3Fala - 3f (third wave) - THE ART OF THE STREET

The team 3Fala was born in 1998 in Bielsko-Biała in the southern part of Poland. But we began our adventure with graffiti much earlier. In the second half of 1980s stencils  appeared with political, ecological and antimilitary messages.
In that time some of us Already run on streets painting their pictures on walls.
The time passed and streets, districts, wagons and pieces of concrete have been flooded by the second wave of graffiti. Tags, silvers and murals - made it like real America. It was colorful but generally without paying attention to social issues - although there were some acceptions.
We create the current, that is the third wave in Polish graffiti (this is where the name of our group comes from) which responses to political and social issues. We try to reach people with our message to let them notice important issues and to have good fun from this. From time to time we help financially some of humanitarian activities. What is more, we don't only use one kind of technique. We cut down stencils http://www.3fala.art.pl/techniki.php?technika=szablony. We paint directly from a paint can. We make stickers  http://www.3fala.art.pl/techniki.php?technika=naklejki and posters http://www.3fala.art.pl/techniki.php?technika=plakaty.

We create our techniques like: gluing of ceramic masks, mirrors with scratched text http://www.3fala.art.pl/techniki.php?technika=lusterka, and stones with hammered symbols. We also use the fastening of "Kramelka", which is a wooden "peg" with a flag which is moved by wind and brings positive energy to city space. All the time we develop creatively and we invite other people to cooperation. http://www.3fala.art.pl/techniki.php?technika=kramelki

We have got our code: we avoid newly built walls, antique and sacred objects. Wind twists us not drugs. We search for places in the streets in which our stencils will survive as long as possible. We do our job without orthodoxy and selling ass. We do it only when we feel like it and when we 've got free time and if there is creative inspiration. The season of a year, a time of a day or a night are not important.

3Fala  (3F)

- In general graffiti is a tool to teleport thoughts, ideas of our own posture. We do our job looking for a place in a city. We create reality filling the space with positive message. In our space of freedom, you will not find drugs, violence and all that shit which is offered by McWorld.

-  We are the creators of the new wave in graffiti art. It looks like it's renaissance of the thing well  known in the history of graffiti which is STENCIL. The message of  stencil is quite simple but gives a lot of possibilities.Although it shoots it doesn't kill. It just shows values, prompts, fascinates by graphics, it's funny and at the same time it holds ambiguities back. Maybe it's ok that it shoots only the attentive. Those who can see, ormight think it's important for them.

- Above all for me working in 3 WAVE team, it's committing myself on social living and interference to the coming McWorld.
For me personally it's developing creativity , expression, the art of observing and finally it's fantastic fun. Everything that comes under my small knife has got a positive   message.
 Generally what I do is a kind of watching individual exposures of the movie which is called LIFE. Ideas of my graffiti are personal and expressive reaction to everything that is important and valuable for me in this moment.

- We are a group of friends. We are a team composed of units. We are the tribe of Third Wave. We are not members of any subculture. 3 Wave is tribal culture.
- We are in different ages from seven till 30 years old. We have got men, women, boys, girls and children.

- The composition of the group is complex, we represent different age groups - from kindergartens to thirty agees. U'll find men, women, kids, boys and girls amongst us. From old to youths, Yooo-hoooo-hooos!
- Third Wave group has started for creative expression and to say people what is important for us. We also want to influence people who see our art. Finally we work to develop ourselves.

- We give a piece of  ourselves to this work - it's clear that it's art. But on the other hand it's not that important whether it's art or not! We want to create reality and defend some values. And we do it by art. Graffiti of  3 Wave is socially involved art.

- The existence is our favorite subject. There are a lot  of pictures. In some of them the meaning  is the most important - the idea. And the others have been made because of the brilliant form.

- A place, facture of a wall and color of paint (ozone friendly) mostly depend on the subject of stencil.
For example:
A comic story about pickpockets has been painted on bus stops.
The stencil "12 monkeys" always red like on the movie.
The stencil "Adrenalina rush" has been mostly painted on walls with thick invoice - it's an easy and big graphic.
The long and narrow one about anorexia has been specially made to paint on gutters.
Generally we look for places where we do not destroy somebody's property. Then our pictures aren't repainted so fast. However we sometimes choose "hard" places, where there is risk to lose a picture very fast, but meanwhile plenty of people can see it.

- Very often we bring on the streets our fascination by "traditional/official" and folk art. The inspirations are movies, music, theatre, paintings and everything what is art for us. Trough graffiti, we want our recipients to take interest on art of artists who gre important to us. It's also our thanks to artists who gave us enormous experiences.

- We want to create reality by creating culture. All kind of social activities more or less influence not only culture but also social living. Moreover sometimes we send some money to organizations which work with  particular problems.
- The art of the street is an excellent way of reaching young people. Illegally and creatively, but with a positive message. What is more is that it's relaxing and joyful to us. Except stencils, we also make stickers, posters, mirrors and Kramelkas "peg". We always look for new kinds of techniques. We use official media but we do not come into the open. We stay in the underground.

