ET-KNIP

Rukz One

Interview by L. Valena
May 31, 2023

Can you please describe the prompt that you responded to?

I could see a little girl, but not in full detail, painted on a piece of cloth.

What were your first thoughts and feelings?

I was confused, I'm not going to lie! My style is very different, so when I first saw the prompt I realized I had signed up for something interesting. This is as far away as possible as I could get from my own style. Then I was intrigued. I was curious about how it was made, and knowing that I couldn't get that information sparked a lot of curiosity. Then also a lot of fear and self-doubt. What had I signed up for? Was I suited for this?

I hope that melted away eventually.

Thankfully, it did. I'm lucky to be where I am on my journey. I went through a program recently where artists answered a prompt collectively. It was like this, but without the pass-on component. For a long time during that process I was trying to make myself fit to the prompt, instead of just slapping myself on top of the prompt. Once the fear went away, I realized that if I just started doing what I do naturally, it would just happen.

What happened next?

I just kind of threw caution to the wind, to be honest. I just started drawing. My style is purely based in imagination, things that don't tie to this world or reality. As I was drawing, I created a character. What if this guy is on the other side of a world where these cloth face-people have invaded the planet? He's somehow opened up a square portal into another dimension. It just starts spiraling, and I just let it spiral. Instead of starting with the prompt, I tried to end with the prompt. That's why I overlaid that texture onto it. Initially I tried using the color palette from the original art piece, but decided it didn't work with my art.

You have to be true to yourself!

I've been trying that a lot lately. A lot of people from America (especially New York) have been helping me get there, which is funny.

Tell me more about what is happening in this piece.

Initially it always starts with some sort of shape around a face. Mostly everything I draw is evolved around a face. Sometimes I get a little bit lazy; I draw the face and I feel like I've got that emotion out of me, then it just dwindles away. With this one, the face was not as overdramatic or characterized as I usually do, and I don't know if that was the prompt in the back of my head, but it turned out to give a little more narrative into the creature. The creature itself has these imagination juices spray painting some magic that opens a portal. But in doing so, he's opened a portal to another world, the moons are flowing through, and these little square faces are coming to invade the planet. [Laughs] That's a very short version of the movie I wrote while I was drawing it.

I wish we could see the whole movie! I'm also curious about the angel/devil imagery you have going on here.

Yeah, I wasn't sure if they were happy invading cloth-people from the other planet or not. I often play on the angel/devil light/balance in my work. As simple as it looks, I try to play a lot with contrast, and try to use the balance of light and dark. It's accessible to youth because it looks like a cartoon. I have no formal background or training.

I almost gave up because I could not do shade/shadow/light source to save my life. But apparently I can balance light and dark in block colors. Instead of worrying about my weaknesses, I try to play to my strengths, which in turn has a bit more of a spiritual meaning. The balance of light and dark plays true in my life as well. Daoism and the yin-yang have been a big part of who I am as a person, and who I am as an artist these days. I'm not too focused on one side.

I used to push myself away from being involved in the art world, because I didn't feel worthy. I then got so far the other way, that I immersed myself in the art world to try to find balance. Now it's a conscious choice to do my art my way, and not be involved in their way, or come out with a big concept as to why. I'm making work that's true to me, for the fun of it, but also not being a hypocrite. I'm not just throwing shade at something I've never tried. I have to at least try it first, to understand it, and make a personal choice about it. That at least allows me to see it from the other side and respect those who do. I have a lot of great friends who dive deep into concepts. It's just not for me currently -- I make cartoon characters that could potentially be toys or something.

The art world is such a big place, right? There's space for all of us. I know I personally don't necessarily feel like I fit into the “mainstream” art world, so that's been part of my journey as well. It's been interesting to kind of just take up space anyway. I make my work, and the people who are into it are into it. It's weird though, isn't it?

