Alma Haser’s photographic work may not have been around for long but it is definitely making waves. Since graduating from Nottingham Trent University, she has received an abundance of recognition; named by the British Journal of Photography as one of the four best graduates of 2010, recently shortlisted for the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize shown at the National Portrait Gallery for ‘The Ventriloquist’, and her work has featured in 10 exhibitions internationally. Not bad for someone who only graduated three years ago.

Haser’s intricately abnormal portraitures ‘Cosmic Surgery’ has in particular gained a lot of attention, having received third place Peoples Choice Award at the Foto8 Summer Show 2012. Wonderland spoke to her about the series, along with origami, travel and an evolved future generation.

You come from an artistic background, how has your upbringing influenced your work?

I am extremely lucky to have two parents as artists and to have had such a great childhood filled with creativity. I am always taking [inspiration] from my past experiences and getting advice from my family. I couldn’t see myself going down any other route other than art.

Where do you find your inspiration?

From films, books, stories I hear about on the radio or read in the daily newspapers — [they] all trigger ideas in my head that then create new projects.

You travelled on a round-the-world trip when you were younger; did that have an influence on your creativeness?

Yes, of course! I would recommend for anyone to travel and see as many places as they can. I can get immersed into learning about each new culture for example Japan has been a big influence on my work; it’s the catalyst for my origami obsession.

Having been chosen as one of the four best graduates of 2010 from the British Journal of Photography, how has your style changed since graduating?

My style has changed quite a lot. I would say I became a little freer with my ideas and process. I did however become very stuck just after that article was written. I didn’t know where to go from my degree show, what to create and how to make my name in photography. But I soon became aware of the freedom and that I was the only thing holding my creativity back. I would often use myself to experiment my ideas, to see if they worked before trying them on anyone else.

Cosmic Surgery is both unsettling yet strangely beautiful, was that your intention to unnerve and fascinate at the same time?

Yes, I am always trying to make work that either confuses or invites the viewer to take a closer look.

Origami is used in Cosmic Surgery and has been included in previous projects, how did it become a feature in your photography?

I used to watch a lot of Japanese films and read about Japanese stories and myths one of which stuck in my mind. ‘Sadako and the thousand paper cranes,’ a true story about a girl who lived in Hiroshima at the time of the atomic bombing by the US. She developed leukaemia from the radiation and spent her time in a nursing home creating origami cranes in hope of making a thousand of them. She was inspired to do so by one of the Japanese legend, that one who created a thousand origami cranes would be cured by gods. However she only managed to make 6644 cranes, and died in 1955. People in Japan now fold a thousand cranes in memory of Sadako, and leave them on her grave. I found the story so compelling, it inspired me to create my series ‘Paper’ which are each accompanied with a short story.

A lot of reviews have said the faces look futuristic and alien-like, could they be a possible insight of an evolved future generation?

I actually have this in my project statement, so I guess they got that from what I said. But yes I always like making work that has an otherworldly feel, and ‘Cosmic Surgery’ in my eyes, are the next generation. The parents are not disfigured by the origami because they are like us.

Its interesting to hear what people say and how the interpret the images, some say its to do with cosmetic surgery (a play on the title), some say its how we are becoming unknown and unrecognisable. But it’s really up to you to decide.

You’ve said before about wanting to hide your true identity, why is that important to you?

I know it is hard to hide your true identity, but I try. As I said before I used and still do self-portraiture but away hide or disguise my face. I started it because I was shy but also because I didn’t want the work to be prominently about myself. By making myself anonymous I was allowing people to relate to the work more freely. It wasn’t about me it was about the girl in the picture who could also be ‘you.’

I also think its fascinating that most photographers, unless really famous or a big self-portrait photographer/artist, are anonymous. You know of their work but you hardly ever see their own portrait. I guess I like this anonymity.

Tell us about any future projects you’re working on right now.

