SWEDEN / MALTA: Add More Colors – Graffiti Crew, Streetart Agency and the Malta Streetart Festival

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Founded in 2009, International Streetart Agency representing over 50 of the most prominent street & graffiti artists; promoting, marketing, and selling street art & graffiti on an international level.

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Tell me a little bit about ADD MORE COLORS. It’s your crew, but it is as well an art agency. So how did it start?

It is an art agency and it started many years ago, around eleven or twelve years ago in Sweden. Back then it wasn’t legal with graffiti. It was completely illegal. So the artists didn’t have a way to paint and earn money on it. In the beginning we were a middle man. We got jobs for artists and then we kept their name anonymous. That’s how it all started. But then after a while we got tired of that whole situation in Sweden. It was almost the only country where it was totally illegal. So we moved down to Malta and that’s how the festivals came to start.

Artist: Chemis – Location: Axelent

In 2013 when you moved to Malta, explain me how it was to do the first event. And before you came there wasn’t really much going on around streetart and graffiti there.

Exactly. I mean it was good and bad. There is a crew called Troglodytes who has been active on the island. But the situation was completely different. Like on Malta there is not even a train station. They don’t have this vandalism aspect of it. It was a very big change for us moving from Sweden and coming to that. So there haven’t been any events like that and on that scale before. We were the first ones. And it happened by coincidence. I had a coffee with one of the people of the Sliema local council an then we were discussing something different. We wanted to get a permit for a wall that we wanted to paint. But then we just started discussing festivals and realized that we both wanted to organize one. Then we did it together with Sliema local council the first year in Sliema.

Artist: Ruben Poncia – Event: Tizarte

I read they also supported you. So they really wanted to have these festivals.

Yeah, they were very positive to it. It was something completely new and it was very interesting from going to be illegal in Sweden. Back then they had an exhibition called art of the streets and in the beginning the police were ordered even to take down the posters that advertised for this exhibition. So going from that to collaborating with the Sliema local council, that was a nice shift.

Artist: Chemis – Location: SBG, Straight Blast Gym

You brought artist together but not only from the graffiti scene, you had as well a comic convention and a lot of different other art areas. So it was huge.

Yes, it was really big. Sliema is like a long big coast and we were along this coastline. I think it is two kilometers or something around that for the total area. We set up different sets where we had the DJs and the dance floor and then some artists painting, also some local stalls. The whole festival was along the promenade of Sliema but then down on the beach there were different areas. There were five areas in the first year, so it was a big event.

Artist: Grafodeco

Very nice! Then you continued for three years I think, or how often did it take place?

Yes, exactly. We did it for three years. We did one more year in Sliema and then we turned into the Malta Streetart Festival and did the last edition in the capital Valetta.

Artist: Chemis – Event: Hasslo Festivalen

You decorated Valetta and as well you had some specials for the artists. Like interesting openings on which you went to old rundown buildings or hotel complexes which haven’t been finished and made nice murals and artworks there.

Yes, exactly. We did that for all the years and we took the artists there a bit before the festival so they could enjoy the island. And then we had a warm up event for each year. On Malta there are a lot of nice spots. Like the hotel you mentioned is a former five star hotel which got sudden bankrupt and closed down. Now it is just standing there with tons of walls. It is an amazing location just by the water. We were there one year and the other year we went to White Rocks in Pembroke which is a big construction area full of big apartment blocks. Because of some reason it was never finished. I don’t know why, but it turned into a great canvas.

Artist: Chemis – Event: Tizarte

Unfortunately we didn’t have enough time to visit those places. But we passed that areas on a bus and could see a little bit while driving by. Are these areas easy to access or do you need a rental car?

No, they are easy to access. There are busses going around and if you go to White Rocks in Pembroke there is even a bus stop just above it. So you can easy walk down. The same is with the hotel. The bus stops just next to it.

 

There is a big mural from the French artist MTO, did it during the festival I think in 2015.

