What is post-graffiti? Exploring the language of Saïd Kinos

Redefining graffiti through typography

The term post-graffiti might sound academic, but to Saïd Kinos it’s simply about moving forward. Taking the language of the street and reshaping it, not to polish it, but to explore it more freely.

In essence, post-graffiti refers to a practice that moves beyond the traditional codes of graffiti. It maintains the visual energy, techniques, and urban roots of graffiti, but shifts the focus from tagging and territoriality to experimentation, abstraction, and individual expression. It enters the gallery space, not as a compromise, but as a continuation.

Over the years, Saïd has developed a visual vocabulary that sits somewhere between type and texture, between letterform and abstract shape. His fascination with language is not just about words, but about what they do, how they shape space, suggest rhythm, invite reading, even when they no longer mean anything in particular.

Saïd Kinos in his studio, photography by Jacqueline Fuijkschot

From graphic design to large-scale murals

Saïd’s background plays a key role in this evolution. He studied graphic design and began as a graffiti artist, painting in public space long before showing work in a gallery context. That dual foundation - structured design and street-level spontaneity - still shapes his approach. Today, he continues to create murals across the world, from the Netherlands to Japan to Hawaii. But his studio practice offers a different kind of freedom. Here, he can slow down, edit, and push the language further.

Post-graffiti, in Saïd's hands, is not just about aesthetic. It's about merging worlds: the public and the personal, the graphic and the gestural. His large-scale murals retain the immediacy of graffiti, but they also hold the same layered thought process visible in his canvas work.

Language, surface, and meaning

Where graffiti was direct, often confrontational, Saïd’s approach is layered, open-ended. In his paintings and works on paper, the echo of street culture remains visible: spray paint, bold gestures, old posters. But the message isn’t shouted. It unfolds slowly, in compositions that reward close looking.

In recent years, Saïd has created several large-scale commissions, including murals for schools and public buildings. These often begin with the same process as his smaller works: sketching by hand, experimenting with structure and flow. The results feel both architectural and personal.

Control and intuition

One of the defining traits of Saïd’s practice is his balance between control and intuition. Each line is considered. Letters are drawn, layered, erased. Not to communicate a sentence, but to create a surface that speaks in a different way.

What links Saïd's mural practice and his studio work is their shared language. His murals might be large-scale and public, while his works on paper are more intimate and reflective. But both are part of the same conversation: a form of post-graffiti that uses the visual cues of language to create space, meaning, and movement.

Commissioned painting by Saïd Kinos, photography by Jacqueline Fuijkschot

Recent works at Root Gallery

At Root Gallery, we’ve been working with Saïd since the very beginning. His recent pieces, including a number of vibrant new works on paper, continue this investigation. Some verge on minimalism; others pulse with energy. Each one asks the viewer to slow down, to read without reading.

Whether you’re drawn to the subtle layering or the bold compositions, Saïd’s work rewards attention, and leaves space for your own interpretation.

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