Michiel Folkers a.k.a. Gieler (1982) started doing graffiti in the late nineties. For years he remained active spraying letters. When he got older, and more ‘mature’ and tired of the fights which are accompanied with this hobby, graffiti slowly evolved in streetart.

The friendlier en less illegal character of streetart attracted Michiel above graffiti. Besides, working with stencils was a much better technique to get more details done better and faster.

In addition to colouring walls, Michiel began experimenting on canvas. He started by painting a series called ‘anti-heroes’. Focussed on B-listed celebrities / ‘famous’ people from Holland. “In popart everyone was painting Jim Morrison or Marilyn Monroe. So I thought it would be more striking to paint unpopular celebrities”. It worked, in a way that people started noticing his art, but nobody would hang a B-Listed actor from Holland on their wall.” The stencilling style was also over its peak in his opinion, and slowly he started experimenting with new different techniques, like collage.