Herakut is a duo made up of German graffiti artists Hera and Akut, who first met in 2004. It was very clear how different their styles are but that didn’t stop the two from developing both a friendship and a working relationship that, well, worked. They’ve been known as Herakut for almost a decade now and has been very successful in the art scene, participating in several exhibits and art festivals. They have also released two hardbound books — “Herakut – The Perfect Merge” in 2009 and “After The Laughter” in 2011 — that sold more than 10,000 copies.
The two were recently in Manila, opening an exhibit and signing books at The Collective’s Vinyl on Vinyl last Aug. 8, and participating in live paintings in Fully Booked last Aug. 9 and 10.
Coconuts Manila scored some minutes with the very busy artists and got them to share stuff about their style, their work process, and discrimination.
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How different are your styles as artists?
Hera: Complete opposite. My style, everything that I do is more of the sketching and the proportions and the big things so the first start would always be mine and his is everything that looks realistic, that looks like a photo — all the detailed part is his. We always compare it to when we build a creature. I will build the skeleton and he will add the flesh and then the skin.
Do you compromise? Like when one wants something and the other does not.
Hera: We are very serious when it’s about the message so first we talk it through and come to an agreement. That is why there are no compromises, because it’s always two hands more to make a story work, and two eyes more.
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Can you tell us more about your pieces?
Hera: They’re super honest. If we have a bad day, that will be the title of the piece. It’s not like we have to bend over for the art world or anything. We’re good enough with money so we don’t have to suffer if something doesn’t sell. If it doesn’t sell, whatever, you know. It doesn’t matter because we always need enough inspiration to keep us going so we can always also use bad inspiration, bad vibes — they can inspire.
So what’s your process like?
Akut: Usually the start is just talking about the idea, what it’s about. Hera comes up mostly with the idea and then we discuss it together and then if it’s strong enough, which direction it may go, and then Hera comes up with the proportions.
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What makes you special or different from other artists out there?
Akut: We’re a duo. It makes sense that we’ve got two different mentalities and backgrounds so we can see it from more than one angle.
Have you experienced discrimination?
Hera: When we travelled to Israel they put me aside and asked a ton of questions more because I’m not only half-German but I am also half-Pakistani and Pakistani people, after the 9/11 thing they’re not very well appreciated.
Akut: Hera is a girl and the graffiti business is a male business usually and that brings a lot of discrimination points in many different ways.
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Any tip for those who want to get into graffiti and art?
Hera: You don’t need to go through the whole process of art school in order to communicate with someone. You just need a bucket of paint and a brush and friends who will hang out while you’re doing it. It’s always good for young people to first find what they like, and their own style, in a way that they’re very comfortable with it. So when you paint outside you have to know your stuff. You cannot be searching for lines too much coz there’s no eraser. They have to practice by hand, set aside the artsy, artistic ego and just think about the more people you share the process with the more people you can celebrate with when you’re done.
What’s the best thing about what you do?
Akut: Actually there’s a lot of good things. One is that it’s the key to the world. We travel so much through graffiti. I’ve seen a lot of beautiful places all over the world.
