Mark-making: From Underpasses to Matchboxes - 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

Branching from a culture where connections are tight and reps are built, I'd say gallery work would be a natural step. Ever considered somewhere like Gallery 1988 to get your name out there?

When Gallery Nucleus had an all-girl show, my friend was asked to be in it. She was so excited, telling all of her friends and I was so happy for her. A few weeks later she told me that Nucleus was no longer showing her because she was a student. I love Gallery Nucleus--they show amazing work--and I can understand them when they no longer want to show student work. But backing down on someone a few weeks before the show is another story. [The gallery owner] Ben's a cool guy and my friends show there often. I’m just not ready to submit my work. I will eventually.

Absntmnded seems like a hushed project. Tell us about your involvement with it.

Absntmnded is my friend Absent. He started a blog that he shows a bunch of his friends. I actually didn't know I was in it till last week. I also have a blog where I show a bunch of my crew's work, but after I’d set it up I never updated.

In school we got our own gallery where they’d let our crew show work. The crew was called Illustration Squad. It started from a doodle in my sketchbook and turned into 15 of the rawest illustrators at school. Interest in that faded when we didn't update. I stopped because some loser was stealing my paintings. So after that everyone was scared to put things in.

Do you have a favorite out of the paintings you've done?

My favorite painting right now has to be Willy Wonka; done in my last semester of school. A lot of the stuff on my site is done in my own spare time, with no art direction. That piece on the other hand had directing from the drawing stages till the end. It was done for Rob Clayton’s class so I knew that I was in good hands. It’s the second biggest painting I've done at about 5x5m. It was supposed to be a 14-week painting, but by 5th week I felt like it was completed. It's my favorite painting due to the colors, size, and subject matter. I love the movie Willy Wonka, so that made it an automatic favorite.

It's not the technical skill that makes me like the painting, it's the feeling I get. Artists like Leon Golub are not the most technical, but nevertheless you get a powerful feeling when you see it.

Your style has obvious urban origins. But are you trying to branch out from this?

Yeah, but it's easier said than done. I've been doing graffiti for nine years and studying traditional painting for three, so losing that street part of me is going to take time -- it's part of me whether I like it or not. I just feel that the street flavor is becoming too trendy, and like all trends, it’s going to get played out quickly.

I'm not one who likes to jump on any bandwagon. I try to do things differently, but this is also easier said than done. In school, I became quite stressed out because I wanted to find a new voice and so I was all over the place. I became recognized for my style at school, but tried to get recognition for other things too so that one style wouldn't define me. I didn't want to be someone who did the same thing over and over, so I accepted my voice and figured that in time my style would change. I needed to stop forcing it.

When I'm driving on the freeway and I pass a graffiti piece, I can tell who the artist is just by looking at it from the corner of my eye. The reason being the style. Originality stands out, and I really try to be original. I think to achieve originality you have to look for influence outside your field.

My goal would be to delve into the less mainstream styles. I look up to artists like Michael Hussar who came up with a contemporary way of painting in alla prima. At first I didn't like the style. It was so new. But after seeing it more and more it became one of my favorite styles. The downfall is that everybody and their mom are painting in that style now.

So for you it's a case of experimenting, deviating from the norm.

Yeah, I feel like I’m coming up with something interesting now. I’m just not ready to show it. I still need to mess with it some more before I get comfortable with it. It's going to take me doing at least 30 bad paintings till I figure it out the equation. But as of right now it’s top secret ‘cause it's under construction.

I have a teacher, Steve Turk, and when he’s practicing his other style, he's Noah Woods. He legally has two names to separate gallery and freelance work. I think if I stick with what I’m doing now I might do the same, just because the two looks are so different. Art directors might get confused if they see two completely different looking pieces with the same name applied.

“Top secret.” You realize this is a mouthwatering notion, Andrew?

[Laughs.] That's pretty funny. Mouthwatering is a term I usually use for stone cold ice cream. Nobody has ever used the term mouthwatering for anything I've done. Thanks for saying that.

On a darker note, I hate attention. I can't stand being with someone who loves attention, so it’s funny that I always end up drawing attention to myself. When I’d tell a friend about something I’d be working on, the next week people in the halls would ask me if it was true. I’m like, WTF?

 Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4