Works on Paper by Missum opens at Ink_d Gallery, Brighton on Friday 21st October – www.ink-d.co.uk
Me Alone
If I Was A Cat
In anticipation of the show, I sent Ms Missum a few questions about her work and the new direction it's taking. Enjoy.
Where did the name Missum come from?
Nickname really – I get called a lot of thing by Bugs; Miss, Missy, Missum and some I won’t repeat!
You seem to focus a lot on cats, did dogs do something to offend you?
Cats were last year, its dogs for me at the moment! I love all animals, cats and dogs. In the work I look at the emotions we give animals and what we take from them.
When a lot of other street artists are coming out from behind their curtains to work under their real names, why do you choose to stay anonymous?
It allows both of us to work on other projects under different names, or for that matter, our real names and one doesn’t then cloud the other. There is a connection between Missum and Miss Bugs and when I started this body of work we could see that certain elements were coming from the same thought process. However other work that Bugs has done under his real name comes from a very different place and as such and exists separately.
In short, I suppose staying anonymous gives us more freedom to explore different things.
Are the artists and culture icons you appropriate from in your work influences or enemies and why?
I wouldn’t say I use cultural icons in my solo Missum work… In the Miss Bugs pieces we are constantly stealing from other artists. But it’s not down to ‘influences or enemies’. The reasoning behind it is to explore ownership of ideas, working styles and the relationship and knock-on effect that artists have with one another.
You sometimes have to look harder for the artistic references in our work while others can be staring you in the face. Even then they can sometimes still go unnoticed as they are being seen out of context. We are playing with ideas of how we view art and how much of the thought process behind it we understand.
We look at links between the artists and their working methods throughout history. Artists that would not normally be considered to sit alongside each other are then remixed together, showing, for example, how the working style of Keith Haring can gel together with Picasso. And how artists from very different periods in time and culture are using very similar approaches, often where you wouldn't expect to see it.
When did you first start doing graffiti?
I wouldn’t say I was a graffiti chick, B-girl or any think like that. I didn’t take much notice of street art until I worked as part of Miss Bugs and then it felt right for the work to be part of our environment. My solo work as Missum wouldn’t ever appear on the street, it’s not really about that, it’s born out of me staying at home with my sketch book.
Have you ever been arrested doing graffiti and if so, were the cops surprised that you were a girl?
Yeah, we have been stopped pasting up in the middle of the day. I’m not sure if they were surprised that I was a girl, they seemed to be more surprised that we hadn’t get our story straight between ourselves before opening our mouths!
How long have you been working on this new body of solo work? Any good stories of challenges you overcame in its production?
I’ve been working on it on and off, in-between the Miss Bugs work, for a while now. There is no dramatic story really, etching is a very slow quiet process. Working on my own, the highlight of the day can be when Ian the sandwich guy pops in with his array of treats!
Why Ink_D gallery?
It a lovely intimate gallery, right by the sea, and perfect for this body of work.
In a past interview you said that Bugs was “the creative force behind the work”, is this solo show your way of proving you’ve come into your own and are a creative force of your own now?
Ha, did I say that? I was probably trying to get on his good side! I can get him to do anything I want with those sort of compliments … I don’t really want to be a ‘force’ with Missum, it’s more about creating an artistic space where I can play with new ideas and work with new processes.
Whose work are you loving right now?
Peter Doig
Do you want to give a shout out to an artist you think needs more respect or deserves more attention?
Bugs recently sent me a link of Matt Stuart’s photography, it’s definitely worth spending some time checking him out.
Did you send Kate and William a painting for their wedding?
No, I’m afraid not!
Works on Paper by Missum opens at Ink_d Gallery, Brighton on Friday 21st October – www.ink-d.co.uk
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