ART

Mike White meets one of Bristol’s longest-serving graffers turned fine artist, Inkie.

Back in the hazy days of the 1980s, you could buy a pint for less than a quid, some vindictive hag called Thatcher was disembowelling the trade unions, and Bristol was bursting excitedly onto the global graffiti scene. Scrawny teenagers like Banksy and 3D would sneak out in the dead of night, their rucksacks bulging with spray-cans, and add a little colour to the local scenery. If you know where to look, a few of their gaudy wildstyle murals remain, though most have long since been painted over by the unenlightened council jobsworths of yesteryear.

Nowadays, of course, Banksy’s a national hero and those who painted alongside him – like the notorious and prolific Inkie – are embraced by the establishment. But back then they were wanted men. Indeed, Mr Inkie (not his real name) was accosted by the boys in blue during their draconian graf-bust Operation Anderson back in 1989, and charged with being the ‘Kingpin’ of a clandestine crew of 72 street artists.

The can-toting crime lord has since cleaned up his act and turned his creative talents to more lucrative commissions – for Xbox, as head of design for SEGA, and more recently as Jade Jagger’s in-house designer, as well as masterminding a West London design studio creating prints, illustrations and clothing. Now a respected artist, his inspiration is drawn from Mayan architecture, Islamic geometry, arts and crafts legend William Morris, poster artists Mouse and Kelly and Czech Art Nouveau champion Alphonse Mucha. He’s been simultaneously lauded by The Times and denounced by The Daily Mail for being Banksy’s right-hand man. After recent exhibitions in London, Barcelona, Los Angeles, Ibiza, Warsaw and Lisbon, this week marks his first ever solo show in Bristol.

What’s your current show about? My upcoming show is about the journey from my early days painting graffiti through to my current work as a graphic designer and artist, whilst retaining the initial spark of excitement that created my early work. Themes are classic 80s New York Wildstyles, disco record sleeves and the Art Nouveau and Arts and Crafts movements from the early part of the 20th century.

Have you ever got been caught by the cops whilst out graffing? Describe the scene… I’ve been caught several times by the police, 'bang to rights' so to say – and also through people grassing me up. Back in the 90s they weren’t as switched on to the whole graffiti scene as they are now, so it was relatively straightforward ‘slap on the wrist’ stuff. I can't really go into specifics for legal reasons, but I was named as the ringleader in the UK's biggest ever graffiti bust, Operation Anderson, when they arrested 72 artists in 1989, at the peak of the UK's initial pre-internet graffiti scene.

The Daily Mail denounced you as ‘Banksy’s right-hand man’. Are you Banksy’s right-hand man? I could be or could not be, that is for those who know... All I will say is that I have painted with him on several occasions and one of those involved swinging around on ropes arguing about who was going over the top of who, on the trackside entering one of the UK's main train stations...

What is it that gives a graffiti artist the right to impose his taste on everyone else? The same thing that gives an advertising company the right to impose their images on us all – except that we are creatively much better. Graffiti is primarily about advertising your own brand or name.

Do you think that the current fashionableness of street-inspired art might soon fade? What will you do if it does? ‘Street Art’ in the form of stencils etc will be unfashionable like skinny jeans and mullet haircuts. My work is meant to be ageless and could be easily seen as something from a 100 years past or present. Hopefully, it won't go out of date. Graffiti has always been with us, since the days of The Acropolis, and always will be. The medium may change but you will never get rid of it.

INKIE'S ‘25 YEARS OF INK’ WAS AT THE BANK OF STOKES CROFT FROM 3-12 DEC. FFI: WWW.INKIE.CO.UK
 

Copyright Mike White 2010

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