Concrete Playground Meets Andrew J. Steel

While sitting with Andrew J. Steel outside Ponsonby favourite Little & Friday last month, I realised quickly I was in the company of a true creative. Andrew’s humility was on show throughout our discussion as he spoke openly with a head full of ambition. His honesty was welcomed as Andrew conveyed the passions behind his artwork, life and creative thinking.

Formally one half of respected street art crew BMD, Andrew is now rolling solo, bringing innovative and fresh ideas to the world of art he calls home, one day at a time. Each piece of Steel’s artwork holds a genuine eye-catching flare which similarly details his personality. His positivity, necessity to be positive and desire to affect others positively in this world makes him an open minded, sincere and serious artist not only on the streets, but throughout the art world. I got to know Andrew and what it is like going solo, his BMD days, his positive outlook and what drives him to succeed.

When did you first start realising you were passionate about creativity and expressing that through art?

We were naughty kids, I was always in detention and just sort of cheeky. I was never the real sort of naughty I was just always doing things I shouldn’t have been doing like kissing girls in the bike shed and hiding peoples stuff at school, that sort of thing. I was just cheeky. Then I just started painting and I was cheeky with painting. I think I was attracted to it not from a hip hop point of view but more just about the mischief and having fun and sneaking around. The thing with painting is you leave a trail and you leave a story and it’s kind of cool to be able to do that. It probably started when I was about fifteen and I had a little scooter and I was going around spray painting.

You were formally one half of BMD. How did BMD come to be and how did it impact where you are now?

Well, like I just said, we were the two naughty kids at school. He was from an arts family and an arts background. I wasn’t. We sort of just got together, he’s always been a great artist and always will be. I have always been a creative thinker and had the hustle so we were a good combination from the early days where I’d motivate him and push him and get him out and we would go out and try new things whereas he was good at actually making art. So yeah, we naturally came together, between us we had a really good business. We had the hustle and we had the art. So that was a success and we just smashed it for a while. Then we changed.

What are some high points of your time together?

We went to PowWow, Hawaii. We were the only artists last year painting PowWow in Hawaii which is the World’s biggest contemporary arts festival, so it was sort of a big deal that we were there, that was kind of a high. And we were the runner up for the New Zealand interior awards for an installation we did. We were in a room full of architects and designers that were doing million dollar fit outs, and marble everything and copper this and really beautiful things and here we were drawing on walls in the room with these same people so it was kind of like a gold star that we had thought creatively enough to enter something no one else has done. So we won an award for that which was cool. We also created probably some of the biggest artworks in New Zealand, which changed the game at the time, no one was really painting big.

Can you walk me through your artistic process as a solo artist?

Every space is different, so it’s sort of like where you are and who is going to see it. I think a lot of people can splatter stuff around but you have to know your audience. I don’t like to produce any work that’s not going to be meaningful to where it is. Where it is and what’s going around me. I have books and books filled up with different ideas. Basic drawings which translate into something.

Would you say that you are trying to make a collaboration between fine art and street art and trying to find a happy medium?

Yeah, I guess so. More contemporary art and street art. Drawing my history coz that’s all I’ve got, into the future which is interiors and different applications of the same idea and refining a style. It is really important to have consistency, you don’t want to be boring, you don’t want to be saying and doing the same thing year in and year out but you want to grow on a style and have something that’s recognisable.

I know positivity is massive to you. Why is it important for you personally to leave a positive message with your audience?

Because I care. I think that’s what art to me it should be. It should inspire people and motivate people, it should make people’s lives better. It’s as simple as that and that’s my take on it. I think if I can wake up and someone could see a picture on a wall that I’ve done and they like it or someone can say, "Cool, he’s making a living from his art," or just any sort of positive impact on someone’s life is a good thing rather than raw self-interest that’s community focused. I’ve had a pretty crazy background but everyone’s struggling, everyone’s trying to make an understanding of the world so if you can lift a low off someone and make their life a little bit better it’s a good thing. It’s definitely a focus of my work, you look at my work it’s fun, it’s funny, it’s ridiculous, it’s adding value in a slight way.

How do you stay motivated?

You have to be on top of yourself. You’re not accountable to anyone but yourself. A big part of it is if you don’t work you don’t get paid. You can stay in bed all day watching Netflix or go to the beach all day but you’re not going to be able to pay rent. I have always felt like there is a guy in my head cracking the whip, a little man called ‘Ambition’ cracking the whip saying, “You’ve got to” but you have to balance that with health. That’s why I want to do a self-help book which is designed for people who are on their own hustle, realising that yeah okay it is hard, but it’s awesome and reminding them that so that’s something they can get up and take something away from that.

What about the stigma attached to street art, is there still that ‘bad boy’ image or do you think that has changed?

I think it has changed. There is still the little old lady who has their idea about it but for the average person I think, it’s seen as contemporary art at the moment; where people five years ago didn’t think it was something that you could have in your house but now they do. I think there is still an attitude that has to be shaken like I could go ask to paint a space and people don’t recognise the value but that’s a part of it you can try and change the game and present it how you want it to be presented. Social media helps me give that voice to my work. You can fully craft what your work means and the context it sits in.

Is it at all important to you to try and break the stigma that the little old lady has, is that something you are mindful of, to beat the stigma?

I think it is and it isn’t. People are always going to think what they want to think. Every day you’re sort of told to believe this or buy this or consider this or think this way whereas I like to think people can think for what they want, but I will always try to convince someone, “Hey, it’s not that bad, it’s just a picture on a wall.”

What other artists do you admire?

I really like Stephen Powers, he is a New York artist. He is a lover, he is a romantic. He did a project called Love Letter to the City and if you’re in love with someone, you’d send him a quote and he’d paint it on the wall so he was doing these works from the public for the public. Cheesy but engaging. Also, Keith Haring, he is amazing visually, great, he had some really powerful work. Anyone doing what they want to do and stoked doing it is good.

What are some goals for 2016?

Make good art, make people aware of it. This year is the year of prolific sustainability. I see people being lazy and not producing much, but are very happy and very stable people. I am not one of them, I am trying to do great work and lots of it. But not burn out.

You can check out Andrew’s work at Allpress Studio on Thursday 11 February from 5 – 7pm, or visit his website for more details.

Photo credit (in order of appearance): Denelle Macdonald, Matt Queree, Bede Carmine, Andrew J. Steel.