Gais Ama

Gais (Douglas Santos Tavares) was born in Rio de Janeiro in 1980. He started tagging in the street in 1995, and moved to graffiti in 1997. He completed urban interventions, pasting posters on city walls, begining in 1999. In 2000, he became part of the collective Nação Crew. This same year and the following one, the artist participated the National Graffiti Meeting in Santo André, São Paulo.
In 2006, Gais was one of the founders of the Cultural Center Severo 172, in Rio de Janeiro, dedicated to urban art. In 2008, together with the graffiti artist Chico, he presented at the exhibit "Escrevendo Torto por Linhas Certas: Símbolos de uma Geração" (Writing Crooked through the Right Lines: Symbols of a Generation), at the Furnas Cultural Center in Rio de Janeiro.
Between 2009 and 2011, the artist participated at the street festival, Reflex on Urban Art, in Amsterdam, staying in the city for a few months, during each edition. In 2011, he had a work auctioned at Phillips de Pury in London. He also participated in "From 0 to 100 in 1 second", his first solo exhibit at Huma Art Project Gallery, in Rio de Janeiro, and in Stroke Urban Art Fair in Berlin. In 2012, Gais participated in the exhibition "Gramática Urbana" (Urban Grammar), curated by Vanda Klabin, at the Art Center Hélio Oiticica in Rio de Janeiro.