Artist Interview – Askew

Firstly who are you and where & how did you grow up?

I’m originally from a small city in Aotearoa New Zealand called Palmerston North. It’s in the lower North Island, a couple of hours drive from the capital Wellington. My parents were teens when they had me and didn’t stay together too long. We all ended up in Auckland though around 1984. I grew up with my mother & stepfather in the central suburb of Morningside and would also spend time out West with my father.

How do you think this affected you on your journey towards being an artist?

My parents were into punk rock so I grew up around a lot of interesting and creative people. Being that they were young and under resourced, art was a cheap and effective way to entertain me. When we moved to central Auckland a lot of the early graffiti writers were active around my area so I was exposed to the work of people like Smooth Crew around the age of 5 or 6.

When/How did you know you wanted to be a graffiti/mural artist?

In 1993 I started tagging with my friends but it wasn’t anything too serious. It was social, I was into making music and we would have these gatherings every Friday night at the Ponsonby community centre were we would pool our equipment and have these open freestyle sessions. We’d also drink and smoke a lot then go tag afterwards. Maybe by the time I was 16 or 17 I started to take it seriously. I quit all drugs and alcohol and poured my energy into it.

How did you learn to do what you do?

A combination of trial and error, observing older people and also I had an interest in digital media during my last years of high school. Didn’t have a computer or internet connection at home but spent loads of time at school looking at Art Crimes and practising my colour and fill ideas on photoshop. I also started organising a festival around the age of 20 and through that was exposed directly to a lot of my heroes who taught me a lot. People like Daim, Loomit, Cantwo, Atom, Wow123, Ewok, Totem2, Bates, Dmote.

Where would you say graffiti has taken you with your career?

It’s taken me all around the world. I’ve spent the last 17 years travelling non stop. The last decade or so I spent on the mural festival circuit I guess, painting large scale work everywhere from Australia, USA, China, UAE, Singapore, Indonesia, Germany, France to Tahiti. Until the pandemic hit it was pretty consistent.

What is your dream project?

My current dream project is to build out my ultimate studio/creative space with full on painting, print, design, photography, editing suites and possible exhibition area. I want it to be a culmination of everything I’ve set up in the past but with all lessons from mistakes learned. If I can’t be traveling I want to build somewhere I’m happy to base myself more permanently. I want it to be a resource for other people working in the post graffiti realm to focus and being their work to the highest level.

Your favourite or most inspirational place/spot you have painted?

I still think Papeete, Tahiti is one of the coolest places I’ve painted.

What/Who are some of the inspirations for you and your art?

I’m interested in exploring the concept of human movement through urban spaces. That’s essentially what graffiti is at a macro level. I like playing with technology and analogue processes in tandem to create new outcomes. The list of artist I admire is too long to list.

Did this help guide you to where you are today?

Art is a pretty self indulgent process in many ways. You find an entry point and dive in, see where it takes you. Often your starting point doesn’t resemble where you end up.

What are your personal goals now and in the future as a professional artist?

Pretty much what I listed above. Graffiti itself isn’t my main mode anymore but still inspires and drives my ethos.

Tell us a little about how you like to work. (Alone, with others, in phases, details, etc…)

I like all modalities, I am constantly working though. I do a lot of my studies digitally and on the fly. Sometimes I churn out hundreds of ideas then problem solve turning them into something analogue.

What direction do you feel your art is going?

I said graffiti still informs a lot of what I do but I don’t consider myself someone currently pushing the boundaries of graffiti painting. I may have another season of that, but my peak years were 2007-2014. During that time I did my best pieces and was obsessively painting letters.

What’s the biggest misconception other people have of artists who use spray paint?

I think graffiti is too broad a culture in itself to narrow down the people that do it too much. It’s a wide gamut. Any generalisation could stick to at least a subsection of the community but not all. I do think there are a lot of people who want to be something of their own making, plenty who are dealing with trauma and loads with ADHD.

What are your thoughts on the whole graffiti vs street art battle?

I’ve given up caring. At this stage it’s counter productive. There’s so much low trust and cannibalistic behaviour within the graffiti scene anyway, plenty will find something to gripe about no matter what it is. To me the lines are becoming so blurred and that’s evolution. Change is inevitable. I used to feel more strongly only because of what my friends and I went through but now I also realise we chose to martyr ourselves so that’s no one else’s fault really.

What is your opinion on letter structure versus effects?

I like a healthy balance of both personally. My measure was always, am I doing something new that even a purist or oldschool head would appreciate. I didn’t always achieve it but my best work was when I did.

How do you see graffiti evolving over the coming years and into the future?

Based on current trends I see it evolving in many directions. I see graffiti writers embracing large abstract letter based murals – not feeling that it has to be figurative and celebrating and elevating their graffiti roots. I see interesting things happening in the digital AR and VR spaces too. I also see a lot of people doubling down on the more purist aspects too. The democratisation of high end documentation through technologies like DSLR’s and drones has meant so many new spaces are up for grabs and it can be conveyed and shared with the world in a slick way.

If you could share a message with the next generation of artists, what would it be?

Evolve. Study the history and look for pockets or areas that haven’t been pushed yet versus doing self referential work based on things that have been done to death.