Let me introduce to you Steven Nuttall also known as OX KING, an incredible mural artist who is deeply inspired with a vision to build connection back to community and our streets again through the medium of bold colours, stunning portraits woven with an ancient form of story telling.
AN INTERVIEW WITH OX KING
You are a UK artist; how do you feel like growing up in UK has affected the style in which you paint and draw?
I think the more influential impact on my style and subject matter came from moving to Australia during my teenage years more than any specific British influence. That process of transition really impacted the sorts of things I drew and the styles that inspired me. I found that the culture in Australia was a lot more influenced by America and Asia than the culture in England. Access to anime influences and American cartoons really shaped my love of bold graphic styles where previously I would draw in a more realistic classical style.
At what age did you start making art? Was there someone who you grew up with that inspired you to draw? A mentor, teacher? Parents, grandparents, friends? Where did it all begin for you, did someone start off the journey?
I always loved to make art from a very young age, my mother always had a huge selection of craft supplies from projects that she worked on and having access to that really shaped my love for creating. Both my parents were very supportive of my creative interests and it was something that was encouraged in school as well. I found that making art was something that I was good at in the small primary school I attended so I think that pushed me even further down that creative path.
Where did the name OX king come from? What is the story behind it?
I have had a few names that I went by over the years, For some reason, people always misspelled my last name and so I went through a few other pseudonyms to try and correct this. Ultimately they were all too complicated and I wanted something super simple and easy to remember so I landed on OX, as the letters are also symbols used universally. When I started writing Graffiti the two letters weren’t enough for a full piece so I added the King to the end as a reference to a character from Dragon ball, a show that massively shaped my style and use of bold color pallets growing up.
Do you prefer working larger or smaller? Why?
I actually like both because of the amount of control it gives me. Intermediate-sized work often frustrates me because of the limitations over what I can and can't do with certain materials. Something super small that can fit on a desk allows me a full range of motion and precise control over the image while seeing everything in context of the overall work. Large scale murals offer that same control in a different way. I'm able to do the same work I do in the studio but it is like I have been shrunken down and can clamber all over the painting making sure the details are clean when viewed from a distance.
Ultimately I like painting walls more than anything, just because I get to travel and work outside, there is a lot of problem solving that has to happen to a deadline when painting a mural which I enjoy. Painting in the studio drives me a bit crazy sometimes, too much time alone without a deadline can just freeze me up creatively I think.
I notice a lot of your murals and illustrations specialise in portraits, what excites you the most working with the human form?
I think it is part of human nature to be drawn towards the human form. The human face is the first thing we learn to identify as children and we have a powerful connection to identifying its subtle emotional range. I started painting portraits as a challenge because of this innate ability to recognise the face which we all possess. If you paint a face wrong there is an uncanny disconnection that happens between the work and the viewer. Portraying another person is fascinating to me for this reason. I still have a lot to learn and can pick out a million flaws with every portrait I paint so the pursuit of mastery is exciting and a road that has no real end in my opinion.
How do you get vision for your artworks?
Working primarily as a mural artist I am mostly informed by the wall that I am painting to be honest. There are a lot of limitations and restrictions that I have to work around depending on the location, shape of the wall, material I am painting on etc. From that information I work out what I can and can’t achieve with the space and use that as a starting point which will inform the concept.
From there I generally think of what I want to paint immediately for the most part, I get a general impression of the shapes and colors that will work in the space and use that as my major inspiration then slowly refine that vision into something more detailed.
If I don't get that initial flash of inspiration from going to the site and talking with the people involved with the mural and area, the production of the work will be a bit of a torment for some reason. I rarely explore various options for the work I make so if that initial vision is not there I generally move away from those projects.
What’s your fascination with the balance we strike between the traditional and the artificial in a modern urban context?
I think it is the process of painting murals itself that informs that fascination. I often work in areas to make them more beautiful, or more accurately, less bad haha. The mural itself is an artifice, all art is in a way, it is there to depict a vision of reality or fantasy that is untrue but can inspire thought of the real. When placing art into a location it is a strange juxtaposition of the real and functional with the artificial and fantastical.