Yeah. I got myself into this weird conundrum. The more I tried to rebel against the art world, the more I immersed myself in it, and the more I lost myself, which led to me hating the art world and refinding my angst. It made me realize that all of this stems from being an angsty teenager. That was the whole reason I really devoted myself to this, and it's okay to be angsty. I was called a rebel without a cause. But I had a cause; my cause was to not follow their mold. I turned down an art school scholarship -- I didn't want to do it. I didn't want to have to develop some big concept.

I just enjoy drawing and having fun, and casting my network net out far and wide. I've just finished an international sticker project which consisted of 132 artists from 23 countries and 6 continents, including some artists that have me geeking out. It blows my mind that these people would trust me with their IP, and send me a digital file to print here. People who are there to trust, be open-hearted and humble about it, and to pave the way for the next generation. That's it. If I can do that, I'll be happy.

Have you always worked digitally?

No! I had to learn to work digitally. I had done some collabs with people where I've done a drawing, and then scanned it, and then sent it to them, and we photoshop it together later. But there was an artist from Spain, Fresh Bakery Studio, who really wanted to co-work, and he challenged me to draw digitally. So I did, and it was a struggle. So then I went and invested in this laptop I'm on now, which has drawing capabilities. It didn't feel natural. By the time I got things looking half decent I lost the ability to draw outside of the computer, because it had changed my natural style.

After pestering from other people, I invested in an ipad, which feels very close to drawing on paper. It feels a bit more natural now. I just enjoy it because I can be free. I don't have to worry about making a wrong stroke, which makes me feel a little guilty sometimes. I can go through that storytelling mode in my brain to develop the work. It just allows me the freedom. The ability to just pick up and go sit in a park, and draw in a different environment is just amazing. I should probably do some more physical medium stuff, but this is what my life allows me right now, and it just takes away the excuses. No time, no materials, no space? Bad luck. You can just pop up and draw for fifteen minutes anyway. Stop making excuses.

You said it makes you feel guilty sometimes. Can you say more about that?

I guess I started finding shortcuts in the process, and it felt like I was cheating, instead of just accepting that it's part of the digital process. It was a learning curve. Just because there are these little things you can do digitally that you can't do physically, that doesn't mean you should feel guilty about it. If I draw a square and hold it, it will snap to the square shape, but I still have to retouch it and reline it. If anything it actually takes more work than if I had drawn that same square physically. The shortcuts are balanced out by the ability to overperfect certain elements as well.

Is there anything about this piece or your process that we haven't talked about?

The things in the piece, which the outside world might not realize are in most of my work, are the bags under the eyes, the heart that appears, and the teeth. It's a character that embodies me as a person, through growing, and who I am today. It's a play on my name. Rukz One is my name, he is Mr. Ukz. It's all about wearing a mask, and hiding behind a mask. I used to draw a character who slowly developed and had a broken heart; he was all battered up and wearing bandages. As I started growing as an artist, I developed him into a character with hearts in his eyes, and he grew bags under the mask that he wears because he's getting older and more tired.

It's about seeing the light and love in the world, but realizing that the world can be a tiring place. Those elements began to appear in every character. It's not so much about wearing a mask, it's about being able to adapt and evolve, to see things from different perspectives. Try things. There's always that hidden layer in my work that doesn't really come across, and I probably don't talk about it enough, to be honest. I don't know if everyone knows that this character is always visible, and that message is always a part of the work that I create. It's to tell people to be themselves, open their hearts to the world, and try to make it a better place. It can be tiring, but sometimes it's worth it.

Do you have any advice for another artist approaching this project for the first time?

Tackle it with an open mind and an open heart. Be yourself and be all you can be. Don't try to just recreate the piece you've been given -- it's a chance to really show the diversity and unity in creating.

Call Number: Y104VA | Y107VA.ruE

Rukz One was born and raised in the Western Suburbs of Melbourne, Australia. Often described as unique and polarising, he (and his art) swings between the simple and the complex. His art draws inspiration from skateboarding, hip-hop, the Melbourne street art/graffiti culture, and humanity.