His long years hopping from Paris to London and to the rest of Europe has seen him involved in many diverse projects, whether it be 3D computer animation for a year with Pierre Buffin (Buf Compagnie) from spring 1987, briefly assisting photographer Jean-Baptiste Mondino in 1990, or creating a backdrop for a short film by Costa Gavras in 1991, celebrating the 25th anniversary of Amnesty International.

In 1989, he was asked to paint different murals around the suburbs of Paris for the bicentennial of the French Revolution. His skills were a valuable tool in creating bridges between the many youth clubs he worked for and their local population. He was asked to participate in “graffiti-workshops” also, but became quickly aware that many ideas coming from the different socio-cultural institutions regarding youth tend not to be in touch with the reality of things, and do not guarantee any long-term solutions to the problems of the inner-cities. He therefore took a step back from work of this kind, and went travelling instead, painting on different hip hop events around the world, and using the opportunity to meet others sharing the same concerns that he has about the future. He insists on applying his ideas for social and cultural reform and evolution through the culture itself, taking part in many conferences on the culture, pushing the ideas through the murals themselves (such as a 50m-long underpass for the city of Waneroo in Western Australia in January 1995), or giving advice and consultancy on the organisation of events.

He was one of the key speakers for the “Hip Hop; A Cultural Expression” seminar held at Cleveland State University in September 1999, having already been on the discussion panels at other events such as the B-Boy Summit in San Diego in 1996 and 1997. His knowledge of the culture, and his outspoken ideas and visions regarding the future of the culture make him a regular invitee to such debates. The history that he has lived alongside his contemporaries within this omnipresent culture makes characters such as himself rare pools of knowledge and understanding of a form of expression that many talk about, but so few hold any grip onto its history or its dynamics.

Community-based work has been high on his agenda. From 1997 to 1999 he participated in and ran mural workshops in Belfast, Northern Ireland, bringing children from both sides of the political divide there to take part in the discussion and execution of ideas for the murals he did in the city. He also had a one-man exhibition at the Old Museum Arts Centre, as well as holding a conference there on graffiti-writing, mural art, and their role in the community. He went on to paint a large mural in 2002 in the town of Omagh around the theme of peace, reconciliation, and looking forwards to the future. The project involved a lot of dialogue with many different actors of the local community, as well as some of the victims’ families themselves. During work on this project, his feelings towards socio-cultural initiatives as emotionally sensitive as this mural-painting have brought him to think deeply over the their role in our lives.

Mode 2 believes that there is a present and growing need for a“re-humanisation” of the cities that we live in, as society become more and more individualistic and consumer-driven, and the notion of community gradually disappears, leading to growingsocial disillusion. The majority of visual language that we see in public space is used for the sale of products through billboard ads and shop signs, or else purely directional and informative signs regarding traffic and so on.As far as youth goes especially, Mode 2 feels there is a need to integrate visual and graphic images by way of murals, ceramics, stained glass, or sculpture into educational, sports, and cultural centres, whereby the youth that these centres depend on would feel in harmony with the look and feel of the buildings that they’re in. These initiatives would need to be carefully put into place, though, so that only artists and urban architects who really have an affinity with this kind of vision, and realise the importance of its implication into our urban landscape, would be shortlisted for these projects. We have witnessed so many initiatives trying to use “Hip Hop” and other urban cultures on the socio-cultural level that have failed in their intentions.

Since 1996 Mode 2 has also been teaching himself computer skills, working mainly with the Swifty Typografix studio at the time, alongside names such as Swifty himself, Fred Deakin (Lemon Jelly) or Mitch, getting back into doing graphic work such as record sleeves, advertising and logos for certain specific brands and services, and illustrations for magazines and flyers. As he has constantly continued to draw by himself, inspired by all that goes on around him, he has found it easy to fit into the environment of graphics and design, customising that environment to tie in with his own distinctive style. Though walking around with his ethics and artistic integrity at the top of his agenda, Mode is constantly on the look-out for new and interesting projects that will challenge, diversify and stretch his body of work even further. He is tired of getting called on for boring and uninspiring projects revolving solely around urban issues, when those calling on him do not have him involved at higher decision-making positions whereby he could shape a project that could work efficiently, and have long-term artistic and socia-cultural merit.

While working at Sartoria in Modena, Italy, he initiated the DEFUMO project, working alongside Delta and Futura, with the support of Sartoria and Slam Jam, in creating a project involving the painting of a club called MORE over a week-long period. The whole process was filmed and has had an exhibition and catalogue, as well as a website and limited edition DVD made around it. It was an attempt by Mode to take part in a project that pushed beyond the usual boundaries of what he has usually been asked to do on walls.

In the summer of 2002, Mode collaborated with the photographer Harri Peccinotti on the Damiani Calendar project, executing drawings of a model as Peccinotti took pictures. The result was a back to back calendar of their work that went on sale while  lucky few received a 9kg free-standing version of the calendar, with twenty four months giving the viewer the choice of the drawings or the photos at the turn of a hard and rigid glossy page. The project can also be viewed on a website called “thecalendar.nu”.

This Series of tees presents three of Mode 2’s erotic sketches, ‘Kneel’, ‘Retour Au Bic’ and ‘Service with Extra Smiles’ exclusively re-mixed and reworked for Addict...