Estria Mayashiro
All great men get inspiration from the masters that came before them. Artists of today have the great privilege of admiring old world painters like Gauguin and ground breaking painters like Picasso.
Many graffiti artists break ground by extrapolating what moves them in nature, works of other artists and infuse their findings into their own creativity. For Estria, Paul Gauguin one of the artists at the forefront of the modern art movement, is the stepping stone for the new frontiers he traversed in the name of graffiti. When asked who he used as motivation or inspiration for his own work, he explained that Van Gogh’s letters gave him a lot of insight into his art and served as a narrative blue print to his artistic palate, “I read every one of this letters and watched every movie that I could possibly watch,” says Estria, “I studied a little of his style, too.” He even took note of the artist rivalry had between Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso, who’s tit for tat forged a path for a new form of art that would be called “cubism.” This same rivalry is analogous to the friendly rivalry between members of crews that pushes the other to create better art and use new techniques.
Ins’t it funny also how Gauguin spent the majority of his years on the Polynesian island of Tahiti and Estria is a Hawaiian native? Estria’s canvas no doubt being partially influenced by Polynesian art and culture.
Estria Mayashiro
An intangible aspect of the inspiration Estria derives from historic painters is exemplified in his tireless drive. He freely admits to hardly sleeping and thinking of nothing but working on his next project. Spending day and night painting would characterize Estria as something of a work-a-holic and personifies his commitment to art.
Estria himself has already made history, breaking ground with art tools by co-creating the “stencil tip,” or “skinny cap,” which allows for an ultra-thin line to be painted and changed the entire aspect of technique and design.
History and those who make it are used as a stepping off point for the pioneers of today. One day far from now Picasso, Van Gogh and Gauguin will be welcoming a new comrade into the hall of fame; Estria. And thereafter, artists will be using Estria as inspiration for their work… and so the cypher will continue.
