BIOGRAPHY
Slava Osinski — biography and explication
Vyacheslav “Slava” Osinski, born in Ukraine in 1978, has worked as a street artist in Berlin since 2011. In 2015 he founded SELFMADECREW in order to take part in legal projects. This page summarises his path and the groups of work.
Milestones
From studying art in Ukraine through printing technology to his own artistic work in Berlin.
1978
born in Ukraine (USSR). There he studied art and learned the techniques of drawing, linocut and printing.
1993
he began studying architecture.
1995
Slava and his family emigrated to Germany as quota refugees; as a result he had to abandon his studies. In Lübeck he was taken to a camp together with other newcomers and faced aggressive rejection there.
1998
due to his poor health he developed hearing loss that progressively worsened.
2003
he moved to Berlin.
2004–2007
training as a printing technician. During his apprenticeship he worked in an offset printing company, then for two years in a design studio as a manufacturer of advertising materials. He was constantly painting. Due to his hearing loss he had to give up his work in the production plant and in the team.
2009
he met the German minimalist Stefan Müller in Berlin. The acquaintance turned into a friendship, and Slava began to grapple with the questions of contemporary art.
2010
he started his own creative path and registered as an independent artist.
since 2011
active as a street artist. He defines his credo as a self-taught adventurer who opens up new possibilities and visual techniques. His first stencil works on Berlin streets appeared under the pseudonym “Ostap” (Ostapchenko).
2013
resident at the Urban Spree gallery in Berlin and his first studio. In the following two years several series were produced in urban space: “Spree Can” (2013–2018), “Spreewald Underground” (2013–2018), “Art is…” (2014), “FAQlove” (2013–2015) and “Indulgence” (2013–2014).
2015
in order to take part in legal projects, the artist created his own brand: SELFMADECREW. Since then he and his crew have taken part in exhibitions and commissioned projects.
Exhibitions and art projects since 2012 are listed in the vita on the tape artist page.
GROUP OF WORK
Art made of adhesive tape
2010
inspired by the minimalist works of his friend Stefan Müller, an object emerges from two stretcher frames connected like chain links.
2011
he starts working with coloured duct tape, following the motto: adhesive tape instead of paint.
2012
he creates his first parametric adhesive tape constructs with light and shadow effects.
2013
Ostap discovers the use of the stencil principle to produce “stained glass window” art from packaging tape on glass or light boxes, and continues his spatial experiments with adhesive tape.
2015
experimenting with adhesive tape and the working principle of a monochrome screen, he opens up new optical effects.
GROUP OF WORK
Stencil and spray art
Ostap prefers the stencil technique because, as an ancestor of printing, it is one of the oldest methods of image transmission and reflects the international language of pop culture. In an urban environment this fast and reusable method of image transmission resembles a magical, ritual action.
Like many of his artist colleagues he plays with the cult symbols and characters of pop cultures: East and West, male and female, cucumber and banana (Andy Warhol), Cheburashka and Mickey Mouse, the rat. His artistic strategy is to archive the stencils as unique prints on canvas.
With cynical humour, directly and provocatively, Ostap takes up the themes of the modern media landscape through his rather simple but concise motifs: politics, religion, love, globalisation, sexual and urban culture. He also makes sure that his works remain somewhat ambiguous in meaning. Is he a cynic, a romantic or a critic? Ostap leaves that decision to the viewer.
He often combines different techniques and works with unconventional materials — raster nets, fluorescent or UV inks. Through the use of dotted nets as stencils, a series of optical illusions is created on the canvas. In art history he is interested in artists such as Van Gogh, Klimt, Warhol and Banksy: myths whose names began to work independently. His artistic method is the upcycling of modern and classical representations and interpretations.
Today
From 2018 Ostap creates a series of bas-relief selfies from gaffer tape on the streets, using the technique of the domestic, repurposed use of the material.
Ostap currently lives in Berlin with his wife and two daughters and is still active on the street, works in museums and takes part in artistic, social and commercial projects.
Text: Alexandra Kriksunova.
Press and profiles
Coverage of Slava Osinski and SELFMADECREW, and the directories that document his work.
2013
B.Z. Berlin: “Bei Slava bekommt die Kunst eine geklebt” (German) — on his tape art at the first Berlin Graphic Days.
2018
Sammlung Haupt: “New in the collection: GOD BLESS YOU by Slava Ostap Osinski” (German)
2020
German adhesives industry association (Industrieverband Klebstoffe): “Tape-Art by SELFMADECREW: Geklebte Kunst, die verbindet” (German)
2024
European Commission Representation in Germany: “Celebrating Freedom” (German) — the ERLEBNIS EUROPA exhibition at the Festival of Lights, with a tape art installation by Slava Osinski.
Profiles
Artist directory of the Urban Nation Museum: SELFMADECREW and Ostap · Wikipedia: Slava Ostap
Work together?
Whether a wall, an interior or an exhibition: tell us about the surface, the location and the time frame.