I’m always doing what I can’t do, to learn how to do it.” Pablo Picasso

Rafael Sliks is an artist born in São Paulo (1981) where he grew up observing street signs through the crack in the gate of his house in the Bela Vista neighborhood. This influence on his creative process and the unique way he uses street writing in his art is what makes him a globally recognized Street Writer. His murals and paintings on canvas can be seen in various places around the world, having participated in publications, festivals, art fairs and exhibitions in the United States, Asia and Europe. He recently had a solo exhibition in Japan and a mural on the gable of a building in the metropolis where he was born.

Sliks is a neologism created by the artist that inverts the word “skills”, written backwards. The term that in English means skill, dexterity and ability to quickly and effectively achieve a specific gesture or conscious objective is very much in line with his artistic practice. Sliks’ great maneuver is transforming the “tag” written quickly and illegally on the streets into something assimilable by the dilettante and art-consuming public. With refinement and technical skill worthy of a street writing scholar, his production is increasingly gaining position in the world of visual arts.