rockGroup

Interview with SheOne, O.Two

S1: I started writing Graffiti in the New York Subway sense of the word in the early 80fs in London. I started exhibiting on canvas around 1990 and in the last ten years I have been concentrating on selling canvases, collaborating with fashion brands and pushing it in any direction I can. My style has evolved over the years and I think that this is all about personality. There was a day I decided to go painting where I didnft bring an outline sketch with me, just took a bag of paint and wanted to see what would happen on the wall. That was the day that changed everything. The idea of rocking up and making a painting out of your own head with no aspirations to be part of a culture or to try and impress people but just painting for yourself.

O2: I saw a Futura piece along time ago when I was about 16 and it had been done backwards, so it read,hAr u tufh. For a 16 year-old that seemed so cool. I moved to London soon after, met She-One and rockGroup was formed in 1999. We are text based, no characters, just typography. Everything comes from the name, the abstraction of the name and the representation of the name. Itfs basically a World War against Helvetica!

- Have you had any influences from other artists over the years?

 

S1: Plenty! In Graffiti terms, it was Dondi, Crash and Futura from America and in Europe it was definitely Bando from Paris, since then there hasnft been anyone else. I am still influenced by those people and if you look at my work, you can figure that out.

I met O.Two a few years ago and we realized that we had similar interests in music, women, booze and hotrods so grockGrouph was formed. Usually, Graffiti writers come together to form a crew, but we didnft want that, ours is more of an ideal on how we want to spend our life.

 

O2: Our collaborative project is our lifestyle, as opposed to our outputs. We are not like a typical graffiti crew that rocks up and does a production. We donft spend hours stressing about outlines or themes for pieces, itfs just about painting for us.

 

- Apart from London, where else have you painted?

 

S1: I have been fortunate, as my painting has taken me all over the world and I have been invited to paint in a lot of different countries.

I have been to Hong Kong, Taipei, Tokyo, Osaka, and Sydney. The only place that I havenft really been to is Africa. Collaboratively, we have worked in Europe quite extensively and we killed it in Venice Beach, USA as well.

 

- Do you think that there is a difference between UK Graffiti and Japanese Graffiti?

S1: Yes definitely. There is a basic divide between Eastern and Western philosophies in design. Western design in general, is about detailed space and the look of something once it is finished. Eastern design tends to be more centrifugal. It comes from a core idea and then the aesthetics are applied to that. I started thinking a while ago that the idea is more important than the finished work.

So if you go to a live painting with a core idea, the work will always be more interesting than the finished product. It becomes more about doing it than actually making a beautiful painting. Itfs pretty much a principle that rockGroup paints by.

 

- You have both been based in London for a long time doing Graffiti. How do you think the scene has changed over the years?

S1: I have never really been part of a scene so I canft comment about that. As an artist, your whole motivation for working is a personal journey so for that to be important, you should only be interested in what you are doing. Of course you can appreciate what other artists are doing but you shouldnft be influenced or directed by that.

 

My work is very personal and reflects what mental state I am in that time. If it reflects anything outside of that, then it would be untrue.

 

O2: I have deliberately separated myself from any type of scene because any members of a said scene would ask you to pay your dues and I have no idea where I left my chequebook! If you concentrate too hard on trying to be part of a scene, then you have lost the plot.

- What kinds of music are you guys listening to?

 

S1 & O2: Desert Rock. Queens of the Stone Age, The Melvins, Sonic Youth, Mondo Generation.

- What does the future hold for the rockGroup?

S1 & O2: Oblivion, Steamboats, maybe sinking Yachts, crashed black Lambourghinis, flaming Hotrods and empty bottles of whiskey. We would hate to know what the future held because then you would be gripped by some unnatural path you are trying to achieve. Itfs good not knowing whatfs gonna happen next. Live for today, thatfs another rockgroup philosophy.

 

- Can you tell us about any other projects you have lined up?

O2: Our concept for our next project is to build a British Car/Hotrod that murders all other concepts of Hotrods. No airbrushing, just flat colour. Itfs all about the stance of the vehicle and basically, trying to infiltrate British Hotrod nostalgia. The fuel tank, especially, is gonna be amazing!

Other than that, trying to get sponsored by Jack Daniels is our next step.

S1: Basically, drag-racing with Hotrods in America was a great sub-culture until the Beatles ruined it because pop music took over and people stopped customizing cars and started buying guitars instead and forming bands. So now, the galaxy is in turmoil and it is up to rockGroup to customize some Hotrods and bring the planets in alignment once more.

 

UKAdapta then met up with She-One and O.Two the following day at Cargo where they had some more interesting information to share with us:

S1: After our interview, we continued drinking at the bar until about 1:30am.

We left and started hitting up a few tags on the street and before you know it, there were blue flashing lights and a couple of young cops come out of the car. gHey you guys, is that your property that you are writing on? Well, you have to choices, either we arrest you or we write you a ticket.h So we opted for a ticket and got a GBP80 fine to go with it. They didnft take our pens or search us.

 

O2: So when they were going through our details, you know, age, address etc., they asked us what our professions were and we both looked at each other and said, gGraffiti Artistsh. So then one of the cops turned to us and asked, gIs that your day job?h Classic!

- So guys, when were you last arrested?

S1: In 1988. I was busted for being in possession of spray paint and loitering around the trainyards but they had no evidence of any wrongdoings. So I was fingerprinted and photographed, spent 3 hours in a police cell and they let me go with a warning. They also made me sign a piece of paper saying that I would never do graffiti ever again. Which of course, I did. Luckily I was under 18 so it was scrubbed off my criminal record as a youth misdemeanour.

 

O2: I havenft been technically arrested but I did have my paint confiscated at a basketball court in New Cross in 1998. I had so much paint that the cops had to go across the road to the Tescofs to get some plastic carrier bags to take all of the cans!

 

SheOne : http://www.highsnobiety.com/
O.Two : http://www.myspace.com/o_two
Addict : http://www.addict.co.uk/

Written by Selph
     

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