The Style Savant: SHAN

SHAN:

FEW AND FAR

Artist feature

What do you write, where are you from?

“..I'm Shan, I grew up right outside of Chicago..”

How long have you been painting? What got you started? 

I've been painting for 16 years 1/1/2009 I have an exact date... yes, I celebrate my paint anniversary haha.

 It all started after moving to Chicago for college, my roommate Dana use to tag a little here and there and she had introduced me to a lot of her graffiti writer friends.  One night they passed me the marker on our way home from a party and I tagged my name on everything.  After that I got a black book and started actually sketching  for like 8 months.  I then learned how to make ink and was doing mop tags for a few weeks, someone  passed me a can one night when we were out doing mop tags I did my first spray tag. That hyped me up so the next day I decided I wanted to do my first roof to kick off the new year so we went out on new years eve with a group of like 5 other writers to paint a roof top.  After that I was hooked.

What does “graffiti” mean to you?   

Graffiti to me means looking at the whole world as your canvas, making friends, traveling, looking at everything around you for color scheme inspiration, thinking of ways to bend and connect different letters, and to never stop learning and growing.  Graffiti is not just about getting up or painting, but also the adventures and stories that come with it.

How do you define “Style”?

When I think of style I think funky, bendy, intertwining, leaning, with flow.

What is your proudest achievement (number of spots, something massive etc)? 

 I use to count how many freights in a year I could do, one year I did over a hundred which is a lot for me, but I don't really count that as an achievement anymore.  My biggest achievement is traveling to other countries painting and making friends with writers all over.  I have only had a passport for 3 years and I really look forward to future travels. 

What's your Dream paint spot?

  Well that's probably Puerto Rico, beautiful weather, scenery, vibes, food, painting then going snorkeling after would be ideal. 

Via Vandalog - HD Crew

What keeps you motivated through creative burnout/slumps?  

I don't really get burnt out on graffiti really but I do get burnt out doing art commissions sometimes so I  just switch it up, focus on letters more, work on characters , maybe work on a dog portrait or something , and if all else fails then I'll just go on extra runs with my dogs, I enjoy running it clears my mind

How has graffiti affected your mental health? (finances, relationships, career etc) 

Graffiti has only improved my mental health its a great way to relieve stress.  My mental health would be worse if I just sat on the couch but I'm going out going on a nature hike/ adventure to go find some trains and maybe see some cute animals on the way.  

 It has  affected my finances, but  sometimes  we might get a little mural  gig then use the leftover paint for trains or walls, so it has also helped finances in a way too or at least even it out.  Paint to pay for more paint, you know. 

   As far as relationships I feel like it has helped me, my husband and I have developed and continue to develop great teamwork painting together and we help push each other too.  I have made a lot of friendships as well.   

As far as career it really hasn't affected me Im maybe more responsible now where I don't paint all night on work nights, or maybe I'm getting old haha.

Any chase stories or strange encounters while out painting?  

I just had a very weird experience recently,  We went to paint a bando when we were in Mexico, a local writer told us to go check out that spot. 

  We finally find out how to get back there start painting and like 3 guys show up taking videos with their phone I thought they were going to say wow cool, but no they told us to get the hell out and they protect that bando we need to leave, but it wasn't their property either.  This building was literally crumbling with holes in the floors, garbage and liquor bottles  everywhere, no roof 100% painted up.

  I ask if we can have 10 more minutes ( just needed to outline)  they whistled and got more guys.  So we go out of the bando by the beach and even more people are there yelling and filming us. They escorted us out of the whole town practically, it was a very weird situation. 

How do you balance Graffiti with your day to day life? 

Still working on that... there isn't enough hours in the day for me to do everything I want to do.  

What kind of affect has this practice had on your life? Positive or negative?

 All positive!!   Graffiti has helped bring me great friends, my husband I even met while painting, graffiti has improved my art, and has got me to explore more and go on fun adventures 

Where do you hope to see the future of Graffiti?  

I hope to see people teaching one another and passing down the knowledge

If you could give your younger self, day1 writer any advice.. What would you tell yourself?

Don't get drunk and paint, don't do so many arrows, and black isn't that fun of an outline color.

Who's your favorite writer(s)? Additionally- Any slept on writers we should know about? 

So many amazing writers I don't even want to list. 

Shoutouts: Seiz, Cisa, Few& Far, and to my dogs Selia, Gusto, Daisy, and Sadie.

Bonus: Dream paint session with what writer(s) dead or alive? 

I think Ive always wanted to paint with tats cru,  I had got their dvd when I was first starting out and they really inspired me! I would also love to paint with Mad C and Musa. 

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