I have many in the pine line, but I rarely tell anyone about them before they are finished. So you’ll have to wait and see.

See “Cosmic Surgery” at the KK Outlet gallery now, and check out Alma Haser’s work at www.haser.org

Words: Kayleigh Rawlings (follow Kayleigh on Twitter @kayleighar)

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Molly Macindoe has spent the last 16 years of her life documenting the rave scene across the world – from Tottenham squats to Bedouin deserts, she’s partied and photographed them all. Her new book, Out Of Order: A Photographic Celebration of the Free Party Scene, is out now on Tangent Books and it’s one of the headiest and most atmospheric monuments to humanity’s most basic instinct: to party and dance like there’s no tomorrow.

How did you get into the rave scene?

A couple of friends at school had discovered it and figured I was alternative enough to be interested; I wasn’t into dance music when I went to my first rave. What I was looking for was a place and a community that I would feel comfortable in. Upon entering my first free party at the old bingo hall in Wood Green, North London in 1997, I found exactly that.

What made you pick up a camera and start documenting the parties?

In 1997 I started learning photography and black and white printing in my secondary school in north London. A few months later I discovered free parties and I was eager to try out these new photography skills (I considered the atmosphere to lend itself especially to B&W printing).

In addition, my art teacher, who knew I was going through a difficult time both at school and at home, encouraged me to take pictures of the part of my life that was making me happy. I can’t remember the exact point when I consciously realised I wanted to do a book but I was talking about it since the late 90s. I’d always admired big retrospective photography books like Nan Goldin’s I’ll Be Your Mirror and knew that I wanted one myself someday.

How do you explain what a teknival is to someone who’s never been to one before?

A teknival is to a rave what a music festival is to a club night. It’s bigger, lasts longer, has more soundsystems and crowds gathering from many countries or regions of a country.

So what’s the weirdest, most out-there party you’ve been to?

The Middle East Teknival in 2008 in the Jordanian desert (above). The event was originally supposed to be a collaboration between Israeli, Lebanese and European sound systems. Unfortunately, the Lebanese one had to pull out at the last minute because of the risk of repercussions from their government for associating with Israelis. It was the first of its kind and was only possible through negotiations with the Bedouin tribe that lived in that area. I had no idea what to expect and everyone I knew thought I was mad to be going out there alone. Only the boldest and bravest made it. The French and Israeli soundsystems had a crew, albeit small ones, but all other countries were all represented by only one or two people instead of the usual hundreds or thousands at European teknivals.

All these individuals made up a brand new crew and we had to spend time with each other, drinking coffee Arabic-style and sharing food instead of gathering in established cliques. The French soundsystem faced all odds in their journey from France and lost half their crew and equipment on the way. They almost didn’t make it through the last border into Jordan until a declaration was signed by the Bedouin Sheikh stating that he was personally responsible to ensure that the massive generator brought by the French would leave the country in seven days.

The scenery was incredible: a desert landscape, it felt like raving on the moon! The conditions were extreme, scorching heat during the day, freezing cold at night. When I played a set, the records were visibly warping in a fraction of a second from the heat. At one point police arrived in machine gun-mounted jeeps. The party lasted for five days, during which the generator broke down three times.  All familiar luxuries were stripped away, it was back to basics: it reminded us of the core values of this scene – determination to have freedom of self expression in the form of music and dancing.

How bad has the police crackdown on squatting and sound systems affected the British scene?

I can’t speak for any organisers, but it’s clear that there have been some changes in the last couple of years. Then again, I’ve seen that cycle of media moral panic followed by police clampdowns repeat itself several times. Out of Order covers ten years, but I’ve been documenting the scene for longer and of course the party culture has existed more like three decades so far.

The phrase ‘mutate to survive’ (also the name of a techno record label) springs to mind. The British scene has changed — the music, technology and equipment, the locations — breaking out and uniting with Europe and the rest of the world. Its persistence sets it apart from other youth subcultures, making it a definitive subculture and way of life for many, not just a youth fashion.

