Q: Where are you from?
Bristol

Q: What was the first piece you put on the street?
It was in 1982 and said Krazy Krew – crazy or what!!!!!!

Q: What do you think art can do for the world?
Brighten it up.

Q: How do you see the state the world is in today?
Depends who you believe. Enjoy yourself it’s later than you think.

Q: As a graffiti artist did you have trouble finding the right gallery?
No it came when the time was right. Everything happens at certain times for certain reasons.

Q: Tell me a little about the Bristol Art scene?
It has always been a meting pot of very different styles. I knew more about it in the 80’s than I do now. I do know that Bristol is a fairly small place so you have to keep your cards close to your chest. Bristol is a small bowl with a big spoon.

Q: Have you done any commissions?
Yeah a few.

Q: What is your Favorite medium?
Spray paint – always.

Q: Have you thought about doing 3D sculpture work ?
Yes I had the tail end of a 747 built and had it crashing through the wall of the gallery at my V 4 Vandal show at Black Rat Press.

Q: Favorite place you have traveled to and why?
New York – the place makes me happy.

Q: How did your Morning after series start?
I think from realising you can get away with almost anything if you have a large golfing umbrella. The pin stripe suit and bowler hat is also the perfect decoy. The character in these paintings is dressed as a city gent who wants to ‘paint the town red (amongst other colours).’

Q: What are your hopes for the future?
Longevity. I need to get my book sorted out – I’ve been working on it on & off but it just needs finishing now. It would be great to be living somewhere a little warmer.

Q: What do you listen to when you are working?
The Blade Runner 25th anniversary sound track by Vangelis seems to be on permanent loop some days.

Q: What other artist influences you?
Rolf Harris. He always spurs me on to do better, much better.

Q: Favorite living and deceased artist?
Living – Frank Frazetta. Dead – Warhol.

Q: What do you do when not in the studio?
Try and be a good Dad.

Q: Greatest Joy?
Staring into space, alone.

Q: Greatest Sadness?
Anything to do with kids and illness.

Q: Does Nick have a dark side?
Of course.

Q: If you were not an artist then what would you be?
A Psychiatric patient.

Q: Any upcoming shows we should look out for?
Not just yet I’m still working on a new body of paintings. I’m going to set the date for the show once I’m happy with the work.

Q: Do you have prints available of your work?
Yes I hold most of the artist proofs from all my print editions. I’ve also recently been sorting out which pieces to release as prints for this year.

Q: I notice you have a cool art collection, what was the first piece purchased?
I can’t remember. The collection’s got a bit out of hand.

Q: What are your feelings on the secondary art market?
It’s not really something I should care about? I guess I would be doing it if I was skint. I do feel pretty vulnerable when someone tells me my work is in an auction.

Q: I noticed you have a new site for your work, what can we expect?
A better one – called ‘the art of nick walker.com’

Q: Who is your favorite Graffiti artist?
Mac & Retna.

Q: Do you get time to browse galleries when traveling?
Sometimes.

All the best Richard Scarry and The Chipster

Cheerio!

http://web.mac.com/nickwalkerz/Nick_Walker_Art/Welcome.html

Kathie Olivas and Brandt Peters. Contingent. Oil on Linen. 24" x 24".

[Husband and Wife artists  Brand Peters and Kathie Olivas will show their latest body of work at the Opera Gallery in New York City with a private preview on January 14th and a public showing from the 15th through February 5th]. Dailydujour had the pleasure of interviewing both artists about their approach to this newest work, the process of meshing their distinct art worlds for collaboration, and the key role sculpture plays in their art.]

For both of you, what was the starting point for your new bodies of work?  Was there a specific theme you wanted to explore or perhaps a technical aspect/challenge that motivated the pieces?

KO: We tend to approach new works differently. I often start several paintings at once and then start focusing on a portion of that group as they relate to a particular series. The look of an individual piece along with the content or meaning will continue to evolve with every layer of paint. Most of my work has been based on an upcoming apocalypse—by apocalypse, I don’t necessarily mean the end of times. It’s more about working out your darkness/ weakness and becoming a better person for the sake of humanity. We’ve both been pushing ourselves technically as well, so there tends to be an intense history with each piece as they took almost a year to complete as a group—it’s been a pretty crazy year, so there’s quite a bit of energy in each piece. I’ve been working with a combination of old master’s glazing techniques—it’s been a love/ hate relationship, definitely a challenge.

