Originally hailing from Perth, Kid Zoom is an enigmatic artist who has pushed, stretched and manipulated the boundaries and limited circles of what people traditionally think of as “street art”.

As an artist whose hard work has done as much for his own success with the exposure he has garnered, as it has for the rest of the Australian art world, there is little circumscription in his output. Across the length of his creative odyssey, he has produced instantly recognisable murals and pieces, diabolically cool characters painted on Playboy covers, iconically bombed kangaroo roadkills across the Nullabor all of which helped to solidified his work as an identifiable part of the Australian street art culture.

Branching out from his roots, Kid Zoom moved to Sydney in 2009 to pursue new avenues and opportunities. Striking up a friendship with visiting US artist and master of the craft, Ron English, it wasn’t long after that Zoom found himself travelling to NYC to make a new home for himself, as well as to pursue the expansion of his work under Rons mentorship. Immersing himself in all the opportunities that the city and the US has to offer, he quickly found his feet and began exploring the emboldened paths his work was taking him down.

With the success of his first US show ‘This City Will Eat Me Alive’ at the end of 2010, as well as with his work in the landmark ‘Young and Free’ exhibition, the past year culminated in his captivating installation at Sydney’s Outpost Project – “Home” – an installation piece that left all who approached it in relative awe.

Such as it is, the last twelve months in Kid Zooms life has been a manically busy one – yet there is no denying that he has relished every moment and opportunity presented to him on his remarkable journey. The work he has produced thus far has engendered the support and acclamation of his peers, and the respect of a global community of art lovers – yet as an artist whose work seemingly knows no limits, it is the promise of that which is yet to come that most excites us most about his work.

As our 100th interview here on Invurt, we couldn’t be happier than to share this one with you, and we hope you enjoy this brief glimpse into the world of Kid Zoom, as well as the gorgeous imagery of ‘Home’, as much as we have …

Tell us a bit about your earlier days back in Perth, and how you got into the graffiti scene there? What was it like in the years when you were starting out?

During high school I started going out at night to paint graffiti with friends. We’d paint mostly letters, but we had no idea what we were doing. This was in the late 90s in Perth so it was a bit harder to get decent paint or caps back then, we used a hell of alot of Dulux and plasticotes. Soon after that Montys opened in Perth and made everyone’s life easier and I discovered German paint, the grey dot and half-pressure.

The Perth scene back then was prolific but not huge, so over time I began to meet everyone and I slowly found my style. Seeing TFC’s work in Perth early on was really important – people like Dash, Shime, Poise and Kane were painting at such a high level. That and Shime was bringing massive internationals over to Perth; Mode2, Loomit, How n Nosm, etc (this is all in the mid to late 90s) and Stormie was bringing over Rough and System from the UK to paint walls.

To be able to see some of the worlds best writers in the world working in Perth when I was just starting out had a massive impact on me.

Much of your work is quite rich, with bold overtones of cultural iconography, and undertones of aggression. Are you expounding a central message with your art, and, if so, do you believe that message is being heard?

I don’t really have a central, explicit message – I’m trying to answer questions for myself and I hope that something in there resonates with other people.

You have been receiving a lot of attention in regards to your work in the past year or two – magazines, festivals, events, shows, travel – how much of this attention is a boon, and how much of it is a bane?

As long as the attention is on my work, and not me, it’s a great thing.

The travel and group shows are fun, it’s also a way of meeting new artists and getting to paint with people you otherwise would never get a chance to.

There are so many differing views on whose who, and who will be the next big thing and who is “leading the charge” in the “street art community” – do these things matter to you? Do you see “pyramids” and “hierarchies” of artists being built up within the street art culture, as there are within the fine art world, or do you believe the culture itself is immune to this kind of artwank positioning?

I’ve had the chance to meet a lot of my heroes in the last two years, and the one thing that always stands out to me is that, even at the very top of this scene, every artist is still struggling and striving in their own mind.

I think every scene has its ability to get bogged down in rankings and hierarchies, but generally they’re going to be applied by outsiders. The reality of being an artist is it’s a really tough profession, even at the very top. If I’ve learnt anything from Ron [English] it’s that careers are long things, so there will be generational ups and downs.

I think If you’re in it for the long haul the work should always be at the forefront, not temporary ideas of status and rankings. I’d like to think most people within these communities have similar feelings.

Your experience with “This City Will Eat You Alive” and “Young And Free” must have been brilliant, tell us a bit about exhibiting in the US, and why it is that you believe your work finds such a great reception over there?

My first show in the US was in December 2010 which was a pop-up show on Gansevort Street in New York’s meatpacking district. The experience was really overwhelming; a lot of the show’s content was reacting to having moved to the city, as well as feeling a complete lack of control over my environment. ‘Young and Free’ in San Fran was a wonderful and humbling experience, it really felt like an important show for Australian artists and it was so amazing to be a part of.

It’s hard to say why my work has received the reception is has here in the States – I have a lot of support from some incredible people. I also think New York is such a massive city it means there’s more of a place and market for what I do.

You also did an amazing piece of installation art, Home, for the Outpost Project earlier this month – it is, deservedly so, one of the centrepieces of the festival. Can you explain to us what made you want to recreate your childhood home, and what actually went into its construction? It looks pretty sturdy.

The Home project was a five or six months project from inception, with a two month build. It’s rebuilt from memory from when I was an early adolescent, around 13-15 years old. The reason it looks so sturdy is that it’s essentially built like a real house, not a set – the only difference is that we used 70mm instead of 90mm wood and there’s no insulation or foundation. I wanted to make a work that acted as a multi-layered home-coming.

I was able to come back to Australia, literally re-build the house and reflect on my home, my origins as an artist and the detachment that I felt coming from the suburbs of Perth.

One of the elements of the Home installation was a soundscape – it was pretty prominent – how does this feature into the work, and what’s the story behind it?

The sound-scape was built in collaboration with Karl Thomas, who is a UK based electronic music producer who goes by Shockone. The audio accompanied a film showing the destruction of the three Holden commodores in front of the house. The film was projected inside the house as you enter it on a 6 meter screen. We used a 2000w sound system with massive bass-bins fitted into the walls of the house, so the whole house rattled and moaned from the outside.

Once you entered, the air-pressure from the subs created a physical experience while watching the film.

You mentioned on Juxtapoz earlier this year that you were interested in doing some work with a few photographers, do you have any specific plans or have you done much of that as yet?

It’s part of a larger project that is a long way from completion.

Tell us a bit about what’s going on in NYC these days, and why you find it to be a good base from which to work out of. Tell us a bit about this new home environment that you have adopted …

I love it here, I find myself painting a lot of the things around me now. I’m based out of Brooklyn; it’s a strong and interesting scene with a lot of history.

There’s also so many working artists here – it really keeps me motivated.

We’re curious to know – what would you like to see come out of the street art and graffiti community? What would you like the culture (which we realise is a nebulous term) to embrace, and what would you like to see it turn its back on, if anything?

Nothing excites me more than guys from this scene doing strange new things and developing unique voices. I think Ghostpatrol’s installations at Cockatoo Island were amazing and what Lush is doing right now is brilliant.

I guess what I’d like to see is people transcend these buzz words and idea’s of a ‘scene’ to just make what they were going to make anyway – I think most guys are on that track anyway.

 
What have you been up to since Outpost Project, and what do you foresee yourself doing over the next year?

I got back to the states mid-November, then was in Miami for Basel, which was fun. I’m planning on a new solo-show mid 2012 if everything goes to plan.

Other than that, just staying in New York and working hard …

Check out Kid Zooms website here for more information on the artist.