Daku (artist)

Daku was inspired to graffiti in 2006 through Streetfiles - a Berlin based website on the early internet that aimed to compile and organize the "freshest photos of street art & graffiti worldwide and locally." The website accepted artist contributions and Daku wanted to create and add his own.

Since the beginning of his career, Daku has been tagging his name across cities in India using indigenous fonts and typography including Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad and Baroda.

Daku's first collaboration was with France-based artist JonOne, one of the founder-members of Crew 156 — a group of popular New York City Subway artists from the 1980s, who were in Mumbai in 2008.[6] The same year, he also collaborated with two other graffiti artist, Bond and Zine. He started tagging his own name in Devnagari script on walls in Mumbai and South Delhi in 2008 so he could reach the large Indian demographic that only understand their local language.

Before 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, he put up several modified stop signs with generic yet inflammatory messages that provoke public reaction. He tagged many garbage bins with Ku Da in Delhi, an anagram of his own name. Additionally, he adorned the walls of garbage dumping grounds with Ku Da satirizing luxury brands by juxtaposing them against a backdrop of poverty and filth.

He stenciled fuck in Hindi across nine places in Mumbai overnight to protest against Vasant Dhoble, assistant commissioner of police who was accused of moral policing. The police officer sparked public outrage because of recordings of him raiding restaurants, pubs citing archaic rules.[3] He regularly commented on social issues by his works like stenciled LPG cylinder rocket to highlight price rise, blindfolded protester during 2011 Indian anti-corruption movement.[7] In addition to social commentaries, his work also highlighted the mundane. Another collection plastered "fuck" across Mumbai streets inspired by a conversation he had with a taxi driver. When Daku asked: do you know what fuck means?, the taxi driver responded: When a man is worried, he says "fuck yaar".

He along with other street artists, did wall graffiti, commissioned at Buddh International Circuit. He along with Bond, created 200 square meter graffiti at IIT Bombay TechFest in 2011.[8][9]

Daku has created street arts with light, shadows and reflections. He first experimented during Kochi biennale, 2012 and put mirrors to reflect texts such as “Time Flies” or “Time Travel” on walls, streets, and parked vehicles so that they were only visible a few hours a day, depending on the suns placement.[10]

An accident at a footbridge in Mehrauli, Delhi had mangled it beyond usage. Several months passed without repair, Daku painted a "for sale" sign with an asking price of Rupees 15 Crores which was the costs of construction. The artist said the public should be aware how much of their money is wasting away due to government neglect.[11]

He organized India's first-ever street art festival called St+Art in Delhi.

Before 2014 Indian general election, at F-block, Connaught Place he painted a graffiti Mat Do a contranym which instructors the viewer to both, not to give their vote as well as to vote. It's a 200m long (660 ft) and 74m high(243 ft) mural of a fisted hand with an inked middle finger which is a sign that a person has voted.[12]

His works have been showcased at venues such as the Centre Pompidou, Venice Biennale and Triennale Design museum.[13] He participated in the India Art Fair 2015 and created 100-meter-long stenciled mural on asphalt with the repeated slogan, This is commissioned vandalism.[14][15][16][17] He designed a room in flat of Hrithik Roshan.[18] He had done graffiti on shutters of Hysteria, the music merchandise shop, on Church Street, Bengaluru in late 2015 for "Mohan Kaun?" Project.[19]

He installed a shadow art collectionin Lodhi Colony, Delhi in March 2016.[20][21] He placed billboards across Hyderabad in April, 2016 in criticism of consumerism.[20][22] In October 2016, he pasted giant snail posters across Silicon Valley, Bangaluru to highlight traffic jams.[23]

He installed a shadow art collection called "Theories of Time" in Panaji, Goa in 2019.[24]

In 2021, he created a mural highlighting water crisis in Chennai.[25]