Seen is an icon in the graffiti world, he epitomizes the NY old school graf scene whilst still painting to this day. His latest exhibition illustrates with ease that he is not prepared to sit back on his considerable laurels and is still creating groundbreaking works.

Non-graf heads just can’t understand the fondness verging on adoration graf-heads feel for Seen, he is featured heavily in both Subway Art and Stylewars: the 2 most referenced texts of graffiti history. I wasn’t surprised to see several London writers I knew before and after the interview, popping in to pay their respects, get their copies of Subway Art signed, just see the man himself on his first visit to the U.K. Damn it, I seriously felt honoured to be doing this interview… and I ain’t too proud to admit I brought my 15 year old copy of Subway Art to be signed too!

LC: How long have you been painting?

SeenSEEN: Graffiti wise, 32 years, since 1973.

LC: What first inspired you to start painting graffiti, were you always an artist, were you always into art, even before graffiti?

SEEN: I was always into drawing and into art, ever since I was Gods knows how small, I always had a pen, a pencil, markers or crayons in my hands, I was always drawing, water-paints, whatever my parents gave me to pacify me when I was a kid, I used.

LC: It might be an impossible question, What’s your favourite piece you’ve ever painted?

SEEN: Somebody else asked me that question, and it was kind of a tough question, but you know what it is? I have to say, probably my first piece I first painted on a subway car, it’s the most important one. If I had to giveaway my whole collection like I could only keep one, it would be that one; As messy and as sloppy as it might have been, it’s still my favorite, it’d be that one.

LC: What line was it on?

SEEN: It was on the 6 line, the Pelham line, they also call it the Lexington Avenue.

LC: Do you still enjoy painting as much now, or do you feel jaded at all, do you still have the enthusiasm?

SEEN: I’m still creating works, but the works have changed, this is like considered the ‘End of the Era’ this show, more or less, because this’ll be the last of the works like you see upstairs. The graf is still there but it’s more in the background, worked in the background, you have to read into the work to see it, it has moved a little bit on.

Seen

LC: Do you like seeing your work in a gallery environment or do you prefer seeing it in a street setting?

SEEN: It’s 2 different ways there, more, it’s created a little bit different than on the streets now but still has the street influence involved in the work. But as far as the mindset, I always did I’ve always liked the streets because it was created for the streets - now it can kind of flip flop either way, on the street or inside, But I like to see it on the streets, more people get to see it, that’s important.

LC: What do you find inspiring now, like when you’re painting something, what are you thinking, referencing in your head?

SEEN: I like to see a lot of old and deteriorated things, like I’ll be walking down the street and I’ll see some rotted piece of metal and I’ll drag it all the way home. I think the brightness of things, the boldness, I did it so many years I just needed a flip and a change. Like those paintings over 15 blocks over there, you can see the deterioration of what they’ve become, I’m moving to the dark side now.

Seen

LC: Do you go to exhibitions yourself, of non-graffiti art?

SEEN: Yes, I do. I go to all different walks of life, whether living or dead people, I like to see, at one time I never used to look at anything, just the idea that things puts an idea in your head so you could do something that had been done before but now I think itsa good thing to look out there. There’s all sorts of different styles out there and I never really realised that. I’ve got all sorts of art books, ones I’ve never opened, I go to Barnes & Noble all the time and buy all sorts of books.

LC: Are there any artists out there at the moment whose work you like?

SeenSEEN: Today I like a lot of these up and coming people that are out there that I like to see, a lot of U.S. people that you probably don’t even heard of these people. there’s a Jeff (?) It’s a beautifully amazing stuff, It’s all oils, I wish I could even describe it, it’s street related but he’s not a street artist. Old Masters, like Picasso, I love to see their works, I like to see the changes they made over the years like when they first started they may have been painting people like in a normal fashion then (gestures) to the other side. That type of stuff I really really like, and that’s what I’m trying to do, not the old over and over.

LC: What do you think of the new generations of artists that use stencils and stickers instead of spraycans?

SEEN: I think that’s just another form of getting your name or your subject up where people get to see it. Graffiti, as we know from the spray can days, is basically about getting your name up and people getting to see it. Like they scratch the windows now, it’s just another form of, way of doing it, the cave men had hammers and chisels, rocks and chisels, like engraving. It’s good because it shows different directions, different paths down the road, it shows their not just trying to do the same thing as the spraycan days, but it is the same.

LC: What do you think of U.K graf?

SeenSEEN: I see magazines like all around the world, photos of what did exist, over the course of time. This trip, it’s very minimalized, As far as I’ve seen in photographs in the past, New York is the same way now too it’s very limited.

LC: Whose lettering style have you really liked, whose was memorable?

SEEN: It’s a legible lettering style, with a little twist of wildstyle, but still legible. I was influenced by Fade (??) 167, whose idea was much like mine was, to do a readable wildstyle and that’s what he was doing back in the days.

LC: Now, I’m sorry because you must have been asked this so many times, but why SEEN:?

SEEN: It was just a time where people would pick names, whether they were graffiti artists or just people who wanted to scribble their names. So I just picked a name and it kind of worked for me in the end because it’s all about being seen, to be seen, it was just a fluke it worked out; And believe me having 2 E’s next to each other. Really wasn’t that easy to work with. But it’s the name that I chose.

LC: Now my last question is, what is your favourite colour, ever?

SEEN: Green, to get deeper: it’s a Rustoleum colour called Cascade Green, a kind of 1950’s green, kind of pastel, it’s hard to find that colour.

Many, many thanks to Seen for finding time in the last day of his hectic schedule to do the interview, and thanks too to lovely Sal for patiently sitting in. Credit also to Rebecca and D-Face for hooking up the interview.

Seen     Seen

The SEEN: THE GODFATHER OF GRAFFITI exhibition is still on at the all brand spanking new Outside Institute, 3 minutes from Paddington tube / train station, well worth a visit just to see where Seen is at now in his legendary career.