Insa

Interview with Insa

- When did you begin Street Art?

I: I started tagging and making a mess when I was like 12 years old but didn’t really start doing anything constructive till about 99-2000.

- What have you been doing before become Street Artist?

I: Before street art I did graffiti and before that I made very budget horror movies with my friends.

- What influenced you to be an artist? What are your art roots?

I: My strongest influence to be an artist is the fact I am unhappy unless I am being creative in some way, and I can’t even imagine myself in a proper job so I have no choice really. I have studied art and did a Design degree at Goldsmiths but that was really just an excuse to move to London and paint its streets.

- What grabs you, and how is that expressed in your work?

I: Lots of things grab me but recently I’m interested in obsession- the obsession with graffiti, the obsession with sneakers and consumer street culture, the obsession with shiny cars.

I guess it’s because I’m quite an obsessive person. If I like something, I really like it and must fill my life in that period of time with that one thing. I try and express these ideas in my work by representing things as fetishes.

- Your characters are very cute (Tear drops and leg with heel), Please tell me what kind materials do you use?

I: I like to use spray paint the most as I can get the results I want quick and easy. I did a lot of the heels as posters, which were hand drawn with marker; though I much prefer things that are painted at the location.

- I’ve seen the project which is OKINI (Jumpers, Tees), How do you get jobs like this? And please tell me another project if you were doing or have done.

I: The Oki-Ni colab came from meeting them at one of my exhibitions and discussing my desire to wrap my graffiti fetish drawings around things- I have also made miniature versions of these hoodies with Kid Robot that will be worn by a Dunny released later this year. I have a number of interesting projects in the works…

- Which artist are you most influenced by?

I: I love a lot of artist’s work. Some of my favourites or most influential to me would be Sorayama, Jeff Koons and more apparently, Hans Bellmer.

- What are you interested in or what is your favorite thing except Street Art?

I: I have lots of loves. To name a few: Lowriders, Donks, meat, bowling, Freddy Krueger, Prince, collecting expensive plastic…

- Do you think you will still be Street Artist after 10 years?

I: I will definitely still be an artist in ten years and if that involves painting in the street then cool.

- How do you want to carry on your work in future?

I: I really want to explore sculpture further by taking some more of my ideas into 3D and work on some really large-scale installation pieces.

- Message for reader please…

I: Hello- hope you enjoy my work- please come visit INSALAND sometime.

Website : http://www.insaland.com/

myspace : http://www.myspace.com/graffiti_fetish

Written by Toshimi Takaishi