This was originally posted on my old blog, a few months ago.

I made a big article about No New Enemies for the next Vista Skateboard Art magazine. And I made an interview with Ripo, that will be published only in Portuguese. To not just trow the original English version of the interview away, I’m posting it here.

 From Facebook: Originally from NYC Ripo now lives in Barcelona, Spain whose streets he uses as a canvas and a playground. His work is strongly text based, working heavily with typography and calligraphy and other hand-created elements. These have included painting, drawing, and other public interventions both small and massive.
There’s usually a subtle but essential presence of sarcasm and dichotomy in his messages, as there is in all of our lives. His influences are rooted in his upbringing as a skateboarder and a NYC kid as well as his extensive travels and the large tours he has realized across Europe and Latin America. He has exhibited (mostly illegally) his work in over 36 countries across the world.

My interview:

1. First of all, present yourself as you want.
Hi, I’m Ripo. How you doin?

2. Why Ripo?
It comes from repo, which is short for repossess in English. It’s about the idea of ripossessing life and art. Taking it back by doing it yourself. Being creative and creating is something we can all do and when we’ve made something we’re proud of we start to feel independent, which makes us form our own opinions about things and trust in our own judgments. That way we can make up our lives how we want to live them, or in some cases we can make our streets look the way we want them to look. Fuck, do I sound like a hippy right now?

3. Tell me about your artwork.
I was an artist from about the time I was seven years old I think. I’m sure it started before that but that’s when I started taking it seriously, and you know when you’re seven it’s all very serious. It started out with an obsession for reading and drawing comics, superhero comics, that by about 13 or 14 grew into an obsession with graffiti as well, but at the same time I was taking art classes in school. I eventually went to an art school in the United States and studied that bullshit for four years until I finally moved to Barcelona in 2005 and started to really focus on what I was doing and what I wanted to do more of.
Now my artwork has all of those influences in it, comics, graff, maybe some of the academic stuff has stained me too, and of the aesthetics of the cities I’ve lived in and visited. Most of my work lives in the streets since I think that’s where it can have the most fulfilling life, and I’m hoping to keep growing it, finding new ways of working, new materials, new styles, new places, and to just keep learning and most importantly have fun with it.

4. What are your influences in art?
I guess the most obvious one, at least on my lettering, are the old handpainted signs and other techniques that people have used for illustrating our words. My styles come from all sorts of calligraphy and fonts that have stuck out to me and I’ve come across in my daily life. I’ve never formally studied typography or calligraphy, and only took one quick graphic design class when I was 18, most of the lettering and the calligraphy work I do has come from just seeing, adapting, and recreating something in my own way with my own aesthetic opinions, making it something new because of it. I love Asian calligraphy, Arabic, old English styles, 20^th century hand-painted signs, graffiti, and so many other artists, both from the streets and not, who have done amazing things visually and conceptually with the written language and type.

5. What are your influences in life that can be seen in your artwork?
My influences can come from anywhere, like I said comics, graffiti, skateboarding, my friends and other artists, my cities, the news, politics, different things motivate me at different times. I have a love for handmade objects and images but don’t get me wrong, computers are great tools and I’m on mine way more than is healthy, but there’s something I appreciate more about seeing a person create something with their own two hands and straight from their head, that way it has some imperfections because it was actually made by a person.

6. Tell me about the exhibitions and events you took part of. And do you have a different approach for your work in art spaces?
I’ve submitted work to a bunch of group shows all across the world but haven’t really focused on working indoors too much. One of the sickest events I was lucky enough to be a part of was the 11 Spring St. show that Wooster Collective put on at the end of 2006. There were people waiting on line for five hours to get inside and see the building, I’d never seen let alone had work in something that significant before.
This March-April I’m having my first solo show in Brussels, Belgium, “…is what I meant to say” as part of the new No New Enemies residency program. It’s going to be a show of mostly black and white drawings, lots of them. The idea is to show the processes behind my murals and other outdoor works, which I can’t exactly exhibit indoors, and the general experimentation that goes on in my drawings. I want to fill the space with it and overwhelm the viewer a bit with all these words and expressions, sort of show how I get overwhelmed walking down the street and trying to take in all the visual shit going on around me.

7. I saw you’ve been to a lot of different countries painting. Which countries? Which one is your favorite place and why?
I’ve visited and exhibited my art (mostly illegally) in about 36 countries across Europe and North, Central, and South America. Most of the best places had to do with meeting up with the right people, but New York City, Barcelona, Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo, Mexico City, Bucharest, Istanbul, Athens, and Milan all have things that really interest me. The graffiti and artwork in the streets of these cities is out of control and each one’s really unique.

