Oz (sprayer)

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Tags and smilies on a railway line

Oz or OZ (*  7. January 1950 in  Heidelberg , †  25. September 2014 in  Hamburg , civil Walter Josef Fischer ) was a German graffiti - artist . He was considered the "grandfather of the spray scene" in Hamburg. His works are omnipresent in the Hamburg metropolitan area, especially in the form of smileys , spirals and tags . He has been sentenced to several prison terms for his graffiti.

Life

Grave Oz (2018),
Ohlsdorf Cemetery

Oz grew up as an illegitimate child without a family in a Catholic home in Heidelberg. There he suffered from hostility because of a harelip that was later operated on several times. He left secondary school without a degree. He then began training as a ladies' hairdresser and gardener , which he also broke off. He started spraying graffiti in 1977 in Stuttgart. In the same year he made trips within Europe and to India, Thailand, Afghanistan and Indonesia.

From 1992 he lived in Hamburg. At first Oz only sprayed smileys, later also lettering, circles and large-format, abstract pictures. According to estimates by the Hamburg police , Oz had already left more than 120,000 sprayed marks on the cityscape by 2002. This number probably increased significantly until his death.

Most recently, Oz lived in a shop apartment in the Billstedt district . He had been judged "mentally disabled" by a court and had been cared for by social workers for the last six years of his life.

On September 25, 2014 at around 10:30 p.m., Oz sprayed on the tracks between the Hamburg Hauptbahnhof and Berliner Tor stations . There he was caught by a passing S-Bahn . He died of severe head and back injuries. Only the driver of the following train discovered the body in the track bed. The federal police noticed a fresh graffito on the cover of a power rail and found a can and a backpack there.
Oz was buried in the Ohlsdorf cemetery in Hamburg .

plant

  • Formerly OZ Smiley on a Hamburg street sign (1999)

  • OZ Smiley from the 90s in Hamburg

  • Early OZ smileys in Hamburg (1990s)

  • OZ tags in Hamburg

  • OZ tags in Hamburg

  • OZ tags in Hamburg

  • Mural by OZ from the early 90s at Hamburg Central Station

  • Wop tags, murals and smileys by OZ in Hamburg (early 90s)

  • Long live the Sprühling from OZ in Hamburg

  • Advertising = Wixe from OZ in Hamburg Bahrenfeld

  • Fuck the Norm by OZ at the Berliner Tor in Hamburg (2016)

  • Smileys and MBS day from OZ in Hamburg's Schanzenviertel

  • MBS (Lousy Bulls Pigs) Day from OZ in Hamburg

  • MBS day from OZ in Hamburg

  • OZ spiral in Hamburg

  • OZ spiral in Hamburg

  • OZ spiral on a power box in Hamburg

  • OZ masks in Hamburg.

  • DSF, Mopsi and USP tags and mask from OZ in Hamburg

  • OZ mask in Hamburg

  • Wall painting by Oz in Hamburg

  • Wall painting on an underpass on Holstenstrasse in Hamburg

  • OZ mural in Hamburg

  • Mural of Oz

  • MBS, GMS, DSF Tags and Smiley from OZ in Hamburg

  • DFK day of OZ in Hamburg

  • Smiley and OZ day in Prenzlauer Berg, Berlin

  • Oz smiley face and USP day. (The letters USP stand for the FC St. Pauli fans Ultrà Sankt Pauli. )

Use of the tags

Fischer used OZ (or OLi depending on the reading), USP (for Ultrà Sankt Pauli) and MBS (for lousy bull pigs) as tags .

According to Jan Delay , the “OZ” tag should actually be called “Oli”, but that “nobody checked”. Walter Fischer himself said: “Maybe it's not called OZ, but Oli or Ossi”. According to Fischer, it could also mean something completely different.

He told an art educator from the Fuhlsbüttel prison, Eva-Maria Guzinski, that the actual meaning of the day OLi is what is derived from Ohne Liebe .

Public reception

Especially because of the amount of his work and the fact that he did not allow himself to be dissuaded from spraying even by prison sentences of several years, Oz achieved national fame. Many citizens and state institutions saw him as a vandal and a smear . In Oz, supporters saw a street art and graffiti artist who, through his work, made the Hamburg cityscape unmistakable. In his defense, a conflict between the fundamental right to artistic freedom and the fundamental right to property has been cited.

