Really refreshing to look back at the 70s and the fashion for anti-commercial art. After may 1968 the outlook changed and attitudes toward art radicalized. I know a couple of successful commercial artists and there are different tiers some intellectual and some fashion. In today’s climate a bit of cash doesn’t go astray and the government (all levels) spend around 4 cents per person to allow us to see art for free. I suppose because I seem to have a knack for not getting paid I seem to think I am pretty dedicated to non commercial art, I just don’t have the knack for money and so over the years I stopped making anything for sale preferring ephemeral work somewhat like my graffiti practice. You can’t sell a wall though Banksy can sell anything it seems. I think I have painted at least a thousand individual graffiti pieces and I never got paid for one. I remember hating legals and all of that. But once I subcontracted to the council for a year and made some money but I stopped because I wasn’t happy with the crappy community stuff I had to produce but it was a job and I did it but I burnt out from endless meetings and my mental health was starting to deteriorate as it does from time to time so I moved on. I don’t regret it because I wasn’t happy and my brain was unravelling. I went on to make some of my best work and I didn’t have to compromise because of money so I never looked back. The trick now is that I really need to be making money as I have a family but I have turned to TAFE to sort out my job situation. My art making is completely non commercial now, I want everything to be like graffiti, a one off and it is. I am willing to do some whore work though such as commercial murals and recently tended for one. It was hard not to get annoyed from the process but such is life, if my art is going to be unhindered then you need something else to get you by. Nobody can escape even a hippy like me, I am in sales now and pretty lucky really as it is stable and with my mental problems I need that. I feel happy that I worked my art out as I am clueless at commercial art and have stuck to my graffiti roots, the transience of graffiti is the best part of it. I like what ChorBoogie has done and sells prints of his murals, they are really nice to look at. My murals though haven’t ended up as prints for sale. I would consider it, I once did some prints on archival paper and gave it to one of my partners relatives. It went down well and I kept one. I thought as a solo show a mix of prints and ephemeral pieces but at the minute I want to show my sound works. I am quite open really but think I will romanticize non commercial art for a while yet so I don’t end up frustrated comparing myself to all the big hitting artists making dollars, I would really not be happy but you can’t have your art and eat it too.

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