How does word get out about free parties now?

Everyone’s experience of discovering the free party scene is different. I was singled out by schoolmates because I had dyed hair and piercings. I have an American friend who read about London parties in a magazine and asked people at every club he went to until someone gave him a party-line number. That moment of discovery is a personal journey that I wouldn’t want to interfere with by spelling it out here!

There’s a weird nostalgia around this supposed golden age of rave, even from young people who weren’t there the first time around. Do you think that’s misplaced?

I don’t think so. Nostalgia is part and parcel of experiencing an evolving subculture… I started going to free parties in 1997. There were always more seasoned ravers reminiscing about ‘back in the day’ times – the birth of the UK rave scene peaking around the famous Castle Morton party in 1992.

What do you think of the current rave scene in America, which rides off the popularity of EDM?

I think the scene you’re referring to is the very commercial dance scene in the form of huge festivals like Electric Daisy. I haven’t been to an event like this, but have been to some similar ones in the UK – lots of fun to be had and great opportunities to see big-name DJs. However, in terms of photographic inspiration, despite the big budget light and video shows and colourful garish outfits, these kind of events lack the DIY community and spontaneity that have kept me interested in free parties all these years.

What was the last party you went to? Do you still go regularly?

In order to produce a book about free parties I had to stop going to them completely! It’s taken a long time to come out of that self-inflicted isolation, but recently I’ve been going to more parties and definitely still one teknival a year. Part of growing older means work and life commitments take priority over social events. On the occasions that I go, I may feel very physically tired after and wonder how I used to do that every weekend, but in my heart I feel rejuvenated, alive, happy, free, energetic and full of so much love for this unique scene and its peoples.

So, is the culture of free parties still alive and kicking?

In short, yes!

Out of Order: A Photographic Celebration of the Free Party Scene is published on Tangent Books and is available to buy here. www.mollymacindoe.com

Words: Zing Tsjeng (Follow Zing on Twitter @misszing)

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In the 16th and 17th centuries, Dutch artists painted piles of rotting fruit, faded flowers and skulls in the quest to depict the ultimate futility of earthly life (optimistic guys, these Dutch painters). Four centuries on, Tara Sellios has transferred the traditional vanitas painting onto film, photographing pig heads, goblets of blood-red wine and all varieties of anything dead or in the process of dying.

Wonderland spoke to the Boston-born photographer about life, death, the impermanence of meaning, and whether she’s now compelled to rearrange plates of food when she eats out.

Why the obsession to photograph meat, wine, blood? Is there a more personal connection or meaning?

There are several different reasons, and they are all layered and relate to each other in some way. My work has to do with themes of death, impermanence of life and pleasure, and carnality. Flesh and blood have such a visceral quality to them when used in the still life, which ties into all of these themes. I’m interested in the animalistic nature of people, and how we, at the end of the day, act on impulse and instinct, despite culture, emotion, and sophistication.

Any unconventional artistic influences, or sources of inspiration growing up?

I can’t think of anything that I would classify as unconventional. I do think a lot of art making is derivative of an artist’s entire past in some way, shape or form. I have always had a love for art history and an attraction to old paintings. The work of the old masters is so elegant and infinitely majestic, while at the same time possessing a haunting and mysterious quality. It amazes me how lasting some of this work is, and how it is still revered today after so many centuries. One can only dream of making something that is still so affecting after being around for so long.

What distinguishes your work from a revamped vanitas piece and makes it modern and relevant today?

One of the aspects is the use of the large scale, color photograph to execute the images. Instead of being painted, these scenarios are documented on film, meaning that obsessive precision is necessary before the film is exposed, unlike with paint, where you have the ability and more freedom to play around with what is and isn’t in the image. There is a different physicality to my work in the fact that I actually must go to the markets and seek out these items, and then really arrange them, touch them and smell them.

