Brave One - Graffiti Artist Interview

October 2007

Interview UK graffiti artist Brave One.

How old are you?

Old enough for my sister to have bought me anti-wrinkle cream last christmas!

How long have you been painting / writing?

I was always drawing when I was a kid, I used to bug the hell out of my family asking them "what should I draw?" all the time! I loved to copy cartoons, anything from Disney to Garfield. I first painted a wall with spray-cans in my dads garage aged 13 in 1988. I drew my first pictures of graffiti in 1987. (Brave Ones early work)

How did you get into graffiti and what made you start painting?

Seeing other graffiti made me want to try doing it! I saw graffiti in the music video for "Everybody Walk the Dinosaur" in the late 80's and straight after that I did my first drawings of graffiti on paper, it said "Scott"… my name.

Soon after that writers started 'tagging up' in my area and I became obsessed by these scrawls. I was 11 and didn't know anyone else that felt the same about it as me but I soon found my local hall of fame (a derelict factory where people painted graffiti murals). I used to go down there just to hang out and look at the painted walls, wishing I could get involved. I'd search the ground for nozzles and tried to find old used tins of paint with dregs left in so I could have a go. Stuff I saw and things that happened in that derelict factory ensured that graffiti would be a part of my life forever!! When I graduated to Secondary School (age 12) I bought the book "Spraycan Art" and began to suss out who the other writers in my school were.

Which crew / crews do you write with or have you written with in your time?

I've not really had much to do with crews. I've done a lot of pieces on my own or with my friend and teacher, the legend "Reakt". I've kinda dabbled with crew names and flirted with the idea of writing with one but it's not really been that important to me, I'm more interested in writing my word, my tag "Brave 1".

I guess I have written with RM Crew and SOF Crew

Recently I've been asked to write TUS Crew (The Usual Suspects) by some writers I have a lot of respect for and known of for a long time, so yeah, as long as there is TUS Crew I'll be proud to be a part of that.

What names do you write under?

Brave 1, that's all you need to know!

What is your preferred medium for making marks with?

I'll have a go with anything… finger-tip in road grime on the side of a van/truck, stick in ink on A1 sheet, magic markers, track stones, 2B pencils, chalk, biro… obviously I love using spray paint and have done since I first pushed the button!

What are your feelings on the UK graf scene at the moment?

It's fragmented, too many separate scenes to have an over all feeling!

I guess it surprises me how many people these days are doing it… or at least they walk, talk and act like graffiti artists. Many of them (and not just the new ones) have a shameful disrespect for other graffiti writers paintings though! I believe that there was a golden age of graffiti and it was when respect for your fellow graffiti writers was part and parcel of being involved, now it seems that's been flipped on its head in certain circles! Perhaps its just because there is a lot more people trying to be graffiti artists nowadays!

There are some amazing artists painting within the UK scene, here are some that I think deserve a mention…

• TPN
• ERZ
• TCF
• Reakt
• Yes-B
• Ekto
• Flor
• Eyes
• Sickboy
• Ponk
• Otick
• Mac
• Zee 3rds
• Aroe
• Janoe
• Turning Tricks
• Kelzo

Tha list goes on and on and on and on and on, there are loads and loads more…

Have you done many collaborations with artists overseas or have you ever travelled overseas to paint?

Shoulda, woulda, coulda.

I've travelled to lots of places around the world, as for leaving a mark, nothing worth mentioning really.

I've collaborated with many different artists on walls here in the UK.

Where is the most exciting or interesting place you have painted?

Exciting… Painting somewhere without permission can be pretty exciting but no matter where you do it it's exciting if you're painting a good piece.

Interesting… I've painted some interesting places, I've painted some interesting walls. I find walls often have a character to them, I am interested in that. Older walls that I've come across will sometimes have an atmosphere about them that can determine what sort of thing I want to paint on them.

Yeah, walls have soul.

I like painting on walls with a bit of history to them, I like walls and surfaces in places that are derelict. I think the definition of a wall without soul would be one of those purpose built graffiti walls. Walls with no soul or spaces that lack presence, like building site hoardings, are still fun to paint though.

I used to paint alone a lot so it's interesting painting and being watched by loads of people n' that. I recently painted an ex-police riot van at a motorbike rally. That was pretty far out of my comfort zone, painting whilst being scrutinized by large groups of hell angels.

Graphotism Sleeping Giants Jam in Brighton was a good weekend.

Where did you paint your first piece?

The first piece I painted was in my Dads garage aged 13.

My first naughty piece came pretty soon after that… me and two mates dubbed a room in a derelict factory, it must have been about 1990.

What do you think of the way graffiti is just as likely to be found in a gallery as on the streets these days?

I think its inevitable, it's art so people are gonna want to put it in galleries and look at it.

I like looking at photographs of graffiti. I like seeing action pics and the paintings in different stages of completion to sometimes deletion. (Brave Ones life of a piece)

I have a bit of a problem with the G word. I have a bit of a problem with graffiti on canvas. Go back to what I was saying about walls having a soul and presence, this is the difference between graffiti on walls and paintings that exist on canvases in a graffiti-style. It's spray-can-art when its on canvas, it's different to graffiti… it's missing something.