The public reception of his work seems to change after his death. A petition by the Hamburg engineer Holger Krupp campaigns for some works to be recognized and preserved as works of art by the city of Hamburg. This concern also receives support from the Hamburg cultural authority.

Personal motivation

In various interviews, Oz said that his goal was to beautify the city. For his work he specifically selected gray surfaces and walls, some of which he provided with large-format, abstract pictures with considerable personal effort. He felt like a “fighter against the norms of German cleanliness and commercial greed” and as a “city designer”. In 1997 he said in the Hamburg district court: “The focus is always on the cars, not the mothers. I never had a mother. "

Cultural context

Memorial graffiti in Wedel

Oz developed his style independently and had no relation to classic graffiti writing . In the sprayer scene he was revered for his consistency.

“OZ is graffiti incarnate. Uncompromising personified. Civil disobedience to perfection. The OZ phenomenon has exactly that unhealthy, huge portion of mania and activity that is necessary if you want to be “ all city ” on the flag. Combined with this very special humor and this unique style, it catapults itself into the spheres of the eternal legend status for me. "

- Jan Delay : Long live Sprühling. Colortrip (Ed.), Hamburg (2009).

The Hamburg metal band Mantar named a song on their album "Ode To The Flame" after him.

Collaboration with galleries

In collaboration with various gallery owners and artists, Oz also worked on paper and canvas from 2009 onwards. There were several exhibitions of his work in Christoph Tornow's Vicious Gallery in Hamburg, in the Urban Art Info gallery in Berlin and at OZM Art Space in Hamburg.

In 2009 Colortrip published the illustrated book “Es lebe der Sprühling” with contributions by Jan Delay and others in collaboration with the Vicious Gallery .

Prosecution

For the first time, he was convicted of property damage in 1986 by the Flensburg District Court . In 1992, a court handed down a suspended sentence for the first time. In 1997 he was sentenced to one year imprisonment by the Hamburg Regional Court and in 1998 to another two years imprisonment. The property damage caused was estimated at a six-digit DM amount at that time .

In 1999, Oz was physically abused by employees of the Hamburg S-Bahn guard. Two security guards were dismissed for violating the regulations and received prison sentences of 14 and 18 months. That same year, Oz was sentenced to an additional 21 months in prison.

After his release in 2002, it was just over a year before he was sentenced to three years in prison again in October 2003. Just one month after his release in 2006, he was arrested again and sentenced to five months in prison in May 2007, which was compensated for by his pre-trial detention, so that he did not receive any compensation. Parts of the indictment had to be dropped because of questionable investigative methods used by the police officers under surveillance, but the court did not recognize serious procedural errors, contrary to the defense's request.

While individual media reported on expert opinions that certified Oz's guilty responsibility , the court did not follow these assumptions in its judgments. According to court documents, he also “did not consider himself sick”.

Even after the prison sentence for damage to property, Oz continued to spray in the Hamburg city area. Police first confiscated the spray cans in July 2010 and arrested him three hours later when he was spraying again. Until 2007 he was imprisoned for a total of more than eight years.

Especially before the election campaign for the 2001 general election, the issue of graffiti as damage to property came to the fore. For example, Oz is said to have smashed glass elevators in various underground stations on the Hamburger Hochbahn . According to statements made by employees of the Hamburger Hochbahnwache, who had been disguised as homeless, he was observed by them. The private Hamburg S-Bahn guard followed Oz regularly and posted him several times in the city.

From February 3, 2011, Oz was again on trial on charges of 20 damage to property between November 2008 and July 2010. According to the Spiegel , supporters of the sprayer suspected "that with the Oz Trials an individual, easily comprehensible, because unprotected acting eccentric should be punished on behalf of the whole scene." His lawyer, Andreas Beuth , demanded graffiti as an administrative offense to treat. On July 29, 2011, Oz was sentenced to one year and two months in prison. The prosecution and defense appealed against this ruling in August 2011. On February 3, 2012, the judgment in the appeal proceedings before the Hamburg district court was reduced to a fine of 1,500 euros - Oz was left at large.

In May 2013, after eight months of trial, Oz was sentenced to a fine of 40 daily rates of seven euros for damage to property. He had posted two tags on a house wall. The magistrate acquitted him on all 17 other charges. The judge criticized the witnesses and the police investigation.

