classic on nyc streets
russell king
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russell king thanks for speaking with us here at powder your striking street sign art that graces the city streets of new york has certainly caught our eyes.
firstly, I'd like to ask how you got into street art? why did your interest grow in that direction and how long have you been out there on the streets creating?
When I was first attempting to start a professional art career I had delusions of showing in some big time New York gallery. Why not, right? After all I am the hero of my own mind. I was pompous in those days. For almost 5 years my old friend Matt Siren had been telling me to make some stickers and go "slappin". While spending most of my days during that time mopping floors I realized that most likely Mary Boone was not going to randomly come knocking at my door. Finally he asked me for one of my small paintings and we did a collaborative piece that resulted in multiple pieces for two separate indi shows. That was my first introduction to the street art/graffiti scene. The pieces were very well received, but it was the vibe of the shows that opened my eyes. They were gritty, somewhat dirty, and exciting. Full of many different and interesting people it made me wonder if this is what the Bowery music scene was like in the 70's. I just wanted to be a part of it. Right away I started screening images on to wood panels and hanging them on street poles. Those shows were somewhere around 2006 or 7.
what do you feel are the advantages of working on the street? what do you thing street art does for a community?
The immediate advantages for doing work on the street is my only real limitation is myself. I see so many beautiful and amazing things on the street and all I think is, "Why didn't I think of that?" or "I wish I had the guts to pull that off". What street art does for a community depends on how the community accepts it. It can have its destructive moments I can't pretend to not understand that part, but at the same time it can enrich. Imagine walking out of your door into an ever changing gallery. It can make a run down industrial and unattractive part of town full of life! It can turn a fancy "gentrified" neighborhood into something interesting. No need for reality television, you can experience firsthand and follow the art and exploits of real people out there doing their thing for you, for themselves, for whatever drives them. The internet, computers, smart phones have changed the world in so many ways. Those devices can pull you into a fake cyber world or they can bring you closer to a community than ever before.
I was putting up a sign a couple of years back and had a young girl (probably mid 20's) scream out to me "save it for your living room!" All I could think was "why did this girl move to New York just to change it into wherever she was from?" I thought people move to New York because of all the culture. Why then do some want to turn Manhattan into a suburb of itself?
you work with bolt ups: designs upon signs that you put up around the streets of new york. what's the process when creating them and how do you go about getting them up there?
I don't work with bolt ups much anymore because no matter what steps I took to secure them they are constantly and quickly being removed. I have tried bending bolts, flooding the back with heavy duty glues, vandal proof break away nuts… I even thought about welding them in, but they always seem to end up on eBay. I'm sure they went pretty cheap. Those signs are layered silk screen on aluminium, and I usually just threw a few in my bag and looked for a good spot that had a bicycle locked to it so I can stand on it to get as high as possible. Turns out people get a little irritated if you stand on their bike. I think there are only three running in New York. Philadelphia seems to let them run longer. San Francisco had… less love for me.
do you have specific positions or areas that you prefer to place your pieces and do you work under the cover of dark?
I am always thinking of placement. These pieces are on the street and not in a white box gallery, so the environment matters to me greatly. I want them to fit in and work with the surroundings whenever possible. I never understand why people take close up photos of work on the street and ignore the landscape. Close ups are good for capturing detail, but to me the feel of it is lost.
Time of day for when I put up work can vary depending on what it is I am doing and where it is I am doing it. Sometimes day works just as good as night. When there are a lot of people walking around zoned on their phones they have no idea I should not be doing something. I have found that the worst time to do anything is when the bars are in full tilt. Drunks all turn into vigilantes and their one mission is to save the world from the scourge of me. Best time… Sunday morning an hour after the bars close. Any drunk at that point is walking sideways.
when you've been out there putting up your artworks have you ever been arrested or hassled by the police?
I have never been arrested but I have been hassled for sure. One thing that I learned is that as much as the police love back talk and being told the law it seems to work out better to just play stupid and confused. One time I was handcuffed. The officer didn't understand what I was doing so he handcuffed me while he and four other under covers figured out what it was that I was doing illegal. They decided on a littering summons.
is there anything that you must have with you when you are creating your works or you are out there on the streets?
