Interview with Kid Acne

What's your background? Art school? Self learner?

I went to Art School when I was 17 and graduated with a degree in Fine Art. Before that I had graffiti as an alternative schooling. Back then, I was seen as a graffiti kid by the art school and an art fag by the graffiti kids. Not much has changed in the past 10 years.







What are your favourite materials to work with?

Pen and paper, screen print, computer, spray paint.







Where do you get your inspiration from?

Having done graffiti for a while I got a little bored of the regular way of doing things and looked elsewhere for inspiration. It's now gone full circle with my fantasy world of semi naked girls and mythical creatures not being a million miles away from Vaughn Bode's world, which are arguable the most graffiti-style characters you can paint. It was purely accidental but I guess you can't escape your heritage, even when you try. Recently I've been inspired by the voodoo shops I visited in Brazil and the Museum of Witchcraft I visited in Cornwall.







Best Gallery in the world? and why?

I loved Choque Cultural in Sao Paulo, and Stella Dore in London are always fun to work with, but I think my fondest memories are of a group show Miss Van organized at IguaPop in Barcelona. That show was incredible.







Best City to paint outside? and why?

It used to be Barcelona, but I think the entire world thought that and it kind of imploded. I like to paint anywhere, no matter where you are in the world, you're always in front of a blank wall in some run down part of the city.







Beer and Fag or Tea and Biscuit?

Tea and biscuit. And Yorkshire tea at that!







What are your plans in the near future? Any upcoming exhibitions?

I just completed my 1st London solo show, so now I'm working on my 1st Sheffield solo show. It's time to represent the homeland.







http://www.kidacne.com