Q: There are classics and there ARE classics! Who or what does Classic mean to you

Pure Evil: Muhammad Ali is a classic … totally original and outspoken with fists of steel

Q: Which Sports do you like and and do Sports inspire you? What kind of Sports do you do or would you do if you um had more time ?
Pure Evil: I don’t have time for sports . I just paint . I do cycle everywhere and I used to skateboard but now the most skateboarding I do is pulling my friends daughter up primrose hill on her skateboard, although I was teaching her to ollie the other weekend. Im still better at ollie-ing than an 8 year old girl, so i take some pride in that.

Q: You just had a show at the K-Space gallery in Amsterdam – how did it come about and how did it go and did you prepare anything different because in was in Amsterdam ?

Pure Evil: I painted on the K-space in London a while back and they seemed to like it so I got invited back to try a crack at the Amsterdam space… I also heard that Doze and Fefe had already done a show there so that was the clincher. If i get a good vibe from a place i’m on it like a limpet. I didn’t do anything specifically ‘Amsterdamese’ for the show , but I was fresh back from Sao Paulo so I wanted it to have a flavour of there… It was good to show videos of killer Brazilian art in Holland. The Dutch writers need to step up the graff a bit…. In BENELUX the ANIMALS crew are killing it on the motorways though, I love their stuff… but to bring out the big guns, check out what Sao Paulo’s finest have to offer….

Click here to view the embedded video.

Q: What’s next for Pure Evil ?

Pure Evil: FIRSTLY : This (April Fools Day show) is going on for the whole of April….

Q: How did you get into the Graffiti scene?

Pure Evil: When I left the UK in 1990 I moved to San Francisco on a mission to skateboard all the places I had seen in skate videos, to expand my mind and to smoke toad venom… I was really into skateboard art and a lot of those artists were graffiti writers or would be called ‘urban artists’ not (god I hate that phrase ‘urban art” its so dumb). When I came back from warehouse parties at 7am usually on the after effects of weapons grade psychedelics I started seeing graffiti by TWIST that had real poetic power, and then I started to discover other artists in the streets of San Francisco like REMINISCE who painted these beautiful horses all over the city… I picked up a spray can and wrote DUMP BUSH over a freeway (Bush Senior was getting voted out after the first gulf war) and MURDERERS on a gun store downtown. It was only when I got back to London in 2000 that I felt like I needed to make my mark on the city and I then started to go out every night and paint dumb characters on walls, and cut really basic stencils of my hand , dead punk rockers or sub commandante marcos of the zapatistas. The real break for me was getting banned from the USA in 2006. I came back to London and Pictures on Walls said ‘hey come and work at the Santas Ghetto on Oxford street ‘ and they put out my first print. i learned everything I needed to know about doing shows, making prints and running a gallery from them . Thanks guys. My plane back from the USA landed , the wheels started spinning and i started running and I haven’t stopped.

Q: What do you think of the new art popping up, what inspires you when you judging new artists?

Pure Evil: I need to have the feeling of exhilaration from meeting an artist and seeing their work.

These are the principles and ethos of the gallery
Pure Evil Gallery: Ethos and Principles
• We are opposed to seeing artists as a commodity
• No conceptual artists or poseurs
• No curators allowed in the building they will be shot on sight
• Principles before Profit
• Wear your Politics proudly
• We are an Alternative Ideological Force
• The Gallery should be a Mecca for Independent artists

Rule one: Pure Evil Gallery and the artist agree to work until either party or both disagree with the arrangement.
Rule two: Once the agreed manufacturing costs have been deducted, we split the profits 25-75 % in the artists favour.

In  a quick sentence what are keys to recognising certain artists, the bits you like from the different ones out there.

It usually helps if the artist is a bit of a misanthrope and is a bit bonkers, the best artists have the biggest cojones (balls) and they doggedly follow their own path and ignore the advice of others.

I want to see people who have evolved their own style who aren’t just following the pack or trying to be the next Banksy… Its kind of a trap that a lot of people are falling into, they want to have their fifteen minutes of fame but they aren’t even willing to spend years working up to that  point they want to be famous NOW. If I see another 2 colour stencil of a monkey with a security camera for a head I am going to freak. Its such a cliche now.

Q: How important do you think it is for a new young artist to get a good gallery showing there art ?

Pure Evil: Its a really good start, but its not the only way, the streets are where people are going to see your work, the rest is for afterwards. If you really want to get ahead, try and take as much control over what you do as possible… If you meet somebody who wants to ‘curate’ you punch them on the nose, curators are assholes . You DONT need a manager and you DONT need a gallery thats going to take all your money, you can always find a way.. I did a talk with Aaron Rose and he said ” just do an exhibition in your bedroom and invite some people” or do it in your house, or do a group show with your buddies in a space you borrow for a week. If you are starting up as an artist this recession is a good thing because there are all these empty spaces that need to be filled. Everybody was going on about “oh im moving to Berlin where I can be an artist because you can find cheap places and blah blah blah… ” well London is the new Berlin pricewise thanks to the credit crunch…

Q: Why ?

Pure Evil: Most importantly when working with a gallery is making sure they know how to hang paintings straight so they won’t fall off the wall and that they are good with a roller and can paint walls white and they have good parties that lots of people come to. Also find out if they know collectors who buy art thats kind of important.
If you are going to go with a gallery its a bit like hooking up with a record label. Make sure they are willing to work with you in the longterm and they have ideas about how you can grow as an artist and that they aren’t going to exploit you.Speak to other artists about their experiences working with the gallery . A lot of galleries just want to pick you up when you are hot and selling lots and then drop you when you are sniffing glue and having a nervous breakdown. I know crazy gluesniffers who have then gone on to do the best work of their careers..

‘You can’t rush art’ true enough ! and ‘Pure Evil’ well you’ll discover shortly that it a’int what is sounds like. It’s been a while since you heard from us on the art front – not since our K-Space Amsterdam expos of last year ‘Omega Bridge’ the Doze Green and Fefe Talavera dynamic duo collab and the EU Debut expo of the artworks of explosive manga artist Shintaro Kago – and so it’s with pride that we welcome Shoreditch London based artist and gallerist ‘Pure Evil’ to K-Space Amsterdam on March 1st. Currently in Sao Paulo at Choque Cultural with his current show, the next stop is to us at K-Space on the canals to tie-in with the day long Debut of Art Market Amsterdam. This includes many ‘Pure Evil’ works including select no doubt caipirinha induced Sao Paulo creations with the above themed ‘Your Heart is a Weapon the Size of Your Fist’. Mark your calendar for this one and stay tuned as the story unfolds …..