BP: This was an interesting body of work for me – during its course (about 6 months)… many doors opened from many angles. Some of these connections were brand new; some were doors that I have kept closed until recent. I don’t believe that anything was planned in terms of a specific theme like I may have done in the past… this was different – It felt like, what I would consider — “…following the rabbit down the rabbit hole.” I would say that the imagery and concepts were more spontaneous and formed in a sort of alchemic way, involving different parts ideas, connections and energy or combinations of these mixed to achieve a fluid idea. As each painting formed the imagery I was receiving became increasingly more intense – the future, the unknown, fears, love and sexuality and of course death… Not death as in the end, but rather a new beginning – I guess in that sense, Kathie’s work and my work were on a similar path for this show. Regarding technique… this is an area where we both are extremely critical, constantly pushing ourselves forward, staying in flux – questioning and challenging ourselves. I feel the Opera show really showcases the best in our work so far. From a completely different perspective, but related – Maybe I took a risk with going back to grayscale… but I feel that color wasn’t necessary. Color is actually not really natural to me… I think in line, form and depth – more importantly idea and concept – I wanted the work to be raw from that angle and at the same time the rendering and execution pushed further than I have ever taken my work.

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As LeBasse Projects gets ready for Andrew Hem’s solo exhibition at the gallery, our neighbor blog “Erratic Phenomena” has run another in depth interview with the artist. Here is an excerpt from the rare well developed interview:

“Andrew was still at work finishing up a few sculptures for the exhibit when he sat down to tell me a bit about where he’s coming from right now.

Erratic Phenomena: In our last interview, you said, “I love creating worlds that do not exist. A world where people don’t care about others’ appearance, and nobody has to worry about fitting in or being an outcast. Where everyone is accepted… I’ve experienced and witnessed too many times where people are disgusted with the different.” Growing up as one of the few Asians in a Hispanic Los Angeles neighborhood was not a particularly pleasant experience for you, and you didn’t really find acceptance there until you began to paint graffiti in high school. Is this dream of a world without bias an idea you’ve contemplated all your life? Do you make a conscious effort to draw attention to our ingrained xenophobia in your work?

Andrew Hem: I just enjoy seeing different cultures in one image. Every time I’m in LAX, I spend extra time looking around in the international section. That’s the only place I know where you have so many races in one place. For some strange reason, I enjoy being there. Maybe it’s because everybody’s so busy trying to catch a plane that they don’t really pay attention to their surroundings. You could find any ethnicity at any time at LAX, and nobody looks twice. I just want to transfer that feeling into my work.”

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Blue haired artist/photographer/model/stylist/Coilhouse impressaria/ late night cupcake sharer Zoetica Ebb has alot on her plate.  I get to interrogate her about  Russia, curation vs. creation, and what the girls in her paintings are really thinking.

Molly Crabapple: You work in a variety of creative disciplines – photography, painting, even styling and fashion, yet present a cohesive vision.  What inspires you to work in different media?

Zoetica Ebb: Life is short and I like flexing all my creative muscles. Sadly, for now that’s impossible because of physical constraints. I’ll have you know that, if I had clones who shared my consciousness, I’d also be an astronaut, a dominatrix, a fashion designer, an experimental filmmaker, a political journalist, a rock star, a mountain chihuahua farmer, a full-time cabaret dancer* slash circus performer, a professional traveler, and a monk. Among others.

Wealthy benefactors are encouraged to donate to my cloning fund.

*I danced as a kid and was a cabaret dancer for about a year once, actually, but it was the first of my hobbies to go when we started doing Coilhouse.

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KAWS

Michael “RJ” Rushmore is passionate about street art and active in promoting it through his extremely popular blog, Vandalog. Frustrated with the lack of acceptance of street art by the contemporary art world, RJ has organized ‘The Thousands’,  a large street art exhibition in London (11.18) featuring work by top-flight artists including Swoon, Banksy, KAWS, Futura, Anthony Lister, WK Interact and more.  Dailydujour had the pleasure of interviewing RJ about the show and his views on street art.  Enjoy — it’s a good read in our biased opinion.]

Q: Can you tell us a bit about yourself?

I’m an 18-year-old expatriate (originally from Chicago, now living in London), and I spend most of my time on things that relate to street art. I’ve lived in London for a little more than four years, and in that time, my dad and I have become involved in the street art scene here. Last year I started Vandalog.com, primarily a street art blog. When I’m not thinking about street art, I’m probably snowboarding or reading fiction.

Q: You’re extremely passionate and well-versed in street art as your top-flight blog Vandalog and the upcoming ‘The Thousands’ show attest.  What is it about this evolving art form that moves you so?

Usually I answer this question by saying that I love how accessible street art is to the public or how fascinating the lack of gatekeepers can be, but recently I’ve been thinking a bit more on this topic and another thought comes to mind: street art is perhaps the most provocative and timely art form in existence.

