DARE to be different

As the graffiti movement reached Europe from the USA in the mid 1980s,Sigi "DARE" von Koeding, who was born in Basel (Switzerland), was oneof the protagonists playing a major role. As one of the first writers, thenetwork of friends he created stretched over half a continent. He furtherdeveloped the painting of simple pseudonyms (or tags) and therebyestablished his own distinctive 3D-style that he later more and moreoften realised and perfected on canvas using a brush. In this way he builta bridge from the back-alley atmosphere typical of the scene to the artworld of avant-garde galleries. Graffiti was now not just a special formof claiming territory by adolescents but, under the aegis of von Koeding,it became an urban spectacle with large-scale mural creations, often incombination with well-organised competitions or cultural festivals.On a much smaller scale DARE managed by repeatedly transferring "his"four letters onto canvas, just using layout, form and colouration, to givethe observer an insight into his personality. In this way, until his death in2010, he reached completely new audiences. At the same time, he causeda change of perspective for people interested in culture, who wouldhave automatically associated graffiti solely with vandalism. As a pioneerof the sprayer generation, even today DARE enjoys the highest respect ofhis colleagues. In his hometown of Basel graffitis can be found that after25 (!) years have not been painted over.The book "DARE to be different" will be published in spring 2016 andfor the first time documents, on about 250 pages, graffiti and numeroussketches from all over Europe as well as a large part of Koeding's multifacetedlife's work that he has left to us on canvas.