There are always new generations coming up, and there is always talent to watch out for in such generations. Psyche is a member of such a new generation. However, what becomes apparent talking to someone like Psyche is that she has a fair degree of disillusionment toward not only Perth street art, but Perth in general. Perhaps this has something to do with her partner-in-crime, the equally as talented Mime, moving to the graf haven of Melbourne. Perhaps.
Not that there’s anything wrong with disillusionment – in fact, it’s what can spur an individual on to find a greater happiness or to eventually create one around themselves. It’s also a luxury of youth. After all, the older you get, the more disillusionment turns into apathy, and apathy just numbs the heart and soul.
But for Psyche, this disillusionment is spurring her on. She offers up a voice that is fresh and insightful. She hangs with Monster and creates street art of the sticker and paste-up variety – for reasons she explains below. But it’s off the street that her work shines. On the page, her characters have an avian agelessness, a dash of Quentin Crisp, a sluice of mix-media. It’s a style that, once translated to the street, will make Psyche a force to be reckoned with. Until then, she’s just a girl in a predominantly boys-world, still trying to find her feet. But once she does, she’ll hit the floor running.
Define street art? It’s really hard to define street art without being insincere. It really does depend on what the individual classifies ‘art’ to be. So really, I guess to me it’s just literally art on the streets. Nothing more, nothing less, but many propose against that.
Define your style. I tend to draw asexual looking ‘people/creatures’ with clueless looks on their faces, epic hair, large noses hinted with the essence of a old seedy man to every character.
What forms do you work in? I’ve only really done stickers and pastes ups so far. They are both easy, effective and attractive – also, they do not cause too much damage. I sometimes use the good old ink marker to whack up a one of a kind character here and there if there is a pen handy. I’m yet to try expand into larger pieces, but when, I’m not sure, as Perth isn’t the greatest for this… if anything.
What is your earliest street art memory? You’ve all seen the adverts on Perth Transport vehicles “Even the toughest taggers cry on their first night”. This makes me laugh every time. The first night I went out with my accompaniment, we got about 500m from our abode and got mugged for all our cans and stickers in the middle of Maylands. After that I never go to Maylands, and I realised I should just do stickers during the day.
What led you to get into it? I’m really into art and I just wish street art was accepted in Perth. Being young and unemployed basically, exhibitions or anything else major isn’t really in my league as easily as older people, so I turned to the street art side and joined the bandwagon that is running out of petrol…
What’s the Perth scene like? Horrible. There is hardly a scene at all. There becomes a peak for a while, then the shires bleep everything out. Also it’s a bit of a ‘if you have money, you can make it’ type of thing. It can become very expensive for the juvies to having to buy paint and other textiles all the time when they keep getting buffed. Hopefully this generation will embrace what we have and what is to come.
What do you think can be done to foster a stronger street art scene here? Basically we need more support and opportunities. We already have all the talent and ideas, we really just really need to get accepted by the older generation, specifically. Slowly stuff is changing and more opportunities are growing, but I think there should be more group work like the Condor Tower, which can also link the public to the art scene. As well as those laser advertisments for drink driving on the state library on a Friday night, incorporating some impressive Perth artists. Basically I think we should involve the public more with the arts, in the most un-Hitler way possible, so that it’s accepted as a culture and a lifestyle rather than a crime.
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