There is no doubting the strength of New Zealand artists. With such treasures as Ha-Ha, Urban Cake lady, Drab, Stabs, and Snotrag gracing the streets of Melbourne to name but a few! Thankfully for NZ, not all its talent leaves its shores. So to kick off what will be a continuing closer look at the NZ scene  we caught up with Wellington based stencil artist Kiran X.

Colourful, intense and beautifully composed, his work is instantly captivating. Kiran layers his stencils with an elegant geometric sensibility, often in combination with mysterious and sexual women forming the focal point of his works. A Creative Technologies teacher and Art Mentor, Kiran brings a whole host of experience and depth of concept to his work

Having recently taken part in the Wellington heat of the Red Bull Wreckers Yard, and with a Solo show coming up in June, Kiran X is a busy man. We got in touch and did a little bit of investigating into what drives his intriguing concepts, and in particular the Post Human Cyborg relations driving the theme for his upcoming show …

When did you first start stencilling? What is it about this technique that appeals to you?

I started stenciling back in professionally since 2004, though I’ve been in love with the spray can for as long as I can remember. I saw a doco called ‘style wars’ and immediately knew I had to be a part of this culture or at least get involved with one of the elements of hip hop. What I love about stenciling is that I get to use a series of processes to deconstruct base imagery and reassemble it into something more wicked, I get to be a mechanized Dr Frankenstein.

Your work has been described as “hyper sensualised”, a pretty bold and expressive statement! What about your work do you think inspires this reaction?

I appropriate imagery from fashion, and models, endorsing products of desire, only I’m removing the product and emphasizing the model with vivid colour, fluorescent eyes, exaggerated features and an engineered composition. It’s more about seducing the viewer into the same space – there’s a sense of sex and danger without actually showing it – thats gotta be why, I’m sure!

Your last solo show ‘Corrosive Empire’ explored the aesthetics of decaying billboards in Asia. Can you tell us a little more about how this concept came about and the work you did for this show?

I remember seeing these massive sized billboards in rural Culcutta, they were ravaged by crows and decayed. One had a hint of Cindy Crawfords lips. They were left there because it was too expensive to take down. What was interesting was that there was no population in sight to sell to, just ominous factories. I started thinking of them as abandoned idols and industrial goddesses. I pretty much took it from there, all the characters in my work have some decay, grit, weathered history and exploited imperfections that I love creating, maybe its making the superficial more humane. 

Both this show and your new show ‘Seductive Mechanism’ coming up have a pretty heavy conceptual basis.  What drives your concepts, and what do you hope to explore or resolve through your work?

Since I appropriate imagery, I’m constantly assimilating potential images to use all the time, its a part of me that just cant shut off because the visual ammunition is always out there. Beyond the joy of creating the physical work, conceptualizing helps me connect my work to a bigger context, keeps the relevance going and keeps me from getting stale. The conceptual elements in my work are never resolved, they just grow and change as I do, so a series of work I create just represents a stage in that. Sometimes all the conceptual rigor may not be apparent in the final work, its just the mental fuel that drives it! I would never want my work to be esoteric – it still has to be sexy and stylised.

For example, you have described ‘Seductive Mechanizm’ as exploring the “Post human cyborg aesthetic of anatomy and sexuality” with reference to Bjork’s video for ‘All is full of Love’. Watching the video, with such a strong mechanical and emotive balance, I’m pretty intrigued for what the show has in store. What are your thoughts on this post human/cyborg sexuality?

I often think, how far can artificiality or digitization interfere with desire until we will become attracted to something the we see currently see as abstract? In a hundred years from now, love sex and desire could be simulated just enough to sustain the human condition and the ethics of human authenticity could be modified, in a way its already happening. Though I think people will always want to have a good time with each other, it may just happen differently with more wires and consensual hallucination.

Can we expect to see more beautiful cyborg women in your work for this show? Any particular reason behind the frequent presence of the female in your work?

Hell yes. I don’t usually use males because in fashion as they are anchored and staunch within a frame and stenciling facial hair isn’t so hot.Women however are more expressively composed and on the verge of reaction or movement which I can extend whereas men are stoic. When I sample women out of context I find it easier to create a surface environment. Women are more stencil-genic than blokes  – simple version.

Your taking part in the Wellington heat of the Red Bull Wreckers Yard coming up this month. How do you see your style translating to the nature of the competition? Are we going to see a frantic generation of stencils?!

I think I’m the only Wellington stenciler in the competition, it is a tricky one because I’m not a freestyle spray painter. I’ll be rocking up with a bunch of pre-cut shapes and figures that I’ll freestyle assemble like a mad jigsaw puzzle on the spot, It’ll be constantly be transforming sheets of plastic. 

What do you enjoy most about opportunities like the Red Bull Wreckers Yard to work alongside other artists?

This is a culture I genuinely feel a part of, I’m privileged to rock with the Wellington talent – I love their work, they have crazy skills and they are all sharing it, we are getting a massive buzz going on for the crowd and making it relevant.

Do you think the Kiwis are going to give the Australians a run for their money?

We’ll be running off with the money. But I have a ton of respect for Australia’s street art talent, Melbourne and Sydney are crazy but still….

On a recent trip home to Wellington, I was pretty stoked to see the growth of Urban based street art, in particular a few large group murals around the place. Do you feel there is a growing acceptance/appreciation of the Urban scene in Wellington?

Personally I know for sure there is acceptance and appreciation of street art but that’s within my creative social plane, perhaps more constructive collaboration with the powers that be could see some more epic works coming up that a renegade couldn’t do and its already begun. The general public are also better at deciphering the quality of these wall pieces and can distinguish vandal tag from considered technical style etc, this is encouraging and a cool Wellington trait.

I understand you also work as a Creative Technologies Tutor. How does your personal experience as a commercial artist translate into your role as tutor?

There’s a whole range of exciting, relevant learning outcomes, collaborative skills, critical and cultural values and experiences that come from being a practitioner in this urban illustration context – this amps up a class because its real and the grass roots values can be applied and interpreted to a range of disciplines.

What would be the one piece of advice you would pass on to a student thinking of pursuing live as an artist?

There’s heaps! Be real, not over ambitious, don’t assume you are gonna make millions. Do it cause you love it and work hard, then rewards will follow – don’t do it to chase the dollar. Take all feed back constructively and be open to learning new things. Work constructively others, don’t make them enemies, even in battles. Refine your technique, own it like your DNA and evolve it. A part time job could help fund your gear too!

Check out more from Kiran-X at his flickr page or at Deviant Art, and for more info on Seductive Mechanizm and other shows check out Pixel Ink Gallery.