Southern View: May 10, 2016

SOUTHERN VIEW Tuesday May 10 2016 7
being serious about street art
What do you think was the
most risky situation you would
have been in?
We had a bit of a scare one
night painting on a rooftop. This
guy and myself were up there
painting quite a massive piece
of work and had been there a
few hours. But we didn’t realise
there was actually someone
living behind the wall next to
where we were painting and
they came out quite angry and
what looked to be fairly naked
as well, and they ended up chasing
us off the roof.
I jumped off the roof which
would have been at least a four
or 5m jump and luckily didn’t
break any bones. It was pretty
risky but the worst part was I
left my bag and my wallet and
my ID up there so I ended up
climbing back up a couple of
hours later that night to retrieve
them.
Since the earthquakes, with
all the blank spaces and bare
walls it does seem like there
have been more festivals and
activities involving graffiti.
Do you think that has opened
people’s minds up more to
street art?
Yeah, absolutely. I think
pre-earthquakes the street art
AT WORK: Jacobyikes completing one of his artworks.
festivals and things that have
been happening just wouldn’t
have happened, basically. In my
opinion, Christchurch in the past
was quite conservative, and not
necessarily as open minded and
open to new things, especially in
the art scene, as it is now.
The opinion of it has definitely
lightened and it is something
I think, going into the future,
Christchurch will embrace more
as well. Street art and graffiti
are always a temporary thing
but in a city that is kind of reestablishing
itself I think there is
a massive part for public art to
be incorporated and therefore I
think Christchurch’s scene will
continue to thrive if there are
enough people here doing it.
A lot of what you do is
temporary. What is that like
when you create something
you might be really proud of
and then after a little while it’s
gone?
You kind of grow to accept it
in a way because at the end of
the day as long as I get a photo,
it’s okay, I can kind of walk
away from it.
But it does suck when you
have created a massive artwork
and it goes – I actually just had
that happen recently. The organisers
of Spectrum had arranged
for a guy to come from Sydney
to paint this mural that was on
Colombo St and before that had
all happened I found the wall
that I didn’t know was going to
be used for that. It was like 30m
long by 5m high and I painted
the entire thing in two or three
days. After I finished it I got call
from George, the director, and
he told me that was the wall they
had planned with CERA to have
this guy come and paint and they
basically had to paint over it like
a day after I finished it.
You mentioned your background
in ‘special effects’, do
you do that for work?
Not really, I’m a freelance
artist, but when that sort of work
is there I do it. Basically the
main thing I do with the effects
is create bars and restaurants,
predominately. A good example
would be Strangers Lane – all
the bars in there, all the crazy
things you see on the walls, the
tables, the chairs, finishes on
walls and windows, basically
anything that is not your typical
sort of framework is the sort
of thing we do. The next time
you are in there, everything you
can kind of see in those bars is
kind of what we have done after
builders and typical tradesmen
have all finished in there.
‘Finishing’ is what we class it
as – it’s something that gives
the restaurant a bit of a theme.
The brief in each bar is different
which keeps it fairly creative.
What is it like making a living
as a freelance artist?
It’s a struggle – you are sacrificing
stability to kind of push
your own ability as such. It’s
not an easy job but I definitely
wouldn’t want to live any other
way.
Are you pretty independent
or do you have any children?
Yeah, I have a child and a
mortgage but a great thing with
being self-employed is that I get
to spend a lot of time with my
kid and being able to be flexible
is really beneficial for him as
well so that’s a bonus.