Wanksy
I live in the medium of stencil art. It’s my home, and the only way I know how to express my self. It’s a beautiful process of breaking down an image into carefully thought out layers, only to reconstruct it later. It’s a medium where preparation is everything, any mistakes that will be made will happen in the studio and painting on the streets will be fast and flawless…you’d hope.
Stencil art has been around for a really long time with forms of it dating back 35,000 years. It was used as a form of street art for the first time most notably by renowned street artist Blek le Rat in the 1980s, and was made globally recognised by Banksy in the 2000’s. You might be thinking why the fuck am I getting a history lesson I didn’t ask for, and that’s a fair question, but we’re here now so you might as well keep reading. Stencil art has existed for a long time before Banksy and will exist a long time after him. It’s a medium that can’t be owned by anyone. Even if he has one of the most recognisable styles in the world there is still room to push the boundaries of this art form and enhance it into something new, and that’s exactly what I’m trying to do. By adding more and more layers to my stencils, I’m going to push the limits of how realism and stencils can work together.
(Blek Le Rat, 1980s)
The name “Wanksy” has been thrown out a lot, which has never been offensive to me. I’ve always been confused whether it meant “Winchester Banksy” or “Banksy but a little more wank”, either way it’s always been flattering to be compared to one of the greats. The comparison was the very reason my first ever piece “Boy with Kite” got the attention it did. Since that moment I’ve worked on separating the styles and making my own work instantly recognisable as mine, unique to my own story and my own journey into stencilling.
(Girl With Balloon, Banksy, 2002)
I’ve always had quite a visual imagination so art did come quite naturally to me. It’s always been my way of expressing myself but I never set out to be an artist, it was just always something I did for me. That completely changed in 2021 when I put up my first ever street piece “Boy with Kite”. My goal was only ever to share an image with anyone who cared enough to look as they walked past. I wanted to tell stories using walls as pages and to use my painting as the words. I never thought anyone would ever care for long enough to try and understand what I was painting.
My first ever time painting on the streets was an absolute rollercoaster of emotions. I had everything planned out exactly how I wanted it, I knew the wall I wanted to paint, I had all my stencils and spray cans ready, I was really excited and slightly scared. I knew the risks involved and the pressure to make it perfect but I lacked all experience.
I decided to paint this piece at 3am. I wanted to make sure no one was out to catch me. I arrived at the site and the car park was busier than expected, I don’t know if it’s a dogging site at night or what was going on. There were more people in cars than I expected, but I didn’t let it faze me. I walked up to my wall and started setting up, my heart was beating out of my chest and there was an eerie silence where everything could be heard. I was rushing to put the piece up layer after layer in silence until I heard what sounded like a girl screaming and I absolutely shit myself. After speaking to some people about it, it turns out it was most definitely a fox’s mating call. Who the fuck knew they sounded like that? I got over my panic and finally finished the piece and I thought it was shit, I wasn’t happy at all. The stencils didn’t line up properly and the image didn’t look how it was supposed to. I battled with the idea of not tagging it or claiming it as mine, but I did anyway and I went home deflated.
(Boy With Kite, Hendog, 2021)
I slept through till the early afternoon, eventually I woke up and my phone had gone mental with emails from journalists and excited people asking if it was my work. Local news had already picked it up and there was this buzz around something I had done. I wasn’t sure what everyone was seeing, so I went back to see it again in the daylight. I still thought it was shit, but I did learn a valuable lesson that day; once it belongs to the street it’s up to the public to decide what is good and what is not. That one experience has shaped everything I’ve done ever since. I changed my whole approach to painting and making stencils because of that one night and that very first piece. My stencils have lined up perfectly ever since.
I realise a lot of you have been on this journey with me for a long time, and I’ve never offered any context to my pieces, thoughts or life. So, I wanted to use this format to share some insights with you. Once a month I will release a brand new entry on different topics I’ve been thinking about. I understand this format is a little old school but as you won’t see me in front of a camera any time soon it’s all we have.
See you soon,
Hendog
Your art work is amazing and I always enjoy seeing what comes next.
Reading about your journey has been interesting. Well done you 👏
Love your work and love hearing about your experience – look forward to next months!
Looking forward to reading next months. Loving your work.
A little more wank made me laugh. Great little read that 🤘
Great to read this, love how you’re pushing the boundaries of this and the stories you tell and what they mean, keep going!