Go and grab a copy from all good newsagents, HMV, Borders etc...
If you're a broke street artist from suburban Basingstoke it's not like you can just sell the whole side of that commuter train carriage you painted, or uproot that brick wall and flog it on eBay. And it's not like, being in Basingstoke, there's a massive audience for it anyway.
So you watch your work disappear piece by piece under several coats of district council beige and you try to figure out how you're ever going to crack the urban art scene when the big boys from the inner-cities are stealing the limelight with their stenciled suicide bombers and Guardian readership political messages. What to do? Well, you embrace your humble origins and say 'fuck it, I'll bring my art from the street and put it in their faces and they will love it and they will know my name is Kev Munday!" And then Kmag interviews you about it...
I was interested to read you describe your work as 'sub-urban'. Seems to me like there is as much, if not more, suburban street art than there is inner city street art, but it's not given the same credibility because it doesn't seem as subversive. Do you feel like your work gives a voice to less-recognised artists who've come from the same background as you?
For sure, there are plenty of people painting outside of the cities and scenes going off all over the place, it's much more real. So many Nathan Barley type 'street artists' spray a half-witted pseudo-political stencil on a wall for their fellow hipsters to gawp over and throw fistfuls of cash as and that's fine but it doesn't do it for me. Basingstoke and the surrounding suburbs have an awesome street art scene. I've put on a few Visual Tourettes shows there and we've literally had over 30+ different people putting their work up on the walls.
You mentioned Visual Tourettes, presumably you're not referring to some kind of socially awkward neuro-psycological affliction?
Visual Tourettes is 'an open mic night for the art world'. Basically what that means is we take over venues and the walls of the place are open to anyone who wants to put their work up. We have a collective of artists who paint live at the events in rotation and get locals involved too. We've organised shows in cities around the UK and recently, Stockholm.
Do you find that taking what has historically been a covert and secretive art form and bringing it to a live audience changes the message of the work, in that you have more immediate conversation with them whilst they watch it being created?
I guess that it does change the message of the work to some extent, mainly because the artists have a lot longer to create their work than they would on the streets. It's always surprising how many different types of people turn up to watch the live painting, it attracts such a varied audience.
You've made a pretty successful transition from anonymous street artist to successful commercial artist. Was it difficult to cross over? Are certain types of street art better suited to the commercial market than others?
It's so liberating to put work out on the streets, you're not asking for anyones opinion. It's about never asking for permission. When I was starting out people were telling me I was doing it wrong; "That's not graffiti, it's art!" now people look at my work and say "That's not art, it's graffiti!". At the end of the day I paint whatever I feel like and I think that is what people are after; something different.
It's not just canvas accommodating your artwork these days, you have a clothing label too, right?
Clothing is another way of getting my art out into the world and displayed on a more accessible medium. I get such a kick out of seeing people wearing things I've designed. I started UnderTheHat just over 4 years ago with 2 designs printed on 10 t-shirts; they sold out within 3 days. I put the money back into getting more tees and that's how it's gone ever since. The company motto is 'Making it up as we go along', because that is literally what I've done. It's stocked in over a dozen stores in the UK and across Europe now too.
I gather you've won yourself a few supermodels and rockstars as fans. What's the most rock and roll story you have?
How about sleeping rough behind venues whilst touring the UK with Visual Tourettes?
Glamerous. You have 50 words to plug yourself... Go!
I've got several solo exhibitions coming up, starting with the Carhartt Store in London later in the year. I'm working on some vinyl toys which are set to be released in 2009, a coffee table book, new designs for UnderTheHat,touring with Visual Tourettes and a self published comic/zine. On top of this I'm constantly creating and painting both personal and commissioned work.
That was 63 words, sorry.
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