Oz is Dead

The graffiti artists Walter Josef from Hamburg, Germany, better known as OZ, is dead. On Thursday evening around 22.30 clock he was on the railway tracks between Hamburg-Hauptbahnhof and Berliner Tor, as a train overrun him.

The Federal Police was deployed and found a new graffiti on the cover of a track together with his backpack.
He should have sprayed his characters OZ in Hamburg more than 120,000 times.

His actions encouraged a large debate if graffiti should be considered as art or vandalism. A few citizens of Hamburg have at last plucked up the courage to dedicate a book to this globally unique activity.

On its 216 pages “Es lebe der Sprühling” presents the pictures, symbols and messages of this never before illuminated work in the public areas of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, creating a monument to this phenomenon.

The book also includes text on the work by, among others, Jan Eissfeldt, Os Gemeos, Heiko Zahlmann and Peter Michalsky and thus helps to find a new approach to the originators.You can order the book at amazon.

We deplore and mourn the terrible loss.