hurrengoa
morley julen biguri   I  morley When and why did you start getting interested in the street art movement?

My interest in street art started when I was in college. Moving to the big city opened my eyes to what was going on in the street art world.
My background was writing and filmmaking, not drawing or illustration. So I began making postcards for friends and family that had my slogans on them. People seemed to really like them and I was asked to sell them at a local store called Pull My Daisy. This was enough encouragement for me to decide that, while I may lack the ability to draw, I have something that people respond to. I wanted to give the gift of how people reacted to my stuff away, so I started posting them around the city.


What made you decide to start “decorating” the streets yourself?

Having lived in both New York City and Hollywood, I’ve seen just how bombarded by advertising we are. It’s sickening how much our lives are infected with something demanding we buy something. Giant corporations have somehow convinced us that they own the real-estate of our consciousness. I think it is the job of the artist to free us from this kind of subtle oppression, so I feel righteous in posting my work. With so many negative messages being shoved down our throats, what is the harm in giving a few positive ones away for free?


Your work is different from others, it’s not full of colors but full of messages. Has it always been like that?

While initially I was insecure about the differences between what I do and so many of the other artists I admire, I’ve learned to embrace the differences. As far as the lack of color, it’s both a practical and aesthetic choice. I think the power in simple words is something that is important to what I want to do. I want to take what are deceptively simple sentiments that people can quickly ingest and then let float around their minds before they register it to their own lives. To distract from those sentiments would be counterproductive, I think. Plus the photocopy machine I use only prints in black and white, so it leaves me without much choice.


Describe your work in a few words.

I aim to find something profound in simple statements.

Do you consider the street art movement a way to fight or a way to express ourselves?

I definitely think it is both. In the current culture we live in, we have to fight to express ourselves. Advertisers have brainwashed us into thinking that a cologne ad has more value than a painting. They’ve turned us into criminals and convinced people to think of us as deviants. No one is interested in letting you express yourself unless they can get paid for it and so our only recourse to speak our mind is to do it on our own terms. For me though, maintaining a sense of civility is important. I don’t paste on buildings unless they’re under some kind of renovation, I use temporary materials and I only paste over another artists’ work if it has been at least partially taken down already. Just because people call us vandals doesn’t mean we can’t hold some kind of ethical standards.