Personal Life: Nils Mueller was born in Germany, with no apparent DOB available online. Brought up in a loose household he was brought into the tagging and vandalism subculture. With no professional schooling he was at a peak of tagging trains and spray painting messages on the underground subways. He ultimately began to stray away from the painting and instead began to document it by taking photographs. His greatest accomplishment thus far is his publication of the book Vandals it's his biggest hit and is what put him into the spotlight.
Style: Nils emulates a dark/low light dingy characteristic in his photographs. He emulates the feel of sneaking around train yards and the subway station late at night.
Philosophy: Nils philosophy is to reach out and show what goes on while everyone's sleeping. He wants to show and document what life is as a vandal, as a rule breaker. He wants to bring to light what misconceptions people may have about vandals, and reinforce the ideas that are true about them. He also wants to show vandals as artists and people who are trying to be heard. He wants to show what goes on underground.
Influence: Nils has influenced me to be a risk taker and to document what I have done. He's shown me that art can come in all different styles, including paint on a train. He has led me to take photographs in the dark, in low light, and to show sort of an ambiguous side to the image. He has taught me that the best photos are not planned, and are actually taken in the heat of the moment. He's changed the way I see art and photography and put a positive spin on it.
Sources: Nils Website
Compare and Contrast: My first image is of my subject tagging the side of an oil tanker. This is similar to Nils photo in the sense that both the people in our photos are painting on trains. His image seems a little wider, darker and has better lighting since it's in a tunnel system. However mine captures a certain simplicity in the art of vandalism. The second image for Nils shows a close up of a masked man. Mine shows my subject holding on to the train armed with a weapon. Nils uses rule of thirds principle better in his and has a clear message, whereas in mine it's just somebody jumping on to a train with a gun. Both show a masked figure though. The final image is just of some close up paint, mine is a close up tag and Nils' is a close up piece of art. Both of them show the detail of what is going in to the work, but again Nils uses a blurred background to make his stand out more against mine.
Artist Statement: My images are meant to show off what it means to be a teenager, a delinquent, a vandal. I want to tell the story of someone who doesn't care what they're doing as long as it's something they love. I wanted to show off how enthralling and fun such acts can be and also show the dangerous side. I wanted to show what living on the edge can be all about. Because if you aren't living on the edge you're just existing.
Style: Nils emulates a dark/low light dingy characteristic in his photographs. He emulates the feel of sneaking around train yards and the subway station late at night.
Philosophy: Nils philosophy is to reach out and show what goes on while everyone's sleeping. He wants to show and document what life is as a vandal, as a rule breaker. He wants to bring to light what misconceptions people may have about vandals, and reinforce the ideas that are true about them. He also wants to show vandals as artists and people who are trying to be heard. He wants to show what goes on underground.
Influence: Nils has influenced me to be a risk taker and to document what I have done. He's shown me that art can come in all different styles, including paint on a train. He has led me to take photographs in the dark, in low light, and to show sort of an ambiguous side to the image. He has taught me that the best photos are not planned, and are actually taken in the heat of the moment. He's changed the way I see art and photography and put a positive spin on it.
Sources: Nils Website
Compare and Contrast: My first image is of my subject tagging the side of an oil tanker. This is similar to Nils photo in the sense that both the people in our photos are painting on trains. His image seems a little wider, darker and has better lighting since it's in a tunnel system. However mine captures a certain simplicity in the art of vandalism. The second image for Nils shows a close up of a masked man. Mine shows my subject holding on to the train armed with a weapon. Nils uses rule of thirds principle better in his and has a clear message, whereas in mine it's just somebody jumping on to a train with a gun. Both show a masked figure though. The final image is just of some close up paint, mine is a close up tag and Nils' is a close up piece of art. Both of them show the detail of what is going in to the work, but again Nils uses a blurred background to make his stand out more against mine.
Artist Statement: My images are meant to show off what it means to be a teenager, a delinquent, a vandal. I want to tell the story of someone who doesn't care what they're doing as long as it's something they love. I wanted to show off how enthralling and fun such acts can be and also show the dangerous side. I wanted to show what living on the edge can be all about. Because if you aren't living on the edge you're just existing.