Exhibitions

  • 2009 -  Long live the Sprühling . Vicious Gallery, Hamburg
  • 2010 - Save the Earth . Urban Art Info, Berlin
  • 2010 -  OZ - the underground artist who stands in the way of stuffy normality, with his colorful imagination, from which he was inspired by the colorful nature , OZM Art Space Gallery, Hamburg
  • 2011 -  Street / Urban Art . Joint exhibition in cooperation with the auction house Lauritz, OZM Art Space Gallery, Hamburg
  • 2011 - It's all about OZ . OZM Art Space Gallery, Hamburg
  • 2011 - OZ - The Hamburg Sisyphos , OZM Art Space Gallery, Hamburg
  • 2011 - Urban Art . Café Wendel, Berlin
  • 2012 - what for? , OZM Art Space Gallery, Hamburg
  • 2013 - untitled - An exhibition by OZ , OZM Art Space Gallery, Hamburg
  • 2015 - OZ - Fuck the Norm as part of the joint exhibition BundeskunstHALL OF FAME, Bundeskunsthalle , Bonn

literature

  • Bernhard van Treeck : The great graffiti lexicon. Lexikon-Imprint-Verlag, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-292-X , p. 300.
  • Typeholics: Hamburg City Graffiti. Publication, Aschaffenburg 2003, ISBN 3-9807478-6-7 .
  • Benno Kirsch: The mistreatment of "Oz". In: Private security services in public spaces. Westdeutscher Verlag, Wiesbaden 2003, ISBN 3-531-14009-4 , pp. 194-195.
  • Colortrip (Ed.): Long live the Sprühling. Colortrip, Hamburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-9813354-0-8 .
  • Andreas Blechschmidt, KP Flügel, Jorinde Reznikoff (Ed.): Free OZ !: Street art between revolt, repression and commerce. Association A, Hamburg 2014, ISBN 978-3-86241-424-6 .
  • Lars Klingenberg (Ed.): OZ - Fuck The Norm exhibition catalog. Hamburg, 2016, ISBN 978-3-9816646-3-8

Web links

Commons : Oz (Sprayer)  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files
  • CITY OF OZ Extensive website with biography and press review

