LSD Magazine Interviews - Street Artist 'ACE' (Issue 2)

You are probably London’s most prolific poster paster, what’s your motivation? 

Is that right?! My motivation really hasn’t changed from my tags, throwies, stickers or paste ups; it’s all about just getting up! Simple. No hidden agenda, no hidden messages. I just prefer now using this medium to get up. I personally find it a bit more sophisticated than the stuff I used to do. 

Why did you choose the poster format? 

They were a natural extension from the stickers that I started to really enjoy putting up in the early days. I like working graphically and this seems to be the cheapest and most effective way of doing it on a variety of scales! I really like how they tie in with the bill posters ubiquitous with the decaying urban environment. They look better when they’re ripped or dirty and start looking like part of their surroundings. Screen printing or laser copying gives you the chance to repeat the same image again and again in that Warhol/commercial/ magazine kind of way. I also like to hand paint them, so again this format affords me the time to take time painting them and then bang them up real quick! 

 
What and who influences your work? 

I look a lot at pop art, graphic design and graffiti so I think those influences are always quite apparent in my work. I think as an artist you consciously or subconsciously get inspired by all artists you come across. New ideas will come when you discover something new. For me it might be a technique, a layout, a colourscheme or whatever. Recently I’ve been looking a lot at Stuart Cumberland and Peter Blake. Maybe that’ll come out somehow or sometime in my work! It’s nice to kind of teach yourself new things.


Do you live in fear of arrest? 

I don’t think you can let that bother you too much or you’ll never get off your arse and do anything! I just have to learn from past mistakes when I have been caught or whatever. 

 Street, warehouse or Gallery? 

Street always first. You’re always going to lose something when you take it out of its original context. Saying that; I don’t think my work necessarily relies on being on the street to look its best; like say; some of Banksy or Eine’s work. I like it being on the street though. It’s a natural extension of being on the street, or at one with the street as a skater, which I was for many years.

READ FULL INTERVIEW IN LSD MAGAZINE ISSUE TWO

Open publication - Free publishing - More dance music