Deno JR

November 12th, 2008

A few years ago we produced a semi-documentary DVD with short clips about different Spanish street artists of that time. One of them was Deno JR (www.denotattoos.com) that came from a Hip Hop Graffiti background but whose style had evolved into something else. Nowadays he’s a successful Tatto artist but he still works in different media, including the streets so we thought it would be nice to interview him and see what he’s up to lately.

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First of all when, where, how and why you started to do work in the streets?

I really never even thought of doing anything in any other place. I just wanted to do Graffiti. It was 1989. I used to skate and spend most of the time out in the streets so in a way everything seemed part of a same thing: Skate, Graffiti, Rap music (although back them I used to listed to Metal). Well, the thing is that it happened naturally. I took some markers and started in my neighbourhood, Coslada, I guess that looking for what many other people doing the same: recognition, fame, notoriety… Shortly after that some friends and myself formed KR2, that gave the whole thing a more orthodox character, closer to the classical Graffiti back then. And we did so much that I don’t think I will be able to top that ever. We would paint every single day: We stole the paint, did sketches and painted. Al the time focused on that and this lasted for around 10 years.

In your street work that background it’s obvious, mostly in your techniques, but you’ve also done stickers and pasting posters and your style is not precisely only big letters and characters. Maybe you are a purist in the philosophy but not in the aesthetics?

Like I said, my beginnings come from classical Graffiti but at some point I had the need to change the language I was using and at least try to make it more personal. It was then when I started doing what I call urban interventions like pasting posters, make JR toys to “tag” around with them, make paintings and hang them in the streets, stickers… It was a new visual universe that seemed to flow naturally and that came from my own personal need. In a way it’s kind of a schizo behaviour because I would still do the more conventional Graffiti pieces while at the same time doing that other more personal stuff.

I guess that all that must have come from nurturing from influences outside the Graffiti world…

Philosophy is probably the biggest external source of input into my artwork, the study of aesthetics theory and art theory… all that made possible new expressive methods and their fundamentation. As for specific influences I can name painters, illustrators, Tattoo artists and of course Graffiti writers. I can list just a few, maybe the most representative: Jean Dubuffet, Antonio Saura, Daniel Higgs, J.M. Basquiat, Keith Haring, Sento… well, that’s quite a mixture.

What do you feel like the primary idea behind art in the streets, what do you admire the most from other street artists, their style, their technique… and what do you feel is accesory?

The main idea is, in a way, democratization of art because the street is an open medium, open to anyone. It’s not mediated as a preconceived space for art and that’s whey it can also reach a more plural audience. As for other artists it’s difficult to choose a single aspect that interest me the most. For instance, I’m captivated by the creativity or personality of Besdo and at the same time I find Buny’s overwhelming presence fascinating. It’s a little like asking a father which one of his sons he loves the most. I love the idea of bombing, the purse essence of trying to be everywhere and at the same time I also love the strength of a single image that can transmit so much so I feel somehow in that crack, in that wound because both things hurt as much and I think that the dialectics between both is what gives me the strength to paint. Without one of those two aspects the whole thing wouldn’t be as appealing to me.

You live in Madrid, a city that has gone through different phases in it’s Street art activity but that has never really been a clear reference on an international level but at the same time there’s been a lot of very active people here… How would you describe the present moment and how’s your own personal relationship with this city?

For me, Madrid is the center of the universe. I’ve been living here for over 30 years and my relationship with the city I think is the same for me as for many other people living here, a hate-love relationship. As for the Street art is a very active city, there’s alway people doing it, the city is “dirty” and full in that sense, but at the same time it never seems to become a reference probably because people get tired or they come and go. There are more and more Graffiti writers every day but at the same time many people that will never go out and paint again. Also there isn’t a connection between old-schoolers and the new guys so the tradition gets lost and consequently the knowledge that comes with it. Because tradition is neccesary as Palazuelo said: “What’s not tradition is plagiarism”.

It seems clear that one way or another you keep having, after so many years, the need to bring some of yourself to the streets. What’s the motivation that keeps you active now that you have a different age, responsabilities, a family life…?

Well, my life has certainly changed a lot in the pas few years: I have a beautiful 1 year old son, I’m married, a have a job and of course the responsabilities but painting is something that has always been there in my life and I’ve been doing it for two thirds of my life so, it’s inherent to who I am. It’s part of my identity and it gives sense to my life. That’s why I can, after a lot of effort, still find the time to go out to paint, maybe even a train once in a while…It’s something I need to feel alive.

