Cinzah Merkens, aka Seekayem, is undeniably one of New Zealand’s top street artists. His combination of vibrant colours and intense line work creates an aesthetic that is nothing short of awesome. Big eyes, Goofy Grins, Skulls, Owls and little hats are just a few features of Seekayem’s signature style.

As a recipient of the ‘Peoples Choice’ Award by the Auckland City Gallery in 2007, and having been invited as a guest artist to the Malaysia ‘Meeting of Styles’ Graffiti Art Convention in 2008, Cinzah’s work has been gaining a large amount of attention for quite some time. Dynamic and animated, his work can be seen from the streets of Auckland to across the ditch here in Aussie, all the way to South East Asia. His first solo show ‘Big City Island Kids’ showcased the variety of his work and his exploration of different mediums, ranging from illustration and sketches, to aerosol work and sculptures.

Over the weekend Cinzah battled it out with fellow kiwi artists to win the Auckland heat of The Red Bull Wreckers Yard.  Before that, we had a chat with Cinzah to find out more about his work, processes and plans, and simply, how he got so awesome …

What drew you to working with aerosols and walls rather than paints and canvases?

I tend to experiment with a variety of different mediums, I love painting with acrylics for my gallery work but definitely lean more towards working with aerosols. I love the freedom to go big, work in a expressive manner, and cover large amounts of space in a short time frame. I find working on walls a hell of a lot more interesting than a pristine white woven canvas, interesting surfaces and textures to work with definitely enhance the final outcome and add personality and character to the work as a whole.

Do you have a particular creative process, anything that gets your creative juices flowing?

Not exactly, plenty of black coffee and sketching. It all starts in the sketch book really. Scribbles, notes and ideas all manifest into finished pieces from the trusty old sketch book, I try to have pen and paper handy where ever I go.

Your work balances an intense use of colour with some pretty amazing line work – particularly those bic pen sketches, quite awesome. How has this style developed, any formal training?

Thanks! My style and technique has developed and progressed naturally over time. No major formal training, predominantly self taught, I’m a art school drop out. My mums an artist as well, so I grew up in pretty creative environment being surrounded by her work and constantly being encouraged to pursue creative endeavours.

When your not getting out and about on the streets, your working as an illustrator. Is there a different set of challenges or shift in process between the two?

I work as a commercial illustrator as a day gig, and love it. I really enjoy both sides of my practice, the digital and traditional. I’m repped by an agency called Watermark, and also Deborah Wolfe Illustration in the states. The two practices are completely different, although I learn a lot of valid skills from both sides which can be incorporated into each other.

I find the two complement each other. Working as an Illustrator, I’m in front of the computer all day working predominantly digitally, focusing on creating something within the boundaries of a 20 inch screen, which makes me enjoy a 20m wall so much more. I’m privileged to be able to make a living doing something I love.

Some of your most recent illustrations have been done using the computer rather than paint or ink. Is this a new direction you see your print work heading?

Not so much a new direction, more running in parallel with my traditional practice. I love the crisp clean approach to working digital, it’s a nice juxtaposition to my grimy heavy rendered style of painting with cans. Most my digital stuff is for clients, pays the bills to keep creating and affording those expensive art materials I’m so highly addicted to.

You were invited to be a guest artist for the 2008 meeting of styles in Malaysia. This must have been a pretty amazing opportunity as an artist. Has the experience influenced your work since?

Yeah, was a pretty funny experience, was traveling through South East Asia at the time with my girlfriend when I got the invite, flicked VLT from RHK/TLG crew a email to say I may swing by K.L. I got a reply within minutes saying that I am a special guest artist and I have a personal guide and chauffeur that will pick me up first thing, first day I arrive in town. Really friendly, accommodating people in Malaysia. Was a great experience, and heaps of fun. So many huge empty walls! The scene is still fairly new there, so it’s really refreshing and quite innovative. I don’t know if it has affected my work but I made a lot of friend, who I hope to paint with again some day soon.

