Paul Price.

February 21, 2011

The Pine Cone Press: Well hello there young man and lets start with letting the readers know a little more about yourself; name, where you are from, anything that you would want a stranger to know about you.

Paul Price: Hey there, my name is Paul Price. I’m originally from a small town called Downpatrick in Northern Ireland but I’m currently in 3rd year studying for a degree in Visual Communications at Leeds College of Art, in fact right after I answer this I’ll continue writing the final chapter of my dissertation. I’m a freelance graphic designer and screen-printer by day and an interventionist by night. In Northern Ireland we don’t really do politics like England or the US so I come from a very left wing “free speech” background. That informs my ethics as a graphic designer and defines me as an interventionist. I love hand painted signs, beautiful shirts, rainy days and my girlfriend Nancy.

Tpcp: And how does this “free speech” change the way that you do your work and do you think that changes the way that you also view work?

Paul Price: The idea of free speech gives me a sense of entitlement to work in public spaces, after all if advertisers are allowed to advertise why can’t I have my say as well? I can rip down advertisements or I can compete with them at their own game, I’m selling nothing but giving so much more. I’m incredibly interested in work which challenges the perceptions of free speech and what that it really is. A lot of art interventions I’ve seen which are against advertising (including my own) only try to destroy billboards, critique it etc but they don’t offer the public a platform to express themselves. I think this is the next step in free speech and the visual landscape.

Tpcp: So I take it that you feel strong about this “freedom” as well as your duty to post work on walls? Do you feel that there are or should be limits on what you or others use as walls? What I mean is private vrs government buildings or walls?

Paul Price: Yeah I feel very strongly about it. As much as I hate graffiti I love the mentality that the writers just don’t care. They’re going to get their names up where ever they want and no-one is going to stop them. Of course it would be nicer if they just hit public property instead of people’s homes. I think there should be limits for sure just as there are limits on things you can and can’t say in public, for example inciting racism etc. Morally I only put up work on public property and walls because I’d rather have a person from the local authority, who gets paid for it, to clean it up if they don’t like it. It’s funny though because I’ve put work up beside graffiti before and come back a few weeks later to see that the graffiti has been buffed but my work is still there. Nice to see the graffiti cleaners have morals themselves.

Tpcp: Our window at the gallery was carved up last spring from some ass, to be honest it is even very hard to see what it says which makes it even worse in a way. Anyway how did you get started in all of this and where do you pull your ideas from Mr. Price?

Paul Price: I got started through a mate called Oli Frend, he casts crazy rabbits out of plaster and puts them on top of buildings at night, awesome guy. He showed me the ropes early last year and came out with me a bunch of times putting up the original set of Signs of Affection. My ideas stem from the critical engagement that goes along with my degree. We’re encouraged to take our professions that little bit further by engaging with the world as much as we can, we try not to live in a bubble pretending clients are nice or that the world isn’t screwed. This engagement forced me to look at graphic design and take some responsibility for the damage that the profession causes as a tool of advertising, Signs of Affection was a very direct response to this, using graphic design in a positive way.

Tpcp: Well Paul in closing is there anything that you would like to say to the readers?

Paul Price: Shamelessly, a few of my prints will be available to buy at The Slingluff Gallery for pretty cheap in the near future! Also I’m hoping to visit NYC and maybe some other US cities in the near future and will be bringing some paste-ups with me!

Click any of the photos to view his website and keep an eye out for his work at The Slingluff Gallery as well as a two person show with Paul in early 2012. Paul is also a Gentleman so stay on the look out for some of his posts.