Interview with a genius

R - why do you paint?
J1- i do graffiti because it's something I grew up seeing in NYC and because it's an outlet to share my faith and express myself creatively, and using graffiti is an unorthodox way to do that as well. I get a lot of pleasure out of learning how to get better technically and making pieces look hot.

R-How do you do a peice? do you draw it then tape it out first, use chalk, grab an overhead projector or just do it free hand?
J1-Bro, you never, NEVER tape anything out or use anything like chalk or an overhead projector. In the graf world, that's considered HIGHLY taboo: basically cheating. Now, I understand that this idea is from a sort of worldly perspective, but if you were to be seen diong that, you get no love for your art. Part of doing graf is that there's a level of satisfaction that you get from using a tool like a can of spray paint and painting something sharp and clean. On that tip, there are many techniques that people use to make sharp lines and clean fill-ins (the fill-in is the inside part of the piece, the colorful area; the outline is basically the thin line around each letter and such). Anyway, all of this idea is summed up in two words: can control. If you have it, it means you paint and don't get drips, your lines and straight and sharp when they're supposed to be, you can make the effects that you want with a can, etc. it takes a long time and lots of practice, but it's fun learning and doing it. Basically, to do a piece though, you sketch something out on paper, then take a can and throw the letters up on the wall first, then you fill the letters in with your fill-in, then you do the final outline after all of that around the fill-in. The good thing about graf, though, is that you can always fix your mistakes just by going back over a mistake with the original color.

R - How do you get the building owners to let you paint?
J1 - You just ask them! Show them some of your work on paper first if they ask. Or show them other pictures of pieces that you've painted.

R - What kind of paint do you use gloss, apoxy, enamel, tremclad, primer?
J1 - The best spray paint to use, for me, is Krylon (2.50$ at walmart). rustoleum is also good, also at wal-mart or anywhere else. Montana is a high end paint with dope colors, but that's only available via the internet. Start with Krylon.

R - How are the messages of the murals recieved?
J1 - Almost always in a positive way; even people who don't believe in Christ like seeing the walls, at least.My advise is that you build a little wall to practice on; you can buy like two or three 4 x 8 planks of wood and put them together. Also, you need to use caps on the spray cans; they make the paint come out in different ways (thinner or fatter). You can buy them at www.artcrimes.com in their store (look for caps). New York thins and new York fat caps are good.