Interview

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Were you creative as a child?

I was always drawing as a kid. Like, non-stop, all the time.

How can you describe Regular Product?

It's just an umbrella for me to fit everything I do under... I do straight editorial design and art direction, artwork for magazines and exhibitions, t-shirt design, stickers and posters and other stuff for the street, illustrations for various clients etc. I think if you're a designer or artist you should be able to apply your skills to most things visual and I take most opportunities to do that. Calling it all the work of one brand somehow keeps it cohesive even though the work itself is all over the place.

Do you remember your first project?

Not really, it's hard to say. I've been making art of one description or another since before I was at art achool (many years ago) and I invented the whole 'Regular Product' brand thing in 2001 as a way to group all my projects together and keep track of them and a website to document them. It made me more focussed. I think the first thing I did under the Regular Product name was a series of stickers called Strive!

Where do you get your ideas from?

Now that's hard to say. Sometimes I see a billboard in the street and something about it makes me think of something else or it can be music or movies or a tree or even just being drunk. They just come from my life, from talking to friends, hanging out in bars, reading magazines, looking at other people's work. I have hundreds of crappy ideas in my head which kind of get edited and edited as I remember and re-remember them until they get chiseled down into something I think might be worth working on physically.

Is there a message in your artwork?

Oh yeah, of course. Lots of different ones. But I'm not didactic about - they can be whatever you want. But I think it's important for the artist to have some idea of reasoning, concept and process. Otherwise it's meaningless. And if it's meaningless to the artist, you can't expect shit from the audience.

If you were a girl, do you think you would be doing this?

I hope so. I'd just be better looking.

The weirdest place you placed your work?

Sometimes I think galleries are weirder than traffic-light poles or switch boxes or whatever. I guess places where I know hardly any people are ever going to see them is weird. Sometimes I like to put a little sticker or drawing on the top of a door or under a seat. It's interesting to think they'll last longer because hardly everybody sees them and that it'll also be more of a surprise for the person who finally does see it.

How exciting is the bombing for you?

It's exciting and it gets the adrenalin going, but it's not really what I'm in to. I'm not all about getting up everywhere I can or doing really big pieces in public places or seeing how far I can push the illegality. I only put stuff on the street because the idea behind that particular piece of work suits a public street setting - not because I get off on being chased by security guards - which kinda sucks ass.

Have you ever heard about Polish art? (Walesa and Pope are not artists)

I'm not that aware of contemporary practising designers or artists in Poland. Although I am a big fan of the history of east european and polish poster design. Some of my favourite designs are modernist theatre and cinema posters from Poland - not that poetic illustrative stuff - more the old-school two-colour simple bold designs. I have this photocopy in front of me of a poster by Robert Knuth. Is he Polish? The poster's in Polish but his name sounds German or something...

Can we expect chickens anytime soon in your future projects?

Already done a few chickens. Anything that comes from an egg, I've already covered.

Have you ever been in Poland?

Yes. About 6 or 7 years ago I was backpacking across Europe and the guy I was travelling with had distant family in Poland so we spent some time there. I was in Warsaw - great place, some locals took me and a friend out to watch boxing and get drunk - had a great time. I can't remember everyone who took me and my mate to see the boxing - but three of them were Adam, Magda and Anna and some other guys and we got really drunk. It was Andrzej Golota versus some american dude and they had us chanting and chanting "andr-zej go-lota andr-zej go-lota!!". If any of them read this and remember that night, i'd be amazed. Went to krakow too...

 

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