Rabodiga

Rabodiga Interview

Rabodiga is an artist that really caught my eye this year for two reasons; one is that her can skills have really progressed over the years and the other is for the simple reason that there seems to be a distinct lack of Brit female artists working on the streets in the UK. This latter reason intrigued me because Rabodiga is Spanish and has lived on and off in London for about one year, meaning that she can't even be considered as a British artist. Fortunately, I had the chance to meet with her in person as she had some work in an incredible group show this past Nov called ‘Shades Of Things To Come'. Fast forward to three days later and we are sitting in a cafe chatting about the weather and why it's getting harder to paint in London..

- Where and how did you get such an interesting name like Rabodiga?

R : My great-grandmother invented this word Rabodiga; it's actually a combination of two words and it doesn't make sense in English. Her intention was to create a word that meant when kids are messing around, jumping everywhere and being hyperactive. My father liked the phrase a lot and started to call me it when I was a child, and so I have kept the word and started using it as my artist name.

- Tell us about your personal history, where you originally come from and what you do.

R : I studied at art school since I was 16 and even before then, I knew that I wanted to be a painter. I moved to another city to study fine arts at university

(which I still haven't completed!) the thing is, I love art and I love painting, but the academy was focused on limitations and art methods and I found it hard to listen and to respect a lot of the teachers, who I felt knew the same or even less than I did about art. Around the same time, I started to get into graffiti. I found that my name could be recognized more if I painted on the street, rather than painting in a studio. It's funny that, even though I paint on the street and it's not letter-based stuff, I still consider my characters to be graffiti and not streetart. I know that there is a fine line between the two; both employ the same tools to create it (the spraycan) but I feel streetart is about showing the public your message. For me, my work lies between art and graffiti; I don't necessarily want to create or convey a message to the public because a lot of times I want to paint because it's fun or I want to hang out with friends and paint purely for pleasure.

Since the days of painting on the street, I have started focusing more on illustration and exhibitions for my future career as an artist.

-  Once upon a time, a wise old graff writer told me that the difference between graffiti writers and streetartists was that graffiti writers do it for purely selfish reasons. They do it for their friends and themselves, whereas streetartists have the viewing public in mind. Their message, color choice and placement is all about pleasing the general public. Do you agree or disagree with this statement?

R : No, I don't agree at all. Everyone who puts anything on the street wants to have a name and they want that name to grow into something bigger. All types of artists, from fine art to streetart has some vanity associated with it.

We need to feel noticed and accepting this is a good thing. By accepting what we are, will turn you into a better painter; not always trying to be humble because that is simply not 100% true. Everyone loves to be told that what they are doing is great and that they should continue and not just in art either. It can be any field of work; everyone loves praise.

- Tell us about your hometown and where your roots lie.

R : I am from Zaragoza and I haven't been there in many years. It's in between Barcelona & Madrid and is quite a small place. From there, I moved to Valencia. I haven't painted much there as I don't have many friends in that area.

I also spent a couple of years living in Italy (another reason why my university degree has taken so long!) and then spent a year living here in London too. During my time in Italy I didn't actually paint much either but that's because I was in a very romantic setting and felt satisfied. I find that what inspires me to paint is a certain amount of emptiness in your life. It is something that you have to fill up by being creative.

- The characters that you paint on the wall; are they caricatures of yourself?

R: When I first started painting, a lot of people asked me the same question and I guess that I was doing it unconsciously in some way. It made me pay more attention to what content I painted and in turn made me realise that what I see in the world, I filter it and that filtered content is how I perceive the world around me.

- How would you describe your style to someone who has never seen it before?

R: Tender and sometimes too sexy! I need to change this in the future! It's a romantic view of other images I have seen in the past. I guess it can be seen as soft and most importantly, very feminine.

- Classic question now, why aren't there that many girls who are painting graffiti or doing streetart?

R: Because it is a mainly manly world! In the UK , there aren't that many girls painting, but if you go to Spain there are quite a lot of girls who paint on the streets. One reason for there being less girls is because original graffiti was about painting trains and doing it in dangerous places where you get a rush from painting there. Girls look towards a different lifestyle.

Maybe they want a nice house and a family and all those types of stereotypical things. The other reason is that guys make it different for girls right from the start. They can be very nice to you, but they can also be very miserable with you too.

You really have to show that you are better than them to gain respect. Also the weather plays a part too. In Spain , we can paint 10 months out of the year without freezing fingers so I'm sure it attracts more girl to want to paint as well! Finally, I think that there is too much emphasis in the UK of graffiti being a crime and there is so much CCTV etc that it puts off a lot of people to want to try it. In Spain , people are used to seeing colour on the street and even if they can't understand the lettering, they can appreciate it as abstract art.

- It was so sad to see that the beautiful pieces that you all painted at The Meeting Of Styles in July have been buffed and that whole area has been painted a boring red with CCTV cameras installed too!

R: Well, the government know that arresting youth that are caught painting is a profitable income for them. Any young person caught tagging or painting will pay any amount of money to stay out of jail. Whereas a murderer kind of knows their destiny wil be a jail cell due to the crime they committed. A Graffiti artist doesn't want to end up in that same place and will pay a lot of money to stay out of it. This helps to keep all of society in a box where our basic creative right of painting on the street has become classified as a crime and that is too hardcore for me.

- Any future plans you can tell us about?

R: I want to finish off my uni degree and then move back to London as there are more opportunities for me to make a living from my art here. I don't need to make a lot of money, just enough to pay the bills and give me free time to create more art through illustrations, commissions and putting on solo shows. To me that's the main thing and I will be a very happy woman!

Rabodiga : http://www.flickr.com/photos/rabodiga

Shades Of Things To Come

End Of The Line curated an excellent show in November this year entitled, ‘Shades Of Things To Come' at the Maverik Showrooms, London . I was really looking forward to this show after seeing the mainly European-based contingent lineup of Aryz, Biser, Bom.K, Does, Nychos & Rabodiga; and UK artists; Probs & Tizer. After seeing what they could do at the Meeting Of Styles, earlier this year, I knew that the show would be a stunner. Luckily enough, I am happy to say that for once, I think I was right! I actually went three times; the first was for the packed opening night and the second was for a proper look & the third was to buy a couple of prints and merchandise. All the artists brought their own unique style and methods to the blend and when placed within the clean and warm surroundings of the split-level gallery, the outcome was a stunning. Instead of listening to me talking too much about it, please check out some of the pictures from the show and you can come to your own conclusions...

Written by Selph

Translated by Anja Parchet & Aya Otaka

Photos of Show by Toby Summerskill