Your first solo show ‘Big City Island Kids’ was at the end of last year, congrats! Can you tell us a little bit about the theme behind it and the work that you did?

‘Big City Island Kids’ is my only solo show to date. Dealing with themes around tradition, folklore and mythology. I spent a stint of my childhood growing up in Rarotonga in the Cook Islands, so this exhibition was partially paying homage to the stories I heard growing up in the islands, and also about translating those stories into a context more relevant to today. A cross pollination of cultures, kiwi NZ culture, traditional song, dance, art and story telling of Polynesian culture and a hybrid mix of my street and illustrative practices. The show featured a variety of different works including intricate fine line pen and ink works, sculptural installation, paintings, a mural installation and also a dance performance piece.

The sculptural characters in the show were pretty awesome, and a great example of the varying mediums you use for your work. Do you have a favourite medium to work with/on, or does it depend on the piece?

I like to mix it up a little depending on the nature of the work and what headspace I’m in. I love getting caught up in detail, and can spend hours on end working in a almost meditative state on my drawings, focussing on ridiculous little details that probably only I would notice. Aerosols for large gestural pieces, and was nice getting crafty and hands on experimenting with the sculptural installation work. Also got to put my extensive collection of old school boom boxes to a good use. All in all I’d have to say, cans are my favourite medium. It’s a whole other way of creating unlike any other art medium, and truly addictive.

So, we at Invurt are pretty excited about the Red Bull Wreckers Yard shows coming up this month, live painting is always a great event particularly when a battle is involved! You took part in some live painting in Melbourne last year, and have completed a fair few murals in NZ. Is live painting a ‘perk of the job’ as such?

Live paintings always good fun, did a couple of live painting gigs while I was in Melbourne last year, one at 1000 Pound Bend as part of a exhibition their and also one at a bar downtown. Yeah, I guess you could say it’s a perk of the job, always a good challenge – I enjoy the pressure of being put on the spot, some interesting work seems to surface from god knows where.

You’ve done a bunch of collaborations with a couple of the other RBWY artists (Drypnz and Cracked Ink) before. How do you think the scene sits in NZ at the moment? Is there much unity and collaboration between different artists and the major cities?

I’ve painted numerous murals with Cracked Ink, Drypnz, Liam Moore and BMD, their all good friends of mine. That’s the thing about the scene in NZ, it’s pretty damn small when it comes to the street art side of things, everybody knows everybody and how they work, so it’s fairly easy to fall into collaborations together.

Wellington is producing some awesome artists, and more and more people are working together, things are growing and evolving, doesn’t seem to be much beef or insecurities going around these days.

One of these collaborations saw you, Drypnz, Cracked Ink and City come for a play on the streets of Melbourne last year. How does the scene compare for you between NZ and Aus?

Australia’s great, I used to live in Melbourne. It’s a awesome city with a lot to offer, loads of like minded people getting out there and doing things. I think things are fairly similar although there’s just more happening in Australia for our art form, the general public have a greater understanding and appreciation of street art so it seems a lot easier to get the ball rolling on projects over your side.

It’s still early days for us kiwi’s, kind of exciting being part of something that’s still starting out and growing. It’s exciting helping shape something and watching your friends progress along side of you.

Hopefully events like the RBWY will kick-start some more Trans-Tasman mash ups. For now though, what do you think NZ needs, if anything, to keep the scene growing?

More kid’s to get involved, education within schools and community projects on public art, Auckland city council to change it’s ways, funding to bring some international artists to our shores, and definitely more Trans-Tasman mash ups.

And for you? Any plans in the pipeline for a second solo show?

At some point down the track. Nothing planned yet when it comes to solo’s. Got a group show in Tokyo coming up which is pretty exciting, exhibiting alongside Dave Kinsey, Haroshi, Jim Philips, Kelly Tunstall, Ferris Plock and a bunch of other incredible artists I admire. I’m about 2 weeks off becoming a father, so I think a lot of my spare time will go towards teaching my son to paint and hanging out with him. We’ll see how it all plays out …

Check out Cizah Seekayem’s Facebook page for more pics, news and info!