Considering you are now an established artist, what was the best and worst career decision coming out of Chelsea College of Art & Design? And how did these decisions influence your career path? (directing music videos + oil paintings)
I don’t know if I’d call myself established yet!
Hard to say which were the best and worst, because all of them have taken me to where I am now. I’ve had the odd wobble particularly in the early part of my career where I fell out of love with creative work and considered giving it up as a career path. I guess a positive decision was sticking with it.
Your work includes a diverse range of source material. Where do you find your inspiration/source material from? and are there any painters you have looked up to or tried to emulate in your work?
It all depends on the type of work I’m doing. Normally it’s dictated by the idea. So the grime pieces needed to have some authenticity to them, so I was looking into artists like Hans Holbein, stuff in the National Portrait gallery. Lot’s of my illustrations are a bit like visual punchlines. I love Jean Julian and an artist called Pejac.
Really smart, and clever.
Do you listen to music and consciously decide to create work inspired by music or does it unconsciously become part of your work whilst you listen to it?
I listen to a lot of music, and it def has an effect on my work. Probably lots go into my work unconsciously. I also do quite a bit of work for musicians, and so I'll always listen to the project I'm creating artwork for.
How would you say your style of illustration has developed and what has inspired you to change your style over time?
I like to be able to react quickly with my illustrations, in order to comment on current events / popular culture. So part of my style has changed to accommodate this. Basically as legible as possible in the quickest amount of time.
You directed and shot the music video for Regel Ramond - if you like (2009). The imagery and content of this music are in strong contrast to the more lighthearted funny videos like ‘being dickheads cool’ (2010), do you find a comical approach is key to your enjoyment and quality of your work?
I think humor is a good way for people to engage in work. Particularly with more complicated or heavyweight subjects. You don’t want to come across as preachy or people with just turn off
You created a viral hit with yours and Raf Rileys youtube video ‘being dickheads cool’, with the attention from this and for some of your other work as your 'Butters Theme' with Diplo, do you feel you have a sense of what might go viral?
Nah, not really. I think if you try to go viral it rarely happens. You can def get excited by an idea you’ve had, and feel that others might enjoy it
There is a political element to a lot of your work, do you feel it is essential or at least important for an artist to tackle current political issues?
It’s really just something I am interested in, I couldn’t speak for other artists.
Your depictions of geopolitical events and people are fun and satirical. Do you employ humor to highlight the absurdity of these situations or is it in the hope that humor will help carry the message better than having a go at people?
The latter definitely. It is also just how my brain works. Maybe I don’t take enough things seriously.
How do you start a project? Working digitally, drawing, collage, etc…
Normally a pencil sketch that I can in. But I’ve recently started working with an iPad, which has sped things up a lot.
How essential is collaboration for you and have you always had a collaborative practice?
I really like collaborating, I think that is why so much of my collaborations have been with musicians. You both bring your creative disciplines to the table and something interesting normally occurs because of it.
If you were to look back at yourself 10 years ago, what advice would you give yourself regarding your career?
Just keep going!
