Roam around Ontario long enough and you’re bound to find them. They’ve swarmed onto bridge underpasses, engulfed newspaper stands, and devoured post-no-bill boards. What are these little creatures you ask? Why they are ghosts. Those tiny figments of your imagination that have come to life thanks to an ambitious Canadian wheat-poster designer, known only by the moniker WeKillYou. The name is a play on the term “you kill me,” and is used as a statement of endearment, not violence; however, WeKillYou has been doing a hell of a job kicking the local art scene’s ass and isn’t slowing down any time soon. Life In A Bungalo paid a visit to WeKillYou to find out more.

Could you tell me a little about WeKillYou?
I have slept in the same room my entire life. I live on a ravine and grew up with about 6 guys on my street all of the same age. Childhood was the best. No matter what time it was you could always go find someone to skateboard with or build a fort with or get everyone together to play capture the flag in the ravine. Now I’m one of the only ones still here, but by choice. I attended OCAD (Ontario college of art and design) for 2 years studding photography but left because the school was not my cup of tea. Have you seen Art School Confidential? That’s what it was like. Anyway I then attended a different college here for Graphic design. For years I have been teaching myself illustrator and that I guess is what fed me into graphic design. Today I still live in this same house with my parents and brother because I love it here. I have space, which I have turned into a studio and whenever I want I can get away to nature in the forest. You can’t do that in an apartment downtown.

Do you have any background in graffiti? I notice a few pics of you have your face covered.
It wasn’t till this year that I got into the writing side of graffiti. I mean I have been doing paste ups for over 2 years now but I was never really into writing till this year. I had always admired the skill it took to do it but it never really hit me till recently. I have a friend who I have been doing stuff with and we have been using his words and my creatures to make things together like giant squid attacking a boat made out of his work on the side of a train.

Actually for the first year I was doing paste ups I didn’t even know there was a scene for it and that other people doing it. I just did it because it was fun and then later learned that lots of people around the world were doing the same thing and it had a name.

What’s the story behind your signature character?
I guess the first character was the Ghost and he had started around the time I found my moms sewing machine. It was a good shape to practice sewing with and it was fun to make stuffed animals. A while later, while watching TV I stared to draw and made the 5 other characters. A few days later I blew the drawings up with my photocopier and made them each the size of a sheet of paper and cut a bunch out. I remembered from childhood arts and crafts that if you mix flour and water you get paper mache paste, and with that I went with some friends to a pathway in the ravine that travels under the highway. That’s where I did my first piece (ill attach a photo). I thought it was so much fun and I had never seen it done before so I kept at it and slowly branched out to downtown.

Is there still a place in today’s art world for sticker style pieces?
I think now more than ever. Artwork today seems to be very character and graphic based and people want to do it on all sorts of products to make it available to more than just the people that can afford a painting. Take Tim Biskup for example, I personally can not afford his paintings but I can afford stuff like t-shirts that he has put his stuff on and toys of his different characters. This type of art with characters and such is becoming much more accepted in the art world and can be represented on so many mediums that it can become widely available for anyone that wants to own it.

What made you start doing portraits on broken skateboards?
Almost everyone in my life I have met because of skateboarding one way or the other. When I was like 13 or so, we build a half pipe in my friends back yard and painted it neon green but since none of us knew how to build one it was the steepest thing with no real middle, but it was fun to ride up and down on. In high school my friends and I spent every lunch skateboarding and every day after school. We eventually started our own little crew that was not really that great at all those technical tricks but had more fun than ever imagined. It was our life. We never really tried to be that good but we skated ever single day on every thing we could.

We eventually started to make our own decks from uncut pressed ones we got off the internet and one of my friends opened a store under the name and logo I had made at his cottage but it only lasted 2 years. I have the logo tattooed on my arm to remind me of those amazing days. Anyway, one of those friends, my best friend Brendan, he breaks boards like Christians break bread (I remember one day where he broke 3 boards in an hour.) he was moving out of his house and had all the boards he had broken over the years he gave to me to do some art with and that’s the boards that you see today. Long before this though we used to draw on our broken boards and hang them on the wall of our hang out that is now my garage studio. The portraits came about because of my graphic design. I love doing portraits of people and I thought it would be a good medium to try and transfer the style.

My favorite piece by you is the chair you designed for a recent art show. How did you get involved and what was it like designing a chair?
The show was called “The Boardroom” and it was the launching show for a new gallery in the back of a store called Good and Well. The owner Steve gave each of us a chair from the store and a canvas to do with what we liked. The chairs were these green leather chairs with metal legs and arm rests. I really like to add on to things and thought that the chair would look great as one of those ancient sultan chairs. so I went out an bought myself a brand new jigsaw and fabricated the chair but instead of making it look old, I gave it an argyle print and cluttered it with monsters. It’s also my favorite piece and you can expect to see more stuff like this soon now that I finally have a jigsaw. It was great that I could finally make a nice version of the chairs I put on the street.

What artists inspire you to work harder? Who are your dream collabs and what would you design with one of them?
I would have to say my biggest sort of role model would have to be Joe Strummer. He is my hero. His music does something for me that just keeps me wanting to live and be happy and with out it, as cheesy as it sounds, I don’t think what I do would be the same. Some of the other musicians that inspire me are Millencolin, Explosions in the Sky, Aphex Twin, and The Planet Smashers. Even though it’s impossible to do, I try not to be too influenced but other artists even though I am. I guess some of the artists I look up to are Shepard Fairy’s portraits, Henry Darger’s unreal world, Bwana Spoons color choices, and Jeremy Fish’s skulls. When I first started to do portraits in illustrator I really looked up to UPSO and used to email him asking him how he did certain things and I think that shows in my illustrated portraits.

I think it would be really amazing to work with Tim Biskup and make a large Totem Pole in the style of his Tankizaado toy. That would be swell.

Where do you see the lowbrow and graffiti scenes heading?
It’s taking off like a rocket-ship. Graffiti is becoming more accepted by an audience you would never expect. This summer Bigfoot was here and I herd that when he left the mayor or someone emailed him saying that he could comeback anytime to paint the city anytime he wanted. You would never see that happen 10 years ago and I think it’s wonderful that more people are starting to see it as art and not trash.

I hear rumors that WKY isn’t just one person. Is there any truth to that rumor?
Well I guess that’s a rumor I made up about myself. I think I have an alter ego and I brought that to the art. I think its fun to think that each character has a person with a different responsibility behind them, but it’s mostly just me. I have friends that help me with pasting and ones that help me with sewing and ones that help me when I’m screen-printing, but the Ghost is the main hub.

What can we expect from WKY in the near future?
Tons of stuff. This summer I plan on doing some really big paste ups as well as some stuff I don’t really want to talk about yet but think along the lines of animal heads people put on their walls. I will start collecting furniture again soon and get a lot of that out this year as well. Outside of the street work I have tons as well. There is an art show I’m doing a clock for called Useless Art Show, I have a really rad sweater coming out from a company in BC and will be turning out tons of t-shirts.

There will be lots of stuffed animals and I’m starting to do some research on mold making and casting to hopefully make a few strange little toys. A year ago I would have never imagined that I would be where I am today making so many things I have always dreamed of and that people would actually enjoy what I had to offer. Its a blessing and because of that I’m sticking to it and am always willing to try anything with anyone and on anything no matter how big or small, I just love doing this stuff and meeting people.