Yes, that’s correct. Actually he came to Malta for painting two times. There is one by the water and a big one where a guy is climbing into a wall at a parking lot. The other part of the mural is in Italy in Sapri where the guy is coming out. That artwork was actually done by another festival. Long story short. The Sliema local council stole our festival. The Sliema Streetart Festival. That’s why we moved to Valetta the last year. They did a copy of it in Sliema in 2015. They couldn’t have the name Sliema Streetart Festival so they called it Sliema Art Festival. So the big mural from MTO was mad on that festival. The first artwork by MTO was done on our festival, the second one was the Sliema Art festival.

 

And why didn’t you continue after Valetta?

It was just too much work for it. That and I moved to Barcelona not long after. It was really fun to do it, but it is so much work. After this last one in Valetta we changed instead of organizing the whole festival we partnered up with other festivals and then we just did the art part. So we took a crew or artists and went there and painted instead of organizing the whole festival.

 

Tell me bit more about Add More Colors. Are there more people in your crew?

Yes, there is. Now we are a pure streetart agency. We work with mainly mural events and also for marketing purposes. We do like hand painted billboards. We are eight people now in Add More Colors working on it.

 

You are in Thailand at the moment, but the others are all over the world. Or how does it work?

Yes, exactly. We have three of them down here in the office where I am sitting now. On Ko Phangan in Thailand. And then the rest is in Europe. So we are sitting here and we have our own area in a co-working space here. It is really nice just by the water. This is what we do, so all the marketing, and then we connect artists with different projects around the world.

 

Meanwhile you don’t have to be at a place, you can work from somewhere else. And you guys have many years of experience and now you can use this even from Thailand.

Yes, it is super good. It’s been a very good place to be, especially during lockdown. If you are on lockdown anyway, then let it be in paradise.

 

Are there artworks around in Thailand or on the island? Did you do any artworks since you arrived there?

In the country for sure and here on the island there is actually a lot of art. There are plenty of walls and even some works from Swedish artists as well. I recognized some of them. For me it comes and goes. Now it has been over six month since I was painting myself last time. It depends on where I stay. In Malta it was much more accessible.

 

From Barcelona you moved to Thailand then. Or have there been other places where you stood? It seems that you live in a lot of different countries.

Yes, I am trying to test all the good ones. I went to Malta and then from that to Barcelona and then I have been in Asia. I have been around in different countries there, but finally I settled down on Koh Phangan. It’s an golden island. It has a bad reputation because of the Full Moon parties. But that is such a small part of the island. There is so much more to offer and the Full Moon, that is just one party for one day for months. But this is also really nice.

 

For three years in a row you had this wonderful festival in Malta. Can you tell me a bit more about the artists you invited and the local ones from Malta?

Sure. As I mentioned before, there was the local crew Trocolytes with James, Chris, Cooker, Julien and some others. There was a nice group of them. We also had international artists that came down to do artworks like installations. For example the German artist, one of my favorites, Bond Truluv. For the event in Valetta we set him up with digital artists and they did a projection mapping. So first he painted his piece and he mapped it up, then they had a show at night. That was really cool!

 

You said there are two other founders of the festival, two Maltese friends you want to mention.

Yes, exactly. It was a guy and a girl and they were on the first year. Alexia Miksout and Jean Marc Galea. They were the main founders of the event together with us. So they deserve a shout out.

 

Very nice. And which other artists did you have there?

We had so many nice things happening, because we always tried to do something a little bit different. When we started with the festival in the beginning, then there were traditionally festivals in back alleys or industrially areas. Then it is like a very long wall with several hundred meters and then there are artists lined up. So aesthetically it is not that pleasing. We always tried to use the beautiful environment of Malta to do some different stuff. Bond’s projection mapping was one example. Another example was with an English artist who lives in Berlin, David Walker. He was there for a session in one year session and he painted an old Maltese bus. We got a whole one. Did you get to see the old busses while you where there? Because they had amazing busses which were going around the island. I think it was 39 Cents to go wherever you wanted. They looked like kind of busses in Cuba. So we got a whole one of those and David Walker made an amazing artwork on it. We also tried to place like pavement artists. Like Tony Cuboliquido, the Italian artist, we gave him a really nice spot just by the water. So he could have the place to having both, the nice sea background and the perfect viewpoint for his 3d effects. We did a lot of things like that to make it a little bit more exciting.

