INTEVIEW WITH APESEVEN
INTERVIEW BY THE NATIONAL GRID GALLERY
NG: ApeSeven, tell us the thinking and process behind your new works that will be on show at The National Grid Gallery in Brookvale from August 6th— what can the people expect?
AS: My latest body of work KLAN takes a look at my imagined family albeit future tribe. An emotive, mysterious, somewhat elegant figurative visual language has been developed to illustrate my search for belonging in this world, amongst my peers, family and dreams.
NG: Where does the inspiration for your mythical characters come from?
AS: I would have to initially say a complex mix of my travels, dreams, science. Then I think my inspiration or motivation comes from a need to create a world to help me cope and relate to the world around me.
NG: What is your process, what mediums do you use?
AS: In terms of process I approach my works first and foremost with a street art perspective, utilizing both graphic and painterly qualities to my work. Works typically incorporate a number of mediums acrylic, ink, found paper, aerosol, found objects. I found this mixed media approach engages the observer and reflects the multi layered thoughts and processes going on in my head.
NG: What is the criteria for choosing a place to paste?
AS: I would love to say there is a well thought out process for selection, but I more often than not seem to gravitate to particular urban settings. Sometimes there is a resonant nostalgia in the locations I choose, reminding me of my youth or more innocent times.
NG: How would you explain your work to someone who has never seen it before?
AS: An exploration of my relationship to the divine, depicted by a fusion of childhood creatures, science, complex symbolism and an aesthetic drawn from an observation of the potential, imagined and observed worlds.
NG: What motivated you to make a book?
AS: As a street artist exhibiting in a gallery some of that energy that people encounter in an urban setting can be lost.
Klan existed initially with sketches, words, then street installations. The exhibition at The National Grid is a refined culmination of Klan. The book loosely documents this whole body of work and I believe captures the energy of street and develops a context for the exhibiton. The book is simultaneously the glue between my works and a work unto itself.
Posted: July 26th, 2010 under exhibitions.
Tags: Apeseven, interview, the national grid
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