There is no need to question if Ezra One is the one. Birthed out of the womb with an intrinsic passion for drawing and painting, every step taken in his development as an individual has come hand in hand with his development as an artist. “I think the fact that I experiment with many different forms of art reflects my personality. I am a pretty active person and I love change in my life. It’s the same with my art; instead of doing the same thing a little different over and over again, I try new things to motivate myself,” says Ezra. Inspiration can be found in many things, just as one can find it here in Ezra, because to be able to do what you love and experience growth and harmony in both aspects is an extremely rewarding gift.

When approaching the art scene, the range of talent within the 27-year-old Swiss’s artistic caliber ranges from complex illustrations to unique logos, mouth-dropping portrays, as well as some exceptional tattoo work: “Creating different kinds of art helps me to develop my style which produces different techniques such as the use of light and shadow, realism, characters or pieces, [making] me a jack of all trades.”

Graffiti has been something that Ezra has been honing for the past eight to nine years. When his mind is intact, the results are crazy, and even within the confines of this art form, the creativity that Ezra finds is undeniable. “Art is kind of like a wave. Sometimes there are ups and downs and sometimes you don’t even know why you do your art like you do it right now. It’s the same with ideas and being creative – it hits you sometimes, and your mind spits out all kinds of cool ideas and sometimes your mind is empty and you don’t know what to paint at all.”

True enough, but if anything, monotony can’t be traced when observing any of Ezra’s work. The love that Ezra wholeheartedly shows for art reflects his capability in showing versatility through art’s varied forms. And because of the fact that his style does not reflect any one particular focus or medium allows him the freedom to explore art in an infinite sense. “When you are passionate about something, you are focused. Art itself requires a lot of passion. Creativity is a strange thing sometimes. You can’t really tell why you’re creative right now or why you’re not, it just happens to you somehow. It sometimes feels like there is some invisible hand leading you or holding you back and as more as you try to force yourself to be creative, less ideas come around.”

Because artists like Ezra are constantly pushing themselves to go the distance, graffiti is constantly growing, gaining immense popularity on the corporate and consumer side. Doors are opening, and opportunity is finding itself within this distinct art form. Upon reflection, graffiti in a historical sense has always promoted independent thought, a form of expression that has been careful to welcome the likes of any other forms of advertisement. “Nowadays you’re able to work with companies and earn money with what you love or even start your own company instead of doing a nine to five all day long.” But with the mainstream versus the integrity of this culture…. “In my opinion there is a good side and a bad side about it. There is a big market now and graffiti [has] become mainstream and the original vibe gets lost a little bit; but at the same time writers have opportunities. I can understand when people don’t like the mainstream and how certain people walk over dead bodies only to make money and forget about the whole culture and history behind it, but I don’t agree when people just hate on it in general. I hope that the mainstream won’t make graffiti cheap and plastic like it happened to Rap music kind of.”

Having grown up on Rap music, Ezra acknowledges Hip Hop’s influence in light of his artistic endeavors. “You’re right when you say it must have influenced me – well it did. When I was very young the Hip Hop scene was different. There were a lot of active people doing graffiti, break dance, Rap, DJing, or Beat Box so the whole vibe was different too. You got influenced by how people were living their life. I remember a lot of workshops for kids and teenagers, and older guys showed them how to paint or rap. Everybody was trying to get into some activity instead of hanging around and doing drugs or whatever. People were pushing each other instead of hating and the movement was big and everywhere.”

Rightfully so, his passion of Hip Hop is and forevermore will always be real. The soul of Hip Hop rather, has become tarnished in lieu of life’s allurement. “After some years Hip Hop became something else. I mean you still have the active [people] nowadays no doubt, but there are more people pretending to be gangsters than trying to do something with passion and becoming good in it. So the new wave of Hip Hop has nothing in common with the original thought. That’s why I still do some workshops from time to time and show kids how to paint and tell them a little about the graffiti history. I know there are a lot of kids who are still interested in it but the vibe got different so there are not a lot of possibilities to get to know the right people anymore.”

When asked if put into a position where money can potentially compromise the authenticity of his work, Ezra’s comical response was quite amusing: “It’s pretty simple. I won’t paint things I don’t like. If the client doesn’t give me some space to be myself, I don’t feel well. And when I don’t feel well my art will look like that. But this actually never happened to me because I wouldn’t do jobs like that.” Standing on these firm principles of creativity and originality have continued to open doors for Ezra. Monotony is far from view, and because of that Ezra’s talent and skill has allowed him the opportunity to embrace and experience other cultures, places, and people sharing the same interests. “There are so many different writers now and new ones getting up all the time bringing new styles and making the movement bigger and bigger. In my experience, graffiti writers are very open-minded and even when you’re from a totally different place you get along because of what you do and live for – graffiti.”

Just recently becoming a TPA member, Ezra is West Coast bound, looking to make the transition from his native out to Cali’s dynamic graffiti scene. While continuing to live out his dream, setting aside the time to revel in moments of reflection on such invaluable experiences seems only quite fitting:

“Graffiti didn’t give me only walls and cool stories to tell – graffiti made me making friends everywhere and this is something I don’t want to miss at all. Painting a wall together can make you melt on a mental level and that’s the most special thing about it. You create something together and you get to know yourself at the same time. You talk about what you paint and how you do it – you get something while you give something at the same time.”

More Info: http://www.ezraone.ch