James Thomson and Doke at Spectator College discussion. (source: Ivana Adžić - The Slovak Spectator)
Martin Hirner, better known as Doke, the man behind the YouTube profile DokeTV, is a Slovak graffiti artist from Bratislava. Not only is he famous for his videos on the popular social network, but Doke has also been listed as the second top graffiti TikTok Influencer on InBeat's list of Top 10 Graffiti TikTok Influencers in 2023.
Doke used to spend half a day, on average, painting and filming each of his works, but times change, and the audience now expects something more. "These days I also do quite a lot of commissioned work ... the preparation, the sketching only, and communication with the client can take up to a week – just the preparation – then the preparation of a video maybe half a day, and then the painting itself – usually it's at least 3 days of painting, but more challenging paintings can take up to 7 days of painting," says Doke.
As Doke himself admits to us, graffiti artists in Slovakia are currently struggling with a lack of legal walls on which to show their art to the general public. Due to the various risks of damaging surrounding cars or private property, even the few legal walls became illegal at one point. Because of this, the whole community "struggles" with not knowing whether their work will be on the streets for a few days or hours – or even just a few minutes.
