Dolar One - Graffiti Artist Interview

December 2008

Interview with Dolar, an active graffiti artist from Alicante in Spain who began writing on the streets 1985 with the likes of TUF Group, 156 Crew and DNE Crew but who now conveys his own important message through the power of graffiti.

"Hello, your savior is Jesus" by Dolar

How old are you?

33 years old.

Where are you based?

Alicante, Spain.

How long have you been painting / writing?

I started to draw graffiti style sketches in 1985 and then seriously started writing by 1988.

How did you get into graffiti and what made you start painting?

When the first wave of breakdance films and music coupled with graffiti styles of warfare reached Spain that encouraged me to paint, it was like a calling on me.

Where did you paint your first piece?

I painted my first pieces in neighborhood streets I hung out in, indeed horrible.

How would you describe your style?

Some christened it "the square" because I started interspersing letters with squares.

How did you choose the name Dolar?

My birth name is Seth and I had always added the two sticks to the S making a $.

Do you write under any other names?

Seth in the year 85, with the $ letter and then in early 90's I went to using "Dolar" in signatures, on walls and on stickers.

"Seth" by Dolar

Wildstyle graffiti piece by Dolar

Do you write with any crews and if so which ones?

I wrote with:

TUF Group with REK of the Wild Style Crew from Chicago who lived in my town of Alicante
Loco13 from 156 Crew
DNE Crew which included writers from Barcelona, Italy and France

Have you done many collaborations with artists overseas or travelled abroad for your art and if so then where is the most exciting or interesting place you have painted?

A collaboration I remember with most affection is when I painted alongside Jon156 from the legendary Bronx and Ash2 from the BBC Crew in Paris as part of an exhibition with other writers from across Spain.

What are your feelings about the current Spanish graffiti scene?

In recent years much has changed and at this point graffiti has lost touch of the street, becoming more commercial.

Have you at any point stopped painting graffiti?

After painting in a jam in 1993 and being featured in the Psicographik fanzine my heart was empty because it had reached where it wanted to be, it was then I started to look to God and I am now dedicated to 100% in the evangelical church. Finding God stopped me from committing vandalism by doing illegal graffiti and instead I devoted myself to convey the message of salvation in Jesus through graffiti.

"Hello, your savior is Jesus" by Dolar

What do you see as your greatest achievement to date?

Only certain graffiti manages to reach its intended targets so I believe the greatest achievement is to be able to write with a different message, something like "Hello, your savior is Jesus". My greatest achievement has been to convey something more than my name through graffiti.

Many writers reach a sense of achievement by painting exhibitions or jams, but I now believe my achievements are no longer so empty.

My greatest achievement has been to convey something more than my name through graffiti.
Dolar

What are your thoughts on graffiti being just a likely to be found in a gallery as on the streets these days?

For me graffiti in the galleries is good but it is when it is in the street that it is for the people.

There seems to have been a sudden surge of interest in graffiti and street art recently, why do think this is?

For the "fashion" and "commercial" element. At the end of the 80's we graffiti artists were being sent to police stations by the of the laws of the government because at that time graffiti was not fashionable and was not commercial. In today's current climate of fashion and of what I have seen in some commercials the government bear the graffiti a little more.

Even though graffiti seems to have been more widely accepted there still appears to be a very fine line between those who see graffiti as art and those who see it as vandalism, what are your views on this?

Art is when someone allows you to paint graffiti on their property and becomes vandalism when someone does not want you to paint on their property, I have lived both of these scenarios.

For about the last two years I have preached every week in prisons about Jesus and I am with men who have done a lot of illegal things and committed many crimes and I have seen the tears of relatives and family, so from the heart I can say that if something is illegal it usually has worse consequences and just causes more problems.

Do you prefer doing legal or illegal pieces?

All of my life I preferred illegal graffiti until I began to know Jesus, as happened to many writers and rappers in the Bronx such as Kurtis Blow, Run DMC and more…

Have you ever 'felt the long arm of the law' because of your art?

On many occasions… sometimes I fought, other times I found my legs and my fitness (running) or some other method helped me escape!

Do you try to keep your identity anonymous where possible?

Today it is not an issue, I stopped keeping my identity anonymous because my problems with the law were behind me.

Do you see yourself as an artist or a graffiti writer?

Graffiti writer.

Graffiti piece by Dolar

Which other artists work do you admire?

Lovepusher from UK, for the reason that we have both come to know Jesus and paint with a different message.

Which other graffiti artists would you most like to work with if given the chance?

I'd like to work with Cope2 and T-Kid because they keep alive the style of the street.

What is your preferred medium for making marks with?

Today, Montana but at the end of the 80's and beginning of the early 90's it was a privilege to paint with older Krylon.

Do you have a favorite piece of all time?

Each one is special mainly because of the stories surrounding each of them… the life I have lived in order to paint the pieces I do now and the illegal work I have carried out in my past. My work now has a meaning for others and a special message.

What are you working on currently and what plans do you have for the future?

Today I am an evangelical pastor and through that I have been doing mission trips to Africa, Equatorial Guinea and Sierra Leone. I do a radio program Monday through Friday for one hour every day and I also visit jails to tell my experiences of how I got out of the streets. I help to organize hip-hop events in order to preach Jesus and I use my graffiti in this as a way to convey a message to other young people whose lives are empty.

My future has the same goal, which is to use graffiti as a tool to heal broken homes with a powerful message… "Hello, your savior is Jesus".

Anything else you would like to add?

Just to greet your whole team and say God bless you all.