REMI/ROUGH

Can you recall the build up to your debut art show in 1989? How did it come about, where did you exhibit, and how did you regard it?

My dad had seen this gallery in Mayfair – to give you some background, my dad had a company, which was Fine Art Shippings. He was always in the West End picking up fine art from Sotheby’s, Christies, antique shops and galleries – he spotted this place and in the window it said “looking for submissions” with the statement “must be interesting”. My dad told me I should send some samples, so I went to see them and said let’s do a show. There were probably about 80 people there in this tiny village gallery. I must have sold 2 pieces – I was over the moon!

Working in the creative industry has its fair share of difficulties, especially if you’re a newcomer. What hurdles did you encounter at the start of your creative journey?

I suppose the main hurdle is just being one in a million creatives. I made a living for a long time designing record sleeves. I did work for Ninja Tune, loads of indie labels, EMI, and I was art director for Jazz Fudge for a couple of years. However, that industry is dead now because there are kids who have come straight out of college and they’ll design a record sleeve and make it look wicked for nothing other than to have it in their folios. It’s a similar thing with remixing music, you can put a tune out and get sent a thousand remixes. Out of that there may be five that are really good. There’re going to be some OK ones and a lot of terrible ones, but if you’re willing to wade through it all to get the five amazing ones, then it’s worthwhile.

So persistence would be your main advice to up and coming creatives?

Yeah, perseverance and to have rationale. If someone says, “Why should I pay you for that remix?” or “Why should that painting cost £2,500?” Well, put it down to the fact that you’re not just paying for a piece of canvas with paint on it, you’re buying part of my history. What I belong to, my culture, the only art form that’s ever been created and taken forward by young people. You must have rationale.

With over twenty years in the creative game, how do you manage to stay fresh, to stay relevant?

I have no nostalgia in my bones. I meet people who are always referring to the old days of graff and I couldn’t give a shit. It’s done. It gave me a background. It was a stepping-stone. It’s all about development – you look at Madonna and anyone who’s at their absolute peak in the music industry, and they're constantly developing and changing. If you just keep rocking the same album every year (look at Oasis) people are going to grow bored and not want to buy it. I get influenced by different things: looking at architecture, design bookshops and coming across a book on grid systems and type. Graffiti is typography, so then you start looking into the deeper census of what typography is and you receive a greater outlook on things. I’m a really curious person (bit of only child syndrome).

Page 2 visuals, left to right: Installation at Urban Angel Gallery. London 2009//SUBTLE ODYSSEUS. Matt emulsion and spray paint on canvas. 2009