Interview with the author Boleta


- Ttsss book seems to be divided in 2 different sections: a first one with articles signed by different authors, a selection of drawings and amazing photos and a second section with 12 different alphabets in the typical Brazilian pixos style. How did you work on this project and how much time did you spend on it?

This book started when the Editora do Bispo saw my agenda. I have had this agenda (and maintained it) for more than ten years. Is where I collect the signatures of various pixadores. The original idea was to make this book solely about the agenda. But one thing leads to another and the project has grown. Joao Wainer already had photos from pixos through out the city and we got together to take some pictures “ in action”. Then the book became more interesting with the agenda and the photos, and the alphabet was a consequence. Nevertheless this alphabet is not definitive since every day there is someone else doing pixo with new forms of writing.

- The study of letters is probably the main focus of this book. In the graffiti world those letters became pretty famous with the OsGemeos and soon several people in the Europe, too, began to follow this style. Could you give us a short history about that maybe explaining the difference between graffiti stuff and street gang stuff?

Pixo is something you do very fast and the stile is always vertical. On the other hand grafiti spreads out the letters and drawings.
Pixo is hell and most people hate it and is considered pure garbage to make some durtiness. But grafiti is not considered that way because has colors and forms, even though both being illegal.

- Ttsss, the name of the book, represents the sound of the spray paint. But most of the pixos words that I could see until today were done with latex paint. Is there any evolution in the type of tools used for that?

It is not really an evolution. Spray is expensive and latex you can find in the garbage.

- How much the city background (in this case Sao Paulo) is important for the develop of a typical style in lettering? And what about in lifestyle in general?

The city background is every thing. The letters are vertical and full of edges by influence of the buildings and the city skyline.


Editora do Bispo
Viale Alemagna, 6
20121 - Milano
Tel: +39 02 724341 | email:info@triennale.it


UPDATE
If you want to go deeper into this writing phenomenon check an article in Eye Magazine n°56 by Francois Chastanet with a long essay and more than 15 photos, illustrations and conferences links.
Check http://www.lpdme.org/fc