Street art has risen to global prominence over the past few decades, transforming from an alternative art form into an influential phenomenon that dominates art markets while serving as a powerful medium for social and cultural commentary. In recent years, Estonia has hosted exhibitions by several leading international names, including Shepard Fairey at Fotografiska, which has drawn widespread acclaim. These exhibitions offer audiences a rare opportunity to experience world-class art in a local context.

One of the most influential and enigmatic figures in Estonian street art is Edward von Lõngus whose work stands confidently alongside globally renowned artists. His creations are characterized by a skillful fusion of universal themes with deeply rooted cultural references and symbols, all while maintaining a strong local identity. Lõngus' art resonates on both emotional and intellectual levels, offering a layered and thought-provoking perspective on contemporary society.

How do you keep up with what other street artists/artists or the cultural scene in general gets up to?

I prefer to analyze culture from a distance, because the outlines are clearer that way. But I do secretly pop in to see an exhibition every now and then.

Who have been your biggest influences? How have their works inspired or guided you?

Art has been shaping mankind for tens of thousands of years. I feel a deep sense of solidarity with all creators throughout history. I've been influenced by popular art, the renaissance masters and ancient cave paintings. Whereas it is telling that the oldest known cave painting is a stencil image of a human hand.

Has any specific cultural or artistic movement influenced you more than others? Like Fairey was inspired by the punk rock scene and the world of popular art? And how do these influences manifest in your work?

In the middle of the noughties, there came an important cultural shift in Estonia, which no one realized at the time. The availability of cheap flights opened the world to Estonia in a way that hadn't been possible before. Hordes of young people flew out to discover the world. On one such journey, a group of fellow-minded individuals and myself found ourselves in Berlin where we saw and experienced so much street art and alternative culture to touch us for life. Upon returning home, we tried to spread all of this awesomeness here. Art historians refer to that moment as the birth of the Tartu-Berlin school.

Shepard Fairey says that the graffiti scene wasn't as strong in California as it was in New York, which is why he used convenient tools, such as stencils, to create his art. Has your artistic path been similar?

The traditional graffiti scene always seemed to me as a very specific world, participation in which required one to be a representative of hip-hop culture. Street art was much broader and offered more possibilities. I used printouts and wallpaper paste for my first ever street project. But I realized my future was in stencils after only a couple of tries.

Which podcasts do you listen to and what is your reading material for staying up to date on current affairs and for creative inspiration? You've mentioned keeping up with scientific advancement in the past?

Podcasts are a wonderful counterprocess to superficial fast media consumption. I listen to podcasts and audiobooks when I need to spend hours cutting out stencils. Estonia's first and best podcast is "Ööülikool." I also find inspiration in art history documentaries and art books.

You visited 11 countries as part of Edward von Lõngus' European tour, during which you participated in street art festivals and gallery events. You've also been featured in several street art group exhibitions. How tight is the street art scene and what are some of its most interesting centers?

The scene meets up and communicates quite closely thanks to street art festivals. It was my great pleasure to meet street artists from most of Estonia's surrounding countries at the Stencibility festival in Tartu. During my European tour, Vienna delivered the most positive surprise, with a very vibrant scene indeed. I would take this opportunity to shout out to Vienna-based artist China_girl who does very cool ceramic street art. The city of Aberdeen in Scotland is another new and unexpected street art center, where the cream of street artists gather once a year for the Nuart Festival.

Fairey is often the target of strong feedback, right down to threats, for his activist works. Does remaining anonymous offer extra protection against such attacks?

Possibly. But I have never felt threatened because of my creations.

Why did you decide to remain anonymous?

Fame is a heavy burden. Our society is already suffering from a severe case of the personality cult where celebrities are revered as demigods whose every move, fashion choice or look is fanatically monitored and commented on. I want no part of that. I want to live my life and let my work bear the burden of fame.

Fairey uses his fame to spread messages. Have you seen in your anonymity a similar influence or has it given you the freedom to be more experimental?

Anonymity does provide a sense of freedom. After all, invisibility is a superpower.

But does anonymity help or hold back artists in this age of personal brands and fame? Do you see anonymity as part of your artistic identity or does it go beyond that?

A strong personal brand usually helps everywhere. The artist's person often plays the key role in how a work is interpreted. But I'm an irregular artist and create my own game rules.

What about the effect of anonymity on how potent your work is? Do you think the beholder interprets your work differently because of your anonymity? Is it an advantage if the artist's own identity doesn't get in the way?

I like to allow my work to do the talking and stand back. Edward von Lõngus' shadow is a Rorschach ink blot, an empty designator that everyone can interpret as they like. It makes it more interesting and cooler for everyone.

In Fairey's art, the effects of American pop culture and political activism are clearly felt. You highlight Estonian cultural context in your works, while addressing global issues. What are the differences and similarities between your artistic languages in treating with global issues?

There are certainly similarities in our visual language, such as the use of iconic, deeply ingrained motifs. But Fairey is much more direct, while I like to leave more room for interpretation and poetry.

Fairey's works have a strong focus on social justice and political activism. Do you see similar topics and values in your creation or are you concentrating more on matters of culture and identity?

I have tried to avoid direct political activism and confine myself to social criticism. The only politician I have ever depicted is President [Konstantin] Päts and even that was in the context of shifting cultural identities.

Speaking up politically and socially on specific issues requires staying up to speed and a measure of erudition. How to do that these days?

It is among the most difficult challenges in the modern age. Truth is a commodity that everyone offers but you nevertheless cannot find anywhere. I've thought long and hard about how to be sure of the quality of information I get and haven't really found a good answer.

Is there an effort to avoid concrete messages in the world of art? Why?

One-dimensional art is boring. It is not the purpose of art to serve the truth on a platter. Rather, it helps find the way.

