By Chanel Kadir
Leon Sessix, famously known, as The
Dotmasters is the founding member of a new-media based collective of pranksters
called C6.org. His work has been featured in Banksy’s Can Festival in Waterloo
and his Oscar nominated feature film ‘Exit Through The Gift Shop’. The
Dotmasters works closely with The Graffik Gallery on Portobello Road. We spoke
to Leon to discuss some of his previous work, what’s coming up and how he got
started.
How did you get into graffiti and street art?
It started with tagging back in the early
90s in Brighton, and later with the promotion of art events done with C6.org,
flyposting, stickers, stenciling etc.
Do
you have a particular style or aesthetic to your work?
I’m not sure if all the work has a similar
aesthetic, it has a similar process and I’m the guy that makes it. Things
change in the execution of the work; either black or white for quick hits or
full colour ones for more legal walls. I like the work to look well crafted,
other than that it would be hard for me to put a style on it.
Where
do you get your inspiration?
I suppose I was first inspired by stencils
by seeing the likes of Nemo and Blek le rat while travelling in France in the
early 80s. My mum used to teach silk screening at a local school and as a
12-year-old I’d cut stencils with her to print t-shirts. When I saw you could
spray through them I was hooked.
Were
you involved in the man in a box exhibition? If so, what was the inspiration
behind that?
I used to work under the name C6.org an
anonymous art group set up in late 96. The Man in a Box performance was done
just after I finished art school in Brighton, and was inspired by artists like
Mariana Abramovic, and Joseph Beuys. The work put me in a 7’ x 7’ wooden crate
with 24 hour a day without food and constant internet and video surveillance
which was relayed onto the street outside the gallery. I suppose it dealt with
the many topics but made the viewer complicit in the performance, and had very
real consequences for me.
Why
do you think people have become more aware and interested in street art?
I think there are numerous reasons why
people follow street art. It’s a growing movement free from the pretensions of
the fine art world that has a very direct communication wit the general public.
There’s an element of urban exploration that gives the streets a different
dynamic with a Robin Hood aesthetic.
I
saw on Made In Chelsea that you have done graffiti work on Sophie Hermann’s
bag. Have you collaborated with fashion before?
Quite a few times. With the high-class
trash stuff, I started doing it for a show in Japan a couple of years ago.
People then started asking me to paint
their luggage. I’ve done jackets for Folk, Louis Vuitton bags, and I’m working
on a couple of things for Sophie Hermann and Victoria Baker Harber from the MIC
crew at the moment.
Do
you think fashion and graffiti will collaborate more?
I think it’s already there. Many brands
already collaborate with graffiti or street artists, even if the work doesn’t
appear on the product they are using the aesthetics in their adverts and
promotions.
