beauty and decay
rone
interview with i.t.a.
i’d like to say it’s certainly a pleasure to be speaking with you rone and welcome to powder. the rosy lips and penetrating eyes of the women in your paintings have definitely got me captivated.
so what are you up to now? what projects have you got on and have you been hitting the streets?
Right now i'm preparing for a 6 week world tour. Berlin to paint a 5 story building, London to organise a solo show for next year, Miami to show canvas works at Scope art fair and to paint walls around Wynwood, then New Zealand to paint a large wall in Christchurch.
it’s been said that you attempt to locate the friction point between beauty and decay in your pieces. can you expand on that for us?
Over the years of putting up paste-up works I found they looked their best after they had decayed somewhat. Comparing this to the clean white canvas backgrounds I once would spray the same stencils onto I found my canvas work had lost the character of what the street would bring to it. Now I’m trying to bring that character into my canvas works.
you’ve moved from stencilling and screen printing to more of a freehand style. what prompted the change and what are the advantages of it?
In the beginning it was all about quantity over quality. I wanted to be up as much as possible. Stencilling, paste-ups & posters are perfect for quick repetition.
As I back off my presence on the street I started to focus on my freehand in the studio and built up a new skills set that now make it possible for me to paint much larger walls that would have ever been possible with my previous methods.
do you use models for your pieces or where do you find your muses?
Originally I would reference images from magazines, but now I work with models to produce photo references.
what led you down the path to becoming a street artist?
Skateboarding and not caring about ball sports.
what would you say working on the streets has over the studio or displaying in galleries?
Connecting directly with a community. Meeting people on the street while panting has always giving me the biggest insight to another country’s culture.
have you ever found yourself in trouble with the law whilst you’ve been out on the street creating?
Yes, I was arrested in Japan, but that was for stealing bikes (so we could put up more stickers).
what’s the most bizarre place you’ve ever worked?
Tenderloin, San Fran. for the Bizarre (but brilliant) people who live there.
you’ve been creating around the globe. where are some of the places you’ve been and what was the most unique experience you’ve had?
I'm lucky to say I’ve been to dozens of countries. Some of the most unique experiences I’ve had would be; Vanuata for being swamped by kids who insisted on helping and
Dominican Republic for the surreal-ness of painting on a beach with horses roaming.
who are your influences on the street scene? what else influences your art?
on the street; Blu, JR and many more…
But other influences are what I see on the walls of the streets, the way colours fade, the way paint cracks and chips away. All those unintended things that give a wall character.
you’re a member of the everfresh group of street artists. can you tell us a bit about the group and what you’re up to?
Everfresh is the name of our studio based in Melbourne. It was started after not fitting in to a traditional studio environment due to our art being graffiti/Street-art focused rather than oil painting.
Originally started by Sync, Reka, Makatron, Phibs, Wonderlust, Meggs, Prizm, The Tooth & myself. After 10 years many of the founders have moved to different parts of the world but they still use the studio as a base whenever they are here. Currently we have a very small number of residence; Tom Civil, Mayonnaise, The Tooth, Makatron, Wonderlust & Myself.
cheers for the chat rone. the crew here at powder look forward to the next time we’re strolling down the street and come across one of your stunning ladies.
check rone's website
instagram r_o_n_e#
check out the everfresh site
