This week see’s This Life catch up with the prolific and amazingly talented Hense – Make sure you watch the vid at the end, it’s fucking rad!
Firstly, thank you for your time, what’s been happening?
I’ve just been real busy doing some public exterior works for the City of Atlanta and The Atlanta Beltline. It’s been a cool project.
For those who are unfamiliar with you and what you do, can you tell us a bit about yourself and walk us through your typical day?
I’m a painter first and foremost and secondly a graffiti writer. I generally get up around 9am grab coffee, a little something to eat and hit the studio.
How did you initially get involved with graffiti?
I originally got into graffiti by seeing early Atlanta dudes up on the train lines and around the city. I think bombing has always inspired me.
Do you think where you grew up has had an effect on your style today?
Yeah definitely.
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Do you put any thought in to trying to achieve a particular reaction from people when they view your work?
I always wanted my work to be easily legible and digestible for the average person, not just graffiti writers. I feel like most graffiti ends up looking the same to people with an untrained eye.
Where did your interest in art begin?Where you involved in art before you started painting?
I’ve always been into drawing and painting. I was doing drawings way before I discovered graffiti. I think graffiti was just another way of expressing myself on a surface.
Craziest place that you’ve got up?
There have been a few crazy billboards and spots that involved climbing high. I would have to say an I-beam over the freeway that I painted in 2000 would be at the top of the list.
When did you initially start painting with a crew, and what effect do you think it had on you as a writer?
I’d been in a few crews early on but MSK is definitely my crew for life. I looked up to guys from AWR MSK. I guess I always wanted to have a style like some of my early mentors from the crew and I
eventually came into my own with something I felt was original and fresh.
What difference to you between someone who is known as a street artist, opposed to someone else who is known as to be a writer?
To me street art and graffiti are pretty similar. I generally think of wheat pasting and stenciling as more of a “street art”. Graffiti writers are more traditional in their application of letters, tags and fill ins on surfaces in the street.
How do you think Graffiti has changed or evolved since you began writing? Do you think the younger generation of writers have the same intentions and mentality as you and those who came before you did when you first started?
I think the mentality of writers these days are pretty much the same. The main difference is having access to so much information through the internet. I remember trading flicks with friends via mail. Now everything is so instant with the web.
You paint a spot and the same day in pops up on the web. I really think it has both positive and negative effects on graffiti as a culture and lifestyle.
I guess the aim of the game when it comes to graffiti is to get up and be the biggest, in turn crushing other writers, and battling it out with the can, did it ever go past fighting with paint for you?
I’ve had beef before and I’ve been dissed. It’s part of coming up. You learn and move on. These days I’m not really a fan of the ego involved with graffiti. Even painting your name over and over gets repetitive. I’ve been experimenting with new ideas that are not as “name” related.
Why did you start writing Hense?
I started writing Hense around 93. I was looking for something with 5 letters that flowed and actually meant something. I wrote Hence for a while, then changed to Hense.
What inspires you to go out and paint?
Many things. I was really motivated to be “all city” which I did pretty early in my career. Now I dig spots that make for great photos and portfolio pieces. I’ve found some nice abandoned warehouses that were completely untouched by writers.
Do you think that graffiti will go down the same path as tattooing, from a frowned upon (at least in the last 100 years) underground scene to a mainstream movement?
I feel like that has already happened to a degree. It seems to keep getting more and more mainstream as time goes on, which we can thank TV and the internet for. It’s not a bad thing.
What’s in your pockets right now?
Keys, Iphone, wallet.
In the time you have been writing you must have found yourself in some pretty crazy situations and have a few stories to tell, what has been a stand out moment for you?
We had a crazy chase in Tokyo. About 10 of us went out to paint a spot off the train line. We got spotted going in and were raided shortly after by the Japanese police. To make a long story short, I ended up stuck between two small houses until dawn. I Caught a cab back to the hotel and was greeted by my peers to find that somehow none of us were arrested!
What have you been reading, listening to and watching lately?
I haven’t been reading as much as I should or would like too. Listening- Caribu, Film School, Radio Department to name a few. Watching – True Blood, The Wire, and Party Down. Mostly HBO stuff.
To the general public and authorities, there is a very fine line between what is considered art and what is considered vandalism and/or crime, I know of one case where a writer got a longer jail sentence than a rapist on the same day of sentencing, what are you thoughts on that?
There is a fine line between crap written on a wall somewhere and something that actually took at least some thought and creativity that is written on a wall somewhere. The problem is untrained and uneducated people don’t know the difference between good and bad graffiti and or street art.
Even good graffiti can be vandalism technically. It just may be better received than something that really sucks. I’ve always felt that graffiti writers get used as an example when itcomes to punishment. Generally, the punishment doesn’t fit the crime.
What are five things you always take with you on your travels?
Camera, Clothes, Phone, Shoes and Notebook/Sketch book.
Advice to up and coming artists?
Keep pushing forward and don’t take no for an answer.
Anything coming up that we should know about?
New works, new walls, and new paintings.
Word association, you know the deal, say whatever comes to your mind when you read the word.
Australia -Kangaroos
Kevin Rudd – Paul Rudd
America – Statue of Liberty
Obama – Chigago
England – Wayne Rooney
The Queen – Elizabeth
Legal – illegal
Illegal – legal
Religion – Jesus
Time -Watch
Greed – Money
Humanity – Destructive
Peace – Hippies
Freedom – Martin Luther King Jr.
Art – Passion
Graffiti – Vandal
Life – Birth
Happiness – Love
Where can people follow what you’re up to and view your work?
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