Interview by Jimon

1-Where were you born and where do you call home currently? I was born in a hospital (from what I am told), and I currently call New York, home. 

2-Why so anonymous, in a world where everyone wants to be famous. Well, it is all about ego really. We live in a world where everyone wants everyone to know everything about them all of the time. Narcissism is a plague and rampant in ways we have never seen before. I enjoy making art and sharing it. Outside of that I prefer to be a living ghost. Being invisible suits me just fine. 

3-How did you choose the name DEE DEE? I didn’t choose the name Dee Dee, it was given to me. It is actually my name.

4-Describe DEE DEE in one word? Darkness.

5-Best advice you ever received in regards to your creations? Much of the advice that has been given directly to me in regards to my art I have ignored! The best advice I ever got was watching an interview with Prince. He was asked what new music he was listening to. Prince responded “When I want to hear new music I make it”. That is the best advice I have ever heard for an artist. Make the art YOU want to exist. I simply make the art I want to see.

6-How long have you been making art and how did it all start? I’ve been making art most of my life. I’ve been drawing ever since I was a child. I’ve written. I’ve created music. Creating has always been very important to me. How did it start? My earliest memory of it was drawing my dog on the wall of the living room in my home with a black crayon. It wasn’t nearly as appreciated as I thought it would be.

7-How did you acquire your style? I have always loved collage, particularly early Linder work and punk flyers from Los Angeles in the 80’s. My style came from trying to tell stories with it and incorporating spray paint to put them in a world of their own. Some stories are in twilight, some are in hell, some by the buildings burning before them. Colors have meanings for me. I feel my style was really informed by my ability to tell a story.

8-What do you dream about? Lots of things, though I am much more prone to nightmares. I am more haunted than I am dreaming. I wake up screaming in the middle of the night quite often. I have had to apologize to neighbors on occasion. It’s been with me my entire life. 

9-What would you be doing if you were not an artist? I’d be spending a lot more time at the beach.

10-The Future is ______ Unavoidable. 

11-Do you remember the first piece you created and looking back how it has stood the test of time? The first piece I created was a cat on a woman’s body with kanji a decade ago. I think the piece still works as perfectly as I intended, and I receive inquiries to purchase them to this day so I suppose it has withstood the test of time. I have fond memories of making that piece.

12-Do you think there is a difference between graffiti art and street art? I associate graffiti with improvisation in the public space. I think of street art as thought out and prepared beforehand, then presented in the public space. I enjoy both and have done both. I also feel there would be no street art without graffiti so I am quite thankful to those graffiti artists who paved the way, particularly people like Futura, Lady Pink, and Lee Quinones for me.  

13-Is there a message behind your pieces? There are messages in them. I tell secrets in them. There is a story in each of my pieces. That for me is very important. I want to be able to tell a story and take the viewer into another world. Much like the frame of a film but you can see the story all within one frame.

14-How would you like to be seen as an artist years from now? It isn’t important to me. 

15-What or who has had the most influence on your work? I would say that would be three people. David Lynch, Prince and David Bowie. David Lynch taught me how to dream an idea, and to follow that idea wherever it takes me. Be true to that idea and it won’t let me down. Prince taught me to make the work I want to see myself, and he had a huge influence on how I work. Bowie taught me how to be brave. He has that wonderful quote, “If you feel safe in the area you’re working in, you’re not working in the right area. Always go a little further into the water than you feel you’re capable of being in. Go a little bit out of your depth. And when you don’t feel that your feet are quite touching the bottom, you’re just about in the right place to do something exciting.” 

16-Looking at all the work you have done do you have a favorite? Generally my favorite is the one I am currently working on. They are all me, really. I do have a particular fondness for “Killing Machine” though. It is a dream that has always spoken to me very strongly. 

17-What other types of art interests you? Music is everything. It is my first love. I love films as well. On a friend’s recommendation I recently subscribed to The Criterion Channel and am quite enjoying it. I have strong love of David Lynch and Stanley Kubrick. I also love Coppola, Kazan, and even though he only directed one film, Charles Laughton. 

18-If you could live in a museum anywhere in the world which would it be? I would live in the Neu Galerie Museum in New York City, in the Klimt room. They also have a cafe which serves the most incredible Viennese apple strudel so I would eat well too.  

19-If you could have dinner with 3 artists living/dead who would be at your table? This would be a pretty easy one for me. Certainly David Lynch, then Francis Bacon, and David Bowie. I imagine it would probably wind up being all of us listening to Francis tell stories. 

20-What forth-coming projects and or exhibitions do you have scheduled? I have an upcoming solo show, “All Your Bridges Are Burned”, which will open in Philadelphia this fall at Corridor Contemporary. 

21-Do you have a place/person/thing that you visit for inspiration? I use music for inspiration. I think I use music in the way that some people use drugs. I use it to inspire me, or to put me in a place emotionally where I wish to work from. I can choose music to get me there, for example say The Cure. They can put me in an emotional state by listening to them where I want to convey a certain feeling. I sometimes will choose a band in particular to do this with as I prepare work and it won’t work, but then a band will choose me instead. I am currently working on my next solo show and the band Failure has chosen me. I will listen to them over and over, as if on a loop, and their music has put me in a place where I have been able to create much of my new work. It has been an incredible time for me. I have also recently become friends with Greg Edwards from the band and our conversations on creativity have been quite lovely and inspiring. 

22-If you were asking the questions what question would you ask and please answer the question.  I would ask what am I listening to right now? it’s “Another Space Song” by Failure.

23-How would someone find you on Social media?  Instagram @deedeewashere

24- Please name the first thing that comes to your mind while reading the following:

Art = Safety

Food = Pizza

Sports = Surf

Politics = Ugh

Poor = Help

God = Is dead.

Rich = Gluttony

Luxury = Pillows

Sex = Sweat

Picasso = Flow

Religion = Music