Age: 38
Hometown: Venice Beach/Santa Monica
Where do you now live?: Amsterdam
Where would you most like to live?: Baja Mexico
How long have you been creating street art?: I used to pee my name in the snow when I was real little!! Does that count??
Why the name Justin Kees?: Well a lot of people pronounce it Justin Keys…but I meant for it to be pronounced like the Dutch name Kees…just in case.
What did you do last night?: Spent most of the night drawing on a plastic pig. Watched “Growing Up Gotti” ...no we don’t have that in Amsterdam yet…but I got connections…internet! What is your favorite thing to eat for dinner?: PIZZA
Who is your favorite fictional character?: Sir Nose D’Voidoffunk
What do you currently have in your pockets?: 3 dice, ?20,75, 2 lighters, chapstick, and about a joints worth of hash (ooops can I say that here?)
If you were given “more time,” what would you do with it?: Read more!! Hahaha! No really I find that I loose time creating art and would always love to have more time for that. And more time with my kids would always be nice!!
What is your favorite color?: It always seems to change…but I really like blues…light blues and aqua’s.



Justin Kees. - The A’s to Our Q’s:

Wooster: How did you get started in creating art for the street?

Justin Kees: Well lets see….the sticker fetish I have started I’d say around the mid 70’s! I was a big fan of a bubblegum trading sticker called Wacky Package Stickers! I use to have my Mom buy a few packs every week!! I’d stick them all over the house…our fringe at that time was bombed! Finally Moms had enough of the stickers and told me to stick them outside. I made a trail all around my neighborhood and would visit them to see how they weathered. After years of this I grew out of Wacky Packs and into Skateboards which started a whole new sticker game.

Now there was money involved! As a part of sponsorship, skateboard companies would give stacks of stickers and encourage riders to stick them everywhere! As a big part of this…they would offer what was known as “Photo Incentive”! Which means…if your picture was published in a magazine and there was a visible sticker on your board…you got paid!! This meant for sticker madness…sh!t I remember guys sticking stickers on the bottoms of their shoes just to get banked!

As I grew even older I started working for Dogtown Skateboards, here stickers really did grow on trees and we had the garden!! As a part of promotion we would stick millions of stickers!!

When I moved to Europe in 1991 I brought loads of stickers with me and stuck them for years on my journeys!! I got down with the boys from Black Flys and started sticking their stickers by the hundreds around Amsterdam. Still do stick a few of these up just for kicks and promo flow!!

I started making handmade stickers and sticking them every once in a while around Amsterdam around 3 years ago, but this was by no means a serious thing…just here and there!!

Almost 2 years ago…with the purchase of a new laptop and a trip to Mexico…“El Luchador Mas Pequeno” was born! I’ve been sticking him and others like mad ever since!!

Wooster: What other street artists do you most admire and why?

Justin Kees: Noah AOK, Reas AOK, Pure TFP, Sento TFP, Twist, Espo, Revs,  Mjar, Mike Clark, Artcore, DFKT, The London Police, Galo, Jerm, Red 5, Nylon, Lewis Ryder, Fifftie5ive, Ralph the Orfan, Emko, Sleepyvalley, Jet-Pac, Heist73, Silo 8, Are One, ESP Crew, Skire, KMR, The Fiend, No Nose ... damn I cant do this!! There are too many to name! Why?? These are the I’ve met I find it hard to admire somone before you get to know the person. As far as art goes…I try and admire all art…at least for a little bit.

Wooster: What’s your favorite city, neighborhood, or block, to post and/or to see street art?

Justin: I’d have to say East London of the places I’ve been so far!! Really want to got to Barcelona and Milan though heard they were fun as well!

Wooster: What inspires you now?

Justin Kees: All kinds of things inspire me from music to video. Pictures…stuff I see on the streets…I think the key to inspiration is keeping your eyes open! I try and do this as much as possible!

Wooster: What are you currently working on? Can you give us a sneak peek?

Justin Kees: I am currently working on a project I’m calling Senor Lardo and I’ve just started a new project called Art Before Swine.