On the other hand there’s your activity as a professional Tatto artist. Do you feel both thins are part of the same artistic output? Do you have very different styles?

Yes, I have a work tattooing and I love it and it also allows me to travel often and paint in other cities around the world almost very month. My Tattoo and street work are connected and there’s constantly a exchange of imagery but I always conceive every new work according to its medium. I don’t paint tattoos in the street or do Graffiti or Street art tattoos. Every design has it’s own context and purpose and at the same time there’s an open communication between both worlds.

Besides in the world of Tattoo I guess it’s not seen as being a sellout those who make a living with their art, like some of the most purist Graffiti writers sometimes argue. But when it comes to paintings, drawings, etc… work that you can try selling through galleries and so on, what’s your experience in that sense?

I’ve never had problems when selling my artwork or designs. I think it has a lot to do with respect. If you’ve grown into this from the beginning and you’ve shown that this is something you really like I don’t think there’s any reason for which anyone can criticize you for selling your work and maybe even making a living with it, besides doing your street work. Maybe it’s a problem with outsiders, newcomers and opportunists trying to get ahead of the game skipping steps and just offering themselves as urban artists to the best bidder when they’ve haven¡t been in the streets that much. What do you think the Graffiti people of this people after they have drawers at home full of bills and they’ve had their problems with the police and so on and the time and effort they’ve put into it without getting paid and being all so ephemeral while there’s other people that didn’t go through all that and are making their way into the world of art galleries or getting features in art books labeling themselves as urban artists? It’s complicated but in my case nobody has said anything against me for showing in galleries. In fact what I’ve received usually is compliments and many Graffiti writers come to the openings, I feel that love… but of course there are always exceptions.

And being into the Tattoo scene I imagine some of it has translated into your tattoos, right?

Of course Graffiti has influenced my Tattoo work. If it wasn’t for Graffiti I would have never discover my creative side. Besides also being a way of communicating in an urban environment, Tattoo has contributed to my street work with an iconography that after being interpreted by me has given me a wider range of ideas to work with. Besides both disciplines share a ephemeral spirit which seems very appealing to me.

Of course you are not the only Graffiti writer turned Tattoo artist. I can think of Barcelona old-schooler Inupie, or superlegend Seen. I wonder if you can spot a certain feel when you see somebody elses tattoo that makes you recognize if that was done by a Graffiti writer-Tatto artist.

Maybe there’s some of that but it depends a lot on your style. My own style with tattoos is similar to my Graffitis in the sense that I use simple patterns with clear lines and solid colors… maybe because of that you can see some of the Graffiti in my tattoos and the other way around although I depend on a different iconography. However there is a few Tattoo artists that I’ve only discovered afterwards that they were also Graffiti writers.

Your work has a series of elements that define your own personal symbolism that might result a little obscure to the rest of us. Would you try to give us a few hints?

I’m obsessed with certain images and hence the repetition of certain elements in my work such as the skull, the anthropomorphic animals, icon from occultism and religions and all this often combined in a provocative or incoherent manner, of course intentionally. The skull is death, yours and mine, the certainty of being finite and contingent. As for the animal I’ve always been fascinated with them. I’ve always live with them or picked insects or birds or snakes and thus my great interest in recreating them, animate and give them some some of character, human or divine. And with the symbolism that I use I try to provoke like when I combine the star of David with the dollar sign or sometimes I use it to give testimony of something, my roots, for instance if I use a half moon and a cross or somethings just to use the power of these symbols.

And what have you been up to lately?

Now I’m tattooing 4 days a week which gives time to go out and paint once a week or prepare some paintings for some show or a commission. I also try to draw every day and enjoy my son, my wife, and well, my bulldogs too!

Any plans for the future you can tell us about?

I have a lot of good news and plans and I hope they come true little by little.

What project you haven’t done yet and would like it if somebody proposed it to you?

I’ve love to do a world tour painting and showing my work in each city but really I don’t know anyone who wouldn’t want to do that which makes it more difficult. I need an agent so anyone interested let me know.

Any artist or initiative you would like to recommend?

The record-book from Daniel A.I.U. Higgs: “Atomic yggdrasil tarot” published by Thrill Jockey, the work of Alejandro Jodorowsky, “La danza de la realidad” and the autobiographic writings from Jean Dubuffet.

Entry Filed under: Artists