THIS ARTICLE ORIGINALLY RAN IN THE ART OF STORYTELLING MAGAZINE ISSUE #1

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So where did your interest in Bigfoot come from and why did you decide to startpainting Bigfoot characters?

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It’s been about 14 years now since I decided to start writing Bigfoot. I realized the symbolism of Bigfoot was the culmination of all things I was into portraying, nature, magic and an opposition to the modern human world.

“If I stayed in Jersey I would definitely be making art but wouldn’t have started writing Bigfoot and would’ve ended up doing hard time for like 2 grams of weed.”

Graffiti artists have the luxury of hiding behind their artwork. I have met tons of graffiti artists and there are a lot of dorks, social idiots and loners in the graffiti game myself included. But they have a unique talent, graffiti is illegal, above the law, the act of graffiti has street credibility, so for a lot of people it serves as an alter ego. Is this the case for you as well?

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Yeah I’m definitely all those things above for sure. I have been a loner my whole life. When I started to write it was something I just wanted to do for myself and then I started to feel better as a person as I accomplished stuff and got some recognition. It makes sense that the people who start doing graffiti are outcasts from society and don’t do normal square stuff. You don’t hear about people that play football in the daytime and then go out and write. Above all it’s a big F.U. to society in general. I feel the need to transcend normal human life and represent
the Bigfoot spiritual world of spirits and dimensions, being a human isn’t all that.

Many depictions of Bigfoot are of a mean and violent being. Your paintings, at least in my opinion, don’t convey that. Even when you do a Bigfoot painting with an angry face it doesn’t come off too threatening. Is that intentional? Do you think the big guy has a soft side?

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Yeah I think it’s true for the Bigfoot’s out there that they aren’t completely mean or else they would be terrorizing humans all the time, which they are capable of. They are more into being undiscovered than attacking. There are so many natural places to hide still that they don’t have to attack people. But yeah they defi nitely have a soft side. They are part Buddhist. I do try to have the faces I draw have a lot of different emotion. Ranging from angry to understanding.

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Some of your Bigfoot characters are painted Green. Why? That seems like an unlikely color.

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Well they all aren’t dark brown or black, because I believe there’s many Bigfoot’s in different stages. The green ones are still in the plant kingdom dimension traveling through earth. The Paterson fi lm…..Fact or Fiction? I don’t think its real because a Bigfoot would know better than to get caught on fi lm like that.

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Has your commercial artwork been as fulfilling as your street work? Do you like one over the other?

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The commercial stuff is more fulfilling as far as survival, the amount of content and detail, but the street stuff is more fulfi lling to me when I need a release. Stuff comes out better sometimes when I’m giving it away to the world. I’ve been real addicted to freights lately. They both reach different people and have completely different purposes.

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Musically you seem to be into old school bands, you have long hair and dress a little bit on the 80’s rocker tip. It seems like you draw a lot inspiration from the past vs. the present why?

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That’s pretty much what I know, what I grew up with. When I was 12 and it was 1986 I was really into skateboarding and my mom wouldn’t let me grow my hair as long as I wanted so I settled on a Tony Hawk style. Long bangs to one side haircut. Now I am older and can do whatever the hell I want. I have a lot of nostalgia for the past. I wish I coulda been 18 in 1986 or 18 in 1976. To me It’s about everything that I think is the ultimate from the 70’s and 80’s. The music, art, and everything visual was just the best to me. Nothing from today really gets me excited. These little kids don’t know how to play rock and roll today.

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You are really into KISS, Iron Maiden and a lot of throwback bands from the 70’s and 80’s. Have they influenced you creatively?

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Yeah big influence. I had this best friend in 7th grade, Marcus LaRock. He drew Eddie over and over. Through him drawing Eddie it subconsciously taught me to persevere, pick something, and stick with it. KISS is just everything to me. I am obsessed with things around the eyes on my characters and KISSis of course partly responsible for that. A lot of early Metal/hard rock bands had the best album covers
ever, period. Ken Kelly’s covers for KISS’s Destroyer and Love Gun are my favorite pieces of art work ever. I once had the honor of seeing the original Love Gun painting in Vegas in 2003. I stared at it for hours.

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Speaking of KISS what do you think of the band Angel? My boy put me up on Angel and Punky Meadows years ago. Gene Simmons found these guys in like 74’ and got them signed to Casablanca. I am always curious what die-hard KISS fans think of Angel.

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I haven’t been exposed to Angel that much, never bought any records or anything. The most I’ve seen was they were in the Casablanca produced movie “Foxes” with Jodie Foster and Cherie Curie of The Runaway’s. I’m pretty much down for any band in the 70’s that had feathered hair though.

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You lived in Jersey until you were 18, why did you decide to move?

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I think it’s natural for a kid to wanna see what’s on the other coast. My whole life I just wanted to go to California, from seeing it on TV, skateboarding, and the good weed. I was taking NJ Transit all over Jersey and would take the path into NYC, playing hooky and all that. I felt like I saw most of what there was to see around me so I wanted to go see the big trees.

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What is the biggest difference between pursuing an art career in San Francisco vs. New Jersey? Had you stayed in NJ do you think you would have been as successful?

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Nowadays somebody can do their art anywhere and put it on the Internet but for me I had to go on a journey and fi nd things out, search within. The skateboard industry and my homies from Jersey that relocated to SF also helped out. If I stayed in Jersey I would definitely be making art but wouldn’t have started writing Bigfoot and would’ve ended up doing hard time for like 2 grams of weed. So definitely not
as successful.

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On your visits back to the Garden State have you paid attention to the graffiti scene? Who are some of your favorite artists from New Jersey?

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Nace will always rule Jersey. Route 78 was runnin for a while, a couple of my Jersey favorites are Jes and Kemos. Thanks for the interview any Last Words? What’s up to all my Jersey homies. Teddy Becks, Quimtime, and Haculla. Dirty Jersey represent
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