Is your approach at all didactic in trying to teach us a moral lesson?

I wouldn’t say that I am doing this to teach anyone anything. Everything the work is about, I feel, is something that people are already aware of to some extent. If anything, I would say the photographs act as a reminder. Honestly, I just want to create something affecting out of a disheartening truth.

There seems to be a lot of Christian symbolism in your work. Are you at all spiritual in any way?

I was raised in a very Christian environment, and I attended church many times a week for most of my life. There was no other option than to do what I was told when I was younger, but I ended up not following that path. This certainly has influenced my work, and is most likely why the old altarpiece paintings resonate with me so much. There is a lot of guilt involved with Christianity, and presently I am interested in the idea of self-restraint from pleasure or self-indulgence, things that aren’t necessarily wrong, but by religious standards are looked at as sins, and the guilt that goes along with that.

What are you working on right now?

I am in the process of making a new photographic body of work called ‘Luxuria’. They are rich in color and lush with a lot of wine, fruit and flowers. Wine is the central driving subject. Hieronymus Bosch has always been an influence, but recently I have been really looking at his “Garden of Earthly Delights” triptych. I want the photographs to sort of appear as the paradise garden gone wrong, almost as if the Hell panel and paradise panel collided.

Has your own work changed your daily attitude towards seafood and red meat? Is it hard not to rearrange the dishes and portions on the table when you eat out at restaurants?

No, not really. The items that I use are my raw materials, as clay to a sculptor or paint to a painter. Eating is a totally separate act from making these tableaus for the camera. For some reason I do like raw food: oysters, carpaccio, sushi, things like that, but that’s just personal preference. Perhaps this ties into my work a little bit with the idea of self-indulgence and pleasure, but these are concepts, not props.

Words: Christine Jun (Follow Christine on Twitter @christinecocoj)

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Right now, Riitta Ikonen and Karoline Hjorth are one of our favourite duos working in medium format photography. Taking their beat-up Mamiya camera to out-of-the-way locations (swamps, marshes – anything goes), they stage elaborate pictures of senior citizens decked out in seawood, driftwood and all manner of scavenged flotsam.

The resulting series, Eyes As Big As Plates, is a wry, tender attempt to transform people into gentle mythical figures from local folklore, and it makes for alternatively hilarious and touching moments. We spoke to them after their Recess in Red Hook exhibition in Brooklyn, New York.

You’ve said that the project is a play on Norwegian folklore – what’s so distinctive about Norwegian folk tales?

KR: The project started in Norway, looking at Norwegian folktales, their origins and personifications of nature. As we went round Sandnes interviewing people in their phenomenal native landscape, we did hear that the locals in our area were “very practical and didn’t have time to turn rocks and wonder what’s under”… Comments like these reshaped our quest slightly more towards imagination. Finland and the Finns we found to be even more rationalistic in their relationship with their all-surrounding lakes and woods.

How did you two meet?

R: I was searching around internet for a collaborator for a residency in Norway and typed in: ‘Norway + older people + photographer’. Karoline’s name came up at the top of the search results (she had just written a book about the grandmothers of Norway ). I liked what I saw, emailed her and asked if she would like to work with me in Sandnes. She said yes, and we met first time at the door step of the 20 square foot flat we were to live for the next month and a half. It was lucky we got along as well as we do.

Your subjects all wear oversized, elaborate headpieces – how do those get made?

KR: First comes the plan for the image, the location and the general idea for the character. Then location scouting, gathering materials, arranging and attaching.

How do you find your subjects?

KR: From sitting opposite to them at dumpling houses, indoor gardening societies, senior centers, previous projects, neighbours, relatives, friends…

You travel to bogs, swamps and remote woods for your photos. Why not just set up in a cosy studio?

KR: We seek these locations out on purpose. Sometimes a bog or an arboretum can be challenging but that is what makes it all interesting.

We find these pictures quite surreal but strangely touching – is that something you deliberately set out to do?