8. Tell me about your Reflect On project.
The Reflect On project is about using mirrors as a platform for my paintings which adds another level of communication and meaning to them. When you look at yourself in a mirror that’s painted on then whatever image or messages that’s on there is first speaking directly to you, but also simply visually your face (or whatever you see in the reflection) becomes part of that painting. Plus people like to look at themselves it catches their attention. Then with relation to the messages, seeing a mirror with the words “4 Sale” on it makes you start to think about what’s for sale, you? The car in the reflection? The building? What’s this thing doing here and what’s it really trying to say? This level of openness, movement, and constant change that happens inside the mirrors adds more questions than answers to the pieces. While I do sometimes exhibit them indoors and sell them they really work best in the streets because they use and need the environment around them to add meaning to them.

9. So, you’re part of No New Enemies. What do you do and what you already did with them?
No New Enemies is kind of a loose-knit bunch of friends and strangers who make cool shit and all know Harlan. We’re like a community of artists that, should things come up, we can tell each other about projects, work together on things, and try to help us all benefit from what we’re doing. We paint together, we do shows together, it’s all really tied through Harlan. I even got arrested once within an hour of meeting Roa, who I had just met through NNE.

10. The messages written on your work are much related to the NNE concept, making people reflect about what they’re seeing. Do you create it when you’re painting? Do you copy from somewhere? It comes from where?
They can come from anywhere, how I’m feeling in the moment, music I’m listening to, things that are on my mind, that bother me, that I love, that inspire me, that I think will inspire others, that will make somebody laugh, that discuss a political issue, that discuss our media, that talk shit, that tell the truth, that tell lies, that confuse you, that set things straight, and who knows where they might come from tomorrow.

11. Your work inevitably causes some comparisons, due to the fact that wild style graffiti and other artists uses letters too. So, why do you think it’s different and unique?
I think it has to do with the different places I’ve tried to take my work. I might do some paintings on wood that look old and have that hand-painted sign style like a lot of people are doing now, but I’ve also done large murals, loose calligraphy drawings, detailed, ornate, and very refined illustrations, there’s lot of ways I want to explore type and making pictures. I think a lot of other artists stick to one thing too much. I want to paint, communicate, experiment, and all at the same time and visually each thing I do will change because of that. If my work reminds people of somebody else’s today maybe in a few months that’ll change. But I still love to see other artists exploring similar things; it’s inspiring to see other talented people work.

12. No New Enemies started this year an artist residency program. You’ll be the first artist on the project. When will it happen? How works this residency program and why did they choose you to start?
I got invited to spend the last two weeks of March in Brussels creating work for a solo show at the Mr. Ego space there. Basically they financially support me and help me out with anything I need in order for me to make my work for the final show. It’s an amazing opportunity that I feel lucky to have been offered. Why I’m the first artist in the program I’m not sure but I think it had to do with good timing. Harlan was telling me about it and knew that I was free then, plus we both thought it was good timing for my work, giving me the chance to focus on building up a stronger body of work indoors and exhibiting it.

13. You’re from N.Y.C. and now live in Barcelona. Since when? Why did you choose this city to live?
I’m from NYC and it’s where I’m from and it’s in everything I do but I just can’t live there right now. It’s too expensive, too much pressure with money and work, too competitive, and too restrictive with working in the streets. I’ve been living in Barcelona since 2005, but I first visited in 2003. The city was covered with graffiti and murals at the time and it felt really alive and free. I knew I wanted to be a part of the community and the streets here so I luckily found a job over here and moved without knowing anybody or speaking much Spanish. Of course the year I arrived the new anti-graffiti laws started and the whole city got painted grey. But it was also a good time to start putting work in the streets here, there were less people doing it and whatever there was and was actually staying people were noticing more.

14. Are you into skateboarding? How much and how?
I used to skate, for about 9-10 years. It was my life for years but I haven’t had time or energy for it as much lately. I just bought my first new board in years this last summer, it was a Shut deck, Earthwing wheels, Indy trucks, everything was new and awesome, then it got stolen after a month. I haven’t gotten another board since but I hope to soon.

15. I know you write for Modart magazine. What’s your relation to the magazine and how it happened?
I started writing for them because I was traveling and keeping very connected to the art scene and people who I had met by traveling. The first thing I did was an interview with my friend Anthony Lister, the magazine liked it and from there we expanded into doing more articles. Now that the print magazine isn’t happening anymore I’m working on their blog. It’s a part-time job where I get to make my own hours, can do it from anywhere, and I talk about art and shit that interests me. Not a bad deal.

16. Anything else?
I just hope my work can encourage and inspire other people to try creating things. Art in the streets is for everybody and seeing others do it is inspiring and makes you realize that anybody can do it, you just got to have an idea, some cheap materials, and somewhere to try it out and you’re on your way. That’s why the streets have always been the most inspiring and supportive for me. And check out www.ripovisuals.com.

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