18 “Can I kick it, yes you can”. FUNC and his friends throwing themselves into the @ciki3000 sketch battles. 19–21 POSTR taking it back to the New York underground one tag and throw-up at a time. 22 Creeping on spots that are usually hard. With heavy lockdown restrictions being in place, some Milan yards were left understaffed, and ′open′ to negotiation. 23 When opportunity knocked, ALONE rose to the occasion. 18 Func and his friends took sketching to a new level and added a social aspect since physical contacts were reduced. “During the first lockdown we created a private Instagram account moderated by Crazé and Fred1 called ‘ciki3000 aka Can I kick it 3000’. A bunch of selected stylewriting addicts joined the group, and we battled some names days after days. As much as the rhythm started to be insane, we counted more than 2500 posts at the end of the lockdown with mad styles and creative tries. That was fun and a good way to get to know each other a little bit more. It was basically a French- German initiative project.” Their initiative creatively utilized technology and pushed their individual style developments through interactive feedback. Cloak could benefit from technology as well, but he had a different approach. “I was physically and mentally prepared to go to Taiwan to paint a cruise ship, but unfortunately, I couldn’t make it, and I had to ask my best pals in Taiwan to execute the plan on my behalf. The project was a success at the end, as we had constant communication with each member of the team.” The less people on the streets... the more you stand out. Otherwise, it’s almost like hiding in plain sight. 19 Post 20 21 Writers are usually an adaptive crowd. Overcoming obstacles is constantly part of the game; thus, writers are masters of finding creative solutions. “There was a lockdown. But I was out and about as usual. On my ‘essential worker’ shit. As for bombing I could carry on if I wanted to. I would paint in public in broad day when there was no pandemic. And did the same thing during the pandemic and actually got caught. The less people on the streets... the more you stand out. Otherwise, it’s almost like hiding in plain sight. And at night, everyone had to be indoors. All public transportation was stopped: trains, busses, taxis, Ubers, Lyfts, everything. If you had your own car and were outside, you stood out because any cars were out. So you had to have a reason to be out if you got pulled over, which was something that would most likely happen. That made it difficult to do Graffiti in the streets for a while,” Post explains what kind of problems he faced on the streets of New York. However, he came up with a solution: “If I can’t or don’t want to do Graffiti in the streets, I take it underground. The thing about doing Graffiti underground, is that none of it last past a 48 hours. So most of it, if not 99%, doesn’t get seen or pics taken other than my own pics or pics I allow certain graffiti photographers to go get before the Graff gets cleaned. And in the world of social media, if people don’t see pics of what you are doing nonstop, they will think you are inactive. I like it that way, though. There’s so much shit I’ve done in 2020 that didn’t touch social media.” 26 Montana Cans Lockdown on lock
22 Instead of painting, I concentrated more on some other passions related to the mountains, finding back the freedom I lost twice. Alone 23 “Milan early 2020 was completely fucked up until May. This was the first lockdown, then summer arrived, and more loose rules together with it. I had super much fun painting spots that were super hard before lockdown, security was pretty much understaffed, and we caught the opportunity,” says Alone. Milan, the biggest city in the northern Italian region of Lombardy, was hit the hardest by Corona early on in the pandemic in Europe. A skyrocketing number of infections meant strict restrictions from the beginning. “I did some quick road trips with good friends, and everything was nice again. Then a second lockdown arrived in autumn. I was more organized, and the cops were more chill, but my personal motivation was beaten down by these stupid rules again. Instead of painting, I concentrated more on some other passions related to the mountains, finding back the freedom I lost twice,” he continues. To him, escapism is a means to deal with the stress city life can entail. “So the big issue for me was meeting too much police and army everywhere, always checking even when just walking. This pressure sucks so much; I thought, ‘fuck, Orwell is getting closer and closer’...Train writers deal with adapting to different environments every day. We don’t need open bars or restaurants to do what we like: a bush, a construction area, or a parking lot can be cozier than anything else sometimes, but all this control was way too much in the first, super hard, lockdown in Milan. I respect people who were struggling at Montana Cans Lockdown on lock 27
