KRSN

July 1st, 2007

The artist that we interview and that designed the header for this month is KRSN (http://nsrknet.free.fr/): He’s a french artist son of the massive explosion of Hip Hop in France during the 90s, decade that he spent with a spraycan at hand, that later evolved to become part of the Paris Street art secene and whose talent was rigthfully and finally appreciated so he could start making a living with his illustration work.

First of all when, where, how and why you started to do work in the streets? And… have you stopped entirely nowadays?

I started at the end of the eighties by painting song titles in Vichy. I remember being very impressed by Boxer Sheek and Muck during a trip to Paris in 87 but by that time I didn’t know what it was about. After that, Hip Hop exploded in the 90s in France and I spinned on my head with spraypaint until 2000. I like the fact of painting on something, somewhere, alone. I would like to still do it now, but I just don’t have enough time now and I don’t have the motivation anymore. I just looked at my old photos and it was like somebody else did all those pieces. Especially the ones I had forgotten about.

The whole Street art thing seems passe now but do you feel part of that and how has that affected or helped shape your own particular attitude as an artist?

It was very fun to be part of this Street art thing during the first part of the
00s. At the same time Internet was becoming big, it all coincided. But people need to move on, little by little you discover new things in your work you want to develop so you need to explore new ways. This Street art movement was a way to think about new things to explore.

You do work as an illustrator and I feel that fits very way your graphic style but how different is your commercial work to your personal purely artistic work? How would you define the way your creative output steps on those two different ways?

For commercial works you need to take in consideration the needs of your client, which is not a bad thing because like I said before it gives you the opportunity to discover new themes in your work, and that can help you for more personal projects. It is an endless exchange between commercial and personnal but sometimes the client just want a very specific thing you already did several times before and that is a little bit more boring. For example Sixpack is a very good client, because they need to sell their stuff but at the same time they give total artistic freedom, so I must find solutions to please both myself and the person who could buy the t-shirt.

And about Akroe (www.akroe.net) you two, seem to have connected real well and have done lots of collaborative work. Can you elaborate on how that started and has developed until today?

I met Akroe in 99… I’m not sure. I think we began to paint together in 2001 or 02 in the streets of Paris. We share a lot of common interests, and even if our works are very different, we have a common way to create.

Not being an artist, every time I find an artist whose work I enjoy, I’m always intrigued on the creative process. In your case is it fast and wild and not rational at all, is it meticulous and slow, do you dismiss a lot of the stuff you do?… I don’t know, tell me a little bit about it.

I observe a lot, but I do not spend to much time on a piece, I like when it
flows out naturally and when some cool accidents come along. Sometime I’m not in the mood for that and in this case I just do rubbish.

The use of just black lines over white backgrounds seems to dominate your work and it somehow depicts reflective attitude. Can you elaborate on the use of color or lack of it and how it helps you portrait a given feel?

You need only one color to draw and express feelings, so if I use two I would say that I’m already doing a big effort! I rather focus on the emotion of my pieces than on the decorative side of it, but it is something that is evoling during these last months, I think I will use more colors in the future.

What have you been working on recently?

I’m working on some edition projects with people who write and I just finished a mini collection for Sixpack. I also did drawings for magazines and the new album of Amstardus. I’m also thinking about some group art shows in the future.

Can you turn us into some artists or something interesting that we should know about?

Check Stewart Mackinnon, an illustrator from the 70’s.

Entry Filed under: Artists