- We believe that by making street art we can help, support, teach and whot is more to to people inspire. We have made projects against drugs, war in Kosovo and in Chechnya and occupation in Tibet. There were also pictures against violence, racism and McWorld way of living.

Stone is a touch of an ancient world

In all cultures people used the force of stones. Symbols forged in them gave power to affect reality. They cleared water, drove away bad fortune, marked boundaries, brought luck, healed. In European cultures stone was used by Celts, Germans, Romans, Greeks. Rock engravings emerged prehistorically. Caves, stones and rocks were a perfect place for the artistic expression. Rock engraving is one of the simplest and most solid techniques. Permanence of stones made it possible even for us to admire engraved five thousands years ago stone spirals in the Newgrenge barrow in Ireland, complex patterns of Celtic knots and crosses, symbols from Chinese and Japanese temple stones. They are a testimony of life that took place in their presence. Testimony of the artistic flame, that burns continuously for thousands of years. In Tibet monks forged mantras in stones, prayers, reliefs of Buddah, gods, guards and Buddhist saints. In Tibet one may find stones along roads and caravan routs, close to cloisters and villages, on the high passes of Himalayan Mountains. For ages brought as a sacrifice from pious pilgrims they made "mani" stacks - a name comes from mantra: "OM MANI PADME HUM". Mantras were also engraved in rocks and colored. Colors have a symbolic meaning and are connected with each syllable.

It was a Tibetan monks work that inspired us. We started to forge similar stones in Poland. We stuck them in cities at first, but we found more interesting engraving Tibetan syllables or Celtic knots of infinity in big stones by the streams, river springs, by a mountain routs. The influence of our own country culture made us create the Rosetta of Zakopane on a stone stairs. In time more often we started to sculpt creations of our own imagination - waves layered and penetrating each other, spirals. Working in stone takes concentration. It reminds of meditation. Through this work we create deep contact with surroundings and peacefulness inside ourselves. Stone symbols emanate with beauty and goodness - it makes sculpting free from a stigma of vandalism and closer to the art. Traditions of different cultures entwine in our minds.

The 3 Fala crew (Third Wave crew) - 3F was established in 1998 in Bielsko-Biała. But our adventure with grafffiti have started much earlier. In a second half of the 80-ties we've experienced big boom in Poland for the stencil graffiti with freedom, ecological or antimilitary draft. Almost everything that showed up on the walls at that time had a political meaning. Painting was a little diversion, little stroke given to the communist system. Those years, part of our team was running the streets copying their works on walls already. But time went by and streets, neighborhoods, trains, concretes were flooded by a second wave of painting. Tags, silvers, murals - in one word: America. Colorful but in general - with no social involvement.

We create a stream of the third wave of Polish grafffiti (that's where the name for our group comes from), that reacts on social and political events. We try to get our draft to people. Direct their attention to important things and problems. We also want to be an inspiration for our viewers. We try to inspire actions taken for other's good.

We started to create the street art. We have a lot of fun doing it and we develop our imagination. We do not want to use only one technique. We cut and copy stencils, we paint directly with can, we are stickerers, and we also spread around handmade posters.

Our marker inscriptions about the place and time of action are based on an old writer tradition - which is not only to tag. When Bush wanted to start a war with Iraq, we wrote: "He thought he was converted, but God his heart has deserted. He started a war with Iraq - he'd better keep drinking like mad". One who knows a biography of Bush knows what it is all about. We write on a ceiling: "A phantom of war hangs over us". In Krakow on a screen of TV-set deserted on a street we wrote "too much of America".

We make up and develop our own techniques. We engrave symbols and mantras in stones. We stick ceramic masks on walls and pavements, mirrors with scratched draft. Mirror gets attention because it becomes a moving picture. How many of us doesn't like to look in a mirror? One can't help it - he has to look and what he sees is scratched symbols and inscriptions. We also paint on a glass plates. Plates are later installed on a street. Firstly we work on details at home, gaining higher artistic level, and stuck glass is hard to be removed - so it gives us persistent work. But also more transitory things turn us on. In spite of going in a direction of escalating aggressive street actions, we often choose discreet actions. We buckle "plics" (original spelling) with flags filled with good wishes. Flags moved by a wind fill the city atmosphere with positive energy, like prayer flags in Tibet. "Plics" are adapted cloth clips - painted, with added bells, leaves or crystal beads. Anyone may take it from a gutter, street sign or tree branch and take home. We also paint projects on empty paint cans and we leave them in different places. We install "kotacze" - birds made of sticks, roots and twine. There's a long list because we are continuously developing and inviting different people to cooperate with us.

Remaining anonymous, without embarrassment we use official media to spread some projects. We act this way to widen the public for our peace or anti-drug draft. We called in for the human rights broken in Chechenya and Tibet, we asked for help for victims of war in Kosovo. We shouted out our disagreement with racism, xenophobia, Iraq war, with violence between Palestine and Israel spiraling out of control, with consumption attitude to life. Our actions are not only artistic. From time to time we provide also a financial support for humanitarian aid actions.

We have our code: stay away from fresh roughcasts, monuments and sacral objects. The wind make us high, not drugs. We search out places, where our stencils will make a street more "alive".

Do your job with no orthodoxy and putting out.