A child who used to express his feelings and hidden talent by scratching images on walls and buildings and then running away has, as a young man, metamorphosed into a responsible, award-winning graffiti artist. Mohammed Kamel, a 21-year-old Saudi, who, for the second year, won the SR15,000 first prize at the Graffiti Art Competition, which concluded here at La Promenade II on Al-Tahliya Street at the weekend, spoke to Saudi Gazette about what art means to him. “Graffiti art depends mainly on an issue, an idea or the feeling of an artist. This art is displayed with the use of color sprays that are specifically for writing on walls,” Kamel said, adding that no other materials can be used. “Graffiti art started long ago and might well be an extension of hieroglyphics,” he said. He added that graffiti was once just symbols or letters that represented an idea, but that it has greatly developed especially with the availability of the materials used. Kamel said that he used to play the “hit-and-run game” when he was just eleven years old. “Ten years back, I remember that I was a naughty boy who scratched images on walls and ran away. All my friends were able to recognize my works. I made something of a brand name for myself,” he explained. Kamel said he loves arts and feels that an artist should convey a message. He believes that after his name became known to everyone, he began to think of himself as a real artist. “I then began joining galleries and officially licensed and well-organized exhibitions. I now feel that drawing on the walls of buildings is uncivilized even if the artist's intentions and ideas are good,” he said. Despite this, he defended his childhood behavior saying that it was a way of expressing himself. He added that all his early work was about ideas that he believed in when he was a child. Kamel was known as the Lion Heart when he was young as he used to sign his works by drawing a heart next to a lion; an abstract idea of what he described as “Courage to do unusual things”. He said that his late father, although he was an artist himself, was keen that his son should focus on his studies. However, the child's desire to become more popular, led to the point where he could no longer hide his creativity. “My father did not want me to waste my time over what he believed would have an effect on my future. He refused to allow me to join an academy or an art school. With my persistence, I developed myself through studying the works of others, imitating them and then putting my own ideas on track,” he said. The artist explained the graffiti that won first place in the art competition, saying that the work shows an elderly man coming from the past. “I wanted to open a window through which the old man could see the changes that have taken place in life. It is simply a call for a change for the better,” Kamel said. Kamel, who won the first prize of SR15,000, said that fifty thousand riyals in prizes were presented by Al-Zahid Company, the organizer of the competition. “The prize is a real boost for me, a chance to have a brighter future. It took me more than SR5,000 to create this work of art,” he said.
