During the early 2000’s, tags and stencils started appearing in Aberdeen city centre and down numerous back alleys: a policewoman, DJ and bag piper all painted in the same vein as Banksy’s early work. These pieces were created by stencil artist Elki (UK), with the now infamous bag piper on Jopps Lane one of the longest standing pieces of street art in The Granite City.
Over the past 15 years Elki has developed a unique, photorealistic style using hand-cut stencils – no mean feat considering the number of layers required for each piece – operating out of his studio in Glasgow.
Having made the move to legal walls and commissions, he has developed his work to produce some of the best stencil pieces in Europe over the past few years. Although his style and execution may have changed since those early days in Aberdeen, Elki continues to produce work with reference to numerous subcultures associated with street art, graffiti, sneaker and DJ culture with the occasional nod to Scottish heritage with the odd bit of tartan here and there!
