5 Questions with BlackCat Stickers

The 2095 chick first started to notice BlackCat Stickers just about everywhere she went. Difficult to exactly pinpoint exact time and locale cause when she says "everywhere", she means EVERYWHERE.

On poles, on windows, on doors, in doorways, on railings on mailboxes.  Initially always entwined with DogFight Stickers (and yes!  There is an upcoming interview with Dogfight Stickers so stay tuned to this station!)

Or with Cherry Bombs

Ashamedly, the 2095'er must admit that initially she really didn't understand what she was photographing.  To be absolutely honest, the "Spread the Love Project" appeared to be promo for an upcoming gig, but given the 2095'er love for her own black cat (fondly referred to as The Boof) she felt almost duty-bound to capture the image and then continue on her huntin expedition.

It wasn't until a return visit to her beloved Inner West, that she started seeing stencil like images appearing on quite a breath taking scale

artists: Rotar Uno, BlackCat Stickers, DogFight Stickers

and as with many street art experiences, once you see one, you see "hundreds" and this time, the 2095 chick knew what she was looking at it and started to quickly fall in love with yet another artist's clever work.

Again through the marvels of social media, contact with BlackCat was made and the chick will use this delightful segue as an intro to her 5 questions with the artist known as BlackCat.

When did BlackCat come in to "being"

I've always loved and appreciated street art and graffiti, but only started participating a few years ago influenced by my fella (a fellow street artist).  He got this gamer nerd off "Call of Duty" and outside! (finally!  the 2095 chick has found another chick who loves first person shooter games!  But for the 2095'er it has to be Battlefield 1942 Desert Storm: LOVE that adrenalin rush)

I just love going sticker bombing!  In our free time it's always sketching, creating stickers and going on sticker runs.

I love this city...Sydney...and I live in the thick of it!  Navigating the city is now a friendly experience.  I have met a number of Sydney sticker artists and traveling through the city I am welcomed by their familiar characters or lettering; always excited to see a new sticker they have slapped up.  I love seeing the back of a sign that began with a few sticker then in a week's time everyone's stacked on and completely collaged it.  It usually gets buffed pretty quickly but it's great interaction.

I truly believe that street art makes the world a better place, so I wanted to be part of turning this sometimes cold concrete grey city into a living breathing colourful and continually changing landscape in to an outdoor gallery for the people instead of a grid for corporations who get us to focus on their marketing and their "almighty" dollar.

My first sticker was a white cat with the text "Black Cat".  A lot of people ask why I create a white cat for Black Cat.  My cat is a fairer skinned indigenous cat like me; I wanted to put up a sticker that represented me like it was an introduction "Hi!  I'm here!".

Stencil, stickers of pasteups: do you have a preference or do they simply "present" themselves once you have formulated a theme

I love stickers!  Stickers are the best!  I love them because you can get a heap up at a time, so it increases the audience.  You can sticker up numerous stickers before you have even finished rolling paste on a wall or cut out a stencil. 

I also dislike cutting out stencils...too many years of gaming....my hands are stuffed!

I do like experimenting and love the variety that making stickers gives you.  For instance: the canvas...stickers, vinyl, shipping labels, anything sticker you can get your hands on.

The materials you can choose to create with: such as spray paint, block paint, lino prints, screen prints, digital prints.

Then finding the perfect place for them: I think the cool thing about the street is that while anything in a gallery space allows the work to speak for itself, it's the street that adds context: humour, rebellion, surprise, impact etc.  

A gallery is very static while the streets change and move and I love it when I see a sticker that has been left up for ages with the rain washing out all the colour, or it has faded over time from the sun: torn and weathered over time.

Even if it is capping an advertisement in a particular place it could totally change the meaning of the image.

Stickers never get boring.  I love seeing other street art stickers' progression: how the characters or lettering develop and change over time.  It's fun to put your sticker next to theirs and they will hopefully see it as you saying "hi" on the streets, then meeting them at a street art exhibition and say "oh so it's you who does those cute little characters"!

I haven't traded stickers much since I started but if you have the cash and send packs with some extra prints it's amazing when you receive return packs from all over the world.

When I was in primary school I used to write letters a lot to friends in Spain and Melbourne and I used to love checking the letterbox and receiving mail that was personal, pretty, colourful and fun.  People don't send letters anymore, so it (receiving sticker packs) is a return to that excitement of receiving mail that isn't just bills and junk mail.

Who or what inspires your creativity

I am inspired by computer game graphics, comic books, art books and looking at other peoples art.  So far I have created a few different cats and some stencils/paste ups of images that I think look iconic and strong.  They appeal to me, so I hope they appeal to other people.

Collab or solo

As my partner is a street artist too, we collaborate quite a bit in the process of making them (stickers, paste ups etc).  For instance, we might choose to lino print stickers so we will sit and cut out our prints at the same time and give each other suggestions.  

We have done a few collab stickers and I am definitely interested in collaborating with other artists more.

I also collaborate with my crew at Cherrybombs.  Admittedly not as much as I would like...mostly we are in different states and countries, but we have a couple of crew stickers we put up.

Massive shoutout to Beryl, Kwad, Missfit, Pat and Kicks!  You can check out their incredible work at our Cherrybombs page "here".

What can we expect to see from BlackCat in the near future

For "pasteys" (as I like to call them), I am keen to create warrior superhero women images.  For stickers I am currently working to refine my prowess in digital art on Illustrator and Photoshop.

I also dabble in photography so you my might encounter my photos in an exhibition or two.

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A perfect ending for a perfect interview with the feline provocateur known BlackCat with enormous thanks for giving the 2095'er time, insight and sharing some photos for this interview!