KR: Humans are both those things. Humans loaded with nature, and in nature is at least triple the blast. I guess we must have known the formidable elements we were experimenting with, but it all turned out way more charged than we could have imagined.

What was your favourite folk tale as a child?

Folktales get associated with children a lot. But telling tales surely isn’t reserved for children only. Just like modeling isn’t for when you are 17. We once got asked what we thought about working with two clichés; Nature and Old people. The question threw us completely. Old people aren’t any more cliched than pink plastic bits, middle-aged people or fluorescent lights.

Some people online have described the photos as being very funny – did you have a sense of humour in the work?

KR: Absolutely. The making of the work is fun and we are glad it shows.

For more of the series, head to the duo’s official site. http://eyesasbigasplates.wordpress.com/

Words: Zing Tsjeng (Follow Zing on Twitter @misszing)

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People have been attracted to pictures of freewheeling, down-at-heel youth ever since Ryan McGinley snapped his first picture of a teenage skateboarder. But Mike Brodie’s pictures are in another league; at 18, Brodie left his home in Pensacola, Florida and began hitchhiking rides on freight trains, crisscrossing across the country and photographing the strange, transient subculture of trainhopping and its itinerant followers.

He uploaded his Polaroids under the name Polaroidd Kid, and the pictures promptly went viral; you can figure the rest out from there. Now he’s one of the most exciting photographers of his generation. We spoke to him after his exhibition, A Brief Period of Juvenile Prosperity, at the Yossi Milo Gallery in New York.

Tell us about the first time you hopped a train. Where’d you get the idea from?

I got the idea from a folk-punk song by a band called This Bike is A Pipe Bomb. The song is called Trains and Cops.

Where’s the furthest you’ve ever gone, or the most eventful ride you’ve had?

It was all one long train ride full of a lot of events, where to begin? Riding in the winter was nice, watching people ice fish on the Mississippi river in Minnesota!

What attracts you to that lifestyle of hopping trains?

THE FREEDOM.

Talk us through the process of hopping a train – any tips?

I think maybe you can find some tutorials online, if one can’t figure out how to get on a train and ride it, secretly, or if they lack the common sense or drive to figure it out they should probably stay off the trains.

You seem pretty drawn to people on the edge of society – squatters, addicts, etc – is that an accurate description?

I’m not drawn to addicts and for the most part I’ve kept my distance from drug users, I would not encourage anyone to do hard drugs. The key here is nobody really was a subject, this entire experience was and still is my life, I took photos of people in my life. I probably would have done it all without the camera but taking photos gave me a real sense of purpose.

Your photos seem authentic and gritty in a way that a lot of photography of youth culture isn’t. Is that something you think about at all?

No, it just comes naturally. My hands are always filthy and my clothes are always dirty, I can’t stay clean worth a damn.

What made you start taking photographs?

The instant gratification of the polaroid.

You graduated from mechanic school – do you feel like a professional artist at all?

Very far from, I think I would have to learn how to develop my own film and print my own photos to be “professional.”

Is there anything or anybody you’d love to photograph, but haven’t yet?

I really like old guys standing around heavy machinery, I would like to photograph that.

Where do you think you’ll be in five years time?

Probably still in California, working for the railroad, raising a kid, working on my house, savin money, you know, livin’ the dream.

You can view more of Mike Brodie’s photography on his website. mikebrodie.net

Words: Zing Tsjeng (Follow Zing on Twitter @misszing)

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My mom made paintings with me as a kid and it was something I was always inspired by since then. Then I went to school and started showing at galleries and people kept showing me support, so it showed me I was doing something good.

So what’s your art about?

I explore shape, space, art history, color, and context.

How important is the emotional aspect of art?

My artwork changes everyday because I’m always keeping track of and reproducing processes throughout different bodies of work. Sometimes the actual process of painting can be emotional due to the building and deconstructing of layers in the work. It takes time to produce my work and once I change it, it can affect me because I feel that sometimes those changes are drastic.

