Women158 interview
We interview Women158, the founder of the new "VIP Crew" and get an insight into what inspired him to pick up the can and paint, his views on the current state of the Leeds graffiti scene and more...
For those that don't know who are you and where do you mainly write?
I'm Neil "women158" Parkinson. I mainly write around Leeds and west Yorkshire.
When did you start writing?
Always the hardest question! I started scrawling on stuff at like 12, but probably didn't attempt a piece till i was 15, and probably didn't do anything worth mentioning till I was about 18. So it's kind of hard to say. I'd say i've been properly painting (i.e. getting decent stocks of paint in) for about 3-5 years. It really is hard to say as i've been so on and off, and still don't take it too seriously (thus the name).
Give us a brief history of your progression and how you got into graffiti.
I got into graffiti just by seeing it from a young age skating at skate parks like the old rehab and agroverts, or as it's now known ripped. I think like any young guy, I just thought it was "cool" and didn't realise how much passion, soul, pure dedication and love went into getting those pieces to look so fucking hot! I started bombing (under different names) at about 15 and did that for about 5 years until I was just sick of all the negativity that came from it. I had some great times bombing, but when I moved in with OMC in Hyde park, it was a dark time for me and a lot of bad stuff went down. So around this time I just thought it's time for me to move on. I left Hyde Park and reassessed what I wanted from graff, and decided I wanted to piece more. So women158 was born and I started to piece more and more. Don't get me wrong I still bomb when i'm pissed but I try just to put up my crews or dubs.
Women158 - Rosebank legal (Leeds) 2007 & Wake Up (Wakefield) 2007.
Who were your main influences in graffiti and art in general?
A lot of influence comes from music and gig posters and the iconic art of all that stuff. But as far as writers are concerned all the people I paint with regularly, all the local crews. I'm not too big on idolising people.
You've painted with the likes of TPN, TP, UKS and EP recently, what can we expect to see in the near future?
I'm working on traditional painting. A short story book. Oh and my main goal is, me and long walk home studios are trying to set up a proper new York style exhibition in Leeds because it just needs doing. We want about 10 artists based in graff and illustration and to have a city centre exhibition with an opening night with booze, DJ's, VJ's live painting; you know how it should be done. As well, as when I have a new place with some space I think i'm gonna try get a screen print and do some clothing. And just generally try branch out as far as I can. Experiment some more.
Explain a bit about the all new VIP So far I can see you've got together a big collection of writers from the Yorkshire area.
Ah VIP or Visual Piracy. I just wanted a crew to do it all. There's not many about. Like you say I paint with TPN occasionally and have mad love for them but, it just aint my style. So I started putting together a few people to do some decent Leeds productions with, you know themes, colour schemes, characters, wildstyles, 3d the whole works. And then some people to hit the streets so we're literally doing it all, wilds, 3d's, euros, characters, backgrounds, dubs, tags. There's a lot of good artists kicking around kinda doing there thing over there, and others doing there thing over there, so the idea is to bring them together and do something fucking spectacular, it's still young and looking to expand. We could definitely use a portrait painter that may be the next stop.
Women158 and Plug - Visual Piracy 2007.
You seem to do more characters than letter form, when did you move from doing more character based pieces or has this always been your style.
It's never been like that. I try do both. It's turned into me being more of a character painter cos people seem to like them, which is cool; I think people can understand a character easier. Plus it's harder to give letters character, but I've got some plans in the old blackbook ready to come out. I still do letters and want to do a lot more. But that's the way isn't it always more.
You've got commissions in a few places in Leeds, do you think the council need to take a leaf out of other EU cities that are more open to graffiti rather than out right saying: "We do not want any permanent murals in Leeds" (which is what I've often come up against when enquiring about the legality of painting council owned walls in Leeds).
I think the council really need to take a look at how they do shit period, not just with graff. The whole country is a shambles and we are ready for revolution, the tax system and domestic policies are just crazy. I think it does show something when Greece got the Olympics and started commissioning artists and writers to paint everything from transport to entire sides of multi stories, and soon as we get it London launches a mad buff spree on all the old tracks and hall of fames. It does seem a shame i've never had bad feedback from a mural and yet still, nothing. I wouldn't worry about it, it's getting to the "abandon ship" point with this country.
There's a lot of negativity surrounding the G word (Graffiti) do you think there is room for change? Or will it always be the same way?
To be honest graffiti is its own worst enemy. Not the council, not the government, not the buff. We do kinda uncontrollably ruin it for ourselves. Illegal graff is awesome, I fully appreciate it and get it, it is the most pure and honest form of graff . But you honestly can't expect the council to give us anything when we cause such damage. And Leeds tends to see a lot of beef for no reason, half of the time everyone is too busy lining each other to come together and get something done. Seems a shame.
Do graffiti and art encompass your day to day life? What else do you do for kicks or are you always wielding a pen or tin in one way or another?
Yeah I draw or paint every day, I can't help it I need to be doing something with my hands all the time. But outside graffiti I play capoeira (a Brazilian fight dance game with acrobatics) it seems to have a lot in common with breaking, so to me it seems to fit into my life as a writer. It has all that big expressions, flow, style and use of space that goes hand in hand with graff.
Tell me the three worst and the three best colours you've purchased. (Random I know!)
Oh Christ I don't know, I can't think of any off the top of my head. Poison green is awful; any yellows by krylon aren't too brilliant. I like auto k black at the moment that stuff is the nicest black I've ever used and it's cheap as chips. Menthol by Belton is a nice one as is Macrew purple, and Loomits Aubergine is tops if u need more depth than black.
Women158 - Grim Up North (Dewsbury) 2007.