5 Questions with Akisiew

The 2095'ers first encounter with Akisiew was very early on in the piece.  

Having elected to swallow the fear and in attempt to push the 'safety boundaries' in the quest for street-art, the 2095'er felt it was time to explore a suburb she hadn't been to since working there prior to a now famous stoush occurring at "The Block".

Lovely sunny day, no shadows to hinder a shot, no cars blocking walls, following a group whom the 2095 assumed were going to some tertiary institution to become future whatevers, a feeling of whimsy enveloped: "ahh yes yes, got a teeny bit bladdered at that pub. oh! that place....a great GREAT night to be had I think".

And then for an inexplicable reason the 2095 stopped. Swivelled left and found this extraordinary piece so beautiful, so spellbinding it was more of a revered moment than speedy shot and continue moment.

Confidence brimming with delight to have found such an incredible piece spilling over, the 2095 continued on her merry way, not realising at that stage, she would in fact find more pieces by this particular artist literally the following day (as there are times when if the conditions are perfect, the 2095 will make 3 or 4 trips in one week simply to take advantage of conditions and sate the desire to discover)

Wandering around the back streets of Newtown trying to find another piece (remembering that the 2095'ers internal GPS is constantly in need of repair), becoming completely frustrated both at herself and her inability to find a sign that gave any indication of the street name, it became a case of "I give up!".

Of course having reached that conclusion, what the 2095 then found was a paste up that was so beautifully done with an overwhelming sense of "peace" about it, any former emotional angst evaporated immediately.

Here are my 5 questions with Akisiew

Your work is truly breathtaking and always but always makes the heart skip a beat when found.  How long has art been a part of your life

Shucks!!! I guess art has always been a part of my life.  I've been drawing, writing and making things for as long as I can remember... not necessarily as how you see my art these days, but it has always featured predominantly in one form or another.

When did you make your "debut" to the streets

My first "debut" was about 3 years ago.  I had these seed pods that I had lovingly turned in to people by drawing and colouring over them in fine tip pen and pencils.

I wrote different love messages inside each of them representing the different loves I had experienced in my life.  I rode my bike out to Camperdown Park one Saturday night and tied them with twine to a tree...by morning they had mostly been decapitated. Not quite the reaction I was hoping for but a reaction none the less.

My much more successful attempt soon after was a visual representation of a poem I had written about the dead birds falling from the sky in Arkansas.

I painted it with HazzyBee in Enmore. 

Are your works mainly commission or have there been times when it's a "let's just do it"

There was a time I was doing a heap of paste ups around the Inner West which was definitely a a "let's just do it" kinda thing.

I was running around with a fellow artist (Baiada) and we were throwing up all kinds of colourful things too. But I have been lucky enough to get quite a few commissions too and that's always fun because I'm essentially a bit of a scaredy cat really....

Your collaborations are synonymous with HazzyBee.  do you prefer solo or collab and if so why/why not

I love painting with Hazzy!  Hazzy's my boy.  I think our styles are so dreamy, happy, sad that we don't have over-think anything working together. 

The past year or so I have been doing quite a bit of solo work, but my solo work is more precise and detailed and looks so different when it flows on paper rather than a giant wall.

There's fun in both I guess

What does the future hold for the artist known as Akisiew

Hopefully just a lot more drawing and painting!  I have a solo show coming up at Kinokuniya Book Store's Wedge Gallery at the beginning of August, so my future for the moment has been narrowed down to getting all my work ready for that....you should come!

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My thanks to Akisiew for spending some time with the 2095 and allowing her works to be reproduced for this blog and yes...reckon it just might be that the 2095'er gets to this exhibition