What are you currently working on?

A minimal series in which I use just a few colors and shapes throughout the body of work.

Have you been to any exhibit or seen a work of art that transformed your life or change your way of thinking?

Several times I’ve been to great art shows. For example, the Francis Bacon retrospective at Met. The Jules Olitsky retrospective at Goldman Warehouse. I’m influenced by a variety of other shows and artists.

You are part of the upcoming group show Futurespective. Can you tell us more about the exhibit?

I believe in the group of artists that were chosen to be a part of this show. I believe they are all great artists.

Do you listen to music when you paint? What is your perfect soundtrack?

I love Spotify—it allows me to listen to all kinds of different and related artists. Sometimes, I enjoy listening to the Miami Heat or Miami Hurricanes on the radio.

What else do you have planned for 2013?

Marrying my beautiful lady, Kristen Soller.

Congratulations!

Words: Heike Dempster

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What defines the art of Abby Double?

Abby Double’s proposal is a questioning about identity, unicity in duplexity and duplexity in unicity, including scientific, metaphysics aspects and self experiment. It deals with the harmonization of dualism.

You work off the idea of duality, starting with your own experience as twins. Can you elaborate on how you approach duality in your art?

Duality deals with polarity. It’s the easiest way to take it but there are other angles. For the physics point in our art we have a work which show a geometrical representation of shadows intermingled with light. A shadow can’t exist without light but this figure can also express two sides of a personality. This is also why, on a psychic aspect, the personality trouble is also fascinating. For example, our “Sequential Scanning of a Replicant” installation deals with the potential confusion of identity of the twins and the opposite reading direction between occidental and Western civilization.

Can you share some highlights of your journey as artists with us please?

Our first public performance in 2011 during Scope Miami was really intense because we could feel the crowd of people around us , the murmurs of people through the gas masks between admiration, aversion, amusement or perversion. But when we started the most relevant fact

after the obvious lack of oxygen was the loss of all notion of time. The suffocation had something very heartwarming…

Which media do you prefer to work with?

We’re interested by all objects which can record the real. So, we are the point of departure of our studies and then we use our body as a blank paper for our performance.

You are inspired by philosophy. Which philosopher’s work have you explored via your art?

We titled our first exhibition ‘Prolegomena’ in reference to ‘Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics That Will Be Able to Present Itself as a Science’ by the philosopher Immanuel Kant. It has to be taken as preliminary notions as non0destructive testing in industry.  Clement Rosset’s work about the physical aspect of the double, Edgar Morin for his reflection about manhood and death and also Michel Guiomar.

Is it ever challenging to be so close and to work together?

Obviously it’s a challenge because the debates are pretty intense. In a collaboration between two colleagues you only have objectivity and logic but in family it’s always a mix between emotion and logic and we have to deal with it.

What do you most admire about each other?

May be the answer is in a quote of Wittgenstein: “What we cannot speak about we must pass over in silence.”

What are some of your favorite hot spots in Paris?

The art institutions Palais de Tokyo for Art, Museum of Romantism, Palais de la découverte and the Bibliothèque Forney Art and Architecture. For cafés and restaurants we like the café La Perle, the guinguette Rosa Bonheur and the restaurant Le Dauphin. Our favorite clubs are  Cirque Paradis and Le Montana.

What are you currently working on?

We are working on projects with French art institutions in Paris and Marseille and also on a new installation about classic movies about free violence. The Rebecca syndrome series and Duels is also still work in progress.

Double trouble or double blessing?

Double trouble, no doubt.

spinelloprojects.com/abby-double/

Words: Heike Dempster

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What drew you to photography?

I’ve been drawn to making art for as long as I can remember, and photography for me was basically just another form of that. I really started taking photos with concepts in mind when I was 15 after my father let me use his DSLR, and then I got a film camera and everything started from there.

