Abotz and his work on display in Camden Town
A GRAFFITI artist from Kilburn said he wouldn’t be successful today without youth clubs.
Street artist Abotz, who keeps his real name a secret, has gone from tagging the walls on his estate “near Rowley Way” when he was 10 years old to exhibitions at auction house Bonham’s.
His latest solo exhibition, Welcome To Britannia, was held at Camden Open Air Gallery.
Abotz told the New Journal: “My street art journey began on Rowley Way. It’s got a football pitch in there that was a legal graffiti spot so I was surrounded by graffiti from a young age.
“A lot of my friends growing up did graffiti. It’s not as common anymore for young people to do it, but at one point everyone in the area had a tag.”
While many people see tagging – marking a graffiti artist’s name on a wall – as vandalism, Abotz sees it clearly as art.
He said: “I can understand that people see it and they don’t like it but there’s definitely an art form to every tag or graffiti. With my stuff I’ve transitioned to the character-based stuff and quotes.”
Arc Youth Club, which is based at Rowley Way, was instrumental in giving him a creative outlet to practice his craft.
“It’s so important to give young people a chance,” Abotz said. “Because sometimes your talents are birthed in places like youth clubs. Especially for me, when I’ve done graffiti, they gave us the opportunity to use the walls in the youth club.
“I went in recently and there was a piece that’s still on the wall from like 2006. It was a shock to the system when I saw it.
“There was a lot of money funded around here to help young people flourish a bit more. I don’t think that’s a big thing anymore, there’s less funding.”
His show at Camden Open Air Gallery, which closed last weekend, featured his trademark cartoon cat with pound signs in its eyes.
They symbolise how our dependency on money brainwashes us into believing that it’s what really matters in life, he says. Hereford House, a vacant estate that was once used as temporary accommodation facing demolition in Kilburn, featured in the show.
And so does a beloved corner shop known fondly as “Nish” on the Brent side of Kilburn.
“The shop is abandoned now. We wanted to show a piece of time that’s going to be erased,” he said.
“That place was so important to so many people in that area.”
“The show is about the everyday life of individuals and the things they have to face. We’ve got paintings in there that show life isn’t always pretty all the time.
“I can’t tell you anything about Buckingham Palace, but I can tell you about Kilburn and my experiences and other people’s experiences.
“And it’s relatable.”
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