46 Facts About Tavar Zawacki

Tavar Zawacki formerly known as 'ABOVE' was born on 1981 and is an American abstract artist living and working in Lisbon, Portugal.

For twenty years Tavar Zawacki created and signed all of his artworks with his street artist pseudonym, 'ABOVE'.

Tavar was born and raised in California until the age of 19, at which time, Zawacki bought a one-way flight from California to Paris, France, bringing with him a backpack full of art supplies, all the money in his bank account, and a 'rise above your fears' approach to starting his art career.

Tavar Zawacki has been showcasing his work in galleries and creative institutions around the world since 2005.

Tavar Zawacki was born in the foothills of Northern California in 1981 from two creative hippie parents who invented his name.

Tavar Zawacki was encouraged by both parents at a very young age to express himself through art, and music.

At the age of 13 years old, Tavar Zawacki was introduced to skateboarding and graffiti.

Tavar Zawacki stated 'as a teenager, I spent my time after school skateboarding and painting graffiti on trains at the train yard.

Tavar Zawacki realized that he needed to find a way for his artwork to connect and be recognized in a fraction of a second.

In 2000, at the age of 19, Tavar Zawacki moved from California to Paris, France.

Tavar Zawacki drove 5,000 miles across the United States hanging 300 plus arrow mobiles in 14 major cities.

In 2006, Tavar Zawacki began planning a new tour which he titled the 'Sign Language Tour'.

Tavar Zawacki is quoted saying 'sign language is a form of communication using movements instead of sound.

In 2007, Tavar Zawacki expanded from the wordplay of the previous year's 'Sign Language' tour around Europe.

Tavar Zawacki funded his 'South Central Tour' by working as a waiter in a restaurant in Alaska for four months in spring 2007.

Tavar Zawacki had painted in 18 cities in 13 countries along the six-month tour.

In September 2008, Tavar Zawacki traveled to Lisbon, Portugal, where he painted his "Giving to the poor" stencil commenting on the social issue of homelessness.

Tavar Zawacki stenciled on the exterior of a Washington Mutual building an image of the NYSE bar graph with a downward sloping red line that went all the way down into the street gutter, mimicking the results that occurred just a few days before.

In May 2009, Tavar Zawacki started another tour of Europe lasting four months.

In January 2010, just days after the Haiti Earthquakes, Tavar Zawacki flew to La Havana, Cuba, to make a site-specific stencil commenting on the recent devastation in the neighboring country of Haiti.

In February 2012, Tavar Zawacki traveled to Johannesburg, South Africa, where he painted a mural commenting on the illegal blood diamond trade.

Tavar Zawacki appropriated the proverb 'Diamonds are a girl's best friend' and painted the message 'Diamonds are a woman's best friend and a man's worst enemy' on the exterior wall of Jewel City, one of the world's largest diamond exporters.

The story of how Tavar Zawacki was able to trick the owners of Jewel city to paint such a large controversial statement on the exterior of their building without any trouble was, in the artist's words, a 'jewel heist' of his own.

In September 2012 amidst the Eurozone financial crisis, Tavar Zawacki flew to Zaragoza, Spain.

Tavar Zawacki painted a message on the wall, then repainted the wall white, only to repaint a new message.

Tavar Zawacki repeated this process of painting new statements over a duration of two days.

Tavar Zawacki's messages were sarcastic mocks, factual, and confrontational towards society and the uses of social media.

Tavar Zawacki profiled such social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

In June 2014 Tavar Zawacki was one of the international artists invited to paint at Artscape mural event held in the city of Malmo, Sweden.

Tavar Zawacki painted a mural titled Metamorphosis on an eight-story building in a style replicating the color printing process of CMYK.

In September 2014 Tavar Zawacki had a three-month-long artist-in-residence run in Detroit, Michigan in preparation for his solo exhibition titled 'Remix'.

In October 2015 Tavar Zawacki painted the largest mural of his career at that time, a 33-meter tall by 17-meter wide mural titled 'Incognito' in Johannesburg, South Africa as part of the City of Gold Festival.

Tavar Zawacki spent ten consecutive days painting the mural and when asked in an interview about his process, challenges, and color choices he stated 'My color selections were predetermined by the relationship of how each color transforms when laid on top of another.

Later in the interview, Tavar Zawacki said, 'What I enjoy most about the Incognito design is the secondary shapes, and colors achieved from the overlapping of each arrow on top of another.

Tavar Zawacki stated, 'My decision suddenly liberated me, as well as opened up creative ideas to a seemingly unlimited expansion of new opportunities.

Tavar Zawacki debuted his museum-style solo exhibition titled, Metamorphosis in September 2017, at Urban Spree Galerie in Berlin.

Tavar Zawacki described his exhibition: 'Metamorphosis is about transformation from one state into a newer dynamic one.

In November 2018, Tavar Zawacki presented his solo exhibition, Shapeshifting at Wunderkammern gallery in Milan, Italy.

Tavar Zawacki impressed me with his dedication to mastering the most essential aspects of street art: widespread coverage, recognizable iconography, and impressive placements on the street in terms of risk and visual impact.

However, Tavar Zawacki did not abandon the fruits of his years of graphic mastery in form and color, he simply chose to apply them in broader, more ambitious, and more sophisticated ways.

Tavar Zawacki has evolved and in the process developed a truly distinctive, powerful but luxurious, visual language.

Tavar Zawacki continues to say, 'I think what's great is the mural it's open to interpretation, that's why I love abstract art, each person can see it for what they want.

Tavar Zawacki added 'To just keep following your passion and just always believe in yourself, regardless of what anybody or the outside world says about it.

In February, 2020 Tavar Zawacki decided to leave his home in Berlin, Germany, and move to Bali, Indonesia.

In March, 2020 at the start of the lockdowns on the island of Bali, Tavar Zawacki started to paint a new collection of paintings appropriately titled, Lockdown.

Tavar Zawacki was born and raised in northern California and has been skateboarding since he was 13 years old.