kaff-eine: melbourne street artist
check kaff-eine's horned hunter gallery
we all love the horned hunter characters in your work here at powder but i’ve just got to ask where the hell do they spring from?
I’d been drawing trophy animals in English hunting gear for a while, + wanted to know what they looked like under their tweed coats + jodphurs.
and the other beings that turn up in your pieces… what do they reflect?
My characters reflect lots of different things, from beauty in vulnerability + servitude, to other emotions such as melancholia, sorrow, curiosity + bravery. They each have stories, but I think it’s best to leave the meanings open for the viewer to interpret; everyone reads different meaning into the images, + I don’t want to interfere with that process.
why the street? what does that do to the art? how is it different from canvas?
Painting on the street enables me to use interesting corners, entire walls, laneways + buildings as my canvas. I like the challenge of composing the image in the space, responding to the context of a place, + working on sometimes difficult surfaces. Painting on the street also allows me to work larger than I would in the studio. It gives the artworks a different meaning when placed in an outdoor setting; people often have to step into a particular space to view it, either getting to the piece by walking down a long narrow lane, or entering a disused building, they have a completely different experience compared to entering a gallery + viewing similar pieces on the walls.
Painting in the studio allows me to be more precise + take more time with my work, so the end effects are quite different even though the images may be similar.
what do you think street art does for the public?
I think it entertains, informs + thrills some people, + upsets + pisses others off. To some people, it is seen as messing up or vandalizing clean spaces, to others it is beautifying + making more interesting otherwise rundown or bland spaces.
now melbourne is certainly not known for its warmth… what do you have to deal with working out on the streets at night?
I do a lot of work in the daytime now, although it’s often not much warmer anyway. I don’t mind, the colder it is, the less people that are out + about, + the more likely it is that I’ll be left alone to paint. I love night-time in the back lanes + alleys. It’s so quiet + calm, I never really have to deal with much except difficulty seeing what I’m painting in the dark, + the occasional drunk dude who just wants to take a piss.
is there anything essential you’ve got to take with you when your working? what do you wear to the job?
I take paints, a crate or something to stand on + money for coffee.
I usually wear the same old black jeans, converse boots + hoodie/s, they’re all covered in paint + falling apart but I feel comfortable in them.
we hear that you’ve left the corporate world recently… missing it?
Not at all.
and what projects are you working on at present?
At the moment I’m illustrating 2 children’s books which will be released in 2013, + creating watercolour + pigment ink works on paper for my first solo show in November at Just Another Project Space in Prahran. I have some other projects, + I’ll try to get some wall-painting done too, but with everything due in the next couple of months I think I’ll be pretty much in the studio 7 days a week until late October. It’ll be more fun to do the street pieces in the warmer weather anyway!
lastly, this issue is ‘keep your powder dry’. have you got a take on this?
You can’t really trust it once it gets wet. It causes the powder to clump together so when you fire the gun it burns slowly, instead of exploding as it should.
it’s been a pleasure kaff-eine and thanks for speaking with powder...
Thank you guys!
check out kaff-eine's site
