The great writer, painter and digital artist MIND21 creates wicked graffiti on walls in the Rhine-Main area, designs graphics and creates drawings. He describes his technique as zoomorphic bio mech style with 3dimensional lettering, where the letters often merge with creatures or robots. Mostly there are also cool comic-like characters included.
In addition to his works on the wall, MIND21 also creates album covers for rap musicians and DJs, but his fantastic works get their full impact on a large concrete facade. He has been a regular participant at the MEETING OF STYLES in Wiesbaden for many years and also at spray sessions with his crew SNC, the STONED NOMADS CREW.
We spoke to the creative artist in an interview. If you prefer to listen, click on the podcast and if you prefer to read or don’t understand German, there is the translated conversation in English below. And in between are lots of awesome works by MIND21.
So you are a graffiti writer and spray works with cans on the wall. But you also do graphics, digital works and paintings on canvas. You started back in 1994.
That’s right, it all begann in Wiesbaden at the Schlachthof (Old Slaughterhouse). There it started with the great Wall Street Meeting and the participating artist CAN2 was from Mainz, who had also inspired me a lot from some magazines. That was a really good artist and a great event.
You also live around there, so you’re from the Mainz and Wiesbaden area. That means the Schlachthof was the place where you grew up with graffiti.
Yes, that was kind of the place to paint. Whenever I was there, it was really cool. We used to drive north from our home and either we went to Wiesbaden to skate, or to Mainz or to the Schlachthof to spray. There were lots of skate opportunities there too. And lots of walls, so we could really let off steam there.
So the Wall Street Meeting, which later became the Meeting of Styles. The last time we saw each other was at Müffling Wall. But you had only just started then. So you still like to paint there?
Exactly, yes, that was the seventh time I’ve been there. I try to take part every time. There are now several walls and not just this main wall at the bridgehead. The whole city is actually full of graffiti people at the event. I’m always on the wall at the back in Müffling Straße. There’s plenty of space and there are other good artists there too. The GRAFF FUNK CREW was always there too. It’s a good space, but of course it’s not as big as the front wall. But there’s also this scaffolding and a lot of commotion, so you don’t always want to paint there. You have more peace and quiet on the back wall. I always paint for several days and usually with CESAR ONE. But I used to paint more there. It always takes me a bit longer and then I make the works more extensive. I then also take my time, so sometimes two or three days.
You paint a lot with 3D elements and also make collages or canvases in graffiti style, so you have a very interesting style. You called it the 3D biomechanical mech style. Earlier, you also said that some people say that your letters dance. So they really come to life. It’s such a mixture of zoomorph and living things, but then you also kind of have robotic elements in it, and then you keep creating the letters in different variations.
Yes, that’s how it is. I saw it as a transformation of my own ideas and I found transformations quite interesting and also important. I always saw that in Style Wars and that whole graffiti evolution. I also found 3D has always been kind of the end level of my graffiti ideas. So it’s always been something that excited me.
But you also said earlier that this was already a longer phase with this style and that now you want to bring in a little less robotic elements, but more 3d.
Yeah, so more three-dimensional characters and then 3D robots. So these mech-dreadnoughts, which the TATS CREW does for example. This bio-mechanical or motifs with wood and nature, that’s kind of not mine anymore. I want to do more three-dimensional, or just 3D.
I also have to think of DAIM or LOOMIT, the very large 3D letters on which you sometimes have the feeling that they come out of the wall.
Exactly. LOOMIT once painted this giant wall in the interior of the slaughterhouse at the Wall Street meeting, so where MODE2 and so on painted and LOOMIT had delivered a giant wall, that was really abnormal. I thought it was really cool and just looking at it was really cool.
You mean 1994 you started with graffiti and that was also the time of the Schlachthof and then 1998 was the first Wall Street Meeting. And then you saw all the other artists and what they were doing. That probably pushed you even further. So also the big names here from the Rhine Main area or for example the MA’CLAIM CREW, who started quite early and made these big photorealistic murals.
Yeah, there were great writers like BATES and CAN 2, and also SEEN. Or the DOME, he did such crass stuff, that was really cool. I watched that one for almost two days.
You had different names before you became MIND21. You had INTU, then REAL or WILD.
Yes, WILD, exactly. So I had my fit in practice with WILD, but it wasn’t really Wildstyle. Maybe I wanted to go Wildstyle, but it didn’t work that way. But WILD was only for a short time, so I painted maybe four or five pieces. So under the name I didn’t paint that much. But INTU had been around for a long time, and I liked that. I also had a good sketch for INTU and that led me to develop with it.
At some point, the crews came along as you started painting more with others. So right now you’re in the SNC CREW, which is the STONED NOMADS CREW. And then you mentioned that you’re also in the O3C CREW, which has international members. But first of all, SNC. How did you get there?
I was with the SNC CREW around 1998 or a little earlier, so we met at the slaughterhouse. He was looking for writers and then he approached me straight away. And yeah, we’ve actually been good friends ever since and he then took me on the crew and introduced me to people and yeah, that was pretty cool.
And since then you’ve been there, in the meantime KRIZLA is still there, then CESAR as founder, but then SPASM, KOMA, TOR, SPARK, KING HARRY, MENDOZA, MO-TRIXX or ZIO-CROC and others.
