Arty Graffarti

To coincide with the opening of his first solo show at Nice Cat this week, I sat down with New South Wales and Melbourne artist Toggles to see what he was all about. Yours truly has been a fan of Toggles’ work for awhile now, enriched with colour and variety, his work has certainly caught the attention of anyone who crosses it too. To back it up, he’s a tip top kind of person [anyone who has met him will surely agree] also, making this, ArtyGraffarti’s first interview, a breeze.

1. What name do you write next to your work?
I have been writing Togs for a few years, Toggles is a bit of an extension of that and sounds a bit more pro, it also fits my studio work a bit better, I think.

2. How long have you been doing your work for?
I have always been making work in one way or another, but I only really started getting serious about it after a seachange from Steal City for that reason a few years ago though.

3. Have you always been the creative type or is a recent thing in the last few years and what motivated you to take it to Melbourne’s streets?
Both my parents are professional artists so I (like my sis) have been brought up to be creative, I guess! The streets rule because you never run out of canvas’ haha, along with so many other aspects like: collaborating and how long things last. It’s so rad seeing someone you knows piece and you get kinda stoked that they were there for that long and did what they did.

4. You’ve been known to do your work on various substrates: a number of canvases, abandoned buildings and on Melbourne and parts of New South Wales’ streets, which is your favorite to work on and why?
I guess for the most part, out of the studio, its about making it a mad adventure wherever it is, then the next time you see the piece you can remember the rad day you had with mates or whatever, also going big is AWESOME!

5. But why Melbourne? What is it that you love the most about putting up in this hugely “competitive” city?
Its got the most diversity and density of others doing similar things, so it keeps me driven and inspired! As they say, there’s nothing like a bit of healthy competition!

6. Your work at Rainbow Serpent last year really opened my eyes to your work along with a lot of other people [who remember seeing them], what was that experience like? Knowing your work would be in an environment like that, not to mention having it sit next to Makatron, Itch and a bunch of other international artists, Alex Grey was even there last year!
It was such an awesome experience being part of something so massive and rad! Knowing the other artists just pushed me to level up and try make something extra good! Very keen to take the ideas to the next level after having done that!
Some of the works from RSF will be at the exhibition actually!

7. Who are some of you biggest and most influential artists to your work?
I look at a fair bit of graffiti and art and everything in between really. I really love Aryz, the DMV dudes, How, Nosm, Shida and “The Weird” crew… also a load of artists like Daniel Richter and Bacon.

8. From my understanding, you come from a very creative family, how has that effected your style of work, is your family aware of your street work and do they approve?
Yeah, all my family inspire me and have opened my eyes to a lot of things I may have otherwise missed, which has made me develop something that is a bit unique, I like to think. Of course they know what I get up to and yeah, they are are stoked on it… I hope, haha.

9. Ever considered taking some of those family members out for some collaborative work?
Oh yeah! Done and done, we have a bit of a ritual large painting/drawing thing going on too.

10. Your show at Nice Cat is your first solo venture into the gallery world, is it a nerve racking experience or something you’re looking forward to?
Yeah, I’ve been thinking about it for ages, and finally decided it was time. It’s a bit nerve racking indeed, but very exciting for sure! I’m about to go paint something in the gallery hopefully, gotta keep making stuff til’ it opens right, haha!

11. Does the name ‘Binary Deception’ have any significance to what we’ll see on Friday? Or is it just a real cool name?
Yeah, I know it kinda sounds badass right? haha! Nah, I think its a fairly fitting title for the show, I feel it kinda sums up the story that runs through this lastest body of work!

12. Anything else you wanna say? Props? Shout outs? Death Threats?
No death threats as yet haha! But I guess just cheers to all my homies and fam for their support. Thanks to Amos, Dylan and cousins for helping setup and thanks to you! Pretty excited and hope people can get a charge out of the show, It’s given me a massive charge making it, my head is flooded with ideas, I feel this is the beginning of the next level or something more, haha! Anyway better get to the task at hand, cheers!
Hope to see people there!
- Toggles

Thanks for taking this interview on such short notice my man, looking forward to see what goes up, will certainly be bringing my wallet.

All images from Toggles’ Flickr

Binary Deception opened to a packed crowd at Nice Cat Store and Gallery last night, you’ve got three weeks to see it all for yourselves and I can tell you right now, it’s something to be seen. This is one of Melbourne’s most bright and fresh young talents, so head on down to see what the fuss is about!

You can find Toggles Art on: Flickr – Tumblr – Facebook

Nice Cat Store and Gallery