Artist Feature: Grisdansmavie
XVX punk kid doing hip-hop and illustrations for cool projects
J. (aka Grisdansmavie or Videngris) was among the first people to follow me on Instagram back in 2015. At the time, they were living in Slovakia and creating artwork for an increasing number of DIY punk bands and projects. Overwhelmed by the cultural differences and language barrier, they recall that drawing became a form of therapy.
Gris began by creating illustrations for friends and sharing them online. After making a few fliers, someone asked them to design something for the Hunt Saboteurs Association. Since then, Grisdansmavie has produced an impressive body of work for different projects, including artwork for bands, fundraisers for animal rights groups, and designs for small vegan businesses.
Vegan straight edge, DIY ethics, and fundamental anarchist values such as mutual aid and solidarity provide the greatest inspiration for their art.
After becoming friends on social media, we started exchanging messages. I later discovered that Gris had played drums in some of my favorite Mexican hardcore punk bands.
Together with three other punx, they created the excellent record De la parálisis al fuego as Our Bastard Existence. Uncomfortable with the band’s name, they later changed it to Clamant.
When Clamant ended, Gris wanted to continue talking about the ideas, passions, and issues that mattered to them. The problem was that they were alone and had no musical skills beyond playing drums.
Underground hip-hop was also my first association with the name. I asked Gris whether it came from “Gris dans ma vie,” a song by the Madrid anarchist hip-hop crew Folie à Trois, and they confirmed that it did.
People embrace straight edge and a drug-free lifestyle for many different reasons, so I was curious about Gris’s own motivation.
Vegan activism is another bond we share, so I asked Gris about their commitment to animal rights.
Being an artist does not have to mean appearing in glossy magazines or exhibiting in fancy galleries. Art also lives in punk rock, hip-hop and graffiti culture, and the political messages painted on walls or printed on fliers. Grisdansmavie is a DIY artist from northern Mexico who keeps the flame of XVX and radical subcultures alive!