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ If Banksy were here . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , July 27, 2011.
  2. ↑ Hamburg graffiti artist "Oz" is dead . ( Memento from September 28, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Tagesschau, September 26, 2014
  3. ↑ a b c d Bruno Schrep : As if it were dirt . In: Der Spiegel . No. 48 , 1999 ( online ).
  4. ↑ a b c Annika Stenzel, Kai von Appen: Spraying against commerce. In: die tageszeitung , Nord edition, p. 23, July 14, 2011 (online on July 13, 2011); accessed on January 11, 2014.
  5. ↑ a b c d Christoph Twickel: The magic of OZ on spiegel.de from February 3, 2011; Retrieved February 4, 2011.
  6. ↑ Graffiti sprayer from Hamburg: OZ is dead . In: Spiegel Online , September 26, 2014; accessed on September 27, 2014.
  7. ↑ OZ is dead - Hamburg has lost its smile. An obituary ( memento of the original from October 2, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: graffitiarchiv.org . @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.graffitiarchiv.org
  8. ↑ a b Ronen Steinke : point, point, grandpa, line . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , December 6, 2010. Accessed January 22, 2014.
  9. ↑ a b Graffiti sprayer "Oz" has to be behind bars . ( Memento from June 16, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) NDR, July 29, 2011
  10. ↑ Sarah Levy: Suddenly he has a lot of friends Time Online, November 5, 2014
  11. ^ Sprayer "Oz" died in an accident . ( Memento from September 28, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Norddeutscher Rundfunk , September 26, 2014. Retrieved September 27, 2014.
  12. ↑ Graffiti sprayer from Hamburg: OZ is dead . In: Spiegel Online , September 26, 2014. Retrieved September 27, 2014.
  13. ↑ Hamburger sprayer "Oz" is dead! In: mopo.de , September 26, 2014.
  14. ↑ knerger.de: The grave of Oz
  15. ↑ Sönke Jacob: "OZ" - a sprayer can't help it. Hamburger Morgenpost, June 8, 2000
  16. ↑ Digga what? taz, December 29, 2014
  17. ↑ Deluxe Zoom - Back 2 Basics , Interview at myvideo.de, accessed on January 15, 2015.
  18. ↑ On the death of the sprayer OZ: Resistance against the monotony of everyday life at spiegel.de, accessed on January 15, 2015
  19. ↑ A happy farewell to a driven man - sprayer "OZ" buries Hamburger Abendblatt, October 17, 2014
  20. ↑ A day dedicated to the oldie sprayer OZ . In: Hamburger Abendblatt , February 4, 2011.
  21. ^ A b Kai von Appen: Senior sprayer in court . In: the daily newspaper , North edition, p. 48, 29./30. January 2011 (online January 28, 2011); Retrieved January 30, 2011.
  22. ↑ Followers want to force the graffiti from "Oz" to be preserved
  23. ↑ exhibition text on urban-art.info
  24. ↑ Sprayer grandpa arrested. In: Hamburger Morgenpost . October 21, 1997, accessed January 10, 2014 .
  25. ↑ Interview: Mantar - Hanno & Erinç. (No longer available online.) In: metalnews.de. Archived from the original on March 27, 2017 ; accessed on March 26, 2017 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.metalnews.de
  26. ↑ a b Vicious Gallery: OZ. Vicious Gallery, 2009, accessed January 8, 2014 .
  27. ↑ a b Urban Art Info: OZ Biography. Urban Art Info, 2010, accessed January 8, 2014 .
  28. ↑ a b OZM Art Space Gallery: Oz, untitled. OZM Art Space Gallery, 2013, accessed January 8, 2014 .
  29. ↑ Long live Sprühling
  30. ↑ Colortrip "Long live the Sprühling. In: colortrip.com. Retrieved October 26, 2016 .
  31. ↑ a b The Sprayer from OZ . In: The world . December 16, 1999 ( Der Sprayer welt.de ).
  32. ↑ a b Simone Pauls: »OZ« simply cannot be stopped . In: Hamburger Morgenpost . April 3, 2007, p. 8-9 .
  33. ↑ press release. ( Memento from February 17, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Federal Working Group of Critical Police Officers and Safercity, October 1999
  34. ↑ Two railway sheriffs beat up sprayer "Oz" .
  35. ↑ a b Supervisors who are blind to the operation . In: taz . May 16, 2007.
  36. ^ "Oz" graffiti sprayer Caught twice. (No longer available online.) Radio Hamburg , July 30, 2010, archived from the original on November 30, 2010 ; Retrieved August 18, 2010 .
  37. ^ Sprayer Oz arrested again . In: Die Welt , July 30, 2010. Retrieved August 18, 2010.
  38. ^ "OZ" defender appeals.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: Hamburger Morgenpost , August 4, 2011; accessed on January 22, 2014.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.mopo.de  
  39. ^ Only fine: Sprayer "Oz" remains at large . In: Hamburger Abendblatt , February 3, 2012; accessed on January 22, 2014.
  40. ↑ Kai von Appen: Judges scolded the police. In: Die tageszeitung Nord , May 3, 2013, p. 24; accessed on January 11, 2014.
  41. ↑ Oz "Oz - the underground artist who stands in the way of stuffy normality, with his colorful imagination, from which he was inspired by the colorful nature". OZM Art Space Gallery, December 2010, accessed January 8, 2014 .
  42. ↑ group exhibition “street / urban art”. OZM Art Space Gallery, November 2011, accessed January 8, 2014 .
  43. ^ Oz group exhibition "It's all about Oz". OZM Art Space Gallery, July 2011, accessed January 8, 2014 .
  44. ↑ A podium for the sprayer Oz . In: Berliner Zeitung , March 21, 2011
  45. ↑ Oz »what to? An exhibition by and with OZ! « OZM Art Space Gallery, February 2012, accessed on January 8, 2014 .
  46. ↑ Nadine Rinke: "Oz": First lubricant, now artist . In: Hamburger Morgenpost , March 1, 2013, p. 8.
  47. ↑ sts: Federal Art Hall Of Fame. Graffiti & Street Art Festival - Art and Exhibition Hall of the Federal Republic of Germany - Bonn. In: bundeskunsthalle.de. Retrieved October 25, 2016 .
personal data
SURNAME Oz
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Fischer, Walter Josef (real name); OZ (pseudonym); Oli (pseudonym)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German graffiti artist
DATE OF BIRTH January 7, 1950
PLACE OF BIRTH Heidelberg
DATE OF DEATH September 25, 2014
Place of death Hamburg