Screen PDF - Daab

looking in the streets, and at other galleries’ shows and also
just absorbing different images of artwork from flickr, tumblr,
facebook… it’s quite a maelstrom of thumbnails…
If a popular graffiti vandal exhibits artwork in the gallery
do they ever attract rival artists/crews or the police?
Yeah there’s SO MUCH politics to deal with when you are
showing graffiti artists. Everybody is polarized and there’s
always so much BEEF. I love it, I love the conflict, every day
I expect to see my window painted over because somebody
thinks my gallery is lame and they want to get over. The
police definitely monitor what’s going on, but I think they
have bigger things to worry about than a street art/graffiti
gallery. The local council has been in to tell us to stop painting
everywhere, so we’ve had to tone things down on the streets.
Having a big PURE EVIL written on the front of the gallery
makes it very easy for the authorities to find you. It’s better
to go and paint in Moscow, Ulan Bator or Sao Paulo.
“Principles before Profit”. In Bansky’s film Exit Through the
Gift Shop Thierry Guetta “Mr. Brainwash” talks about his
business importing cheap secondhand clothing from France
then repackaging it as designer vintage. He occasionally sells
these items in his store on La Brea as templates to high-end
designers like Ralph Lauren: “Buy for $2, sell it for $200.
We turn trash to gold, and I start making a lot of money.”
Later, he seems to work with the same principle. A little
bit of spray here and there, and that’s it. How easy is it
to make gold from street art?
It is really not that easy. He got a big boost with the
association with Banksy and Shep Fairey and he then ran with it.
A lot of people are realizing that it’s important to work hard and
do good work…
With the get-rich-quick attitude in popular culture, is the
term “sell-out” irrelevant today considering the current
financial implosion?
Everybody is selling something. Good business is good art…
Would you work for a big brand like Nike or Coca Cola?
We have a show in the gallery with Adidas next week…
but I’m not sure about Nike and Coca Cola…
You have become very successful as Pure Evil with solo
shows in Berlin, Sydney, Beijing and many more. What
experiences and emotions have you encountered traveling
the world as a rebellious artist?
Massive amounts of adrenaline. Whenever I go to a city
I get out and paint and going to a new city where you don’t
know the logistics of where to paint and there’s a strong
possibility of getting caught is pretty intense. The best time
was painting NAZI SCUM on a Nazi place in Mongolia.
That was nutty.
“Wear your Politics proudly”
Street art is a way to say No! To make people think.
Some of the work out there is very political. Is the message
more important than the aesthetic appearance? How
do you feel when it comes to the discussion of form over
function in political street art?
I think if you can say anything, then why not say something.
Make a statement. If something is bugging you then get out
there and write it on a wall.
“We are an Alternative Ideological Force”
Pure Evil Gallery is consistently pushing boundaries by
showcasing an eclectic mix of art as well as hosting a
multitude of experimental film nights, creative workshops
and live music sessions. How does the music you produce
relate to your visual work?
A lot of the time it is a way to relax… to get away from
running the gallery and just make some beats and drumming
and trying to channel the amazing power of John Bonham. It’s
the same feeling as going skateboarding and hurting yourself…
It’s a way to get all that aggression out. It’s also another good
way to feel a bit like a rock star for a few hours…
“The Gallery should be a Mecca for Independent artists”
There is a grey area between what is street-art and what
is graffiti. Graffiti artist (and owner of London agency
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