Oker
Oker
Biography
OKER has been painting for over 20 years. His throw-ups were all over South London, and with trains running across the city, he has made an incredible contribution to the London scene, influencing many of the younger generation of writers throughout the years. He is one of the very few graffiti writers in England who can call themselves ‘all city’, having been up in every area of London.
OKER claims he turned to graffiti as a form of self medication in his difficult early teenage years. When he walked along the tracks with other like minds, no one was interested in his personal life, this world was purely about him as a graffiti artist, as ‘OKER’.
After a short spell of living in New York and building relationships with the Kings of New York, he then returned to London bringing NYC’s bombing style with him, gaining the respect from artists such as Eine, Barry McGee, KR and Banksy to name a few…
In 2000 he was sentenced for graffiti and in 2013 again for two years for painting on trains. This lead him to rethink his practice, ‘Going Against The Grain’ shows not only OKER’s artistic development, but also a development in the way he thinks about his art and an important step in his artistic practice.
Source: okergsd.comInfluences
To start with my main influences were Furi (my babysitter), Skore TRC from the UK, Ghost R.I.S and JAONE XTC, both from New York. I had two books called "Subway Art" and "Getting Up", which I never tired of, then later on I was heavily influenced by pre-80s New York Subway Graffiti, which I consider to be the purest form of graffiti. Nowadays, I’m more influenced by experience and the people I paint with, but also the people I paint for, it’s priceless the happiness a bit of colour can bring to the community.
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