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graffiti · figurative art · mauritius → the world

MODE2

the legend who inspired, then believed. mauritian-born pioneer of european graffiti, master of the painted crowd — and a close supporter of BABANI and ë.

born mauritius, 1967 formed london, 1984 based berlin official mode2.org
01

from the indian ocean to every wall that mattered

mauritius 1967
london 1976
covent garden 1984
spraycan art cover 1987
paris 1987
the world since

Mode 2 was born in Mauritius in 1967 and spent his childhood under the sun of the Indian Ocean before his family moved to the UK in July 1976. He grew up in South-East London as punk broke and reggae and dub soundtracked the neighbourhood — drawing for as long as he can remember, deep in comics, sci-fi and Dungeons & Dragons, painting lead figurines for a shop in Peckham.

In 1984 he found the hip-hop scene gathering in Covent Garden and transitioned from paper to walls. With The Chrome Angelz in London and then Crime Time Kings alongside Bando in Paris and Shoe in Amsterdam, he helped define what became known as the European style — Mode 2's characters and Bando's letters. Where New York put the letter first, the European school he co-shaped put the human figure at the centre.

In 1987 his work was chosen for the cover of Spraycan Art — Henry Chalfant and James Prigoff's document of graffiti going global — carrying his name and his characters to every corner of the planet where the culture had taken hold. That spring he moved to Paris, painting at the Stalingrad hall of fame; in 1989 the city's suburbs carried his murals for the bicentennial of the French Revolution.

The decades since are one long refinement of a single subject: bodies together. Clubbers, dancers, couples, crowds — sensual figures held in translucent brushwork and sanguine line, an Old Master's hand on a dancefloor subject. The spray can never left; the brush joined it. Today he lives and works in Berlin, with his work shown from the Saatchi Gallery to Fondation Cartier — and his full story told at mode2.org.

02

milestones

1967
mauritiusborn on the island; a childhood under the sun of the Indian Ocean.
1976
londonthe family moves to the UK in July; school years in South-East London, drawing all the way through.
1984
covent gardenenters the hub of the London hip-hop scene; markers and spray replace the sketchbook's edges.
1984–85
the chrome angelz · crime time kingsco-founds the crews — with Bando in Paris and Shoe in Amsterdam — that define the European style: character-led, figure-first.
1987
spraycan arthis work fronts the cover of Chalfant & Prigoff's book — the bible of graffiti's worldwide spread. the same spring, he moves to Paris and the Stalingrad hall of fame.
1989
bicentennial muralspaints murals across the Paris suburbs for the 200th anniversary of the French Revolution.
1990s
travelling, paintingacross Europe and beyond; the brush grows alongside the can — translucent strokes, movement, the crowd as subject.
2010
beyond the streetfeatured, with a landmark interview, in Gestalten's survey of the artists "beyond" the street-art label.
2015
venice · berlinThe Bridges of Graffiti, Venice, alongside the Biennale; The Art of Collaboration, Urban Nation, Berlin — the city he now calls home.
2022
a time to dancesolo exhibition at Urban Spree, Berlin.
2023
beyond the streets londonfeatured at the Saatchi Gallery's 70,000 sq ft survey curated by Roger Gastman — press framed it as forty years of Mode 2.
2019
the buena vista ideaimagines "a mauritian buena vista social club — before all the old musicians leave this earth." the idea that becomes the heart of the BABANI mission.
2026
co-conspirator — the babani mission, 50/50mentor → friend → partner. the legend who taught a young writer to see now co-authors the mission he imagined — as equals, in mutual credit.
03

in his words

The tag, the lowest common denominator of writing, records the movement of he or she who executes it… ultimately, you can read how somebody dances through their arms or with letters, by looking at the size and shape and complexity of their tags or throw-ups.
mode 2 — juxtapoz interview
These guys were getting through every system just to put their names up and express themselves and bring some kind of humanity to a dehumanising urban environment.
mode 2, on the first writers — beyond the streets london, 2023
It's been about just expressing oneself.
mode 2 — up magazine, 2023
04

the circle

mentor→friend→partner→co-author

Before ë existed, Mode 2's walls were already shaping it. For a young graffiti writer in Mauritius — Avneesh, in the DJA era — Mode 2 was the proof that someone from this island could put figures on walls the whole world would learn from. His line — "the inspiration is always around you, you just have to look around and pay attention" — taught that writer how to see.

Twenty years on, the legend who inspired became a believer in what got built: a close supporter of BABANI and ë. Not represented, not signed — peers. Two Mauritian graffiti writers, two generations, creating together as equals — from mauritius to the world as a real lineage, not a slogan.

And the mission was partly his to begin with: in 2019 he imagined a mauritian Buena Vista Social Club, "before all the old musicians leave this earth." BABANI carries that idea — he co-authors it, 50/50.

His subject was always ours too: crowds, dancers, bodies together — the collective moment that ë calls the groove.

05

the work

slot 01 paintings — the crowds, the dancers slot 02 drawings — the sanguine line slot 03 on site — the walls

artwork shown at mode2.org — pieces will live here once shared by the artist

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selected exhibitions & publications

01 Spraycan Art — cover artist · Chalfant & Prigoff, Thames & Hudson book · 1987
02 Beyond the Street — featured artist & interview · Gestalten book · 2010
03 The Bridges of Graffiti — Venice, alongside the 56th Biennale group · 2015
04 The Art of Collaboration — Urban Nation, Berlin group · 2015
05 A Time to Dance — Urban Spree, Berlin solo · 2022
06 Beyond the Streets London — Saatchi Gallery, cur. Roger Gastman group · 2023
07 Galleria Patricia Armocida — Milan · Transitions, and ongoing representation gallery
08 Juxtapoz — cover & feature interview press
07

connect

mode2.org
his official home — paintings, drawings, walls, the blog. start there.
visit ↗
ë universe
where MODE2 sits in the constellation — linked to AVNEESH and BABANI.
open the map →
babani
the mission he helped imagine — heritage records from the indian ocean.
the label ↗