Three words that describe SOA: artistic freedom | self-made | creativity
SOA that´s me – but not only
I am Yves, founder of Syndicate of Artists. Let me tell you about the idea and the development of the concept behind the three letters. The name was originated in 1995, at the age of sixteen I thought SOA sounds great for a graffity crew. The letters were a nice fit and at that time I drew a lot: graffity sketches, comic characters, patterns mostly.
Artistic origin in graffity
After a night out with some friends, a phone call of the criminal police, special commission for graffity, stopped my ambitions to go outside with groups and I changed my name.
Within the years 1995–2001 I was exploring graffity using stencils, tags and throw ups, focusing on letters but also characters. Then I started to study visual communication (graphic design) with emphasis on typography, illustration, animation and art.
Professional career as a graphic designer
In 2005 I started to work freelance for advertisement agencies working mainly in digital design like touch screen applications, animation and exhibition graphic. Later on in my career I got more practice also in corporate design like logo design, printed stationary or corporate websites.
Masters degree in England
2010 after 5 years of practice I started a one-year master program in the UK in the area of illustration (and animation). There I started to screen print. 2011 back in Stuttgart I started to exhibit my screen prints and drawings.
The rebirth of SOA
As I was up to set up an online shop for art. I thought why not include other artists I knew in Stuttgart and met in the UK from all over the world as well. So at least the name was reborn and got a new purpose.
Between 2011 and mid 2020 (before covid) I exhibited in several solo shows and group exhibitions with two artists associations. In average 5-6 exhibitions per year mostly screenprints on paper, wood board, canvas and objects.
SOA group shows
Then I started to iniciate a series of three exhibitions in my studio also including work of other artists. First Selcuk Yasar and Maria Goyanes Martienz, later Marco Stifel and Shivaji Sen and finally illustrators Prof. Davor Bakara and Clarissa Herion.
SOA: urban street wear brand
In 2020 during the first corona lock down I printed a series with three motifs on t-shirts. This was when SOA also became a brand for apparel.
Now SOA is a mixture of all those: a online shop of fine art prints, a urban t-shirt brand and the philosophy to create steet related urban art.
NFT – the perfect fit
In December 2021 I started my interest in NFT Art. Not at all as a kind of investment, but as a way to publish digital art, give non-physical art a worth and a proof of authenticity and originality.