How does it feel for your photos to be crossing the globe?

Of course I love it, I find it crazy that it’s even possible but social media is mind-blowing now.

How did you get your work ‘out there’?

It all began with Flickr, and as my passion grew, recognition started coming up, and various publications contacted me. I’m telling you, if people like your photos they will help you get it out there.

Describe your aesthetic.

I aim to mix the fascination of youth and reality into my images, and my personal projects are always grounded in documenting my time and place. I always try to seek out the abnormal and beautiful all at the same time.

Who are your main influences?

My list of favorite photographers is much too long, but I will always be a fan of Paolo Roversi, Cass Bird, Francesca Woodman, Edward Steichen, Tim Walker and Lina Scheynius.

How much of your time do you devote to photography in an average week?

If we’re counting finding inspiration – I’d say around 10 hours, it all depends if I’m planning a shoot for some of those days or not, because then it’s much more. I never really stop doing what I love.

What is your favourite part of creating a final image?

I love going through the images I’ve taken after a shoot and instantly picking favorites (and those are the ones I edit). It’s that jolt you get in your stomach when you know you have it, that’s so exhilarating for me.

You shoot mostly females, is femininity a main focus to your imagery?

I feel like I take images of females a lot because that’s something I know really well, and femininity is the basis of a lot of my work. Although, I would like to start shooting males more.

What is your camera of choice?

When I’m doing personal work, anything film (I recently shot large format and fell in love with it, although it’s quite expensive), and then my fashion related imagery I usually shoot more digital. I have a Nikon but also am a fan of Canon’s Mark II.

Where would you like to see yourself in the next five years?

Hopefully not working underneath someone, I would love to be making photos that I am still passionate about.

www.rebekahcampbell.net

Words: Kirsty Beckingham

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Who is Typoe?

TYPOE is a name that was given to me from a friend when I was about 15. It has pretty much stuck with me ever since and has been like my first name. Most people don’t even know my real name. It’s kind of funny.

You mix street art and fine art influences to create your pieces. What aspects do you incorporate and what specifically do you appreciate in street art and gallery art?

I look at the gallery as a classroom. A way where I can teach people about myself. Most of my work is about my journey through life and all the things I have been through: Money, sex, drugs, violence, fucking shit up, love, loss… All the good stuff. As far as graffiti goes, I look at it more like something fun I like to do. To me, graffiti belongs outside and it is about fucking shit up, plain and simple. I don’t believe that graffiti is meant to be inside. It is a full contact sport that is handled in the streets and should stay there.

Where do you draw your inspirations from?

I’m like a sponge. Some of my work is inspired by friends who have passed away, other work is inspired by things I see on a daily basis like fashion, partying, shiny things. Some of my favorite artists are: Andy Goldsworthy, Alexander McQueen, Robert Rauschenberg, Michelangelo.

You are an artist as well as a gallery owner. How do you manage to juggle both and be successful in both arenas?

I have to work very hard at managing my time well. Because of doing both of these activities I don’t have time for anything else really, which is fine. I love what I do and it makes me so happy to just do what I love.

You’re participating in various upcoming international art fairs. How relevant are art fairs to an artist’s career?

They’re effective because it is a really great way to get a lot of views in a short amount of time. Also, it’s great to meet people from other places who have seen and/or bought my work and I would have never known. I think it is a needed step to be involved in the fair circuits just to be relevant. If I’m not working and putting my work into the world then what am I doing?

Which direction do you see your art taking?

Every year my art grows exponentially, as do I. We mature together at a nice rate.

Do you have any other news you would like to share?

I am doing my first collaboration with a brand this year and it is something that normally I wouldn’t jump into because it usually doesn’t make sense. I try to keep my work very limited and I want to share it with people who truly appreciate and love it, so be on the look out for an interesting and exciting collaboration between myself and Deltoro shoes.

spinelloprojects.com/artist/typoe/

Words: Heike Dempster

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