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OU: Do you do as much as you can, or as much as you like to do?
Andre: I don’t do as much stuff as I’d like to do, but I do a
lot of stuff I guess. I try not to feel like a work-a-holic, but I enjoy doing
it so it’s not like that.
The job I recently got fired from, I hated being there because I was anxious
the whole time. I hadn’t had the 9-5 stupid thing for a while, well
hardly ever really. That was the first serious one with health benefits and
all that crap, but just being there sucked.
The only problem with doing so much stuff is you don’t want to spread
yourself thin and never succeed completely on one angle of things. At the
same time I am not really happy unless I am doing a variety of things. I guess
the goal is to live off of my creations…eventually. I figure if I am
not doing it, no one is going to do it for me. You have to stay active. It’s
not just doing work and getting it done, it’s meeting people and going
out…
OU: It’s a business…
Andre: It’s a job that pays few and far between, but I’ve just
noticed that the whole time that I’ve been taking myself serious as
an “artist” since the end of high school. I’ve just gotten
better and better shows and more
opportunities as I go along.
OU: Do you feel it’s worth it to do your own thing even though your
income is not steady?
Andre: Yeah, because my ultimate goal is to be happy. If I am not doing what
I want, then I will definitely not be happy. I’d rather be doing what
I want to do than, not to sound like whatever, than making steady money and
living and eating where I want. It’s not that exciting. Ideally I’d
want to get paid well to just do what I do and live comfortably; not like
I want to live like some rich dude in the sense of vanity, but just so I can
afford the projects and travel I want to do.
OU: That is why I’m doing
the magazine. It is my underlying theme. Covering people that are doing what
they want to do.
Andre: At that stupid job I would stay up way late, doing this stuff (video
editing) and would come in all tired, then the got hit by the van, got the
flu, and then they fired me. (Chuckles) I was sitting in this fuckin’
vault at a post-production house, labeling tapes and bar-coding them. It was
a waste of my life, or anybodies life. I’m not just saying mine.
OU: What is your take on graffiti art right now?
Andre: My experience with graffiti, when I first started, I wasn’t the
normal graffiti writer. I’m not saying I was anything special; I just
never did letters. Also I didn’t have much interest in letters and I
felt like initially when I first got started that there is sort of the “you’ve
got to do it this way” mentality, and I would rather be like, “
well I know if I do letters, they’re gonna look bootleg, so I’d
rather just do what I do anyways.”
When I started doing graffiti I didn’t know how serious I was going
to take it so I was just translating what I would do on paper or canvas onto
the street or on walls. So I just did my characters and didn’t think
much of it. This way I would be doing my own thing and wouldn’t be doing
graffiti wrong. But then obviously I got more into it. I was pretty much going
through the same motions as graffiti writer, just doing characters. I’m
not saying, by any means, that I was the first guy doing characters, but as
far as the way things are going now with street art, I’d say I was definitely
doing it a long time before a lot of these other folks.
There is the “graffiti” world, which is like traditional graffiti,
piecing and productions. Then there is the “street art” world,
which consists of stencils, paint posters, signs, etc. “Alternative”
graffiti. It’s like Rap and Hip-Hop; They’re know two different
worlds but come from the same place.
Now what I am doing is trying to keep my stuff interesting within street
art. That’s why I am not doing as many of my regular characters any
more, otherwise it gets boring.
OU: What do you think about graffiti, and street art in museums and galleries
now? Like The Beautiful Losers show was cool, but it’s street art. Does
that ruin it for you?
ANDRE: I think it’s cool, obviously there’s different people with
different opinions, with different reasons, but in general anyway, there are
real hungry, aggressive artists who are artists before they’re street
artists. They are artists, so artists belong in museums or wherever else they
wanna go so, it’s very appropriate you know what I mean, but on the
other hand, if you go to the museum you’re not gonna understand unless
you are already sort of involved or read up on it: the context of why this
artwork is important or interesting, or why it’s in this museum. But
that goes for any sort of genre of art.