Endless

He goes by the name “Endless” – a word which embodies his limitless creativity, passion and drive. Endless is a London-based artist, who infuses street and contemporary art techniques and practices.

Who is Endless? tmrw has questions.

1. How would your mates describe you?

6ft3 with string forearms

2. What is street art ?

This seems like a simple question, art that is on the street is street art, but things have changed partly because of money and the progression of a relatively new art genre. Now if you go to most City’s in the world there is some form of art seen on the streets, originally street art sprung from a similar ethos as graffiti, being illegal and done relatively fast on the street to avoid arrest while maintaining artist freedom. These days you will find large murals and even sculptures throughout the city, these large murals are often governed by agencies who diced which artists can paint on the walls and what they can paint. The mural artist, experts in painting at a large scale often get the label as street artists but to me they are mural artists, a very specific art form, and because of the public space nature of the murals always restricted in what they can paint by the rules of the city. So next time your in the city and you see these big murals, admire them but also find the real street art, the illegal work done without permission and perpetuating creative freedom, the stencils, pasted up collages, posters and tags, this is what gives the city a creative energy.

3. What challenges have you faced in sustaining a career as an artist, and how have you overcome them?

The main challenge as any creative is becoming your own boss and making your creativity bring in money so you can be more creative. This for me happened after showing my work for years on the streets of London, eventually leading to an exhibition in a gallery. Sustaining a longer life as an artist comes from always experimenting and not sticking to one way of making, being open to push your work forward, you must also grow your market so people begin to collect your work and invest in your way of thinking and creating. All of this takes time and self reflection and loads of creative energy.

4. What is your process for developing a new piece from initial concept to finished artwork?

The idea can often take the longest, everyone has many ideas in a day but not many people act on them. As an artist you have to know how to develop ideas and brainstorm in your own mind, if it feels right after a few days then its generally worth pursuing. I take this idea and turn it into a sketch, on paper or in photoshop, I then work on the digital side of the idea, often a collage, this gives me freedom to work fast and get the image looking good, I will also be thinking about what the image means and how I can improve it. I will then take this image to a canvas, often my work is a mix of collaged paper, hand painted lines, textures and cut and sprayed stencils. It involves lots of layering and the image can take on a life of its own, the original digital image is juxtaposed with free flowing hand drawn lines.

5. How do you navigate periods of creative block or artistic self-doubt?

It is normal to have doubts and if people say they don’t like your work you have to have the strength to stand by what you believe in. Constructive criticism can help and bring new ways of thinking but its important to always trust your instinct. In periods of creative block I try to keep busy, I always have other things to do that don’t need creative inspiration as much, this could be painting a background of a canvas, replying to emails or doing interviews for Tomorrow Magazine, some times doing these tasks can also give you a new perspective and may lead to new creative energy.

6. Do you have any quirky studio habits or rituals that help you get into a creative zone?

I think an artist should stay healthy and fit, the aim of an artist should be to sustain a long creative life. I like to start the day in the gym, this gets the blood flowing which helps the creative mind. You also become a better artist when your healthy and feel good.

7. Can you describe a moment or experience that profoundly influenced your artistic journey?

I think leaving the school system and learning new ways of seeing and creating at collage and university had a big impact, I knew I wanted to be an artist but I didn’t know what others had done, and I didn’t know what was possible until I was shown.

8. What's the weirdest or funniest thing that has ever inspired a piece of your art?

A lot of my work is inspired by the London streets, I like the mix of dirt and grime juxtaposed with the glitzy luxury. When I am doing illegal street art very early in the morning the streets of London take on a new magic, the characters that are seen on these streets range from the drunk people trying to get home after a big night, prostatutes, druggies, homeless, the posh and the poor. Its this real view of the world that I try and capture in my work in subtle and symbolic ways.

9. If you could have dinner with any artist, living or dead, who would it be and why?

I dont really gravitate to artists as inspiration but one creative person who I would have loved to have dinner with would be Karl Lagerfeld, I was lucky enough to collaborate with the brand Karl Lagerfeld on a casual collection and artworks. Unfortunately this collaboration happened towards the end of his life so I never got the chance to meet him in person. I think a dinner with him would be full of laughs and knowledge, with such a vast creative mind I don’t think any topic would be out of bounds.

10. What are you doing tmrw?

Trying to create what is in my mind, my Endless vision.