Artist: Tony Cuboliquido

At the moment the project which are you doing or the artists which you are connecting, it’s all around the world. So if people want to get in touch with you, how does it work? They just write you and email or artists write you that they need a job? Or others tell you that they need an artist who does a wall?

Yes, either way. If you are an artist or if you are looking for an artwork. They are welcome to visit our website www.addmorecolors.com. You can just send a message in our contact form and we will follow up with you. We are always looking for new talents. So if you are an artist and you are looking for a new gig, then please get in contact. The artists are welcome to contact us and tell us what they do or they can send over a portfolio. Then they just can let us know what type of collaboration they are interested in. If they are just interested of going on events and paint like that or if they want to do commission jobs or whatever feel comfortable with. Just let us know and we have suitable projects which fit their style.

 

Do you still organize events or bring artists to events? Or how is it with jams and events like this?

Yes, we do events but no so many. Like we have done one festival in Sweden this year, but it was a commission event. So we do both. Sometimes we do it on commission when somebody approaches us and they have an area for example on a festival and they want to have it decorated. Then we go and decorate that area. Sometimes it is like on events about pure entertainment for the visitors and then you go and just paint whatever you want.

 

Ok, so it is not only on streetart events or graffiti jams, in that cases it can be as well on a music festival or something else. And there you have a part for a graffiti area where you paint.

Yes, exactly. We integrate within festivals. So they are mainly music festivals or city festivals. Then we come with a group of artists and then we just spread out and color the whole place. We make it to look nicer.

 

What kind of artists can contact you? Is it only about streetart and graffiti or do you also have like painters or sculptors?

Yes, all of them. Actually we have seen a trend in the last years of alternative art forms. So like sculptures, installations, digital artworks and everything that is unique and creative. We are basing it on the skill sets of the artist and then whatever style they do, that’s just their flavor. Anybody is very welcome.

 

But it still stays in the visual area or modeling art, but you don’t have music artists? Or do you also feature DJs or musicians?

No, when we did festivals we also supported and organized the DJs and music. We made them as a part of the events. So for example with the first event in Sliema on Malta, each different area had a different type of music style. There was one hip hop area, one rock and one minimalistic. Back then when we included this and when we did the whole events, we also had a lot of those artists.

 

But now the focus is more on the visual area.

Yes, we prefer to focus on the art part and here the visual kinds. Everybody who organizes and event knows that the biggest headaches are those small things, you don’t think about. There are so many small variables while organizing a festival. So in the end what we felt after those three years was that when we created the first festival, we made our dream festival. The festival that we wanted to go if we could choose anything. But in the end none of us has experienced it, because we were basically all the time working. So now we want to focus only on the art part and then let someone else decide where to put bins and toilets.

 

Yes, it is a lot of work to do and yeah, it is like a little baby. In the end it is very nice but as well you are totally exhausted.

Yes, that’s right. But it was all worth it though. It was all worth. As you say, it is like a baby and especially when it was so new in the first year we were busy at all fronts. There were a lot of things that were in use. So to see it coming to creation, it was beautiful.

 

You said that it was around six month ago that you painted yourself, but when you paint what kind of artworks do you do? What kind of graffiti?

In the beginning I tried letters, but I was never good at it. Then it became a mix of spray can and brush. For me the art part has always been a hobby. I’ve been doing a lot of sports when I was younger and that was where I had my focus. The art part has always been like a getaway, like to go out and then you paint for a whole day, bring some food and snacks and then you just spend the whole day in the sun painting. But it was never my ambition to make a living out of it. Especially now with Add More Colors I never assigned any project to myself. Even if it would be a simple one. Because I didn’t want to have that part. So I still paint as soon as I have the time for it. As soon as I feel like it. On Malta it was so easy to go down to White Rocks in Pembrocke or to the Germa Hotel. It was really nice to go down there and easy. Now it is a little bit harder, but I still enjoy it.

 

I had the feeling in Malta, that there are just walls all over and everywhere are these huge walls in the same ochre.  They are building everywhere and constructions sites are all around or huge building facades, but they are just all completely blank. There was not even a tag or something like that. We were really surprised and also disturbed and thought there is really nothing.

Yes, it’s weird, right.

 

If you go to another city usually you see tags all over. Is there a very high prosecution or do they just don’t do it there or why is it that clean?

