kzam
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How did you first get into painting?
I first noticed graffiti in my mates science book in class back in high school, I remember trying to copy his work and utterly failing. From that point on I couldn’t stop, I had to better myself and my mates, it really turned into a addiction. Who's artwork are you really excited about/inspired by at the moment?
‘Sofles’ has probably been my biggest idol since I started, the man is a magician with a spray can and continues to push the boundaries of world wide expectations. ‘Lister’ however I would say is my mentor, he took me under his wing and showed me that pursuing my talents is worth while and achievable, he is a huge inspiration to me and a great mate. Oh and I can’t forget ‘Dash’, he is a god among men, one of Perth’s kings. 
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Tell us about Keep Up. Who, What, Where etc.
‘Keep Up’ kicked off a few years back as a way to legitimise the form of graffiti. I found myself stranded with no real ways to pursue my love of graffiti as a career, Every legal wall that I grew up painting has since been demolished or deemed illegal to paint, so I felt like I had to make my own opportunities as our ‘beloved’ City was not going to. I wanted to essentially find a way to take my works from the street and into a gallery. I have a dream of taking away the stigma behind the aerosol can, especially here in Perth, and I think we are slowly achieving that goal by showing Perth the potential and talent of our local art scene (in all mediums). I have more recently taken on board 15 local artists (of all different styles and backgrounds) to come under the banner and do works for the collective/brand “Keep up”, in order to try and achieve success through collaboration. Our website will be live within the next week and we can’t wait to show you a bit more about what we get up to, ‘Keep Up’ with what we are doing on our facebook page or keep a eye onKeep-up.com.au |
Where would you say you draw most of your inspiration from?
My true inspiration is graffiti, plain and simple. From the ugliest tag you’ve ever seen on a shitbox of a street sign, to the most intricately detailed, ‘how the shit did he do that?’ sort of pieces, I find inspiration in all forms of letters and aerosol work. Oh, and a lot of psychedelic substances.. (sorry Mum+Dad) Anything you'd like to get off your chest?
I find it a real shame as of late that it seems Perth is trying to ‘censor’ a vast part of our art scene. As much as I love the idea of FORM being held right here in Perth, it saddens me to think that whoever has the final say is choosing to fork out large sums of $$$ to international artists for works of art to be produced here in Perth. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love almost every piece of art that has been left here by a international artists, It’s a awesome feeling when you spot a foreign artists work that you like in your local area and think ‘wow they were right here!’, but surely we have to take into account the fact that huge amounts of money are being spent on flying in artists for events like form and paying them to paint large murals, when local up and coming Perth artists would, and are, jumping at the chance of possibly painting a public large scale work in their home town, and are happy to do it just for the cost of materials. I realise in hindsight that a event like FORM will do nothing less than benefit our art scene here in Perth, but it’s a shame some amazing opportunities for local artists are being hand balled off to the international scene. |
What exciting projects/shows have you got coming up?
The website for Keep Up will be live as of next week, which I am super excited about. We will have constant new ranges of apparel and are going to be branching out to a bunch of stores nationally within this year with plans already underway. I really want to push the idea of Keep Up to the greater public, with massive street art festivals such as FORM (public) being held here on our door step, its a great time to really kick off our game plan of showing the art world that we are the next big thing. 
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