jorit agoch
Biography: Jorit,his birth name, Agoch his art-name, was born in Italy-Naples, from an Italian father and a Dutch mother.
He started to paint at the age of thirteen with a spraycan in his native city Quarto, north of Naples.
In the beginning this activity was an expression to mark the places he attended with his friends. He continued to ‘sign’ together with his friends, also because for the most people do not complain. When he starts to see the ‘marks and signs’ of other groups-crews, he understands that there is a whole world behind these signs, marks and graffiti on the city walls. ‘Writing’ on the city walls is a way to escape from a world which is oppressive and not stimulating; this world is in contrast with his family environment, which is permissive and stimulating, notwithstanding the separation of his parents.
The discovery of the graffiti-world and his components, adult and adolescents, made Jorit aware he could be part of something very big, of something which started in many other cities, in every part of the world by other people different but also similar to him.
In this period, conscious of reality, Jorit started to paint with more dedication and sacrifice; he marked his graffiti on walls and trains with his nickname, all around his native city and Naples, and very soon in the whole of Italy.
Often he takes physical risks and he has to escape from police because graffiti on walls and trains is not allowed, but for him and his crew their graffiti is legal art-expression. His sense of belonging to this culture is very strong and soon an artistic talent in his graffiti was noticed.
This first period, in his adolescence age, energetic and sometimes violent, focuses him on creative art, like painting and drawing. After scientific school, he decided to go to the Art Academy of Naples and not to the University of Architecture, like his parents suggested. He successfully finished his study of art at the Art Accademy-Accademie delle Belle Arti-with mention. Here he learned how to use acrylic and oil on canvas and he started to carry out paintings on canvas as well as continuing to paint around cities.
His graffiti-style slowly has been changing and maturing: he pays more attention to the human face and he becomes more meticulous and realistic. His paintings gave him the possibility to earn some money, which he used to travel and discover the rest of the world and escape from the Neapolitan lifestyle. He visited many European cities and made graffiti everywhere, sometimes risking a lot.
In 2005 he went to sub-Saharan Africa for the first time and the African culture impressed him a lot. He returned to the continent for another 7 times during several months. In Tanzania he studied and collaborated with the International School of Painting Tinga Tinga at Dar es Salaam.The extremely creative and technical artistic talent of these African painters stimulated him to refine his technique and increase the eye for enhanced meticulous details.
In June 2010 he exhibited 25 paintings inspired by his African experience for charity. All paintings were sold and all proceeds were used to build a maternity ward in a small village near Dar es Salaam, visited by Jorit before and after the construction. The event was mentioned on public Italian television, RAI. It is easy to understand that Jorit is fascinated by non-occidental cultures and he has a strong sense of respect and brotherhood for all different cultures.
Jorit is now focused exclusively on the human face and in particular to portray the human face in the most realistic mode possible.
He has started to mark his portraits with two red lines or scars on the cheek that refer to ancient African rituals,like scarification.
This ritual indicates the passing from childhood to adult age. He is firmly convinced that all the differences of race, gender, religion and social class do not mean anything with respect to the characteristics that are similar in all human beings, especially ‘being a human being’.
He continues to paint all around the world on city walls and marks his graffiti-portraits with the two red signs making them, in this way, part of his tribe ‘Human Tribe’. His awareness of the social, cultural and ethnic variety all over the world is still growing as he continues travelling in Africa, Cuba, Australia and some Arabic countries and studying during these stays.
His art is getting famous also outside the graffiti-world.
In October 2011 he exhibited some of his paintings in the Mann Museum (Naples) and in 2013 in the Magma Museum (Roccamonfina).
He collaborates with various galleries and exhibited abroad (e.g. Sydney, London, Amsterdam and Tilburg ).
He has made portraits of many famous rap and hip hop singers, which are all marked with the characteristic two red signs and he is engaged in some commercial collaborations, with Poltrona Frau and Converse.
At the start of 2013 Jorit stayed for some months in New York, the city where graffiti all began. Here he worked on two very large graffiti paintings. His portraits are not just casual depictions, but they always express a message, they want to attract attention to the part of human tribe that is less lucky, which live in socially difficult situations. In Brooklyn he painted an Afro-american person; recent events in the USA have highlighted the difficult racial relationships. In New York Jorit experienced that his passion is getting something real and this has given him a bigger awareness of his art. This new confidence will keep inspiring him.
In May 2014 Jorit exhibited his paintings in ‘PAN’, Palace of Arts of Naples in Naples and in autumn of 2014 with ‘Con il Sud’ in via del Corso in Rome as well as in the Macro Museum in Rome.
He collaborates with INWARD and with national and international, private and public, projects of street art to provide new qualities to the cities.
tesla's odyssey 
Leave a comment