Just talking, writing, theorizing, or looking for connections in the universe called graffiti is foolishness. Only actions are real here. The imprint of one's own name on the wall. A space won in the hierarchy of the community. The eternal struggle for the king of the underworld. To be there (in this closed, even cynical environment) but still remain free. The world against the rest of the world. Man against people. Revenge for Little Big Horn. EVERYTHING ELSE IS JUST BULLSHIT. It is only by action that the powerless gain their sanctified power in the struggle against the powerful. The place of struggle becomes the big city. The law of the jungle, the house rules. To understand graffiti is to live in the city, to feel its rhythm, to be in symbiosis with it. The city has its own rules, codes and norms, which graffiti challenges and that is why it is so controversial (SWEB).

But if we look at graffiti through the prism of the fascination with art, we can also touch it from the outside. From this uninitiated (and therefore liberated?) point of view, some fundamental things may appear completely different... There is room for new definitions, new starting points. But it's damn thin ice. If we cut graffiti from the points of contact (adrenaline fight in the underground beyond the law, music, calbas, long smoke, ...) will we be left with anything really load-bearing that can say something real? In this case, can the resulting artefact (artwork) stand on its own and speak? It is legitimate to ask this question! Even at the core of the diverse and so disparate Sprayer community, there are many writers who seek new possibilities of aesthetics, of visualization. Many of them are also able to undergo self-reflection, returning to their roots and thus, paradoxically, beginning to find new ways to prevent them from getting stuck in a vicious circle.

MASKER has been one of them for many years. He is unmistakable, his pieces have had a distinctive and decipherable style since the beginning. His walls are based on different and less classical practices. Rather than a peculiar gesture, he refers to the tradition of painting, to literature (in its descriptiveness) and film. These are comic stories full of bizarre and peculiar characters. Like when the projector gets stuck in the cinema. Freeze frame. And then little colour, purity of story. Also, any deviation from the classics always deserves heavy criticism from the old-school matadors. It may be a premature statement, but I think Masker and his crew defend their position with honor. The counter-arguments that there is too much art in his pieces, too many influences from classical art modernism, etc. are not unfounded, but everything alive causes a shiver, a vibration, a jolt.

Of course, MASKER is not a classic solitaire. GNK, CMR, CRY CAP are the crews where he left his mark. But isn't that all history now? What is the lifespan of one year in street art? Not much! Everything is on the move, moving and changing fast. Evolution licks everything with its long tongue, there is no escape. Even the hardest core of the underground is never safe. The return of Masker and his friends from the CAP crew (Crew Against People) to the origins of graffiti was therefore not so much for the audience and kindred spirits, but aimed directly at the core of the community. What do we want? What's next? A resignation to artistic precision, an inclination towards infantile drawings, toy tags, a return to utterly simple throw-ups. It's refreshing to be allowed to relive the beginnings, the original adrenaline rush, the cosmic feeling that this is as good as I've been able to give it. Nothing more, a loss of ambition, just joy. Suddenly realizing whether it still fulfills us, whether it's even worth it for us to keep pushing through that artistic thicket.

Masker has been moving even bolder and further lately. He adopts a new name, a pseudonym, Jakub Matuska, and embraces classical artistic positions. He is moving inexorably into the classical exhibition space. Into that space where no one thought years ago that he would one day be. But! He stays true to his technique, his heart is still out there. This is also why the paintings have the rawness of the street, the fast technique (from a working style where the time for the completion of the work is determined by blue beacons that arrive to help us and protect us from ourselves) creates an unmistakable atmosphere of restlessness and directness in the inappropriate and hushed environment of the galleries. There is a paradox: while on the walls his realisations appear literary calm and artistically polished, these same wall fragments create noise and screams in the closed space. They testify to the fact that something is happening outside, that people live there, that the city is a separate animal that gives birth to strong and special individuals, but at the same time devours its children. A closed circle of inevitability, an absurd drama. So absurd that you can't even tell who's the winner and who's the loser. The life of the city goes on again and again every morning. And we have no choice but to go with it!

Jakub Matuška aka Masker is at the beginning of his artistic journey, but at the same time it's as if he's been around for many years. His art changes, migrates and grows stronger, but it's as if it's always the same. His artistic activities are disparate but as if they are in an amazing unity. It doesn't matter if we miss the context, the origin of creation and the discordance of generational communication. What remains is a work that bears witness even completely alone and out of context. It reflects something oppressively urgent and yet positive.

Masker once collaborated on the publication of a book mapping the Czech street art scene from its beginnings. Full of testimonies and testimonies, the book is clearly titled IN GRAFFITI WE TRUST. That is accurate. In our European concept of salvation, this salvation has three important pillars - Faith, Hope & LOVE. If I believe in what I am doing, if I have any hope that it has any meaning, and if I love my colours and walls, then there must inevitably remain something that can appeal to the intruder, that can break through misunderstandings of process and form. Something that makes it worthwhile to be addressed and inspired by art. And suddenly the distance can be quite close.

LHOTSKY61