URBAN ART-IONARY

1. First of all, what is the meaning behind "My dog sighs?"

There is no meaning. When I started working on the street, street artists were ghosts. You never saw them. They weren't in the public eye like they are today. Work just mysteriously arrived. I wasn't bothered by a name and wanted something slightly melancholic to attach to pieces that tied them together. I wanted something easy to remember. The phrase "My dog sighs" fitted the bill. 
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2. I have noticed that your art includes paintings of eyes. Does this symbolize something?

​It hasn't always but yes I'm fascinated by them at the moment. Eyes are a powerful image. Some say they are the window to the soul and I like the way they seem to follow you. I'm particularly interested in the reflection in the eye; the way I can tell little stories in the reflection. and then you have this back and forth story between the viewer, the owner of the eyes and what you can see happening in the reflection. 

3. When did you start doing street art?

About 15 years ago from now. 

4. How long does it take to complete one project?

I've recently painted a 13 story building in China which took two weeks. The longest I've spent on a wall. Most walls are a day or two. Canvas works take a few days. Just because it's smaller doesn't mean it's quicker. 

5. Where do you get inspiration for your artwork? 

In the shower, listening to music, looking at other artists, through mistakes and accidents, just playing, scribbling in sketchbooks etc.

6. What does street art mean to you?

This is a big one. It’s hanged dramatically over the last few years. When I started it was about anonymous ghosts leaving snippets of their mind and soul out for people to stumble across. But these small mostly illegal works have morphed into huge wall painting projects and festivals. And of course they’ve also become a commodity. I spent ten years giving away my work for free on the street. Now I’m able to make a good living from selling my work in galleries across the globe. 

7. What had the most impact on your style?

I think my roots doing freeartfriday. I needed something that was quick to paint, small, impactful, emotionally reaching. That’s where my cans came from.  A mistake with a can led to me painting a bhurka can. That led to a bhurka canvas with just eyes and that led to a four year interest in eyes. 

8. What is one of your best work?

It’s always my next piece. When you complete any works, there are bits to like and bits you don’t. The bits you like you repeat in the next piece. The bits you don’t, you try and get better at in the next piece. That’s how we develop. I’m never 100% happy but hope that the ‘next’ piece will get me closer. 

9. What do you wish to accomplish with your artworks?

My street work - to arouse interest, to entertain, to get people stepping out of their everyday existence and question their life, to puzzle, to raise questions/debate, to do all the things art has the power to do. But by doing it on the street where it is accessible to all not just those who are actively hunting it out in a gallery. 

My gallery work - to push boundaries. To produce work that engages people.

10. How would you define your style? How is it different from others?

I always aim to have a good mix of loose and tight. Moments of perfection mixed with the loosest hint of something. I’m not sure how it’s different for anyone else. It’s 40 odd years of me exploring little things creatively and drawing on those skills and experiences to make them. 

11. How do you think street art will be in the future?

It’s already changed massively. Even my mum knows Banksy. The public are less afraid of it as it becomes more mainstream. mural art has hijackd the term street art. It’s roots in punk and graffiti are being stretched to include fine art approaches. 

​It’s here for good now. The big museums will be showing and collecting shepherd fairey and Banksy and Herakut and dface soon. 
But if you look in the right places there is still the subvertive street art of old. The fact no one is curating it means anyone can have a voice and a platform. That’s ultimate democracy and I like that. 

12. Do you consider graffiti to be art? How would you argue back to people who don’t consider it as art?
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Graffiti is the purest form of art. There is no monetising it. Art for art sake. 
Every artistic movement was shunned  by the current art establishment. I’m pretty sure street art (or urban contemporary) will do the same.