As your reputation grows and anonyminity disappears, do you have to start changing the way you decorate the cities? How does fame affect street art?

I continually work on new street projects and ideas. I like pushing myself to the limit… to investigate this medium to it’s fullest potential. If I continued to do the same thing, I’d get bored really quickly and probably would have stopped doing work in the streets years ago. My street work has been going in a variety of directions. For example, I’ve been doing abstract paintings on blueprint paper for the street as well as large painted figures and objects. In addition, I’ve been very busy doing work for a book I hope to have published soon. Having a web site changes my relationship with the viewers of my work… it makes me more identifiable. People from all corners of the world get to see my work even if they don’t encounter it on the street. The attention doesn’t affect my work and it doesn’t affect the process of getting it up. I like sharing what I do and don’t really think about the attention. As long as my work comes from my heart and remains honest to itself and its surroundings, I don’t have to change the way I go about it.

Does being a teacher sometimes create problems?

Being a teacher is, without question, an aspect of myself as an artist that most people don’t know about. It provides me with another facet for investigation and growth. People are usually really surprised to discover that I’m in a position that carries great responsibility. I don’t parade what I do around school and I don’t hide it either. I’m proud of what I do and feel there’s important justification for it. A couple of years ago, a local newspaper interviewed me for an article about me being an art teacher that also exhibits work. I thought it was going to focus largely on my paintings… instead, it focused on my street work. They ran the piece as a large Sunday feature and everyone saw it. Students, parents, teachers and administrators are all now fully aware of what I do outside of school. Most of the criticisms were very positive and encouraging. So far it hasn’t been a problem.

So what about the future?

If I had the time, I’d like to travel around Europe for an extended period, hitting a variety of cities… maybe a multi-city tour. I also want to get to Japan. I’m on the look out for a solid gallery to represent me… possible somewhere in Europe. As I mentioned earlier, I’ve also been working for some time on an ambitious book project I hope to get published soon. I have a publisher interested, however, nothing is in stone yet. I’m also featured in Tristan Manco’s new book, “Street Logos“, which comes out on March 29th by Thames and Hudson. Tristan did an incredible job with this project…it’s very well done and one of the best books on the subject I’ve seen thus far. In addition, I’ll be participating in a group show this June in New York sponsored by Woostercollective. There’s so many different projects that I’m involved in, the list grows almost daily…