Artists can see something in the news one day and make a poster about it the next. The Enjoy Banking guys seemed to start putting out their stickers and posters almost as soon as the economy started to falter and there have been a number of campaigns in New York City direct at Mayor Bloomberg. Because people are practically forced to look at pieces on the street, they are inherently much more powerful than those same messages in a gallery because people make a conscious choice to look enter art galleries. Maybe these particular artworks won’t be remembered in 5 years time, but they are having a powerful effect today.

A lot of the street art I like doesn’t do the things I’m describing, but some does, and I think you’d have a hard time finding another part of the art world where these things are possible.

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Marilyn Minter’s work has been featured in numerous exhibitions, including a solo show at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in 2005 and the 2006 Whitney Biennial. In September, the Contemporary Arts Center Cincinnati and La Conservera in Murcia, Spain will present installations of her work, including large scale projections of her video Green Pink Caviar. Green Pink Caviar was featured in Madonna’s recent European tour and will grace digital billboards on Sunset Boulevard as part of a public art project that coincides with her first exhibition at Regen Projects in October.

Minter will be hosting a lecture at UCLA’s Department of Art
Thursday October 22nd @ 7pm
More info here:

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Amanda Erlanson just posted this insightful interview with artist Edwin Ushiro. The interview took place as he was working on pieces for his upcoming solo exhibition and is a great dialogue and view into Ushiro’s stories and process.

Read on:

In anticipation of the show, Edwin invited me over to chat about his work, rather than replying to my questions via email. As a result, the interview is rather lengthy and a bit strange… and occasionally takes detours into unmapped territory.

When I arrived, Edwin was in the midst of the stage of his process where he applies transfers to a thick sheet of clear vinyl with a layer of matte varnish in between. The painting he was working on is one of himself and his little brother as children, heads together as they watch a tiny green chameleon that is perched on a leaf. As we begin, Edwin is bent over the vinyl, with the image face-up, rolling air bubbles out from between the vinyl and the transfer paper…

FULL Interview after the jump:

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The next episode of Dailydujour TV (ddtv) will feature a LIVE interview with Buff Monster this Friday, September 4th @ 1:30 PM PDT on location from Corey Helford Gallery.  We’ll be talking to him about his art in general and his Heavy Metal Ice Cream Smile solo which opens this Saturday.  As is our tradition, we’ll also take questions directly from the chat room.  If you’d like you can also post questions as comments on this post. And on Friday @ 1:30 be sure to watch over at DDTV.

Corey Helford Gallery
8522 Washington Blvd.
Culver City, CA 90232
310.287.2340

Mike Shinoda will be opening his second solo exhibition at the Japanese American National Museum on August 29th, entitled “Glorious Excess (Dies).”  If the success of his first solo at that Museum is any indication we are all in for quite a treat.  Shinoda was gracious enough to take a few moments out of his busy schedule to talk about his upcoming show, his music career and the exciting things which lay ahead for this gifted artist.

Interview follows after the jump:

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The artist who simply goes by the name Mia has come a long way in a very short time. Having shown at such galleries as Copro Gallery, Roq La Rue, Gallery1988 (LA & SF), La Luz de Jesus, and Ad Hoc Art (just to name a few), the artist known as Mia has made an incredible impact using her huge imagination and finely tuned artistic skills. Even more incredible is the young age at which she has already accomplished all of this. Having graduated from Otis College of Art & Design (Valedictorian of her class, no less) only 2 years ago, her list of exhibitions and sold out shows is almost unbelievable! I don’t know if I should be excited or frightened at the future potential of this incredible young artist.

On the brink of her second feature show at Corey Helford gallery in Los Angeles, I was lucky enough to grab a few minutes of Mia’s time for some questions regarding her past accomplishments, her upcoming exhibition and what the future may hold for this bright young art star.

Read on for the full interview after the jump…

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For the recent Stages show in Paris with Galerie Emmanuel Perotin, KAWS was interviewed by LaMJC. You can see more images from the show here or on the Stages site here.

I just thought this was cool. Looks like LV has show a series of interviews with Buzz Aldrin, Sally Ride and Jim Lovell, some of Americas space pioneers. Check it out online at: Louis Vuitton Journeys

In the past LV has done collaborations with Marc Jacobs, Takashi Murakami, Pharell and other trend setters. Its nice to see them going outside the hipster box a bit.

Stella Im Hultberg opened up her new solo show this Friday at Thinkspace Gallery in Silverlake. NY artist Hultberg was in attendance for the show and had put together an interesting installation along with the exhibit.

We recently interviewed Stella here on DD as well, where she gives some great insight into her newest body of work. We just loved the new sculptures!

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