ABOUT

Whenever I tell anyone I use only spraypaint in my art, their mind seems to immediately make the leap to “graffiti” and “vandal.” Spray paint seems to be perceived as the scum of art, conjuring images of tagged up trains, boarded up buildings, and those guys who make space paintings on Fisherman’s Wharf or in Time’s Square.

Graffiti, and spray paint itself, has a bad name. Don’t get me wrong, I can clearly see why it can be vandalism. At the same time, the time and effort that goes into the really good pieces rivals that of murals that cities spend thousands of dollars commissioning. It brings art and color into places where it hadn’t existed, turning the world into a gallery with no entry price.

My goal is to create fine art with a spray paint can and stencils. Good street stencil artists are able to mass produce a very direct message that can be quickly digested and processed in passing. Working with stencils on canvas presents a new challenge for the artist and a different mission: compete with the best acrylic and oil artists in the galleries by presenting an image that is open to interpretation while working within the borders of a canvas. I want to bring new life to people or objects by viewing the world around me as my personal coloring book and pushing the boundaries of what spray paint and stencils can do.

on selling prints

I will never sell prints of my work. I believe that everyone should have an original canvas in their home. The purpose of street art is to bring art to public space, where nobody has to pay to see it. Many original paintings are priced so far out of reach for most people that the only “real” art they see is in a gallery. In the spirit of street art, I want to bring original works of art within the reach of anyone who wants one.

on unlimited editions

Some of my paintings are released as unlimited editions. This way, I’m able to create as many original paintings as I want from the same stencil and price them within reason. I will sell a fixed number of these each month.

on discovering art

I appreciate what Banksy has done by popularizing street art. I said it. The Banksy Effect has brought countless new artists to the scene and the genre is seeing a surge in creativity. We’re experiencing a historic generation of art, like pop art, impressionism and many other movements before it.

For me, Banksy made me finally pay attention to art in general and realize its purpose. Up until I picked up an X-Acto knife and a can of spray paint, all of my artwork was done primarily on the computer without even realizing I was making art. I thought fine art was for elitists and I saw little originality. While I can appreciate the incredible amount of talent required for every form of traditional fine art, I didn’t see anything that thrilled me. I couldn’t find a single medium I actually enjoyed. In my mind, canvases were for snobs.

I explored what Andy Warhol did decades ago and realized how intrepid his artwork was when he created it those decades ago. It was unlike anything that had been done before and is now one of the most imitated artists of all time. Then I discovered street art, not just stencils and graffiti, but installationists and people who make you look at your environment in a completely different way. I wanted to do something that you don’t see every day.

I looked around and realized that almost all of the art that the average person sees is in the form of advertising. It’s art that’s designed to manipulate the viewer into thinking they need a particular product. While I’m not denouncing advertising as evil, I think it’s sad that the average person probably can’t even name a single current artist.

in defense of spray paint

Banksy noted that rats are the unwanted pests of society, forced to live in the sewers and eat trash, but yet have the power to bring a society to its knees. As an art, spray paint seems to be that unwelcome pest with a bad reputation. Some even believe that spraypaint and graffiti lead to societal decline and an increase in violent crime in an environment. That’s where the name RATWORK comes from (it’s also an anagram of ‘artwork’). The general public and the art world needs to see that there’s a place for a can of spraypaint in the world of fine art.

Sure, there’s plenty of mindless vandalism out there, and some associated with gangs. I’m absolutely not defending that. Many people don’t realize that there is a lot of graffiti that has no agenda – it’s art, something nice to look at, and it’s unfortunate that people can’t see it as that. Other work, such as many street stencils, has a clear message that should, at the very least, make people think.

on critics and interpretation

I believe that art should be interpreted as nothing more than a personal expression. As an artist, although there is always a reason that I create a work, I will never tell you what my reason is and artists should not be obligated to. It is far more interesting to hear how my audience connects to my work. Not all of my work has a deep meaning or serves as a social commentary, it is simply my own reinterpretation of the world around me. Far too often, I hear people say “the artist is trying to say…” or “the artist is commenting on…” when they should be saying “to me, this makes me think of…” or something similar. Present your interpretations accordingly.