REMI/ROUGH

From getting his name up on walls and trains, to injecting the originality, dynamism and attitude of graffiti into canvases, gallery installations, digital design AND laying down beats and vocals in a sound lab, Remi Rough has spent the last twenty years carving out a creative legacy that is both impressive and inspirational. Brainer was invited to the multi-talented creative’s studio to discuss an extensive journey in sight and sound.

You’ve adopted a number of different design disciplines over the last twenty years. First and foremost, what defines you?

Remi is Remi. Within Remi there are all these other people who exist. Like Remdog and Remi from Reptiles, Remi Rough the graffiti artist, the graphic designer, the parent, the husband. There’re all these different dynamics to me and sometimes I’m pulled all over the place. Sometimes it’s nice, sometimes it’s terrible, but it makes me who I am.

Growing up in the ’70s and ’80s must have been an exciting experience... What initially inspired you to pick up a spray can and lay the foundations for where you are today?

Growing up in 1970s London was quite exciting, but at the same time it was also quite raw, especially in the mid-to-late ’70s through to the ’80s. I lived in Brixton during the riots. I remember our house. We were boarding up windows, and my dad was buying metal bars to put over doors so people couldn’t kick them in. You just had to react to that situation the best way you could.

Did growing up in that type of situation give birth to the rebellious nature within you?

Yes, I think growing up in South London you got to shout to be heard. If you don’t you just end up on the production line, you’re just another statistic. London had a very dangerous effect on me to a certain degree, because you get involved in the danger of London. Being a graffiti writer in 1984 was a pretty dangerous vocation; you’re jumping on tracks, you’re painting trains.  I was never the biggest train painter in the world because I wanted to make beautiful artwork – you just can’t do it on trains because you only have a couple of minutes.

I had this vision of painting massive walls and spending weeks on it, and now I can do that. Back then I couldn’t. In my mind I knew where the art form could go but at the time you made do with what you had. So London was a really good breeding ground for me, and I think if I’d have grown up somewhere else, it may not have happened. I wouldn’t have been exposed to it, seen it, felt it.

Page 1 visual: AGENTS. Remi/Rough and Timid. Cardiff 2009