To me, canvases in graffiti exhibitions often lack edge and legitimacy. What edge is lost in canvas pieces is normally made up for by either the presence of the artist (the weight/fame) and/or the subtleties of technique applied.

Anytime you visit a hall of fame you are pretty much visiting a gallery, know what I mean?

Brave One

Have you ever had your work displayed in a gallery and if so is there any one exhibition that stands out from all the rest?

Most pieces I paint are in the public domain so you can walk up to it and look at it, that's displaying my work, y'know? That's an exhibition. Anytime you visit a hall of fame you are pretty much visiting a gallery, know what I mean?

I've worked in the V&A museum a few times doing workshops so I've hung spraypainted canvasses in there. It wasn't a proper exhibition but that kinda stands out… I guess coz of the building itself, it holds so much history, culture and art from craftsmen from across the globe throughout the ages. It was nice to be part of that y'know? To be recognised and appreciated in a place like that.

Have you done much commercial work and if so what would you class as your most famous piece?

Most famous piece, I dunno, probably best to ask someone else that. I've done loads of things that come back to haunt me. Ones that get printed I suppose, probably one of my characters. Two years in a row The Guardian printed the rasta characters I painted on the Great Western Road in their Notting Hill Carnival issue… that was nice.

If you paint a piece somewhere where it lasts it can become famous, like I've been commissioned to paint pieces at indoor skate parks… those sorts of pieces last, you get fame in that area.

I understand you have run some Youth Group workshops in your time, how have you found that experience?

I did the first graffiti workshop in 1997. I've done everything from one day-crash-course workshops in bumpkin land to organising graffiti artists to work with hundreds of kids at the V&A Museum in London. I do a lot of Youth work, it's not always just about art.

The best graffiti workshops I have done have been when you get like 10 weeks in a school (a residency), you can really get your groups producing some nice work. Other memorable workshops have been when I've worked with groups of young people who haven't got much else good happening in there lives, like when you work with young people that have been homeless or working with young offenders in a secure unit. You know you've really made a difference to their week, their month, their life, y'know? Just by sharing your enthusiasm for graffiti art with them!!

Do you try to remain anonymous and keep your identity a secret if possible?

Depends… not really! In this day and age if someone really wants to find you it ain't gonna be that hard.

Do you prefer doing legal or illegal pieces?

I prefer to paint in places where I can get away with it. It depends largely on what I'm trying to paint.

There is nothing like the feeling you get when you've finished a legal permission wall that you've spent loads of time on, not having to watch your back or do it in the dark. When it's done it looks as good or better than how you'd planned it. At the same time nothing beats the feeling you get when you've finished a piece that you haven't exactly got permission to do, when you get out of there, when you know your home dry and you've got good pics and got away with it.

Have you ever 'felt the long arm of the law' because of your art?

Nope. In the past there have been chases, there have been close calls and once I had to give my name to the police when they walked into a hall of fame.

Do you see yourself as an artist or a graffiti writer?

I see myself as both.

What is your inspiration and what drives you?

I just love painting! Everything around me inspires me, gives me ideas, new and different perspectives. I love painting with my friends, I even like painting with strangers. I think I was born a creative person y'know? I think I have to be creating, drawing or designing something or I am just wasting away. I think fame drives me, once you've got a taste of it you tend to want to maintain that.

Which other artists work do you admire?

I admire loads of different artists… spraycan artists, tattoo artists, cartoonists, illustrators. I like a lot of artists work… too many artists too mention.

Do you have a favorite piece of all time?

What one that I've done? Nah, not really. I like the blue boy character that I did… most of the time, you're buzzing off of the last thing you did.

If this was like desert island discs and I absolutely had to choose a few pieces or I could take one photo album with me then something from the Essex Rockers would be in the album… also pieces from the books "Spraycan Art" and "Subway Art". I like the classics but new stuff blows me away regularly too… so no, no favorite pieces of all time!

What kind of music are you into?

I have a wide range of different music in my library… from Leonard Cohen to The Ting Tings, if it sounds good then I'll listen to it.

I still listen to millions of titleless tracks dubbed off of the radio over the years. It's mostly late 80's to mid 90's hip-hop and rap. I've got a lot of roots music, dub, reggae and various reggae related drum and bass. I am into loads of different music.

What is the last album you bought?

I buy singles all the time but the last album I bought was about 4 weeks ago, Bob Marley - "Live At The Roxy"!

Anything else you would like to add?

Yeah, thanks to you's for being interested enough to read my interview. Thanks to my family for putting up with me. Big shouts to my friends and small shouts to my frenemies.

Nuff luv goes out to anyone I've ever painted with… my regular squad (the TUS boys) and to my friend, the master graffiti artist, Reakt.

Peace.

Brave1

For further information about Brave1 please visit:

www.braveone.co.uk

www.myspace.com/brave1