I mean it is the benefit of being a small island like that. One big factor why there isn’t so much vandalism is because there is only one reseller. If there are tags coming up it is easy to see who it was. But in general, they don’t have train stations and that whole part. They haven’t had the culture in the same way. The vandalism culture. They have a whole different approach to it and as you said, it is all in one color. The whole of Malta is in one color, it’s the limestone. And everybody on Malta loves colors, everybody wants color everywhere and yea, it’s nice. They kept it on a good level.

 

For us it was then even nicer when we found those places, because there is a lot of art, but you have to find it and it is more concentrated at some areas. Like the Msida Skate Park for example or the promenade you mentioned before. There it is completely colored, everything is painted.

Yes, and the Germa Hotel. I like it but I think it is just an effect of their attitude towards streetart. I think more countries should have done it like they did from the beginning. If you are so encouraged to paint, like you can get a permit during the afternoon, than that whole part of vandalism it loses its charm.   They are very open for streetart.

 

So you mean that in other countries because the prosecution is that strong, the vandalism aspect gets even stronger?

Exactly. They fight fire with fire. Just by comparing Sweden and Malta. There is a huge difference in it. And it also shows that in Sweden they tried to do the zero policy. For example they forbid the spray can. It is like forbidding a hammer because somebody killed a guy with it. That is a really stupid approach. And this even triggers people to fuck with them.

 

Yes, sure, that’s not the right direction. Before you mentioned as well there are other people you want to mention or say thank you for their work and you want to bring them into the interview.

Yes, exactly. So after the second year in Sliema we moved over to the capital and did the Malta Streetart Festival. For that we partnered up then with a guy called Clint Debono. A really nice guy who runs a famous bar in Malta called Tikatiku. He helped us with a lot of stuff for that year’s event. He managed to pull up a lot of permits to do artworks in nice spots. Yes, he definitely deserves a shout out. And there is another important person, another one of the pillars of the festival. Ilaria Catania. She came along on the second year and did the second and third year with us. She was amazing and a big reason why it all came together.

 

A big great crew, a whole enthusiastic team.

Yes, and there are so many more. I could make a whole interview where I just thank people. Because the whole festival was build up in section. Mainly the first year we did most of it ourselves. But for the second and third year it was a collaboration between everybody. The DJs, the BMX crew, the artists, local and international, the stalls, so the whole community came together. But Illara should definitely have a special mention.

 

You said BMX and mentioned skateboarding. Did you work as well together with the MSA, the Malta Skateboard Association? Because I have seen that they kind of organizing the Msida Skate Park.

Yes, they do. We worked with a guy called Julian and his crew Good Clean Fun. They are super good guys to deal with and they are really talented! They build up a skate park in the middle of the festival and they just took their riders there and entertained there. Super nice and super good guys!

 

Very cool and a very nice festival. Everything there and everything together, so sports, painting, streetart, graffiti and even comics.

Yes, exactly. The Malta comic club came down and took part. That was also very nice. It was a nice mix of everything. It is a small island and we tried to get as much of the good stuff together for a weekend.

 

On the internet I found a website you did for the Malta Streetart Festival 2015 and I don’t know if you kept the website or somebody else, but there is a little introduction and the host wants to keep the website from the last festival online for memory.

Exactly, I have seen that. I saw that a few years ago, this is not us. We didn’t do this, so this was one of the visitors, who was kind enough to put together this summary. It is really nice.

 

Very cool and really nice! That’s where I got most of the information and other links from. There is as well a map from the festival with the areas and some photos, as well a lot of links to you, Add More Colors, and to other artists.

Yes, it is really nice. I appreciate it very much, whoever did it is welcome to reach out so I can thank in person. It’s very nice, that they kept it up like that and that the event was appreciated.

 

 

 


ADD MORE COLORS  –  AMC

WE MAKE ART HAPPEN  –  ANY SURFACE  &  ANY SIZE

We work with some of the most passionate and dedicated painters from all over the globe, on some of the biggest urban art projects throughout Europe. We do commission murals, 3D pavement art, cculptures, installations and more.


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Streetart Malta:  https://vagabundler.com/malta/streetart-malta