The Bite Magazine - Spring/Summer 2023 - Issue 33

Artist Profile Otto Schade biteartistprofile T he very humble and pleasant-natured Otto Schade (pro- nounced Sha-day) is a 51-year-old Chilean street artist with utterly astounding and unique art hung in galler- ies. Over the last 14 years, he has made his mark on the streets. His distinctive trademark styles are either the stencilled sublime sunset pictures which are sometimes poignant in the message, or the ribbon art, which is a mesmerising tangle of ribbons that cleverly form figures of people or animals. Our chat at his Hoxton studio in east London is vibrant, candid and full of anecdotes and surprises, giving an insight into what drives this unassuming man to create art in the freest formats. Where were you born and raised? I was born and raised in Concepción, Chile, to the age of 33. I left Chile to move to Berlin for two years and then moved to London in 2006. Did you attend any art education? No, I studied architecture in Chile, and my dad was an artist. Would you say that was your influence? Yeah, sort of, because sometimes he was teaching me stuff when I was a child. Do you consider yourself a graffiti artist or a street artist? To be an artist, it doesn't matter what materials or background you use as a canvas. It could be a wall, a canvas, or a card. It could be anything. It's a fact of you expressing yourself, but if it's a wall, it's street art; if it's not a wall, it's not street art. Graffiti is more related to tagging, writing, and stuff like that. I'm not a writer but I use spray cans, stencils and free-hand. So, I could say I'm a street artist or a graffiti artist; it doesn't matter. Being an artist is the point at the end of the day. What or who inspired you to start your street art? The fact that I moved to Shoreditch, full of street art, at that time and I was starting out. I moved over in 2006 because of my job as an architect, and then in 2008 and 2009 came the recession. After that, I met a Chilean friend who is also a street artist, and he encouraged me to do some street art because I was living here. In the beginning, it was at night, and it was a bit scary, but then I started doing stuff during the day. Because I've got a style, even the police didn't stop me, so it was fine.