I paint a lot of flora for this reason. In an urban environment where the majority of my work is placed, depicting the natural world to change the look of an area is comforting but ultimately is a fabrication of something much more complex and beautiful that exists outside of these spaces. And so I like to depict these very real and foundational aspects of the natural world in very unnatural color schemes as a reminder that while these images represent the natural world they are a mere illusion created by man's interference.
I am not sure if you know of the famous illustrator Beatrice’s Potter, she used to talk to her illustrations and feel like each drawing was almost her friend, do you feel any unique connection with a certain one of your pieces?
I actually used to live about a half an hour drive from her house funnily enough. I do have connections with my work but maybe not in the same sense. I like to put a lot of iconography into my work that has personal meaning to me, certain symbols reference specific ideas for me but at the same time I like to leave these messages intentionally vague so the viewer can project their own story and meaning onto the work so they can also have a personal connection with it hopefully.
Certain works are particularly special to me but I think it is more because they symbolize times in my life and the time I spent painting them and what happened while I was in those specific places.
When you get stuck on a mural or design what helps you the most to come back to it with fresh eyes?
Time, if I am getting frustrated with creating a concept, I find it is because I am too close to the work and can't really see the forest from the trees if you know what I mean. Stepping away from work and just forgetting about it for a while is the best way for me to see it how others might, this tends to help with making decisions and changes that I would otherwise be unable to see.
Where do these characters come from? Which one is your most favourite, which one would you most likely have dinner with? ( do you have a picture reference of them?)
It's a bit of a mix of influences, sometimes the characters are based on real people, others are completely original and some are a mix of the two. I think one of my favorite characters is based on Eliza Emily Donnitorne who I painted for a project in Newtown. She is said to be the real life inspiration for the Charles Dickens character Miss Havisham. I had no reference images for the real woman and so I created this character as a representation of both the real woman and the fictional character, however, I don't know how much fun she would be to have dinner with.
If I had to choose a dinner partner it would have to be the character of Hestia a Greek goddess of hearth and home that I painted for a celebration of Greek independence in Marrickville, I think the food would probably be amazing haha
What is your intention with your art?
Generally, I like to think of my murals as monuments to the area, the same way a statue or fountain might act in a town square. Something that represents the local area and acts as a landmark for the residents, something to become part of the history and visual identity of a space.
After finishing art school I was quite put off from work in the context of a gallery space, it feels a bit excisional to me and not really the audience that I would like to make work for. Mural work is often in a space where you don't expect to encounter art and I wanted to make work for people to pass by when they have to go to work or something. Whether people care about the mural or not I like the idea that it is something they pass by in their day to day life and maybe have some sort of relationship with even in the smallest way.
What's your next big project ?
I have a few things on at the moment but the mural I’m most excited about is a project to commemorate Richard Gill, An Australian conductor, teacher and public personality that sadly passed away in 2018. The work is in reference to the infamous street orchestral performance outside of his house by local musicians who wanted to honor him with his favorite song before his passing. The concept is quite challenging as I hope to do justice to this great man, so I am both nervous and excited about it.
What’s your perspective on the difference between street art vs Mural art in your experience?
In my opinion there are 3 broad classifications of public art in the modern era: Graffiti, Street art and Muralism. Murals are the oldest of these forms in the classical sense, originating in ancient frescos and the paintings of European churches. However graffiti and street art also have a long history and cultural impact before they were really considered art. Graffiti is the base of modern practice and a big influence on my work. Graffiti laid the foundational stones and pioneered the technology, methodology and materials that most public art is made with nowadays. The illegality of graffiti is in a way the central ethos of the movement, and is almost more like a sport than any particular artistic expression, it subverts ideas of ownership and grants a voice to those who are often overlooked in a capitalist society.
From Graffiti came street art where the messaging of these ideas became more of a focus with the intention of subverting the social norms all while maintaining the illegality and rebellion of Graffiti. The popularization of street art however began to blur these lines as these “anti-authoritarian” artist began to be commissioned and commercialized entering the spaces that they previously rallied against, in reality becoming muralists under the banner of fake rebellion.I think Muralism stands to the side of both of these movements as it adopts more of a classical approach to its creation, relying on permissible spaces and commissioned work, using many forms of technique despite being so heavily influenced by the mediums that graffiti created recently.
