SPECTRUM R.A.D. with Hatory Pabllo

Born and raised in Setúbal, Hatory Pabllo (@internet_is_a_lie) is a self-made artist with a multifaceted creative drive, one of the latest OGs and a real unicorn for the whole scene. Filippo Minelli (@filippominelli) recently had a word with him on our behalf, getting into the details of his bold aesthetic, which appears to be an outlandish mixture of life experiences and artistic flair. Both include some years spent in São Paulo, a longtime passion for streetwear and his unexpected encounter with the big man upstairs.

Q. Tell me a bit of your birthplace, Setúbal. Mostly because of today’s touristic boom, most people associate Portugal with fancy azulejos facades and wild nightlife. But things were pretty different in the ‘90s, especially in Margem Sul.

A. I was born in 1987 and raised in Setúbal. Portugal in the 90’s and 2000 was pretty different from now: Margem Sul was particularly known for drug abuse and critical social issues, with a high crime rate. Portuguese know what I’m talking about.

Q.  The first time we spoke, you mentioned the years you spent in São Paulo as crucial for both your and artistic personal growth. I know how it feels to connect with a city the moment you land, but what’s so special for an artist like you, interested in aesthetics and people?

A. I talked about Sao Paulo and about how that city changed my way of viewing and approaching life, but to understand this shift we must go back to my hometown, Setúbal. Being raised in a small town means you’re convinced that every person has his own way of being and nobody looks like the others; despite that, I felt Setúbal wasn’t my place. So I grew used to looking at people carefully, noting every detail: at that time I wasn’t feeling similar to anyone, so I started looking for people with similar tastes to mine, craving for empathy and a certain sense of recognition. Talking about Sao Paulo… I saw many young guys with a dream in Brazil, people with lives and stories pretty similar to my own life, showing an enviable determination. Flowers blossom from the mud, and this belief gave me the power to realize how lucky I am, getting my soul closer to God. Mad things happen in Brazil, and one of these is my faith. Brazil is really a magic place.

Q. Let’s keep with the theme of your inner energy. You always kept busy doing your stuff until it became a way of living. Seems like there’s no separation between your creativity and your life. Do you feel this way now?

A. I’m convinced that everything I do is connected with everything else. We are who we are for a specific reason, and I’m the person who I am because of God. Sometimes I ask myself ‘Why am I this way? Why do I like this thing, how did I come up with this?’ but all my questions start and end up with God. The Lord gave me a taste for aesthetics, a highly distinctive style, and my identity comes from life experience - there’s something magical in all this.

Q. Have you always felt like this?

A. I always felt this call for creativity, even when I was just living the street life aimlessly, and even more now that I’m super focused on my life mission. 

My artworks can be considered small pieces of me, of my vision and identity. At this moment, I feel that anything I do is art, but it was the same even when I had no clue about God’s project.

Q. You started painting graffiti before it was cool. How did you start?

A. I started writing my name, “Bio”, even before knowing what graffiti was. It was between ’97 and ’98, still no internet and I was living in a neighborhood of Setúbal called Peixe Frito. At that time, a few names started popping up on several walls in town, such as “TÈTÈ” and other major legends, so I started writing mine too. Finally, a guy came up to me and told me that I was doing graffiti writing, an activity linked to hip hop and American culture.

Q. Basically, you listened to a personal urge. 

A. Well, I’ve always been drawing and painting in order to develop my style just because, like everything in my life, a unique style has always been the most important thing - being yourself, being true. I believe you have to be aligned with your drawing style.  Back then was a good time in graffiti and life as well, everything was real and magical. I’m still feeling very lucky for being part of such a unique era, all my best memories are dated back those years, when people were really free. Unfortunately, today everything can be completely manipulated online - hence my Instagram and brand name. Ignorance used to fill my heart with freedom.

Q. Your huge interest in street brands and clothing is quite evident, and some pieces even appear in your paintings. How did you develop this interest around fashion?

A. I’ve always been pretty fascinated by clothing in general, and this applies to every step of my life. Plus, I’ve done many crazy things to get money for shoes or clothes, also because the way I dress is a direct extension of my personality. I love to spend time and effort over clothes, searching for specific items that would fit my collection – a game-like approach, basically. My penchant for Japanese vintage clothing comes from here. Besides personally owning rare pieces from BBC, Ice Cream, Evisu, Bape and Hysteric Glamour, I also like classic European and American vibes like Prada and Nike. Eventually, my trips abroad are pure gold as I always absorb trends and influences from the places I visit. 

Q. Shifting from graffiti to tattoos was pretty smooth for you.

A. Well, tattoos started being a thing when I asked myself what the hell should I have done with all my sketches. My cartoon style, pretty simple and funny, wasn’t very suitable for tattoos as the world was still stuck on realism and classic style. Then, Fuzi and other dudes with graffiti-related backgrounds made an incredible effort to legitimize this way of doing tattoos, so I started as well. At first in Brazil, but later I moved to London, where I worked for a big studio for over a year. But years spent in graffiti left their mark: it was virtually impossible for me to accept the idea of selling something related to drawings. This partly explains my gradual shift towards canvas, which came to be the best place to fully express my drawing style. Just like tattoos, they both give me lots of possibilities to travel around and show the world my work. My next trip will be to Japan in 2022, for an art show at the Tokyo Wish Less Gallery.

Q. Let’s go back to painting and photography for a second. You work on these two disciplines in parallel, right?

A. Yep, I love working on many things at once, especially if they’re related. Photography allows you to make ephemeral moments eternal, like what I did when I was used to shooting my graffiti writings with an analogue camera. In Brazil I started believing that everything was worth being eternalized, so I published a book that follows up this vision. Today I prefer to think there are infinite ways to make something eternal: music, clothes, tattoos, paintings.

Q. This reminds me of the book published by Jeff Koon during his years with Cicciolina, the one we’re talking about a couple of days ago.

A. He’s definitely a great maestro of these times, but what really inspires me concerns his ability to catch the essence of things, his killer intuition for the aesthetic sublime.

Q. I like the fact that you say you are interested in aesthetics, which means much more than beauty.

A. The universe gave me one talent only, which is being myself. The only way to honor this gift is to keep doing my own stuff. Having a list of goals to achieve and a clear resolution are crucial to survive in this rotten present. As I don’t have the power to change the world, I decided to change MY world. My biggest achievement is living by who I am.

SPECTRUM R.A.D.

Inside the Resident Artist Decoder project, we engage international creatives across artistic paths, forms of expression and the influence of subcultures. Every resident artist rounds off the initiative creating a dedicated artwork, which is later printed on limited edition shopper bags that are distributed exclusively in store.