That’s right, so there’s a lot of people. And also from several cities. So here in Frankfurt am Main, not so many, but from Stuttgart, Mainz, Wiesbaden and also from France. The CESAR knows so many writers, and it connects them all.
Yeah, by the way, there’s also a great podcast about the show with CESAR ONE when he was in the studio and he told the whole story of the making to the crew. He’s also on the phone and that’s why we’re playing some music now. And it’s the song Delinquent Habits from Tres Delinquentes. It’s also a classic and you wanted it. Why this song?
I used to love the song. The record was a real burner. I loved playing it and putting it on and it’s still ingrained in me. Not just the song, but the whole band.
So you’ve also put on music and been on the road as a DJ. You also say that you used to put on a lot of Drum ’n‘ Bass as well. But you’ve also designed the covers for a lot of events, vinyl records or labels. You can find that on your website as well.
Yeah, I did label stickers for a couple of drum-bass DJs. Two-step and stuff like that. And then hip-hop super much, but I also really like Drum ’n‘ Bass.
Did they come to you, or how did that come about? Or because you heard that and you hung up, did you get in touch with them and go, hey, I can do the graphics for your records and stuff?
That’s how it was basically. I had also studied media design and then I did a little bit of the label stickers for DJs in my area. So it was around Mainz, but a lot of records were sold to Russia. That was pretty cool and also fun.
On your website mind21.net you can find some photos and new info about yourself, but also on your Instagram channel. There you can also get the latest info about events and you can get a good overview of your works on the wall, on the canvas, graphics or digital works. It gives you a good insight into your style. What I thought was cool is that a lot of other artists do that as well, so it’s kind of their own ABC, but everyone does it in their own style. It’s also one of those works where you’ve kind of painted your MIND21 alphabet.
Exactly. I’ve done a few of them. Mostly with the emphasis on 3D and then I did a little bit of 2D. In the end, the letters were 3D, and that was a transformation of my own ideas. And I actually want to expand on that a lot more. It was just a few ABCs, but I thought it was pretty cool.
I also saw there was a recent spray session in Hattersham on a wall, so you kind of have connections. It’s not public, but it’s a wall where you can paint and where you can take people with you. And you can see new graffiti there, too.
Yeah, I had a jam at the Schützenhaus in Sindlinger Strasse. That was really cool and I invited about 10 people. It went well, that motivated me as well. And the guys there too. They were totally blown away and were like, what? You’re just inviting us here? That’s super cool, let’s go! It was a full party and we hung out together, so that was a lot of people, even in groups and circles, and we really celebrated. But I still have to take some great photos. It’s a bit further away from my home, so I don’t get to go there often. But it was definitely really good. I had also invited Manuel Gerullis aka YOURS and he came over with his whole crew. They were very happy too. They came over and they were very happy.
Yeah, so if you ever come to Hattersheim or want to go there, there’s a big long wall at the Schützhaus, and that means you can maybe do another jam there in six months or so, or an event? Or was it a one-off thing?
I’d love to do it more often, but I only do it once a year, so next year I will do it again. It’s a really cool thing to do and it will be there for a while. Then you can do it again in a year and then you can do it as a regular little mini-event.
So people can see things of you in Wiesbaden am Schlachthof, in Hattersheim or even on the Meeting of Styles walls. But here in Frankfurt, are you around spraying here, too? So for example at Ratswegkreisel or Naxos Hall? And have you already planned to go to any jams?
I’m going to go to a couple of other cities and I’ll paint a little bit, that’s what I’m planning to do. It’s going to be cool, yeah. But here in Frankfurt I don’t really travel that much. So at the moment, not so much. I just painted yesterday in Rüsselsheim on the new hall. It is very good and reminds me a little bit of the Ratsweg roundabout. But it’s actually just a giant wall and the Ratswegen roundabout is already mega big and also very coo. But it is too much for me to drive there sometimes if I do it alone. I need to make a bit more connections.
Or put a hall in your village.
Yes. We already have a small hall in the village. So not directly in the village, but in the neighbouring village. There’s a hall, so not a public hall, but a separate place for us where we can paint.
Public creative spaces are far too few. You have to somehow get opportunities through private individuals or through people who like you and are well-meaning and who then provide you with the wall of a warehouse or something. Did you say you were at a festival yesterday?
Yeah, that’s right. That was the open air in Mommenheim. They’ve had more than 30 festivals now. They used to do that in our place very early. And from what I’ve heard, it’s pretty crass what’s been going on. So it’s actually organized by the Lautsloch Trappers. It’s like a drinking club or something like that. I don’t know exactly. But they’ve started it and they do it regularly. Every year, it’s very cool. There’s a lot of great bands playing, so from the rock direction. But it’s changed this time around because the beautiful area is underwater. And now it’s in new territory, which is a little bit of getting used to, but it’s still cool and then I’ll probably go and have a beer again tonight.
INFOTHEK
Artist & Photographer: MIND 21
Website: https://www.mind21.net
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mind21styles
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mind21_writer
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mind21snc
Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mind21_snccrew
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@mind21snc-crew39
Podcast: https://hearthis.at/radio-x-interviews/mind21
Crew: SNC – STONED NOMADS CREW
Website: http://www.snc-crew.de
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/snc1999
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.de/snc1999
Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/snc1999
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