Michiel Folkers (or Gieler) was born in 1982 in Zeist, a small place near Utrecht in The Netherlands. In the nineties skateboarding and graffiti were common and popular pursuits in his neighborhood. He started experimenting with graffiti in the late nineties. For years, he remained active spraying letters on walls. When he got older, and more ‘mature’ and tired of the fights that are accompanied with graffiti, he was looking for something else and slowly graffiti evolved in street art. The friendlier en less illegal character of street art attracted Michiel above graffiti. Besides, working with stencils was a much better technique to get more details done better and faster.
In addition to coloring walls, Michiel began experimenting on canvas. He started by painting a series called ‘anti-heroes’. Focussed on B-listed celebrities / ‘famous’ people from Holland. “In popart everyone was painting Jim Morrison or Marilyn Monroe. So I thought it would be more striking to paint unpopular celebrities”. It worked, in a way that people started noticing his art, but nobody would hang a B-Listed actor from Holland on his or her wall.” The stencilling style was also over its peak in his opinion, and slowly he started experimenting with new different techniques, like collage.
Beste & Populairste Kunst Website van het Jaar 2019!
