Artist Interview: Young & Free featured artist Vexta

What is better than being young and free? According to the Aussies, also having a can of spray paint in hand. Behold: the most noteworthy exhibition of Australian street art and artists to hit the United States. The Geary Gallery in San Francisco will be hosting this fine show featuring an nice array of stencils, paste-ups, and direct sprays that have all come to color the land down under. 

Mark your calendar for the opening of YOUNG & FREE on September 10 from 6-9 pm at 941 Geary to catch the works by Anthony Lister, Kid Zoom, Dabs & Myla, Dmote, New2, Ben Frost, Meggs, Rone, Sofles, and Vexta. Show ends October 22.

We interviewed one of YOUNG & FREE’s featured artists, Vexta, for a sneak peek at her background and artistic endeavors. 

You create your images and sculptural pieces with found materials. What was been your best find thus far? Well my paintings are now mostly on canvas but I used to paint a lot on junk I found in the street. My sculptures and assemblages are all made from found objects. I really like the idea of creating something new out of something that has been discarded.

My best find is a hard one to choose! But definitely some of the most exiting finds have been the animal skulls and bones I have found. It’s a hard toss up between finding almost an entire horse skeleton bleached perfectly white, strewn across a hill and a wombat skull I found deep in some old growth forest.

But generally I get pretty excited when I need a nice old piece wood or length of electrical wire for something and then I stumble across it in a laneway.

What is the art scene like in Melbourne? How do you feel street art is growing in Australia versus other parts of the world? The art scene in Melbourne is really diverse. I have friends who work across many different platforms from film, music, new media to performance, painting and social engineering. Mostly I find everyone to be really supportive and generally excited about collaborating and pushing each other further into new directions. The street art scene is definitely growing, most of the artists I met through painting on the streets are my close friends now which is great. I feel like Melbourne as a city is pretty supportive of street art, which in turns leads to artists having more opportunities to be experimental with things like sculptures and shows. Not that long ago some friends and I were given a whole house that was going to be demolished to make art and have a show in, that wouldn’t have happened 5 years ago.

Is your street art conveying a message to urban dwellers or are they merely self-expression? Both. I have made very political pieces when I have felt strongly about certain issues but my own self-expression is also very important to my work. I constantly try to find those experiences that I have that perhaps have some universal element to them. We are often quite alienated from each other living in our cities, its great when you can make this image or work that other people can relate to or might gather around to discuss together. I guess if I had to have a message it would be - That we can be free to do, think and act however we want to; that the only thing stopping us is ourselves. The future belongs to the fearless. 

Which particular artists do you look to with admiration and/or sources of influence? That’s a hard question! I have a lot of admiration for many different artists across many different fields. I try not to be too influenced by anyone in particular when creating my own artwork, I just try to be as original as I can be.

I have the most admiration for people who create unique work and live their lives their own way.  From people like Hunter S Thompson, Basquiat to Keith Haring to Mike Mills, Miranda July, Bjork, Dennis Hopper.  My street art friends & family influence me to keep making better and better work simply through their support – artists like Kill Pixie, Meggs, Miso, Lister, Ghostpatrol, the list could go on & on.

If we were to snag your ipod, what could we find under your recently played songs? Right now - SBTRKT, The Weeknd, Baths, Gill Scott Heron & Jamie XX, Seekae, Hurray for the Riff Raff, The Middle East, Warpaint & Autolux have all been getting quite a work out.

You’ve covered Australia, Europe, and moved onto South America, where will we see your artwork next?  I’m about to head to San Francisco for the Young & Free group exhibition and will no doubt paint some walls whilst I’m there, after that I’m hitting Los Angeles, New York, then Melbourne & Sydney… after that who can say? 

Interview and text by Ashton Chandler