Artist Takeover- FGB

Exhibition details here- https://www.blackboxbelfast.com/event/online-exhibition-gabriel-hyra/

This June we have been so thrilled to have FGB

Thank you, FGB, for being one of our online exhibiting artists and sharing your beautiful work with us. And here is a mini-interview/blog from them!

What’s your background?

I am a self-taught artist who never grew out of my drawing on the walls phase. I don’t remember ever not having an interest in graffiti, and was always doodling my own characters, which obviously led me down the path of street art. I started out making homemade stickers before moving on to paste-ups and finally on to painting large pieces

Are there key themes in your work?

My paste-ups are generally based on what’s going on in my environment, but my painted pieces are kind of a glimpse of a fantasy parallel universe that lives in a colourful world alongside ours, which is solely populated by big googley eyed characters and funny looking animals who live in my mind, and now yours too.

What are they, how do you explore them? 

I tend to explore ideas through sketching, I just get in to a state of flow and allow my subconscious to do all the work and come up with new characters for me, then once I’ve gathered a few ideas I’ll pick out what I like best from them, usually mixing and matching a few before coming up with a finished idea for a piece.

How has your practice developed or changed over time?

The main thing that’s changed recently is that I’ve started to create work digitally a lot more often using a big wacom /and/or iPad to fine tune my template before sticking it up on a wall, and using doodle-grids have been a huge help too in recreating an image from how I see it to recreating it on a wall. I’ve also been able to adapt to my colour blindness a lot better by learning about colour theory, making things easier for myself.

What work or processes do you most enjoying doing?

Sketching is still my favourite part of the process. I just love sitting with and pencil and bit of paper, allowing the ideas to fall out on to the paper and giving them free reign to have a life of their own.

Who or what are your biggest influences?

I could go on forever here but I’d say Flying Fortress, Keith Haring, Jamie Hewlett, Alexone, 45rpm, Richt, Cheo the list goes on. I have always been a fan of cartoons too. Old cartoons on a Saturday morning have probably influenced more of my work than anything else. Not forgetting local artists too. I’ve learnt a lot from working alongside the likes of Emic, Friz, KVLR and Verz to name but a few

Have you had any responses to your work that were particularly memorable, or not what you expected?

I once had someone tell me they’d come back to Belfast for their mother’s funeral and after the funeral they were walking along Donegall Street and saw my ‘Smile’ piece. They told me it really brightened their day. I realised then the effect that a simple piece of art stuck in the street can have on people. That really blew my mind.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given? 

Jump and the net will appear.

All items available at https://fgb.bigcartel.com