Bill London

Interview with Bill London

- How did it all begin for you? What is your personal history in terms of graffiti & fine art?

B: I've always enjoyed art from an early age. Like many others, I messed up at school academically and directed most of my energy into art. Around the age of 13, I had my first tag, not understanding the idea behind it, I tagged my initials…this didn’t last too long for obvious reasons!! I then used “Toker” or “ Doser”?? because it sounded cool at the time!!! Tags then went to throw ups then to dubs, up to the age of 17 I preferred to paint by myself and go on mad solo missions to get up. I hated the pressures of life at the time and found graffiti was an escape from society for me.

Photo Credit : Harry Kakoullis

At that age I didn’t really understand how to play the game and got arrested and raided by BTP way too many times & over the last 5 years I have really concentrated on pushing letter styles and painting large scale productions.

- What Crews do you represent?

B:I represent my crew RT.

- You seem to have two different avenues of art (Graffiti & Fine Art); have you made a conscious effort to try and separate the two?

B: Yeah, when I paint a piece on a wall without thinking I would approach it differently to painting a canvas. I don’t like the idea of just recreating my letters on canvas the same way I would do a piece, both forms of painting require different thought processes. When I represent my letters publicly, I like them to hold their space and look dominant whereas painting on canvas I would take a softer approach.

-For people who haven't already seen your art before, can you try and describe your style?

B: I guess my graffiti style is sharp and sometimes aggressive looking. I try to create organic flows within my letterforms; to paint a good piece one of the most important things is to create movement and flow within your letters.

- Describe your painting process for the canvas-based work. Do you use extra materials to get the job done or is it purely with just a spraycan?

B: When I initially started to paint canvases I was conscious of the fact that I was “selling out “ because I was making money out of graffiti, so I thought it only right to work with tools that I would use to do graffiti? e.g paint markers and spray paint.
Now I work with paint brush as well for details. I would say that 90% of work is still created using just spraypaint and paint markers.

- 'Signs of Life' really stood out for me, in terms of your last body of work for your solo show last year; it seemed so much darker and full of subtle messages compared to your other works.

B: 'Signs of Life' was my reflection of today’s society through what I understand about the world we live in. I hate the fact that so many buildings are painted such boring colours like dull greys. Living in London everywhere u go pretty much go you are surrounded with these dull colours, no wonder everyone walks around looking tired, sad and angry. War, pollution and everything negative about life is within the painting, at the top of the painting a spray can rises up out of the city, this represents how graffiti has been an escape from society for me.

- Your collection of works were very varied, from jigsaw-based Union Jacks, to Landscapes, to letter-based paintings...which direction do you think you will follow for the future?

;B: I will always paint my wildstyle letters on canvas. My next show will have more detailed work similar to the 'Signs of Life' painting but on a larger scale.

- Have you had to deal with any beef/raised eyebrows because of your graffiti background and your recent foray into the fine art world?

B: No, however there will always be haters. I can understand that writers who just paint illegally, keeping the graffiti scene alive don’t like to see others making money from this. At the end of the day that’s their own insecurity.

- Type-based question now; Would you say that England got its own style of handwriting? Can you describe it for our Japanese readers?

B: I think generally, English hand styles are kept simple without elaborating too much. This is also to do with our country having so much CCTV that if you want to catch a tag you got to be quick!!
Old skool writers had a lot more style in their tagging compared to writers today.
Tagging styles in England are so varied now due to exposure through the internet, 10 years ago you could tell if a tag was by a writer from Germany or France. I think this is sad as no country really has its own style any more…

- Who do you think are writers of note from London in the past decade?.

B: So many writers have helped push the UK scene over the last decade legally and illegally. DDS have kept the train scene alive in London since I was a kid…. Over the last decade for me it has to be TOX in my eyes; no one has gone all city like him.

- What message would you give to any young artists who want to start showing their work?

B: Stay true to who you are and don’t bite!

- Are there any Future Plans you'd like to share with us?

B: I'm off on tour with my crew RT this year so there will be a lot of collaborations with foreign writers. I have my second solo show towards the end of the year as well.

Bill London : http://www.representlondon.com

Written by Selph