MEAR ONE - West Coast Graffiti Artist
What's your name?
Mear One.

What crews do you push?
I represent West Coast-WCA.

WCA has history, how did that crew get started?
That crew was one of the first crews in Los Angeles. Back in the early 80's there was really just two major based crews out here in L.A., which was the East Side which was the K25 and SDN, and the West Side it was WCA. That's pretty much what started off the graf scene in Los Angeles. Mad history in those crews.

How long have you been down with WCA?
Well I used to be from CBS, and back in the days we used to kick it with the West Coast. A few of our members joined their crew, and a few of their members joined our crew, and we had this alliance going on. I guess I got into West Coast back in '91.

So why don't you push CBS now?
Well I don't really get into that much, but basically I just burnt out on it. My main man Skater passed away, and what ever CBS once was it wasn't anymore, so I just had to move on.

So how did you first get into graffiti?
I was in junior high school, and some of the most historic writers in L.A. were just getting started at my junior high.

Name a few.
Nec from West Coast, Ser, Cool Boy from West Coast. Mainly I was around a lot of West Coast heads. I was also around  Skate-CBS, Wisk and Miner from WCA, Risky, Slick from K25. I was around a lot of these heads, and I was watching them just get out there and live the life that looked pretty exciting to me. And I was a trouble maker, getting caught up in all kinds of bullshit. Graffiti just seemed like a better alternative to get into more trouble, but more creative and more fun, more excitement, more adventure, more life altogether. So that's how I got into writing pretty much. I was a little trouble-maker, and graffiti was just my perfect call. That was back in '86.

You're from an artistic family. Was there encouragement or discouragement from your  family over graf?
It was a time were I look at it like I was weaning myself from my home. I wasn't a kid no more. I kust lived with my mom, that was my home life. She's a wonderful, wonderful mom. She's an artist. She didn't want me getting in trouble and shit, but she did support my graf immensely. She wanted me to do burners. She didn't want me bombing, but of course I had to get into bombing. That's what I started out with mainly I didn't care about graf; I just wanted to bomb.

You've been doing graf for a while now. What is it that keeps you motivated to keep going?
Just the pure enjoyment of doing it. I get mad satisfaction out of just committing a couple of weeks of my life to a serious burner, steppin' back and lettin' that burner say something. A lot of fools just put up their name and their crew and what-not, and that shit's just kind boring to me. I've been doing that shit for so many years now. I've got way more interest in putting out some heavy duty artwork. Some industrial strength shit that actually says something.

Most of your work these days have a concept behind it often without letters. How do you answer critics that say graffiti is all about the letter and its forms?
Graffiti is  indefinable and anyone who tries to tell me what it's about doesn't know shit. They're a wack-ass toy. Cause, I've been doing this for so long, I know what it's about for myself, and that's all that matters. A lot of fools out there like to stick to that traditional attitude that graffiti is all about the letters; Graffiti is all about the physical involvement. It ain't even about the letter, it ain't even about the character, it's about just doin' it. It's about learning the can control, it's about putting on the wall what you see in your mind. That goes way beyond the letter, the character.

You've done a lot of gallery shows. What's that whole thing like?
The best. It's a different life than that of running around doing shit that you get no acceptance for. Basically you're going into a place, putting up your shit and you're getting mad acceptance for it. And your're getting money for it sometimes, or you're getting recognition: You're getting some sort of compensation for it. It feels real good to have people's support. People, who are out there usually not understanding or who don't even care, finding something they like in your work is nice. That all comes back to making it say something too, not just putting up my name and my crew. That shit is just so played out at this point. When I be puting some shit up, that shit says something. SOmeone is gonna connect to that, and it's going to remind them of something inside themselves, something they know, something they've seen, something they wanna feel, something they need in their life that don't got.

What's been your feedback on your gallery shows from art buyers and from fellow writers?
Well out here in L.A., I've gotten a lot of writer support. All the homies out here pretty much back me up. I'm sure I influence a lot of 'em. I feel a lot of support doing this. I would imagine to do an art show back in the days, I'd get some negative response from the writers, adn probably get a positive response from the buyers. But the way the scene has changed and moved forward out here, the writers probably give me equal amount of support as the buyers and the critics and everyone. I mean people aren't criticizing my shit really. Pretty much I got a lot of people out here that are real happy to have a real graffiti artist, not just some wack fool, but a real graffiti artist out here moving forward and basically pioneering this shit. No one else out here is really doin' this. So I'm sure a lot of people give me a lot of love for doing that.

So who do you enjoy painting with these days?
My main right hand men Saber and Revok. Those are my boys, and Tyke and Crush. When we get together I'm guaranteed 100% involvement. They're gonna rock their shit, and not just gonna do their little piece on top of my back ground, or some shit. They're gonna sit down and rock that background until we all feel satisfied. And then, we're gonna take our time and work into the pieces. And then, we're gonna  take our time and work into the foreground. It's all one thing. It's a unified vision. My homeboy Yem gets down, Siner and Moses, NASA crew - just. We all paint together. COI - Mani and vile, Asylum, K25, STN, Slick, Relik.

So you're down with pretty much the entire West Coast?
There's some other out there, but pretty much we're all down out here. There's little beefs going on, like any city. We all have our little sideways streets of bullshit that jump off.

So what do you want for the future of graf as a whole, and for yourself?
Well as for a whole I don't know if I want to see it go anywhere else. I like it where it is. I'm sure it will. I'm sure it's all gonna change. But, where it is right now is great. It's illegal in some situations, in others it's questionable-- you can get away with different stuff. You can get legal walls for that matter. You run into all kinds of problems, but that's all part of the resistance that keeps that motivation so strong. For myself, I don't just do spray can on a wall. I create from every angle. So , I want to be getting in some better galleries. I want to be movin' up in this world. I want to try and get out as much creative information as I can possibly get out in my lifetime. I want to feel that I didn't hold myself back in any places, and that I just let loose as much as possible. Taking it to the furthest extent is the goal for me.

Do you have any final words for the people?
Yeah. The whole world seems to be pretty well connected and L.A. seems like this little island out here sometimes. It seems so separated. People just gotta remember L.A. is a sick town. This is the war zone. This feels like Mecca out here. This is a central location of where the style really innovates from. Where the style really innovates from. Where the energy is very concentrated. And it's open. A lot of the world can come and check this shit out. I've recently seen a lot of kids from Germany and France and Italy coming throught here. And it's been really incredible to hook up with some cats from the East Coast and rock some productions, and see some of those kids bombing out here. Like back in the early 90's and late 80's we had an incredible scene flourishing out here with heads like Charlie and Slick and Green and Risky and Power and these heads really pushin' hard core graf, and getting heads from other cities to come in and be down. We had like this mega-graffiti world wide unity going on. The mid 90's came and screwed that whole shit up. The whole media, the newspapers, publicity, all kinds of shit, riots and gangs, it really put a negative flow onto LA for a long time. But I feel like now LA is back 100%. I don't feel the world really recognizes LA enough for what we put out there. So I just say the world needs to start peepin' us out, out here, cause we got some sick shit. We have some of the most powerful creative forces in the world out here. We got mad respect for the rest of the world too. We just need to connect and they need to check us out here.

So is that a personal invitation for everyone to come check LA?
Yeah.
Mear One

"Graffiti just seemed like a better alternative to getting into more trouble, but more creative and more fun, more excitement, more adventure, more life altogether..." 

http://www.mearone.com/