Nick Walker paints Tokyo red

Bristol, UK based street and graffiti artist Nick Walker arrived in Tokyo on November 18 and visited the Time Out Café & Diner to do a live painting event depicting his unique view of things with a decidedly Tokyo twist. This kicks off a weekend of live painting for Walker, who is in town to paint at the Drum and Bass Sessions 13th anniversary event being held at Unit in Daikanyama on Saturday, November 21.

Walker is a Walls of Fire ‘spray mate’ of Bristol’s other famous graffiti figure, Banksy, caused a swirl of speculation in 2008 when he was sighted painting a wall in New York City causing him to be fingered as the elusive guerrilla artist.

The artist, who has been working on walls for over twenty years, is well-known for his pieces such as ‘Moona Lisa’ and ‘THE CANS’. After his live painting at the Time Out Café & Diner, Walker sat down with Time Out Tokyo to talk about his approach to art.

TOT: So first of all, were you cold up there?

NW: No, I was alright. I had this on [offers his coat]; I came prepared. It’s one of those Schott jackets; super-warm. I was trying to work out what the weather was like before I got here; a lot milder than Bristol and the UK at the moment. It’s freezing. Horrible. It’s raining as well; hideous.

TOT: How do you feel when you’re working on a piece, because it looked to me like there was a lot of, you know, planning going. Do you usually plan how you’re going to put something together?

NW: It’s easier if I’ve done it before. I’ve used that frame before, so I know the process and how to work out the procedure first and then it’s a lot smoother ride than it would just kind of doing it from the beginning. The end element is to make it as tight and as registered as possible. It’s only about three or four layers, but it’s a problem if the darkness is throwing a shadow and you thought that was the edge and then it’s all just ruined.

TOT: So, do you approach each piece differently, or do you try to start with a fresh departure point for each piece?

NW: Well, if I’m doing three or four layer stencils it’s fairly generic. It just has to kind of be spot on. With other pieces, like where I’m moving towards with my work now, it’s more like a series of mood boards which are a combination of freehand styles and then integrated stencils. It’s like a multi-layered onion almost; you can see through the many layers and there’s always something you missed the first time. It allows you to paint a lot more organically, so there’s the freedom and enjoyment of painting, and not so much clinical and methodic.

TOT: I guess that brings me to one of my later questions, but I might as well ask you now. Freehand or stencil?

NW: Both. Together. At the same time.

TOT: Mixing them..

NW: Yeah..yeah.

TOT: Is this your first time working in Tokyo?

NW: First time in Tokyo.

TOT: So, what’s your impression of Tokyo?

NW: So far, so good. I’m glad I didn’t paint as high as I was originally supposed to, because I'D be dead by now. But, um, I probably haven’t slept in about 18 hours. I’m feeling a bit fried right now.

TOT: It looks like you’re holding up pretty well. Today you had an assistant with you. Do you usually have one when you’re working?

NW: Yes I do. Today’s was Fumie, and she’s someone who is helping organising and stuff like that, and it’s kind of like the first day I’ve met her. But normally, when there’s big large scale stencils, it’s all about making things flat, so you need like four hands, so that’s always good.

TOT: How did you come up with the two pieces that you did today? The image that you did outside and the one on the café wall here?

NW: Well, I’d already cut the segment of Tokyo, which was a large blown up element of one of my Morning After paintings, which is a series of pieces I’ve been doing over the last couple of years. And I’ve actually done a whole painting called The Morning After, the Tokyo version. So that was already pre-cut, well, it was pre-cut to fit within that frame. And, when I heard that I’d be painting on the LIQUIDROOM, I thought ‘Let’s tilt it and kind of have it dripping out.’ You know.. liquid, liquefied.

TOT: So you tried to make it site-specific?

NW: Yeah.

TOT: So what’s the idea behind the Morning After series?

NW: Um, it’s an elaboration on the term ‘painting the town red’, so the story is the quintessential English bowler-hatted gentleman, who looks like he works in the city, but that’s just a façade, because you wouldn’t expect anyone dressed like that to be vandalising the city or doing anything like that. So basically, what he’s doing is going from city to city and he’s not just ‘painting the town red’ but pink, yellow, green, etc. He’s smashing it with paint.

TOT: Is the skull one [the piece painted on the Time Out Café & Diner wall] in on that concept as well?

NW: That’s almost kind of like.. well, I guess signals to the demise of that character, because I’ve been doing it for two years now. I’m kind of wanting to really move on, create another character, and like a director, create a new ‘film’. I think character based work works for me. It’s just about inventing a new one now.

TOT: So, what’s next for you then?

NW: Um, I don’t know. There are kind of all these ideas in the mix. In terms of the future, later, I guess when I get back I’ll be going to Miami for the Miami Bowl, after that, I guess Christmas, chill, and basically hide away and create this new body of work and preparing the show for New York next year. That’s pretty much it.

TOT: Well, thanks a lot..

NW: It’s all right..Cheers.

Nick Walker will be doing a live painting at the Drum and Bass Sessions 2009 Bristol Sessions event on Nov 21 at Unit in Daikanyama. For more information, visit

Watch Walker paint here