What about an artist's obligation or opportunity to cover social and political problems through their work? Do you think such frankness is an effective way of raising the audience's awareness?

The role of art is to help give meaning to what is happening in the world one way or another. It covers all of life and everything in it. Art can and must cover everything. The only condition is that it needs to be done interestingly and in a way that generates new thinking.

But isn't that a slippery slope in terms of becoming a propaganda tool? How to avoid that? Do you believe Fairey has succeeded in the latter?

Shepard Fairey is playing a double-edged game with propaganda. He can poke fun at propaganda and wax ironic with icons of dead dictators, while he also has both feet in the game in all seriousness. The "Hope" and "Forward" posters of Barack Obama and Kamal Harris [respectively] openly served political propaganda purposes. Balancing on that edge might be a slippery slope, while I also do not subscribe to the idea that an artist shouldn't have a political position.

How can art, and street art especially, maintain honesty and personal depth of messages when it is competing with an onslaught of propaganda and advertising? Do you believe art has the potential to change people's relationship with public space and bring back a lost sense of personal feeling?

If anything has that power, art does. Art is like nature; it encompasses all possible forms of existence in its infinite versatility, wild and natural form. Drawing on walls is a natural process as old as mankind. Art should be a constant and inseparable part of everyday life, not something you need to go to a special place to experience. Public space needs to be filled with art. The more we are surrounded by art, the less sway advertising and propaganda messages hold over us.

Many authoritarian countries, including Russia, use propaganda as a tool of war. At the same time, corporations have filled public space with ads which work to alienate people from social space. Shepard Fairey believes public space should be reclaimed by intervening and sending messages in the form of art. How is art different from advertising and propaganda?

Art and propaganda are opposites. Art is intrinsically geared toward expanding different ways of thinking, seeing and feeling, while propaganda is a one-dimensional tool in service of a single goal. If the purpose of art is to help one think more broadly, the function of propaganda is not to think at all. Art is propaganda's biggest enemy, which is why all authoritarian regimes hate it so much. In the conditions of information warfare, culture spending should be boosted as a matter of strategic priority, instead of slashing it. Culture is our only immune system against propaganda.

Shepard Fairey's recent work touches on the Gaza conflict, aims to draw attention to it and give them a voice. How do you see the role of art in covering international crises, such as Gaza?

I do not believe there is any topic that art shouldn't deal with. Meaning needs to be attached to current affairs and art is a way for a society to collectively think about something.

Fairey often speaks up on U.S. politics, especially in the context of elections and civil rights. What is your view of the artist's role in political discussion? Do you agree that an artist should be politically active.

The role of an artist as I see it is to be several steps ahead of the politics of the day. To create a strong cultural foundation on which political discussion can rest. Stupid politics is a consequence of stupid culture. Culture is a collection of obtained patterns of thought and behavior. The work of the artist is to make sure culture stays healthy.

Your "Doomsday Cathedral" exhibition in 2020 coincided with the coronavirus crisis, which provided ample sensitive context. How did you perceive the audience's reaction when highlighting the themes of death and money on the backdrop of the pandemic?

It was interesting indeed that an exhibition on extinction coincided with a global pandemic. The time leading up to the exhibition was quite anxious as no one knew how things would turn out. There were doubts whether it was wise to even launch at such a risky time. But the risk paid off as the exhibition proved a great success. Even critics, or people who never like anything, were satisfied that time.

Shepard emphasizes creating an attractive visual air and vocabulary to help the audience relate. You used Bernt Notke's "Danse Macabre" as one of the symbols of your exhibition. How did you come to the decision to use this motif. It is not the most attractive visual to consume.

An attractive visual motif is one the viewer recognizes. Notke's "Danske Macabre" occupies a prominent place in the vocabulary of Estonian art and is a well-understood motif. Death is universally the same and at the same time deeply personal, perpetual and timeless, historical and contemporary.

At the heart of the show was money and capitalism, which often overshadow human and social values. In hindsight, do you think the pandemic changed people's understanding of capitalism and its role in society or will things go on much as they have?

The pandemic taught us more than a few things. For example, the fragility of the global capitalist system and the obvious incompetence of leaders in crises. Also that going to the office is completely pointless in many cases and that it's possible to stay home from school. But it also taught us that everything will always go on as it has.

The theme of the exhibition was how the capitalist desire for money overshadows every other value. What are some of the values you feel our society has lost?

We've created a world around ourselves that we understand less with each passing day. Where we keep sinking deeper into stress, are increasingly less happy and more sick both mentally and physically. We spend most of our lives sitting down, breathing in polluted air, eating unhealthy and suffering from lifestyle diseases. We shut ourselves off behind screens, cut ourselves off from human intimacy, with sensible social discussion replaced by anger and hostility, war on the rise and the future looking increasingly bleak.

While you have done a few collaborations (for example, with Navitrolla) and participated in group shows since the "Doomsday Cathedral," you seem to be taking a break from active street work and other creative endeavors. Has it been a conscious choice and necessary part of your creative development? Does an artist need to take breaks to be able to develop instead of just "manufacturing" works?

After the European tour and the "Doomsday Cathedral" major exhibition I felt I had given all I had to give at that moment. A conscious break was necessary to collect myself and new material. I'm only now beginning to feel the call of the streets again.

On November 24 at 5 p.m., Fotografiska will host a virtual tour of Edward von Lõngus' main exhibition, "Doomsday Cathedral," presented at the 2020 Tallinn Biennial in Ülemiste City. This special event is part of the ongoing Shepard Fairey exhibition "Photosynthesis." The tour will bring together the distinct styles and ideas of these two prominent creative identities into an inspiring experience, guided by Andra Orn, head of NOBA.ac and Edward von Lõngus' representative.

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