Amongst the emails that were waiting for us when
we got back to New York, was one from O.two. Along with David S and She One, the
three are known collectively as rockGroup.  It was O.two’s concrete paintings
that we absolutely fell in love with.


“Every piece is free-
styled, so when I approach a wall I’m interpreting it for it’s space and emotive
qualities. There are elements that are drawn directly from original graff
letter-forms, combined with new forms. They’re camouflaged, or sublimated, but
they’re there. I leave that up to the viewer to figure out.

I don’t
like describing my style. That’s the point of having a style, it should do all
the talking…”... O.two

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O.two - The Vitals:

Age: 23
Hometown:
Secret.
Where do you now live?: Another
secret.
How long have you been creating street art?: 7 or
8 years.
What did you do last night?: Drank whisky.
/>What is your favourite thing to eat for dinner?: Pasta.
/>Who is your favourite fictional character?: The director
called Adam, in David Lynch’s ‘Mulholland Drive’.
What do you
currently have in your pockets?: Sarcasm.
If you were
given “more time,” what would you do with it?: I’d probably end up
wasting it.
Who do you love?: Jenny.

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O.two - The A’s to Our Q’s:

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

O.two: It started from
skateboarding. Hanging around in dark alleyways and empty streets. I spent a few
years tagging, never really piecing, then I moved to London, met She 1 and
started painting pieces, from there we formed rockGroup. I never really felt
piecing was relevant in my hometown. It was too small, there were no other
graffiti writers, there wasn’t really a culture of graff. It was just me and a
couple of other kids I knew from school… that kind of thing.

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

O.two: I’ve never known anyone who can kill a
whole wall with one can of Buntlack like She1. From the U.K. writers like Req1
and Kid Acne. A lot of the original New Yorkers; Phase 2, Dondi, Sharp, Futura.
Early French writers like Boxer, Bando and Jon One. In the states; Sabre, Pusher
and Joker. There are too many to list.

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

O.two: Any cities. London and
Paris are good. New York of course. I want to go to Tokyo. That’s next on the
list of places to visit.

Wooster: What inspires you
now?

O.two: Blank walls. Girls in short skirts.
Car chases. Japanese horror films. Rock and roll. Ducatti motorcycles. John Woo
gun-fights. Techno music. Black paint; matt, gloss and satin finish… There’s
inspiration in everything if you look close enough.

Wooster:
What are you currently working on?  Can you give us a sneak peek?
/>
O.two: I’m working on a new collection of canvases.
I’ll paint a wall wherever and whenever I get the opportunity. I’m updating my
web-site and building a rockGroup site. We’re are also putting together a short
film… 

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You can check
out more of O.two’s work at his website, href="http://www.fadetogloss.com/">http://www.fadetogloss.com/