SNUB23 is a name that rings with jealousy in the street art world: as an artist you probably wish you had his talent, if your not an artist, you probably just want a piece of his artwork. I know I fall into both categories. His work is inspirational and is now in a lot of places. SNUB23 was part of the original Cans event with one of the most iconic pieces there. His most recent work has moved away from stencils and concentrated on free hand characters.

We have been lucky to grab an interview with the artist from Brighton to talk about Lamp posts, wood and the latin alphabet. Click the link below to read the article.

Your name is now pretty recognisable throughout the street art scene, especially here in the UK, how did the name and the number come about?
SNUB means to disagree and ignore. Which is what I feel about many things and later ego that does what it likes.23 has a few meanings to me,
1. “W” is the 23rd letter of the Latin alphabet. It has two points down and three points up. My real initials are SW.
2. 23 is one of the most commonly cited prime numbers - a number that can only be divided by itself and one. There is only one SNUB.

How long ago and how were you introduced to the world of street art?
Must have been nearly ten years ago now, didn’t think of it as street art back then. Used to like finding things making them into something else and putting them back.

SNUB wasn’t really born back then.

After moving down to Brighton I met heaps of artists all keen to create with nowhere for it to go.

Can you remember your first street art piece?
A stencil cut out of wood, the SNUB cube, I’ll try and dig out a picture.

You’ve moved through a few different art styles from different stencil characters to your latest free hand work, could you explain your favourites and how the transitions occurred?
It’s organic, stencils are so different from freehand. Much of the work is done at home before hand, you can cut a piece the right size for a location. If you are painting a canvas you can completely control you environment. Painting stencils on a wall is difficult; you don’t have gravity helping you. And the bigger you go the harder it is yet again.

Also transporting large stencils to other countries is tricky, so recently I’ve been mixing freehand and stencil so I can cover more of a wall in less time.

Freehand is really satisfying and spontaneous, I may start using a sketch, but after a while it just comes as you feel it.

I’m enjoying this new character I’m developing, the sketches are more detailed, I need to wait until my can skills develop some more before I can really paint how `I want to. But that in itself is one of the things I enjoy, you never stop learning.

Your lamp post modifications are fantastic enhancement to the UK’s boring metal posts. What inspired you to decorate the posts?
Stickers get buffed or stolen. I tried metal stickers stuck with heavyweight adhesive, they last a while. Then I found a key left on an electrical box, tried it in various street furniture until I came across a lamp post . Perfect fit, bagged the cover, quick paint job then back out. I did a few more most of them have been stolen or removed now.

Must do more. I’ve passed on my technique to a few artists and now there doing it in their own neighbourhood.

Also, how did you get your hands on the key to take the lid off?
Found a key, but you can also use a socket set, try a few till one fits. Get it back up quick though as it isn’t good having wires exposed

Grafik Warfare is a very talented crew. Who’s involved and how did it start?

Current Members:

SNUB, DEFACTO, HUTCH, ISTHISYOU?, FK, KERO, DELARGE, BETH, WHATWHAT, ORCO, FOUNDRY, SINNA, GERM, ASBOLUV

LUKEDADUKE Netherlands

ORDICANOODLES Italy

14BOLT USA

Rambo the lover Germany

Mike Clarke Netherlands

Grafik Warfare is a loose collective of street artists based in Brighton, but with friends all over the UK and beyond.

GW has members working in all media: paint, ink, stickers, screenprint and stencils. We do work on canvas, cardboard, MDF and walls. GW doesn’t have a single ethos. We revel in our different styles, backgrounds and influences, while staying strictly equal.

It all started in 2005 with a show that was part of Brighton fringe festival called OUTSIDE IN (http://delarge.co.uk/gallery/?72157594231146275) for many of us it was the first time we had met, and immediately we found our passion for street art was a common one.

You have travelled a fair bit painting where ever you can. Where’s been the most enjoyable and where would you still like to paint?
That’s a big question, I wish I could paint everywhere. Every country is so different they’re all brilliant. But it comes down to how much time you have to paint, how much paint you have stuff like that.

I pay for all my trips but usually stay with other artists that live in whatever city it is, then they know the good spots and where to get paint etc.

Can’s Festival must have been a great experience surrounded by a lot of other fantastic stencil artists. How did you get involved with it?
I’d actually met a lot of those artists before that event. Emails and phone calls to Tristan Manco lead to me and FK painting there, HUTCH came up too but he was a bit late. None of us realised it was going to be as big as it was really. We’ve actually been asked to go paint another wall up there, just gotta find the time.

Did you ever bump into the legendary Mr. Banksy while you were there?
Nah don’t think so. I do know that he sorted us all out, proper food out back and as much paint as we needed. Top bloke.

What’s in the future for SNUB?
Got the Urban paint festival in Bristol soon and I’m currently cutting stencils for a vehicle commission for MTV but I’m not supposed to talk about that.

I hope to repeat all my travels and events from this year again next year and add some more.

Anything else you’d like to plug?
A new crew has been born, myself and a few other stencilist.
The VST (vector stencil toys).

Should be in full flow for 2009.

Tags: Grafik Warfare, SNUB23, Stencil

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 1st, 2008 at 5:03 pm and is filed under Artists, Interviews, Stencil. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.