ONE SMALL SEED MAGAZINE Issue #29 Digital 04 THE BEST OF | Page 39

FUCK IT, I’M
JUST GOING
TO DO IT
MYSELF

Folks seem more
mercenary today?
People sometimes
say, ‘Oh you can’t do
it. You can’t do something this big... it must cost you a lot of money.’
Whatever I make, I make for me. This my way of life and I’m not
going to stop that. Even if I do a show once, it’ll be a ten million
dollar show. It’s just the fun of it.
How does it feel to become such a big name so quickly?
It’s not such a short period. When you’re passionate about anything
you do, you build yourself. I’m 45-years-old and always working. I’m
very patient. I’m going to do something even if it takes me ten years.
You portray a very positive message through your art,
yet there has been negative media attention around the
authenticity of your work and identity.
They think I’m not 45. I leave them to it. When I touch a camera,
I’m passionate about it and I’m going to get in. Because I work. It
doesn’t pay off without work. But I’m not here to just sell some art.
I’m here to do something that helps people open their heart and
make them say to themselves, ‘That’s what I want to do. I want to
become an artist. I want to become a writer. I want to become…’ I
want to make people realise that everything is possible.
How did you develop such a positive outlook?
We have some negativity and we have some positivity... and I
choose to believe that life is beautiful. Everything that happens to
me provides opportunities. Even if I break my legs, I’m going to see
the positive in that. I'm gonna say, ‘Now I can sit down and read.’
And do things that I can’t do now. So I focus on the positive.
You have to go through the bad to appreciate the good?
Definitely. Because there is bad. But I try to take the bad and turn
it to the good. It is the way that I live. When things happen, they
happen for a reason. Tragedy helped me to be more sensitive with
people. To be more of a lover. I grew up faster. There is always
something positive and negative. You cannot always change things
that happen in life. But what you can change is your perspective.
Like when I did the Einstein picture. I really enjoyed it. He’s holding
the sign that says ‘Love is the answer’. He’s the genius that helped
to invent the atom bomb. But if he were alive today, he would say,
‘Love is the answer.’ Nothing else. It’s just love.
How have people responded to that love?
I was in a London gallery and a banker came up to me and said,
‘I’ve been working on Wall Street and your movie helped me decide
to do what I wanted to do. So I dropped everything.’ I get emails
every day from people who have chosen to follow their dreams.
Some emails would make you want to cry. One was from a working
person and he said, ‘I prefer to not have any food but I wake up in
the morning and I’m happy. I’m happy because I do what I want. I’m
not going to stop. I’m going to do a show in England in June, July
and August during the Olympic games. I’ve rented 120 000 square
feet. People think I’m crazy. But I’m not afraid. You know why? I
dream and I move forward with my heart.’

You started off with a vintage store?
Vintage is like art. Your eyes tell you what is good and
what is bad. Everybody was doing vintage shops and
I created a new concept that was called ‘designer’. I
would look at the stitching and say this is worth $800.
And I believed it. Designers would come from all over the
world and buy pieces to make up their collections. What
do they care about $10 000 when they’re going to make
millions? Selling things for $20 would have been too
slow. But making more money lets me be free. I cannot
be locked somewhere. I can’t. I have ADD.
How did you get into street art and paste-ups?
The whole thing started with a big wall that I was keeping
for different artists. You see it in the movie. ‘OBEY’ is
scrawled across the wall 16 feet high, but you couldn’t
see it well from far away. So I hired some people to
enlarge it. I was worried because I didn’t have a permit,
so I asked the artists to cover it up but they were busy. I
waited a week or two and it was still there. So one day I
decided, ‘Fuck it, I’m just going to do it myself.’ And that’s
where it all started. That’s how I started putting the face
with the camera. I just thought it was a cool image.
Are you still painting the streets or are you
concentrating more on exhibitions?
Right now I’m very busy doing shows but I do walls
whenever I have time. The next show is a big solo project
in Miami. I’ve rented a whole parking lot.
What are your plans?
Staying positive. When I take on a project, I can’t not do
it from my heart. Every day I say I’m gonna slow down
and relax a bit, but I’m never gonna stop or slow down.
Because that’s the way I live life.
In an effort to make his art affordable, Mr Brainwash sells
limited edition prints on his website for less than $1000
when his original work on canvas goes for up to six
figures. New work by Mr Brainwash will be available at
Cape Town's 34FineArt Gallery in December 2011.