As I prepare to head to Berlin on Wednesday, I thought I would resurrect one of my great life mysteries. While I was living in Seoul, I spent a lot of time in Hongdae, an artsy neighborhood in the north with some of the best graffiti in the city. I spotted the above work one day, thought it was interesting, and snapped a photo.
Two years later, while in Berlin, I saw the exact same work in Kreuzberg. I did a double take then and there. When I returned to Amsterdam, I tried to find out who was behind the graffiti, but without luck. Deciding, a few more years later, to make one more attempt, I came across this Gridskipper article today discussing the street art in Berlin. Last on the list of prominent Berlin graffiti artists was SP38 and an almost identical image. Mystery solved!
He's apparently French born, living in Berlin, and has apparently been in Seoul at least once. Although his website is down, you can see more of his work on Flickr. See you in a few days Berlin!