BOXI TIXI’S INTERVIEW
BACKSTORY
I became a fan of street art during the seven years I lived in Los Angeles, ‘The Mural Capital of the World’ (inspiring me to organize the first-ever Los Angeles-Istanbul Street Artist Exchange in 2015).
So I was intrigued by the UK-based paste-up artist who goes by the nom de guerre Boxi Trixi when I saw his work on Instagram. But how does one own street art? Answer: own the next best thing. In this case, one of Boxi’s collages, a practice forced upon him by the COVID lockdown. It reminds me life is a many-hued journey.
PANDEMIC AS INSPIRATION
WLM=Walter L Meyer
BT=Boxi Trixi
WLM Boxi, how long have you been doing street art?
BT For 20 years now. I studied marketing and advertising in university, but decided I never wanted to do that with my life. So I left Buenos Aires and went to Barcelona. I had a sister living there.
WLM What did you do there? How long did you stay?
BT I worked as a chef maybe six months. Ran out of money. Went to Belfast. And then Granada. Everything changed for me there. Graffiti was legal or at least nobody cared. It was everywhere. And so was music.
WLM So that’s where you got involved in music?
BT Back then Granada was famous as a hub for all kinds of acoustic musicians—sitar players, guitar players, flamenco. And I discovered the hand pan. It’s like a steel drum, but shaped like a UFO. When you play in the streets, you’re a ‘busker.’ I supported myself busking.
WLM So when did you get involved with street art?
BT One thing led to another, and I eventually moved into a house with other musicians and some street artists. One day I had a fateful meeting there that would start my street artist life.
WLM You have to explain this!
BT There was this tag everywhere in the streets—OAN—related to the name Jose. One day I met Jose at that house. He’d seen the little paste-ups I’d done. Doodles, really. Jose liked them, and invited me to join a group of street artists that night. That's how it started.
WLM Is that when Boxi Trixi was born?
BT Jose told me I had to have a street name. My dad used to call me ‘Boxi Trixi’ when I was a kid. In his broken English he was trying to say, ‘You are a box full of tricks.’ But he said, ‘boxy tricksy.’ That became my name.
WLM But isn’t Boxi Trixi also the name of the figure in all of your art—even the collage in my collection?
BT Whenever I drew, this character always seemed to appear. Maybe because my grandfather gave me some figurines from Tihuanaco, an ancient place in today’s Bolivia. When the Inca got there, it was already in ruins.
WLM So you had a life in Spain based on street art and music. But that changed. What happened?
BT At some point my Mom got cancer, so I returned to Buenos Aires. Returning after 10 years, street art was now everywhere! Even bigger than in Europe. I brought my hand pan, but after 10 years I was ready to do something different.
WLM So what happened?
BT I got together with a group of street artists. We called ourselves BA Paste-Up. It was like jamming. We pasted together, but everyone did there own thing. We were everywhere—magazine and newspaper covers. Getting commercial jobs even.
WLM I know you were planning to move back to Spain, and in readiness you’d left your home and rented what was supposed to be a short-term AirBnb. But COVID happened.
BT Argentina had a very tough lockdown. My partner and I were trapped in this small one-room place. I couldn’t go outside. Not even to buy watercolors to do something indoors.
WLM So what inspired you to start doing collages?
BT AirBnb’s are full of old magazines for guests. There were scissors. I discovered I could use the stiffer magazine cover as a base. Like the collage in your collection.
WLM Can you tell me a little about the figures in my collage—other than the ever-present Boxi Trixi?
BT During lockdown, I was obsessed with freedom. Those birds represent freedom, and that chain is about a desire to break free. I was always wondering, when is this going to end? That tiny text in newsprint means, ‘next week all about...’ Like maybe it was all going to end next week.
WLM How did you wind up in Birmingham, England?
BT Again life happened. My partner’s from here, and her mother got sick. So now I have a studio here. I don’t do murals because the walls here are exposed brick, so you have to use spray paint. I don’t like spray. I do paste-ups. The UK’s full of metal electrical boxes—perfect for bombing. It was like jamming.
WLM Is street art legal there?
BT No, but street artists have found the perfect solution. When I go out, I wear a yellow ‘high-visibility’ vest. Ironically, it makes you invisible. You see all city workers are required to wear one. So people think you're working—maybe I’m posting an ad. The best way to hide a tree is in the forest!
WLM What a brilliant solution! Anything else you want to say, Boxi
BT Street art is a game. We’re grownups playing a very serious game.
COVID Collage
Boxi Trixi
I supported myself busking. It was like jamming. Street art is a game.
Box Trixi with hand pan
Street paste-up, Birmingham
Boxi Trixi in ‘high vis” jacket