REBEL INK - interview
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1. Rebel ink is a project which consists of four people, could you please introduce yourselves.

Luca: The Rebel ink projected was formed in 2003 and consists of Luca Barcellona (Bean One) and Francesca Gandolfi who do calligraphy, Marco Klefisch who is responsible for the illustrations, and Rae Martini who does the writing. Probably tired of classical graffiti which we love, but after many years of being emerged in it we started to look for something new. We all put our different experiences together into creating a spontaneous performance using the skills of several different fields. We get it in clubs, with people dancing, drinking, and looking what is happening on the surface that we were writing; we moved a lot in Italy performing in awful and striking places, and we said “It’s cool”.
We immediately loved the synergy caused by acting on the same surface, respecting and perceiving each others work. It’s not simple, and especially in the early show the magic didn’t happen. I think that this was very much a cause of our wish to interact with one another. And there were really no other exhibitions that we were able to compare ourselves to, and therefore learn from some of their mistakes. Many times your mood can be a very critical one concerning your final work. But once we really understood the formula, the result for us was just great.
Francesca: I’m a calligrapher. My love for letters and their form started probably when I was a child. I really didn’t know what it was, it was just the playing around with letters and forms, but I liked. When I grew up, I was always attracted by graffiti and writing but I never tried to do that because I didn’t know anybody who would teach me.
I started seriously with calligraphy when I met the Italian Society of Calligraphers (Associazione Calligrafica Italiana) in 1994 and from that moment on I fell in love with nibs, quills, pens and inkwell, with formal scripts and experimental works.
When I met Luca, he introduced me to his world and at the same time I showed him the fantastic world of calligraphy. (Now Luca is one of the best calligraphers that I know) Our common interest and passion for letters and their forms automatically created a strong link, and then came “Rebel Ink”, an original way to combine writing, calligraphy and illustration.
Luca also introduced me to Marco and Rae and together we tried to produce something new: which was exciting! The successful idea of Rebel Ink is to perform live. And it is also very much based on improvisation, it is the point where every one of us feels each other.
Normally my part is to write with different markers or brushes making shapes that someone else will use in a next step or to complete another one with a very decorative effect. I like to write isolated words or a thick text. If one can read and understand it, is not always important to me. At the end, it just has to be fine and cool!
Rae: I started painting illegally on the streets and on trains, in 1991. From day one on I have been addicted to wild style. Now I’m a painter doing national and international shows.
Rebel Ink is a wonderful experience, we melt our different creative experiences and then we focus them on a functional result, freestylin’!
It’s a challenge to our limits, a beautiful way to communicate with different kinds of Medias: I’m involved in Rebel Ink with the most technical aspect of my creations, writing, I mean the letter structure’s evolution painted with spray cans.
Synergy, energy, control, freestyle, and respect for our partner’s creation, big white paper sheets or canvases, fusion, rhythm: that’s what Rebel Ink is all about.

2. Your works are a collaboration of graffiti, illustration and calligraphy. Before you start painting together, do you set a certain theme? Is there anybody in particular that usually does the first line?

Luca: Only sometimes we decide on which space to fill and which space to leave empty, and therefore also who does the first line. This can take up to one or two hours, usually depending on the complexity of the matter. As Klefisch says, it is like improvising in a jazz quartet, you have to be able to catch the others feelings and be inspired by them. This is really not something that you can prepare at home by yourself. Although, we have tried it before, and it just simply does not work. You can make mistakes in front of the others, or you can be amazing at the same time, but all of this in a live situation, the issue being that there is really no way to cheat.
It’s a beautiful and ruthless reality, but that’s just simply the way it is.
Rae: Rebel Ink is a spontaneous way to unplan a complex artwork, to respect rules that ain’t written but strongly felt; our theme is our experience from different backgrounds whose common denominator is the streets.
Our main theme is to get a functional esthetic result using our tools: what we learned practicing on our limits and mistakes facing a 4 artist’s fusion.

3. You mostly paint inside. Is it because of the surface, (does it need to be really flat?) or do you think that this type of work fits more into the space of a gallery?

Luca: Well, Of course when you use markers and brushes you must have a smooth surface. For me calligraphy belongs on paper. If you want to do it in a larger scale, you just need a bigger piece of paper. But we can also use canvases or sometimes we even use wood.
A cool DJ to follow our lines and having good lighting can make a big difference as well. We can definitely perform better when the place is suitable for it.

4. How is your relationship with the scene in your city? Do you as Rebel Ink collaborate with other artists?

Luca: We did many Rebel Ink sessions with other calligraphers and tattoo artists; it is important to us to compare ourselves with artists that we like. And you will never know the outcome unless you try it. Sometimes strange things can happen.
We took different way in life. I am doing lettering art, and I am interested in typography. So, I try to get inspired by people which do the same job as I do, which has also become a great passion of mine.

5. What do you think about Praha? Some of you have been here before…

Luca: Together with Spice and Cleph from my crew VDS I visited Praha in the year 2000. We have seen Terorist Magazine and I remember it being a big shock to us. Italian graffiti just looked so boring next to yours, but I guess it is the rule that the grass is always greener on the other side. I liked the city but at that time I was mainly captured by the Praha writers freedom in the design of letters, simply attacking them without any fixed rules. It also influenced my graffiti sketches, but thankfully I then got out of the tunnel.

Odkazy:
http://www.lucabarcellona.com
http://www.thereislifeon.com
http://www.raemartini.com