In Pärnu, young artists have more legal opportunities for street art — ERR News

Street artist Kristjan Tamm from Pärnu, Estonia, known as Kryptik, said that young artists now have more legal opportunities to learn street art than at the beginning of his creative career more than 20 years ago. ERR News reports.

From graffiti to workshops

Tamm became interested in graffiti at a time when the internet was not yet common in Estonian homes. During computer science classes, he searched for American graffiti websites and tried to reproduce what he saw. The artist created his first works on abandoned buildings and ruins.

According to Tamm, he had no problems with the police because he carefully chose places to work. Today, young people can experiment legally, including at workshops in youth centers, which the artist himself also runs. This makes it possible to practice without searching for places on the streets at night.

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Commissioned murals

The foundation of Tamm's work remains graffiti, primarily the tradition of creating letters through which artists shape their own names and style. At the same time, street art, according to his observations, has moved beyond classic graffiti, while paints and other tools have become more accessible.

The artist now mostly creates commissioned murals. The appearance of the works is influenced by the location and the client's wishes; frequent subjects include animals and birds. He transformed one of the wastewater pumping stations into an image of an aquarium. Depending on its size, creating a mural takes from one to three days. Rain can cancel a workday, and outdoor projects are suspended in winter, although Tamm works indoors during this period.

Several years ago, Tamm received the Pärnu city cultural award for his creative work. The artist noted that the recognition came as a surprise to him and, in his opinion, demonstrated a significant change in attitudes toward street art in Estonia.