PHRESHA _{Le Vandalé}

(images courtesy of Phresha)

First of all, thanks for the interview! We’ll start with the standards:
Age:: 27
Hometown / current city of habitation:: born in Romania, now residing in East Van
Medium:: spray-paint / acrylic / watercolours
How old were you when you started painting and what type of images where you creating back then?
Phresha:: I’ve been drawing since I could hold a crayon. According to my mom, I was into pink squirrel superheroes and polka dot princesses, back in the day.
What inspires your images?
Phresha:: Adventures, escapades, vixens, dirty dreams, rawness, graffiti and beauty in unusual places.

When you and Soak do collabs, who paints first?
Phresha:: We haven’t done that many collabs, but so far I seem to be the instigator.




If you could choose any of your ‘hero’ artists to collaborate with, who would it be and why?
Phresha:: What I really want to do is collaborate with somebody working in an entirely different medium than me. A writer, welder or engineer would be cool. Somebody that wants to make something massive and with moving components. A giant life size pop up book would be rad, cyborg babes or mechanical trees…

Describe your roll with BRAVE Art. How did you get hooked up with that team?
Phresha:: I lived in Whistler last winter, so through their tightly knit artist community and Kate Power of Homebase Studios I got involved in BraveArt, which was an amazing experience, and I look forward to being involved in it this year as well.



(images courtesy of Phresha)
Tell me a bit about Deviant Ethics and your roll with them.
Phresha:: Deviant Ethics is all me. It developed through my endeavors in screen printing and clothing design while living in Toronto. Unfortunately I suck with numbers, so things got too hectic without a business mind for me to collaborate with, so I put the clothing design on hold and chose to focus on gallery shows, commissions and freelance design work for the time being.

What keeps you crazier, gallery work or commissions?
Phresha:: I work a fall-back p/t daytime job, and I paint all hours of the night, most nights, gallery shows or not, but I’m pretty picky with the commissions that I undertake so that helps with my levels of my sanity ever so slightly.
How do you manage your time with the demand for your work?
Phresha:: I work best under pressure and I recently started making lists of things I need to get done. I might even invest in an organizer one of these days.
Most common music you rock when painting?
Phresha:: Depends on my mood and what I’m painting. Usually I shuffle between hip-hop, funk and some experimental goodness.

Do you have any advice for the younger generation of street artists?
Phresha:: Sometimes there seems to be too much beef and not enough art. Don’t get caught up in silly drama, wasting your time talking trash and crossing each other out… just fucking go and paint, paint, paint whatever you can get your hands on. This city needs more colour!

Upcoming shows or travels?
Phresha:: I’m in the midst of traveling around the Toronto and Montreal right now but I have a few group shows that I’m involved in when I return to Vancouver.

January 24, 2009
CARDED! Little Mountain Studios 195 e. 26TH (At Main) Vancouver www.hotartcard.com

February 6, 2009
Blood, Guts and Gore - Group Artshow, The Fall Tattooing, 644 Seymour St Vancouver BC
www.thefalltattooing.com :: www.blindmuteproductions.com

April 24, 2009
“Things that go bump in the Night” Mike’s Garage, Whistler
www.blindmuteproductions.com

Last words?
Phresha:: Living in Vancouver is helping me find a balance in my wild and crazy life. The lack of sun is also making my new art a couple of shades darker which I find interesting. Keep an eye out for the new art goodness and updates at www.deviantethics.com as well as www.showandtellgallery.com/artists

Brief Bio::
Phresha was born in Romania in 1981 with a crayon in her hand. She relocated to Canada in her youth, spent some time in Toronto and now recently relocated to Vancouver. College educated in graphic design & advertising and deeply influenced by graffiti aesthetics, Phresha’s style can be described as vibrant, multi-layered, seductive, playful and sometimes scandalous, organic flows with sultry female forms. Phresha has worked with clients such as MTV, Vans Shoes and Style in Progress and has artwork published in multiple publications such as Curvy 1 & 2, Semi-Permanent and Smut. Her art has been featured in numerous galleries in the Canadian east and west as well as featured in a documentary “Creative Violation – the rebel art of the street stencil” in 2007. Currently Phresha is focusing on gallery shows, commission work and freelance design assignments.

::
me::(…Thought it was funny that when I type your last name into Word, it tells
me that the auto correct of Vandalé is ‘vandal’.)

Phresha::Haha that’s pretty accurate! :)