BAKEZZZ × AFEALD
Q: For people discovering your work for the first time, how would you describe what you do?
I’m a contemporary artist working across painting, print and murals. My work is very much about curiosity, contradiction and questioning the world around us.
I’ve always been drawn to things that don’t necessarily make immediate sense. I like imagery that can be funny and uncomfortable, colourful and dark, chaotic but still considered. I want the work to grab your attention, but then give you something to think about once you’ve stopped looking at it.
Q: What originally drew you towards making art?
I think I’ve always needed some kind of outlet for the things going on in my head and the things I notice around me.
Art gives me a way of processing experiences, observations and frustrations without having to explain everything literally. I’m interested in taking all these different influences, graffiti, graphic design, comics, psychedelia, punk culture, everyday life, and throwing them together to see what comes out.
There’s a real freedom in that.
Q: Your work has quite a rebellious energy to it. Where does that come from?
I’ve never been particularly interested in following a set formula.
There’s something about being told how you’re supposed to behave, what you’re supposed to like or what something is supposed to look like that makes me want to question it. That attitude naturally finds its way into my work.
For me, rebellion isn’t necessarily about being angry all the time. It can simply be about thinking for yourself, questioning things and being comfortable enough to go your own way.
Q: How important is individuality to you?
Massively important.
I think individuality is what makes people interesting. Everyone has their own experiences, influences and contradictions, and I think the same should be true of art.
I’m not interested in making work that feels like it was designed to fit neatly into a particular box. I’d rather make something that feels honest to me, even if it’s slightly strange or difficult to categorise.
Q: What do you hope people take away from your work?
I don’t really want to tell people what they should see.
I’d rather create something that makes them stop for a second and ask themselves a question. It might make someone laugh, confuse them, remind them of something, or even make them uncomfortable.
If someone walks away thinking about it differently to how they felt when they first saw it, then I’ve done my job.
Q: Your work often contains a lot of different visual influences. How do you bring those together?
I like contrast.
I might start with a character or an idea that feels quite playful and then surround it with something more chaotic or unsettling. I’m interested in what happens when completely different visual languages collide.
I think that reflects the way I see the world too. Things aren't always one thing or another. There’s humour in serious situations, darkness in colourful things, and chaos can sometimes have a lot of intention behind it.
Q: Is there a particular message behind your work?
There are definitely recurring themes, identity, conformity, consumer culture, authority and the absurdity of everyday life, but I don't want to spell everything out.
I think art becomes more interesting when there’s room for the viewer to bring their own experiences to it.
I’m trying to start a conversation rather than give someone the answer.
Q: What does “resist conformity” mean to you?
To me, it means being willing to question the default.
Not necessarily rejecting everything for the sake of it, but asking yourself why you’re doing something in the first place. Why do I make art this way? Why does something have to look like that? Why are we expected to behave in a particular way?
That mindset is something I try to carry through both my work and my life.
Q: What attracted you to Afeald?
There’s a genuine crossover between what Afeald represents and the way I approach my own work.
I like the idea of jewellery being more than just an accessory, something that can become part of your identity and say something about you.
The emphasis Afeald puts on individuality, freedom and resisting conformity really resonates with me. Their pieces have a slightly rugged, understated quality to them, which I think works well alongside the rawness and energy in my artwork.
Q: How do you think art and jewellery work together?
Both can be forms of self expression.
A painting can communicate something about you without you having to say anything, and I think jewellery can do something similar. The things we choose to wear become part of our visual language.
I like that jewellery can be quite personal. It can carry meaning for the person wearing it, even if nobody else knows what that meaning is.
Q: What does wearing something with meaning mean to you?
I think the best things become part of your story.
Whether it’s a piece of clothing, jewellery, an artwork or something you’ve picked up on a journey, it can become attached to a particular moment or period in your life.
That’s much more interesting to me than something simply being fashionable for five minutes.
Q: What are you exploring in your work at the moment?
I’m continuing to explore the relationship between chaos and control.
I’m interested in pushing the visual language of the work further, making things louder and more immediate while still leaving those little details and contradictions for people to discover.
There’s always another idea around the corner, so I’m trying not to become too comfortable with one particular direction.
Q: What does the future look like for BAKEZZZ?
Hopefully more of the same, but bigger, stranger and more ambitious.
I want to keep making work that feels authentic to me, whether that’s on a canvas, a wall, a print or somewhere completely unexpected.
The main thing is to keep experimenting and not lose the curiosity that made me want to make art in the first place.