There is a place for all of these forms and they will intermix in a million shades of gray in between so there is no clear cut answer, it depends on the artist and their intentions as to which family each work belongs to.
How would you best describe your creative process?
My process is pretty refined at this point. As I mainly work on commission projects there is always some sort of structure or goal outlined for me at the start of any major work. I do not take any particular instruction for what I will actually paint but I will often work with a client on a broad intention of the work and themes of the project as a starting point.Communication is very important so I like to take a long time speaking with whoever is involved so we all have the same expectations. I hate making any major changes to my concepts so I find that being on the same page before I put pen to paper is the solution to this. I haven’t had to change a concept in years now so I think this is working pretty well.
Once everyone has a clear idea of the goal I will go away and create a full color plan of the mural so the client knows exactly what will be painted before I start and I can use this as a guide for painting. I generally do all of the creative work in the studio as improvising on a wall stresses both me and the client out a lot of the time. Having a fleshed out plan also really allows me to enjoy the painting aspect when I get to the wall and I can focus on refining technique rather than working out creative problems.
What is your favourite project you have worked on in the last 6 months or to date and why?(do you have a photo of it?)
One of my favorite projects in recent memory was working with a community recycling center in Thornleigh, there was a lot of creative freedom and the atmosphere around the project was super positive so that was a fun one for sure.
Mural art at Thornleigh community recycling centre
What makes you create the work you do? What lights your fire and keeps it burning?
I think the physicality of painting murals is what keeps me interested in the work. Getting to travel around and work with different people in different places really keeps me involved and excited. Playing around on industrial equipment and painting massive walls is just fun so fighting to find interesting places to paint is always a massive motivation.
Why do you make art, who do you make art for ( yourself, community) to expand ?
I think originally I only made work for myself but over the years working in such a public medium I have changed the way I approach art and it is almost exclusively for the community and strangers at this point. I just want to make work that lives independently from me in a space and can be enjoyed casually by people who are in the area by happenstance.
There is something cool about someone liking a wall I have painted and I will never know about it. It's just between them and the work. That's what keeps me going I think.
Where did it all begin for you, did someone start ?
I experimented with a lot of mediums in the past before I landed on painting walls and it all really stemmed from going out with mates to paint abandoned places for fun. It's those early times that really made me fall in love with the medium and pushed me to focus on painting walls full time. The comradery of that early scene was exciting and I try to keep that same kind of passion today.
What inspires you the most to create ?
I think at this point it's mostly painting things at a large scale, there is still something so inspiring about having such a colossal task to undertake. Going to check out a huge wall that is bare and looking shabby and imagining what it could be is very inspiring. The slow process of turning that idea into such a huge reality is challenging but incredibly rewarding.
What's been your most challenging part of being an artist?
Probably the business side of things and having to spend so much time working alone. A lot of my practice is super boring organizational stuff, half of a mural's production is just me sitting in the studio getting paperwork done which can make it hard to keep motivated and excited about the work. It requires a lot of time working on things alone which can be tough to maintain for long periods of time. I have always really enjoyed spending time alone and focusing on a project but the older I get the more I miss spending time with people so getting out and working on walls in public really helps balance all that out for me.
If you could say one thing in regards to your art, art in general what would it be?
Haha, I don’t know, that's a big question but I guess the main thing is that art is for everyone and doesn’t have to be too serious. I have known a lot of people that see art as alienating and something that they “don’t understand”. I think if you like or don’t like certain things everyone's opinion is as valid as any art critic so get out and enjoy what inspires you and have fun with it.
You can support OX King by following his artistry on his website: www.oxking.com.au and on instagram : @theoxking
Check out his work here. Or feel like having your own little mural in your house why not support OX king by purchasing on of his prints he collaborated with us on here.
For more portfolios from Chulo Creatives Artist stable click through here , also get in touch with Chulo Creative if you are interested in commissioning an artist for your next campaign.
Written and curated by Bella Abraham @Bella.bea.poetry