The only thing I must have is whatever I need for that moment. I try not to have anything extra on me. My theory is: never carry anything that can make your situation worse in the event of being hassled by the police. No reason to have stickers on you if you only plan on pasting, they assume you are doing everything you have on you in the worst possible way.
have you ever trained in the arts?
Yes I have been. I have an M.F.A. from the New York Academy of Art. I don't think they would back my current endeavors. When I was there they were very technique oriented as well as a bit snooty. But, I hear they changed and I did enjoy my time there and learned a lot.
you've got your own unique style of street art… how did this evolve? who are your influences and who do you admire on the street art scene at present?
Stylistically my influences do not come from the street. I take a lot from many artists. A good artist borrows, a great one steals. J.C. Leyendecker, Alphonse Mucha, Jacopo Pontormo, Charles Rennie Mackintosh had style and I steal from some of the best. That is not to say that I am not very inspired by the street. I see something and think wow that was a great idea then I go online and see something someone did in France or England or South America and so on and I think, Damn! I have to start elevating my game. Each city brings its own beauty. They all have different terrains and different ways of working with them. I wish I had the ability to travel to all of them, see them first hand and learn from them as well as join in them. We are all in a fish bowl, each scene that is, like a dysfunctional family, and with any family there are the golden children and then there is the kid-touching uncle no one wants any part of. I might be the burnt out brother.
a lot of your subjects are women, quite often with a retro style about them. do you have specific models to pose for you or where do you get your inspiration from?
Veronica Lake is my inspiration for everything… Minus the alcoholism and early death. I started stealing photos off the internet. I then decided I wanted to use people I knew and got my then girlfriend and some of her friends to give me various photos they had professionally done. Finally, I decided to start taking my own photos (after she dumped me) and I use friends or people I meet along the way. I work mostly with females but that is not by design. I would actually like to work with more male subjects. I am drawn to a classic style and I sometimes choose the people I want for a piece because of their curly hair or big eyes or some other distinguishing feature. The truth is that anyone can have a classic look. There is always something in each of us that is different and interesting. Just give a harsh light at a 45 degree angle, make it black and white and you've gone retro.
your artworks at first contained a lot of text, yet as you've continued you create pieces that are more image dominated. why the change and are you trying to convey a message through your art?
In the beginning I felt as if I had a lot to say that everyone would be better off for hearing. The truth was, whatever I was feeling and saying was only preaching to the choir. Why bother making a statement when the only people paying attention already felt the same way? I was against so much pop culture and for what? Was my illegal art really going to change society? No, I really don't believe that. So, I went with what I love. I love making pretty pictures. Art for art’s sake. Is there anything wrong with that? Do we all have to have some deep rooted message to justify our art? Is art only accepted if you are making a social, religious, or political statement?
There is a mood, a feeling I am going for, usually sombre and often like the elegant, heroic and sometimes vapid characters of my favorite books and movies. They can reflect my emotions, but could anyone care less if I am for a political party or if I hate celebrity?
do you stick to new york or do you work in other cities as well? do you ever exhibit in galleries?
I am from and still located in New York so that is where I do most of my work for the time being. I itch to branch out and I have put up in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Miami. I have not made much of an impact on those places and would like to revisit a couple of them. I would love more than anything to go overseas and work in Europe and Australia. From State to State there are such different styles and from country to country I can only imagine. I wish I could be a part of it all. I have been involved in shows here and there but I am on the fence about my feelings toward galleries. I embraced the street scene because of anti-establishment concept, so I feel being involved with galleries is backwards. So many "street" artists go to the streets with the one goal of getting into a gallery. I don't fully get that. I felt that we all went to the streets to get away from that antiquated concept. We all want to exhibit our work. The idea is to have as many people see and enjoy what we are doing as possible. There is nothing wrong with wanting to make money. The desire to make a living off of what you love if completely understandable. But, I probably get more people on the street seeing my work than I ever would in a gallery and the internet is changing the game. It gives artists the opportunity to make money on their own terms.
Some big gallery offers me a show and watch me turn hypocrite real fast.
what projects or series of works have you been working on lately?
Lately I have teamed back up with Matt Siren to push this collaboration we have done. We have known each other forever and have a lot of the same sensibilities if not the same style. So we are often on the same page, or at least a different page of the same book… or is it the same page of a different book?
once again thanks for chatting with us at powder russell. we look forward to checking out your next pieces wherever they may be hanging.
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