Interview - Marcus Method

I contacted Marcus Method via instagram and asked him if he would mind answering a few questions for me...

• What is your favourite type of commissioned work? Eg murals, prints, digital, paintings, tattoos etc...

I'd say my favourite type of commissioned work would be murals. I really enjoy working on a large scale and murals give me the chance to do this.

• What has been your overall favourite / most rewarding project or singular piece of work you have ever done?

I'd say my favourite project would be a solo exhibition I did called 'when I grow up'. The show included paintings, prints, sculpture, video installation and a fashion presentation.

• What has been your most random project to work on? Maybe something you didn't ever expect to be working on?

My most random project was working on a short tour around G-Star's UK stores drawing on the leather patches for jeans which customers then had sewn onto their new purchases. 

• When did creating work on a large scale and using spray paint become such a significant part of your practice?

I started painting graffiti around 2005 so the progress to large scale walls was a gradual process, with lettering pieces getting bigger as time progressed. As I fully moved away from letter based work my paintings did get quite considerably larger and hopefully as time passes this will continue to happen.

• How long have you been working as an illustrator / artists?

I was working as an artist part time for the last few years but since January this year (2018) I have been working full time, it felt like the right time to take the risk and go for it and i'm glad I did.

• What advise would you give to a new artist trying to survive in the creative industry?

For any new artists working in my type of field id say that developing your style is the most important thing you can do, develop something that people can instantly recognise and you enjoy doing. If people can recognise your work it will benefit you in numerous ways

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He gave some really good feedback in the interview, I thought the point about how the scale that he worked got bigger and bigger the less he used letters and just let patterns and illustrations take over his style was really interesting, and I can relate to that slightly within my own work when I started to spray paint my character design instead of letters - I just need to keep increasing my scale! Another thing I find inspiring about this is in his exhibition how he applies his visual identity to prints, paintings, sculpture, installations and fashion designs all together, it makes his content so diverse and sellable with a high impact. He seems to be constantly working on different projects (mainly massive murals) and now he is working as a full time artist - gives me hope for a new artist exploring a similar field of work. Its also really beneficial to hear him talk about developing a recognisable visual identity - this is something that I try to achieve within my own practice.