The outskirts of Valencia are a surprisingly fruitful ground for great graffiti characters. I remember stumbling upon these awesome, freakish characters, by the likes of Napol and Omega. When we recently posted up a picture of Omega’s art we were pointed towards more of his work. We caught up with the Valencian artist to get some insight on his early days as an artist, his current work and his inspiring home town.

I was born and live in Valencia.  I have been drawing all of my life – since I was a child.  Back then I created superheroes, warriors, monsters, football players, designs for sneakers and even terrorist groups! Drawing has always been a major part of my life. It’s more than a way to earn a living; for me it’s a way to understand life.  I was studying for a degree in arts when I met Medio (TBS Crew) and in 2006 I started painting graffiti.  Even before that, I was using the name of Omega as nickname for my alter ego. I always liked the symbolism of the character Omega and the fact that I could use it like an icon.

I live in Ruzafa, a neighborhood of Valencia, but I usually paint in Sedaví, a small town close to Valencia, where all the members of my crew live: they have more than 13 years of experience.  Even though it’s a small town, there are a lot of old walls that we can keep painting.  It’s a special place and it has a long tradition; in fact it was there where I saw graffiti for the first time (on the bus on the way to the school).

My works mainly consist of handmade illustrations on paper, some of them digitally colored, and on canvas.  I think of walls like a big support that takes part in the space, takes over the street and capturing the attention of people passing by.  Part of the magic of painting in the street is the excuse to meet friends, work together with different people, having fun and sharing the last things we created. That is very different from working alone in the studio!

My influences are very diverse. I see all sides of art as something vital for humans, from the paintings of Bacon, Ribera, Rembrandt, Otto Dix, Greco, Bosco, Ramon Casas, Freud, Saville, or the illustrations of Moebius, Grosz, Banyai, Toriyama, Jamie Hewlett, Daumier, Lautrec, Giger, Crepax, Geof Darrow, Escher, to cinema, music and photography. Regarding graffiti characters, I like the work of Bom.k, Aryz, Logan, Sawe, Mode2, San… and the writers Horfé, Zoer CSX, Roid, Storm, Revok, etc.

On walls my characters are influenced by my studio works, where I work in a more detailed and intensive way. I’m interested in people, regardless of whether or not there are actual humans there. I mean I’m interested in faces, hands, skin but also the clothing and the spaces where people move. In summary: to show the darkest side of things and be able to laugh about it; the key is to show it all in a funny way.

I work without sketches or any preconceived ideas, improvising depending on the size of the wall and the paint that I have. I like to have freedom to adapt it, without having to stick to the sketch.

In the few years that I have been painting in the street I have noticed the evolution in my technique, understandably, but I’m not yet fully pleased with the final result.  I’m obsessed with the things I do and I always prefer quality than quantity.  My next goal is to improve through bigger walls and by dedicating more time to them.  Evolution does not stop!

Valencia has good people making art, for example: people in my crew TBS (Medio, Home, Base, Mores), Luce, Bichos, Veak, Tima, Tupa, Napol, Mexi, and also people in Zaragoza like Orze, Shuz, Iwe, Sope, Powik, Stie and Chino (SFS crew), and Victor Solana. All of my respect to all them!

See more of Omega online at his blog and Facebook.

Thanks to our euro connection, Lee and Dan at Global Street Art for the article. Global Street Art are dedicated to the archiving of graffiti and street art from around the globe. Hit up their Facebook page  for more details and follow them on Twitter.