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All Images, courtesy of ELNA*

I stumbled across ELNA*’s work earlier this year on Flickr… and was immediately impressed. There’s an awful lot of talent on Flickr and it’s really hard to stand out - but ELNA definitely does with his bold lines, bright colors, and clean designs and street art… Design that’s good enough to have just landed him a gig with MATIX CLOTHING! I approached him about an interview and he was down.

I told him that his interview would post several weeks ago, but my life has just been crazy - so here, finally, is the long overdue ELNA interview… enjoy! -B

7 QUESTIONS INTERVIEW: ELNA*

1.) NAME/AGE/LOCATION

My name is ELNA. I’m 22 years old, raised and living in Jerusalem, Israel…

2.) WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN UP TO LATELY WITH YOUR ART?

I study motion graphics (visual communication) in Bezalel Academy of Art & Design. I’m now starting my 4th and final year. Working as a freelance graphic designer doing CD covers, invitations for parties, posters, shirts, boards, etc. all the time. Otherwise, I’m working on my own projects: stickers, design, paintings, and fine art.

Right now I’m in Malaga, Spain; before I was in Paris and I paste lots of stickers in the city… and I’m always trying to work with new people like seb from Aurora Collective.

3.) HOW’D YOU GET STARTED IN ART?

I think that the fact that I grew up without TV really helped… I don´t really know why, but since I was kid I was drawing, building, and collecting stuff.

4.) IS THERE ANYTHING YOU’RE TRYING TO COMMUNICATE THROUGH YOUR WORK?

To do as much as I can; but to bring beauty to the streets in the process…

5.) WHAT’S BEEN ON YOUR MIND LATELY RE: SOCIETY, POLITICS, ETC.?

I’m aware of the fact that I’m from Israel, and people really wanna know my opinion and stuff; let’s skip this one ’cause, after all, we are talking about design & art… The only thing I can say is that the people up there (the politicians) are thieves…

6.) WHAT’S NEXT FOR YOU? UPCOMING SHOWS? COLLABS?

I’m working all the time for myself; I want to continue working in both medias - screen and print. Want to keep developing my style and to work on diverse projects…

Right now I’m doing some boards; I’m hoping to set up an exhibition really soon; I’m really into shoe design and would like to work more on that. I need to finish studying this year (which takes a lot of energy and time) and maybe move to Paris or somewhere in Europe - someplace with good skate spots where I can talk French or Spanish…

7.) INFLUENCES? (THANK YOU’S?)

I try to get inspired by everything: traveling around the world, my origins, music, food, people who do beautiful stuff, football & skateboarding, typography, the streets, colors, photo & video, graphics, people close to me….. There are a lot of artists I really like; some good typographers, directors, artists (including street artists), sculptors; also many books, sites and mags, fashion designers etc…

Music is huge; it’s changing all the time, but I’m really into: TTC, Tekilatex, Oxmo Puccino, Gonzales, Josh Martinez, Kid Koala, Mazzy Star, Tommy Guerrero, Vicente Amigo, El Nino Josele. All the legends of hip-hop, jazz, Spanish music, techno, electronica (damn my iPod is full!).

I’ve gotta represent our local music: Vulkan, Hadag Nahash, PR Trooperz, Mercedes Band, Nigel, cohen@mushon, Taboo+, Zehava Ben, Karolina, Markey Funk, Balkan Beat Box, AK Duck, Tommer Yossef, Kings of the Round Table, Souliko Crew, Arik Ainstein, Enuma Elish and many, many more…support your local music!

It’s hard to write down everyone’s name ’cause i don´t wanna forget anyone! But big ups to Gili’s Skateshop who support me all the time. Thanks to Tony from Matix! Thanks to everyone who deals with me… especially Ziggy.

ELNA*’s LINKS: http://flickr.com/elna

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