Pure Evil

London is now your home, having been brought up in Wales and lived for a decade in California. How London-centric is your work? I’m an international artist living most of my time online, sucking up things from all over the world as they happen and adapting and creating things based on that flow of information. I’m more interested in living in the 21 st century than living in the East End of London, but I DO still pick up on the interesting parts of London. It’s a dirty city but you need dirt to make things grow.

The Olympic games was huge, particularly for East London where your gallery is based. How has the landscape of the capital changed as a result? It didn’t really impact on the local area very much – it seemed like a bit of a shindig for the VIPS and sporting people. It was fun to watch on TV in HD but the whole promise of more business and energy for the East End kind of didn’t happen. A lot of local businesses thought things were going to be mad busy but they lost business at the time of the Olympics. I put out a print taking the mickey out of the Olympics being based in Hackney and I make mad money from it so I’m not complaining. Well, I am a bit aren’t I? I got some free chips from a guy in Hackney because I painted on his wall. That was a result. Crime DOES pay.

Your tumblr is full of vintage and/or American imagery. Is this a major influence on your work? It’s really all about a longing I have to visit the USA. Unfortunately, I am banned from entering the USA, I just can’t get a VISA to go back there anymore. Remember those guys who had to leave the USSR and became exiles in the West? Well, I had to leave the USA and be exiled in the err… West (UK). A lot of my work has to do with American identity because I LOVE the USA – it’s amazing. I was watching ‘On The Road’ last night and it reminded me of how I am drawn to the American landscape. It’s such a beautiful country. Some of the people are pretty nuts but, let’s face it, who isn’t? I guess Americans are less concerned about hiding the fact that they are as crazy as some nationalities can be. Generally speaking.

http://pureevilgallery.tumblr.com/archive

Do you consider your work to be particularly politically driven? Yes, definitely. I think if you can say anything then why not say SOMETHING? Painting on walls is a good way to get your message across in a big way. I am intelligent and I think about how to make the world a better place so it’s good to be able to use my medium to get a strong message across. My ancestor is Sir Thomas More – he had a vision for a Utopia. I do too.

Your father is also a painter (John Uzzell Edwards) who uses a great deal of symbolism in his work. How has his practice influenced your own? He has taught me to research a subject and to work, work, work all the time. It’s a good lesson. He has taught me to distrust academics and watercolourists and landscape painters. We’re both pretty bloody minded. Our mission is to PAINT.

What has been the highlight of your career and why? I guess hooking up with Banksy and getting my first piece into one of the Santa’s Ghetto shows he started doing… that got the ball rolling and led to me getting onto Pictures on Walls, and then eventually being involved in the CANS FESTIVAL projects. That was major.

Appearing on BBC’s The Apprentice was a high profile move. Are you glad you took part in the programme? Yeah, I had two friends who did the Australian version of it and they said ‘do it’. They had a lot of exposure from the programme and the same thing happened with me. Things went mental after that programme came out.

How was it received by the street art community? Isn’t it a notoriously secretive community? The street art community is not at all secretive and has never strived to maintain its anonymity – they all have PRs and call up the press when they do anything. Graffiti artists are the notoriously secretive ones because they don’t want to go to jail, they are the ones you are thinking of. The street art community wants to be famous and to be household names and to have their retrospective at the Tate and have their own trainers and customize a GUITAR HERO plastic guitar and have their own TV Show. On the whole, they completely LOVE attention and thrive on it .

Is it a competitive world to work in? I don’t think it’s too bad to be honest. People are extremely supportive and helpful and, wherever I have gone in the world, I find other street artists to be the greatest bunch of people ever. They are happy little bunnies because they are doing something they love and it’s the kind of thing that welcomes collaboration. The ones who do bitch and moan should just shut up and paint.

What’s next for Pure Evil? I get to watch my wonderful little baby BUNNY grow up… her first smile, her first steps, her first words, and then show her how to get really good with a spray can!

Interview by Lottie Storey for Coates & Scarry