Swank One - Graffiti Artist Interview

October 2008

Interview with Los Angeles based graffiti artist Swank One, member of the Visual Team and Seeking Heaven Crew.

How old are you?

32.

Where are you based?

Los Angeles.

How long have you been painting / writing?

Officially, about 17 years.

I started messing around with drawing bubbles letters and catching little tags in middle school, but didn't really get into graff until I got into high school.

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

One of my homies that I was skating with at the time got me into it and it was pretty much just something else to do.

Where did you paint your first piece?

In the L.A. river.

How would you describe your style?

I've always been interested in describing form in my work rather than it just being flat and graphic.

What are the influences behind your work?

When I was younger it was only graff, even though a lot of what I was looking at was informed by commercial art all I saw in it was graff. I couldn't get enough of it.

These days I'm looking at anything and everything; commercial art, advertising, illustration, typography, animation, product design, architecture, fashion, contemporary fine art, folk art and pop culture in general.

How did you choose the name Swank?

It was a word I pulled out of a book I had to read in middle school. It was phonetically similar to what I was writing at the time and I figured it would make a cool back-up name if I ever had to change names, which I eventually had to do.

Do you write under any other names?

No.

Do you write with any crews and if so which ones?

• SH Crew - Seeking Heaven
• VT Crew - Visual Team

Have you done many collaborations with artists overseas or travelled abroad for your art and if so where is the most exciting or interesting place you have painted?

I haven't traveled outside of L.A. for my own art, just commercial work and that's pretty much because someone else is picking up the bill.

How often do you travel abroad for your art?

For commercial work, whenever there's an opportunity.

What are you about the current graffiti scene in the USA and Los Angeles?

I think the graffiti scene in general is pretty good, it's constantly evolving. There doesn't seem to be a shortage of writers out there always trying new things and pushing the limits of what graff is.

You have done lots of commercial for clients such as Pepsi, Toyota, Delta Airlines and MTV to name a few, what would you say was the most well known piece of advertising you have worked on?

I don't even know.

Has graffiti become a full-time career for you now and if so was it a long journey to get to this stage?

Commercial art and design have become my full-time career, I've managed to weave my experiences with graff into it. It's been a life long journey so far.

Is there any one point in your career you would class as 'your big break'?

Sure, the point when I realized that I couldn't rely on anyone to make things happen for me and that I'd have to do things myself… fortunately I figured that out early on.

What do you see as your greatest achievement to date?

That I'm able to scratch out a living doing what I love.

Your work has been featured in the books Graffiti L.A. and Graffiti World, how did you come to be involved in these publications?

I know Steve Grody (the author of Graffiti L.A.) personally, he's pretty much a fixture and a huge supporter of the L.A. scene and has been documenting it for years. The guy that put the Graffiti World book together got at me through the internet.

Were you involved in the graffiti documentary "Rock Fresh"?

I just did the graphic design for the DVD slick and some miscellaneous promotional materials.

You have had your work displayed in galleries many times, is there any one exhibition that stands out from all the rest?

Not really.

What are your thoughts on graffiti being just a likely to be found in a gallery as on the streets these days?

I think it's great that graff can be in galleries these days, it just shows that the overground population finds value ($$$$$) in it.

I found it pretty amusing when that really popular UK street artist first had his 'street art' covered in plexiglass to protect it from someone else's less popular 'street art'.

I found it pretty amusing when that really popular UK street artist first had his 'street art' covered in plexiglass to protect it from someone else's less popular 'street art'.

Swank One

There seems to have been a sudden surge of interest in graffiti and street art recently, why do you think this is?

I think you're referring to a sudden mainstream surge of interest. Graff has been around in it's current form for 30+ years and it's been a popular activity for a lot of kids and eventually these kids grow up, but their experiences with graff and it's visual forms still communicate to them. As young adults they become fine-art gallery artists, art directors at advertising agencies, fashion designers, graphic artists, start their own companies, publish and manufacture their own products, etc, so what was once only seen by other graff writers, on freight trains or hidden in certain parts of the city starts to bubble up into broadcast graphics and t-shirt designs.

Even though graffiti seems to have been more widely accepted there still appears to be a very fine line between those who view graffiti as art and those who see it as vandalism, what are your views on this?

Vandalism is vandalism. If you go out and fuck up property that's not your own then the recipient of your 'art' is probably going to be irritated… unless you're that really popular UK street artist and then they'll just screw plexiglass over it.

Do you prefer doing legal or illegal pieces?

I prefer to get paid these days.

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

I have.

The idea behind graffiti artists "getting up" and putting their mark everywhere is an interesting one - I wanted to ask you if infamy within the scene was a frustrating thing sometimes because there is often a need to keep your identity secret due to the illegal aspect? At what point did you feel you were able to stand up and say "I did that"?

It's pretty much a catch-22. I think if you're seeking fame and stay within the 'scene' then you can be ok, it's when you start looking for fame overground you start running into problems.

Do you still try to keep your identity anonymous where possible?

Not really, but at the same time I don't seek fame.

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

I see myself as someone who makes things.

Which other artists work do you admire?

My hometown heros:

• Hex
• Slick
• Panic
• Size
• Bash
• Asylm
• Eye
• Relic
• Tempt
• Genius
• Chaz
• Kofie
• Axis
• Vyal
• Man
• Craola
• Revok
• Atlas
• Ruet
• Mear
• Sherm
• Toons
• CRE8

What is your preferred medium for making marks with?

If I'm not painting a wall then I do everything else on the computer.

Do you have a favourite piece of all time?

I don't know about 'all time', but my favorite piece is usually whatever I finished last.

What kind of music are you into?

Mostly hip-hop.

What are you working on currently and what plans do you have for the future?

I'm mostly doing commercial work and I try to find time to work on personal pieces. The only plans I have for the future is to keep on keeping on.

Anything else you would like to add?

That's it.

For more information about Swank One please visit:

www.swankone.com

For more information about the Seeking Heaven Crew please visit:

www.seekingheaven.com