Graffiti Fusion
Andrew Dexel, a 30-year-old artist in Merritt, B.C., started off with graffiti but now mixes it with contemporary Northwest Coast art. How would you describe your art to someone who has never seen it before? I’d say, “Check this out: It’s something colourful and maybe it will inspire you. Maybe it will help you see things in a different way.” The whole idea behind my artwork is creating things no one has ever seen before and sparking new conversations in people’s minds with symbols and colours. What inspired the combination of graffiti and Northwest Coast art? It’s just something very natural for me to experiment with. I’m not really from the streets, so it was the cultural aspect of this art that appealed to me more than the graffiti aspect of it. I was born in Kamloops, B.C., then moved around the interior of British Columbia quite a bit until I was about nine. Then I moved to Vancouver. That’s where I was introduced to graffiti and coastal art. I wasn’t a surreal type of artist creating photos; graffiti was just something I immediately identified with. Do you think indigenous culture and art are things we should all embrace? If you enjoy the art and it’s something that brings you wellness then, yes, it’s important. It’s very important to carry on with our [indigenous] culture, for all of us to have a good understanding of our identities, and to keep going further, as far as knowing who we are and why we are here.
– Leslie Emmons