...

Everything is in flux, although the image stays firmly fixed on the wall, eventually it will collapse with it or disappear under a new layer of paint.

Somehow everything is connected and time remains a sensation.

Translation © 2018 by Anpu Varkey