The street art world is full of large ego’s that produce work with expensive price tags. UK artist Hutch is not one of those artists however. Alongside those large ego’s are artists that I think are hugely overated. Hutch is not one of those either, in fact I don’t think he gets the credit he deserves. His work on the streets of London and Brighton is thought provoking and riddled with meaning. Hutch has put down his scalpel and stencils to answer a few questions for us.

Click the link below to read the interview.

How did the name Hutch come about?
I’ve been known to quite alot of people as Hutch since schooldays many years ago, it’s just an abbreviation of my surname .

What was your first street art piece and could you explain to us a little about how you became involved in the street art scene?
My first street piece was a stencil of Johnny Rotten, I did it around 2002, I repeated it around Brighton in many forms – stencil on walls, stencil on vinyl, pasteups. Didn’t have a camera back then so I got no snaps of it, then I discovered Flickr………..
I used to be a big fan of the Pistols and PIL in particular and that image was quite ‘pop’ iconic to me.
I’ve always been a fan of pop art and using the mediums that i do, be it screenprinting or stencil they have always lent them selves to this work perfectly.
Another major influence on me to simply get up was a great sticker website called StickerNation, which has now gone to sleep somewhere. This was one of the first sticker/streetart websites with uploadable galleries, competitions and exhibition news. They really opened my eyes to the amount of artists who use stickers to promote themselves and just have a laugh with the whole streetart thing.
This led me to discover some prolific sticker artists such as DAVe Warnke and John Burgerman.
Then I met up with a few Brighton artists such as Snub, FK and isthisyou and we haven’t looked back since.

Your ‘No Grenade’ pieces are very relevant to todays security threat and I’d love to see other people’s reactions to them. What inspired you to make these stickers and how have other people responded to them?
As well as merely putting art on the streets as a reason to beautify or fill a dead space it’s nice to interact, be it a sticker or a large paste up. the “No Grenades” stickers came about as a reaction to the No Smoking stickers that are now everywhere in the UK. Once you notice these you’ll see all the others surrounding them : No dogs, No food, No phones, No prams etc.  Also I love the way grenades look and was interested to see how long the stickers would remain up (one at McDonalds lasted for 3 weeks before it was buffed). I’ve had a good reaction to them from the public, usually raising an eyebrow or a chuckle. I’m sure that during these paranoid times some of the ones I stuck on the tube and at airports probably think twice before taking them down, ha.

Grenades and weapons seem to feature quite heavily in your work, any particular reason why?
Glamourisation of guns feature heavily on billboards for Hollywood movies. I remember the council painted over one of my pieces because it depicted two kids loading a rifle, when two steps round the corner was a bus shelter palstered with Kenu Reeves brandishing a shining tool!
I like the thought  of the perfect family unit being all smiles while grenades and bullets are served up for breakfast.

I hear you have a film in the works, whats it about and are you looking at releasing it anytime soon?
Yes, there’s a short docu coming out later this year, it follows me arund london early in 2008 painting streetpieces, including the one mentioned above and the buff of it. Also a bit of behind the scenes in my studio. I’m going to release it as a limited edition package with customised box, a print, vinyl stickers etc.

What artists have impressed you in 2008 and which artists are you looking forward to seeing more from in 2009?
I think C215 is pushing boundaries especially as far as stenciling is concerned, he has taken the original template and almost reinvented it, made it his own.
I look forward to more of his work (obviously there’s no stopping him he’s so prolific) as well as Ortcanoodles, Imbue, FK, Snub the machine and the rest of the hombres at Grafik Warfare. It’s gonna be a good year.

Anything else you would like to add?
Thanks for having me (again). Love the site.

Tags: Hutch, Interviews

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