Interview with Kev Grey
q) Please introduce yourself.
a)I’m Kev Grey, A 30 year old artist originally
from Miseryside in the North of
q) Where do you live and work?
a)Right now I’m living in
where I work from home.
q) How would you describe your work to
someone who has never seen it?
a)Simple, bold, nostalgic black ink drawings
which stink of death, gin and sex with the
occasional squirt of humour, a whiff of
bipolar and a pinch of O.C.D.
It’s all very neat and tidy and
well presented too.
q) How did you start in the arts? How/when
did you realize you were an artist?
a)It’s hard to say. I’ve always made drawings
because I enjoyed doing it and just
naturally became an artist.
q) What are your favourite art
materials and why?
a)Staedtler 0.5 drawing pen, pencil, rubber,
brush, Indian ink and a sheet of A3 230
gsm paper. These are basically all the
materials I need to complete a drawing.
q) What/who influences you most?
a)I am constantly searching for new
influences all the time, it’s difficult to try
and name just a few. If you want to know
one of my very early influences who I really
based my style of drawing on look at the
comic strips on www.harrysadist.com which is the
website of Dom Morris. He had a real clean style
that really smacked me in the mush when I was a teenager.
q) Describe a typical day of art making for you.
a)It depends what stage of making a
drawing I’m at but once I know what I want
to draw I sketch it up and then just get to
work and start outlining it in black. When
I’m not doing that I also spend time searching
for new ideas and inspiration, which is a
big part of the process.
q) Do you have goals, specific things you
want to achieve with your art or in
your career as an artist?
a)Everything I initially had ambitions to
do like designing skateboards, record sleeves,
posters, T-shirts, tattoo designs, release a
book etc I’ve achieved. I think my attitude
towards making art now is that I just carry
on doing it and the more I work I produce
the more I get asked to work on different projects.
It’s actually really good as sometimes I am
asked to design artwork for a specific project
and it’s something I’d of never dreamed of
wanting to do but it turns out to be cool as fuck.
q) How long does it typically take
you to finish a piece?
a)It can depend. The actual act of sitting
down and making a drawing can take about
a day or two but I also can sometimes spend
weeks thinking about a drawing and planning it
before I sit down and start to make it.
q) Do you enjoy selling your pieces, or are
you emotionally attached to them?
a)If somebody is willing to cough up the
money for one of my drawings then I’m happy
for it to go to a good home where it will be
enjoyed. It’s also really easy for me to document
my artwork using my camera and a scanner so I
always have high quality copies of any
work that I’ve sold anyway.
q) Is music important to you? If so, what
are some things you're listening to now?
a)Music has always been very important to me.
I grew up listening to Heavy Metal with all my
older cousins who used to go to the Monster of Rock
festival from when I was about 8 years old,
then I started skateboarding when I was about
10 and through skate videos from the late
80’s and early 90’s I also really got into punk
rock, then I started going to gigs when I was 12
and watched bands like Silverfish, Cannibal Corpse,
Suicidal Tendencies and Pantera in Liverpool
and Manchester. As long as I can remember I’ve
listened to music just about every day of my life.
I’ve also been a huge fan of old Rock ‘n’ Roll by
the likes of Johnny Burnette, Ronnie Dawson,
Frankie Ford etc for the last 12 years or so,
I listen to this type of music the most now.
It depends what mood I’m in really. I’ve been listening
to the The Cramps quite a lot recently.
Lux Interior R.I.P.!
q) Books?
a)My new book is available to buy now at
www.kevgrey.com!
q) What theories or beliefs do you have
regarding creativity or the creative process?
a)Being creative and productive to me is really
important. I easily get restless and I’ve always
dreaded that feeling of being old and thinking
‘fuck, I’ve wasted my life!’ so to me making art
is my way of having a purpose and gives me a
reason to get out of bed.
q) What do you do (or what do you enjoy doing)
when you're not creating?
a)Nowadays I enjoy drinking beer, playing darts,
watching films and contemporary British comedy
series, listening to Country music, eating good
food and hanging out with my girlfriend Vink.
Did I mention I like drinking beer?
q) Do you have any projects or shows coming
up that you are particularly excited about?
a)After my last exhibition Everlasting Arms in
exhibitions as they take up a lot of my time. I have
however just agreed to put on an exhibition that
will coincide with a project I’m working on for release
around September of this year which will be
exhibited in a couple of different venues,
but I can’t give away any of the exact details
about who that is with yet sorry mate.
Another project I’m working on is for a burlesque
night in
design all the artwork and also paint banners
and stage backdrops. I’m also one of the DJ’s on
the night where I get to play a lot of my old
Rock ‘n’ Roll 7”s.
q) Do you follow contemporary art scenes?
If so, how? What websites, magazines,
galleries do you prefer?
a)Kind of. I like to keep up with what’s going on
but most stuff I like is old and dusty.
q) Ask yourself a question you'd like to answer, and answer it.
a)Would you like a cup of tea? Yes please.
q) Any advice for aspiring artists?
a)Yes, if you are a self-employed artist make
sure you pay your tax bill on time.
q) Where can we see more of your work online?
a) www.kevgrey.com is my official website, and
www.kevgrey.blogspot.com is my blog where you can
see what I'm currently working on.
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