Mear One interview by Erin Leigh
This Saturday LA’s own Mear One will be showcasing his historical collection of his LIVE ART pieces at C.A.V.E. Gallery, Venice Beach. Mear One is an icon for the LA art scene and we have seen his graffiti and murals throughout our streets for nearly three decades, most notably for his mural explosions on Melrose in the eighties, visually catapulting the street to a Los Angeles landmark. His work is often political, supernatural and seemingly honest, as if he has opened a porthole to the other worlds and we are reminded again to wonder what actually may be. In this weeks Words To Live By Mear One took some time to let us in on his, we are completely honored and ready to listen.
ISM: Where you are from, where you are now?
I was born in Santa Cruz, California, and moved to Los Angeles at the age of three and a half. I grew up in Hollywood for the next nineteen years and moved away from the Melrose Ave district when I was in my early 20s. I have lived in Eagle Rock and Echo Park and currently reside in Silverlake, CA.
ISM: When and how your art career began?
I have been an artist ever since I could speak. My mom was an artist and she taught me how to paint and helped me gain access and scholarships as a child to some of the great art institutions here in LA like Barnsdall Park, Art Center, and Otis Art Institute. In the mid 80s I fell in love with Graffiti Art and sprayed my work all across town which lead to traveling up and down the California coast rocking my name and crew, CBS.
ISM: Can you tell us about the name Mear One?
I called myself MEAR because I thought it sounded like an alien name of royalty, and the ONE came as a signifier of originality and the first to claim it. I tried other names at first, but the letters in MEAR ONE seemed to form comfortably in my style.
ISM: You are exhibiting live art pieces at CAVE Gallery this weekend, we can’t wait! Can you tell us more about this kind of show and what that process is like for you?
My Live Art is an exercise intended to work out the constant flow of ideas that bombard me on a daily basis. I use the energy and pressure of the live art setting in front of a public audience to influence my studio paintings. Being a graffiti artist I grew fond of watchers and passersby who would stop to ask me a few questions while I painted on the street. Whereas my studio work is usually created in oil and takes months to complete just one canvas, Live Art offers a constant source of completion while I painfully chop away at my long term projects. The dramatic difference of application and technique causes my understanding of the nature of paint to encompass a broader use in execution. I feel that my fast stroked build a degree of trust and confidence in myself, which I gain from having no sketch and leaving myself completely vulnerable in the eyes of scrutiny. A sharper blade is gained by confronting limitations and engaging the unpredictable nature of Live Art. I believe that struggle builds a better artist and any creative obstacle overcome is a new layer of self mastered.
ISM: Favorite city in the world?
My favorite city in the world doesn’t exist, but LA is pretty close to it. I am an avid hiker, climbing much of the Angeles Forest and mountains and enjoy the Mojave Desert to Zuma beach. I love San Francisco, places in Colorado and Paris to Montpellier in France, but nothing seems to give me the weather and satisfaction of the surrounding environment like the City of Angels.
ISM: Favorite time of day?
My favorite time of day is the golden hour, it makes everything look like a painting and its warmth fills me with inspiration. I also love the midnight sky when the moon is full, I’m a bit of a romantic.
ISM: Besides art, favorite thing to do?
As I said, I love to hike, go into nature and reconnect to the great mother. I do love my time painting too, I drift into a dream state and find new places in my mind to explore, which is very satisfying and exciting. I am an explorer of life, that risk it all sort of thrill. That’s why I do graffiti.
ISM: Words to live by?
I believe that some of the harder things in life define you and so as a friend once said, “Life is not about who you think you are or what you have, it is about the grace in which you deal with complexity.”
-Erin Leigh
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