Ronzo

Ronzo Interview

"Ronzo is an independent, non-profit artist that exists because this fragile Earth deserves a voice. It needs solutions. It needs change. It needs action. Quite frankly, it needs Ronzo!" We visited his studio in East London to find out more about this elusive artist and understand why concrete seems to be his medium of choice.

- Please tell our readers who don’t already know you who you are and what you are doing in London

R: I started painting and drawing before I actually learnt to write. My parents saw my passion for art and put me in art school which made me realize that I wanted to do this as a career. I didn’t get into graffiti until I was about 17, but as soon as I was involved, I really liked the vibe and the people I met through it.

The scene in Munich at the time was very good and the level of skills was really high and it inspired me to continue painting.

After some years, I wanted to explore the character-side of things more. In 2000, I moved to London as I felt that it was time to leave Germany and go and explore a different culture. I found in London what I had been looking for which was other like-minded people who were willing to mix up graffiti and characters as well as doing illustration work. So at the moment, as a career, I am doing a mix of graphic design, illustration and animation.

- Apart from your Munich friends who have inspired you, do you draw your influences from any other sources?

R:It definitely comes from stuff that happens and various experiences in everyday life.

When your day is broken up by something which is not routine, for example, seeing someone that looks a little strange, then I will try and draw what I saw that day.

In terms of influences, I would say that I try to look a little further afield than just from my peers and friends. People I like include the mathematical artist MC Escher and Joan Miro, who had a much more loose style. ?

- Tell us about the recent show you had at the Stolen Space gallery entitled “Disstopia”.

R: I needed a title for the show that summed up all my little characters in their world and after doing some research on the internet, I found that the opposite word to ‘Utopia’ is ‘Dystopia’.

This word describes a world where things have gone all wrong. I changed the spelling of the word to use ‘diss’ instead which is a reference to hip-hop culture when you criticize something. In this world, the inhabitants still have to do everyday things like work and play, it’s just that in my world, the characters are a bit mutated and may have five arms or look like an octopus.

- One of the mediums you seem to use a lot is concrete, is there any particular reason why?

R: - I wanted to use something different that not many people are using. I really like the look of it and its structure. When it dries, it looks really weathered and has a smooth, yet raw finish. The original concept for my canvases was to make it look like they had been ripped out of a building and placed in a gallery.

The city surrounds us, so my characters deserve to be shown in their environment.

- Another character that always pops up in your work is Jonny Fu. What is he all about?

Jonny Fu is a project that I started at art-school with my mates. We always liked Godzilla and martial art films and we decided to try and make our own versions. It was like a mash-up of all these cool films we loved into one animation. We came up with a character that has eyes on one side of his head and is really skilled at martial arts. We shot the animation on 16mm film but our camera ate a lot of the film and we had to make do with whatever we had left! I was still happy with how it turned out in the end though. After the animation we made some merchandise to go with the film, like keychains, t-shirts, plush dolls and small figures.

- Are you actively painting on the street at the moment or is all your working on the legal-side of things?

R: Not enough! I wish I was on the streets more. At the moment, I have hundreds of hand-drawn mock Evening Standard/Ronzo posters which will be going up soon. I also have a bunch of small concrete sculptures that I have been developing with my friends to put up in a secret location. Unfortunately, it seems that there aren’t enough hours in a day for me to be able to draw and make these sculptures and put them up on the streets. But I do plan this summer to be away from computers and desks more and become pro-active on the streets again.

Ronzo : www.ronzo.co.uk

Stolen Space : http://www.stolenspace.com

Photography: Delphine Ettinger & Selph

Written by Selph