After reaching out to many different graffiti artists, we were able to get in-touch with four artists. We interviewed Zephyr Graffiti via Email, Damien Mitchel via Instagram, JCORP via Instagram, and Jenna Morello via Instagram. We asked them these three questions:

1. What inspired you to get into street-art/graffiti?

2. What do you base your artwork on?

3. How do you feel your artwork has contributed to the beauty of NYC? 

Their responses are written below.

 

Interview with Zephyr Graffiti

1.  “Thanks for the questions. By way of terminology, I have never referred to anything I’ve ever done as “street art”. I consider myself a “graffiti writer”. The youth-based Graffiti Movement in New York City began in earnest around 1970. By the time I was twelve years old, in 1973, the graffiti around the city had become very dense and it was very attractive and compelling to me. I didn’t know any graffiti writers, but I saw graffiti everywhere and I wanted to participate in something that I intuitively knew was being done by kids. At that point I was old enough to start the process of marking my first choice of names (“Witten” and “Frodo”) on anything I could get my little Magic Markers on. My development in the culture was slow. I didn’t paint my first subway train until 1977. By 1975 or 1976 I had located a hang-out spot in Central Park where many graffiti writers congregated, so once I started meeting other graffiti writers we could exchange information and create primitive mentor-protege relationships. in 1977 my newfound graffiti friends and I created our own graffiti crew called “RTW” —“Rolling Thunder Writers”.”

2. “I don’t base my artwork on anything specifically, but as a graffiti writer I tried to employ the advertising model of Coca-Cola as a guide. The repetition of a standardized logo, presented in different formats and scale, but always familiar, legible and consistent seemed like the perfect model for my graffiti. As far as the stylistic aspect, all artists borrow from sources and piece things together to make it their own. Some of my favorite artists are the psychedelic poster artist Rick Griffin and the sixteenth century painter Albrecht Durer. One of my favorite NY graffiti artists is named Chain 3.”

3. “I don’t feel it has. That would be egotistical and grandiose. I simply exploited a loophole in the system. I snuck into subway yards at night and painted on the subway cars, knowing they would transport my “logo” around the city. A form of artistic ego-gratification and personal expression. I enjoyed doing it, and still do, but I make no pretense that I’m improving anything, aesthetically. Beauty is subjective, so I leave judgment on the aesthetic merits of anything I’ve ever done to others.”

 

Interview with Damien Mitchell @damien_mitchell

1. “I choose to paint for a lot of reasons. I think graffiti serves as a critique, gives a voice to the voiceless, is a vehicle for style and personal expression, offers a community, a tradition and a culture, but mostly it’s fun.”

2. “Inspiration comes from everywhere. Sometimes my work is pretty, while other work focuses on a more simple communication of a message. I don’t like to paint in one particular style or mood. The anonymity granted by graffiti allows me to jump from idea to idea and get inspiration from wherever it comes from.”

3. “Nyc has a long history of graffiti and more many years it led the way in terms of innovation, technique and city saturation. These days, partly due to strict punishments if caught and no legal place for artists to practice, I feel it’s fallen behind a bit. Although I live in NY with my wife, I feel it’s outside the city and often the country where I try and focus most of my work. That said, I still do occasionally paint locally and like any other place I think public art is open to Interpretation, I paint because I like to paint, whether or not my work contributes to the beauty of the city is open for discussion.”

 

 

Interview with JCORP @jcorptm

1. “I was completing my senior year at the School of Visual Arts when I discovered graffiti and street art. My concentration was in illustration and printmaking at the time, and the two mediums were a perfect fit. I was becoming disillusioned with the alleged ‘high art gallery’ system and fell in love with street art because it was an egalitarian art world where I could have my art seen by many people without having to go through a middle agency.”

2. “My artwork comes from my childhood inspiration of 90’s and 2000’s Japanese Manga and Anime (with some vintage in the mix). They are loose narratives around my life and current events told in a rainbow-infused, magical characters in a fantastical, cosmic setting. Lots of personal emotions and self portraiture in the mix too!”

3. “I’ve been very fortunate to hear that people have enjoyed my murals and street art for its uplifting and cheerful messages, as well as humorous characters. I always think that we could use more colors in our lives, and I strive to make the viewers smile, or even chuckle a little!”

 

Interview with Jenna Morello @jennamorello

1.”I’ve always been into art since I was a kid. I think street art happened because it was a natural progression of certain things combined in my upbringing. If I had a choice, I would be outside instead of in because I grew up in the woods. I also come from a home where antiquing and repurposing things was very common. So I think my initial introduction to “street art” was taking things off the street and reusing it or making it into a piece of art. In my early 20s, I was mainly an acrylic painter but it wasn’t covering the surface area or providing the visual impact I was looking for. So I began to go outside and paint on things there. After that it just continued to evolve.”

2.”My artwork is based on all sorts of things in all sorts of mediums. I get bored easy so I tend to jump around. Sometimes there’s a point to my pieces, sometimes there’s not and I’m just experimenting. If going to the gym is a workout for your body, then making art for me is a workout for my brain.It’s something I must continuously exercise to maintain a certain level of balance for myself. So I guess I base my artwork off that.”

3. “I think NYC in itself is a work of art that’s constantly changing and growing. I feel like if I do my job right, then I’m just adding to something that’s already there and maybe making it a little better. Around here, you’re a very small fish in a very large, fast moving river. Being able to contribute at all I think is a feet within itself.”