greed1 in Linden Street, Hayes Valley (part 4/4)

[back to the start]

greed1 is a rarity in San Francisco, locally born and raised. He's lived here in Hayes Valley most of his life, and he's really seen the neighborhood change.

"I went to a local high school, and we used to make our way down to 10th & Mission and the area round there to paint in the 80's and 90's. It was super sketchy, mostly full of warehouses and crackheads, but it was a playground for artists. There was so much art everywhere in that area then, but it's all gone now."

"Pity - that would have been awesome to see."

"Yeah", he says, applying some paste over a small piece to make it stick. "I was thinking about what you said about my work the other day - you said it was geeky. It's funny, I never really thought of myself that way - I just make art about what I like, what I enjoy. Anime, or videogames, or whatever - I like playing videogames, so you know, I made a megaman piece, or I'll make a zelda thing. Zelda was a total murdering bastard, by the way", he says, grinning broadly.

"So what is it that motivates you? You put a lot of effort into hand-making your work, so what drives it?"

"I've been asked that before", he says, pausing, paintbrush in hand "and it's this - if you can find something life that you love, and it doesn't harm anyone, you should do it as hard as you can. It's important."

He proceeds to finish, reapplying paste to help it stick.

"Funny thing though - so many people, street artists and graffiti artists - when you meet them, they're totally shy and introverted", he says, standing back to see the piece from across the street.

"Really? That's not what I would have expected."

"Yeah, its a way for them to connect, to communicate with hundreds of people without having to talk face-to-face. Sometimes after I put something up I like to just watch people interact with it, just to see."

He packs up, I thank him for the window into this side of street art. Hoodie and headphones on, greed1 disappears and we part ways.

--

You can find greed1 on tumblr and deviantart.

Some rights reserved

Taken in: United States / California / San Francisco / Hayes Valley (show map)

Taken on: February 19, 2012

Tags:

2012

sfist

greed1

wheatpaste

interview

hayes valley

linden street

linden alley

linden

graffiti

we built this city

we built this city out of old ships

ships

old

old ships

fleet

Bhautik Joshi

organic

hand

made

hand made

amazing

awesome

art:title=old ships and shit

art:artist=greed1

art:neighborhood=hayes valley

art:description=None

art:citycommission=no

art:category=wheatpaste « less

Sets appears in: • San Francisco Stories • Mapped SF Street Art more » • People Portraits • Street Art « less

Groups appears in: • Boing Boing • San Francisco more » • All People • SFist • Streets of San Francisco • SAN FRANCISCO: I LIVE here. (ONLY San Francisco residents!) • Curbed SF • WHAT YOU'RE SEEING (SF) • Streetsblog San Francisco • unurth pool • Bay Area - Wheat Paste • Linden Alley Project « less

Camera: Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XSi, f/3.5, 1/1250 sec, 10mm, ISO 100 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XSi
Lens:	EF-S10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM
Aperture:	f/3.5
Exposure Time:	0.001 sec (1/1250)
Focal Length:	10mm
ISO:	100
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Aperture-priority AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	Uncalibrated
Show full info

Stats: 4,256 views