SUNE Talks Graffiti Street Art and outlines the importance of Community work in Newcastle.
Immerse yourself in the world of street art as SUNE, the internationally acclaimed graffiti artist, shares his artistic journey from humble beginnings to global recognition. In this episode, ‘SUNE’ opens up about his multifaceted career, recalling how an early passion for painting evolved into a path where he could not only express himself but also impact communities positively. Listeners can look forward to his personal anecdotes, including a poignant tribute he created for Keith Flint, the legendary frontman of The Prodigy which was painted at the ‘SAGE’ Newcastle upon Tyne
SUNE’s engaging personality shines through as he discusses the importance of collaboration within the artistic community and his work with youth offending teams in Newcastle, using art to ignite passion and inspire change among young people. He tackles the perception of street art in modern society, emphasising its role as a vibrant element of urban culture that deserves appreciation and respect rather than disdain.
Through his experiences, SUNE Graffiti Art illustrates the belief that art should be accessible and engaging, transforming how we view creative expression within public spaces. Don’t miss this peep magazine conversation that showcases the beauty of street art in Newcastle, the journey of an artist, and the potential for art to transcend boundaries. Subscribe to peep, share your thoughts, and engage with the vibrant community around street art. Discover the vibrant world of street art through the eyes of SUNE, an international graffiti artist who blends creativity with community outreach. From unforgettable portraits to impactful collaborations, SUNE shares his fascinating journey with peep Newcastle.
peep : This is an interview for Peep Magazine. We’re joined with a very special international graffiti artist, SUNE. Thanks for chatting to Peep. We’ve seen you about a lot of times. I think the last time I’ve seen you was at Elements Street Art Festival.
SUNE : Oh, absolute pleasure.
peep : Yeah, your work seems to be dotted around Newcastle and the North East One in particular, that I know, we’re jumping the gun a bit, but one that I want to talk about straight off the bat – a portrait of Keith Flint from the Prodigy.
SUNE : yes, that was a long time ago, on the side of the stage and I think, it’s still there.
peep : can you maybe talk about how that came about?
SUNE – Well, he died. Keith died, so I got asked to paint a portrait of him. To be fair, I’ve absolutely loved The Prodigy and I’ve seen them over the years and been to like, even like, some of the first raves and that sort of thing. Yes, I was bouncing about to that.
peep – Can you tell a little bit about what’s happening today at the Bridge Hip Hop Festival in Newcastle?
SUNE – Today. Um, what it’s? Basically a jam with the idea of it was. Well, yeah, the idea of it was monsters and rockets. So a few people have turned up and a few people are out painting monsters and a few people are playing rockets uh, but not that many, to be fair uh like normal with Graffiti jams. People are just doing their own thing.
peep – Yeah, I mean it’s. I suppose the analogy could be like organising a reggae band. Have you heard that one before? Judging by your accent I wouldn’t put you down as someone who is from the North East, so can I ask a little bit about why? How is SUNE the artist in Newcastle and maybe how did you end up here in the North East?
SUNE – How did I end up here? My girlfriend, she forced me to come up here. She, my daughter’s mother. Yeah, I spent a lot of years living in Leeds. I was born in Barrow-in-Furness, but I’ve lived all over the country and basically sort of grew up in the Southeast. So I’ve been really lucky, lived all over the country and basically like sort of grew up in the southeast. I’ve painted up and down the country all over the place and uh, yeah, over the years. I’ve been in lots of brilliant places with brilliant people, you know yeah.
peep Where did the street art come from? Where was the catalyst to pick this up? Because I’m presuming you picked up a pencil first? Or did you go straight into graffiti Art.
SUNE I’ve always been better at drawing. I think I’ve always drawn and I’ve painted very started painting very young, sort of like 13 or 14, and I think, I probably did my first graffiti piece about 1983 probably just to be safe I’ll say 1984, but it’s very early, and then I got myself in lots and lots of trouble for it and actually ended up doing A- level art because of it. Thanks to the magistrates and that sort of thing. So, kind of at the wrong end of the law.
peep – They kind of gave you a chance to get into school. Is that right? Is that how I’m hearing ?
SUNE – uh, it was actually after that. I went to college and did O levels and A levels at the same time, and I actually probably started doing the learning properly, when I was in college.
peep – Did you study fine art, because I can see a lot of fine art in your Graffiti artwork
SUNE – I ended up doing a fine art degree. I was actually really annoyed with a fine art degree. I always wanted to go along and be taught how to like sort of draw and paint, but the course I was doing, ended up with more of a like uh, blob and splat sort of thing, which is absolutely amazing and brilliant, but actually not what I was looking for at the time. Looking back on it, I could probably have taken lots more out of the course, but it wasn’t what I was actually interested in at the time.
peep – Lots of artists that go to university or college and some of them are just a bit too young, and then, when they get older, they start to realise things a bit better and start getting influenced by different things.
SUNE – It’s like that though isn’t it? We all get those chances, we’re always too young for the chances that we get, we look back on it and go, oh, I wish I’d done more. It’s so easy to look back and go, oh, I wish I’d done more. Yeah, it’s the nature of the world, isn’t it? But to be fair, you’ve got to live in the now, that’s how you’re going to do stuff. That’s how. That’s why your life’s going to be interesting, not looking back and going – saying – I wish I had done that.
peep – Yeah, of course, of course. Is painting on walls your full-time thing? Is this what you do all the time?
SUNE – Well, I work full-time as an artist, like sometimes a community artist. Sometimes I’m painting murals, sometimes I’m doing big commissions and that sort of thing. I’m also, like, quite happy in the studio doing oil paintings, like take commissions of different things. I do all sorts of stuff all over the place. I spend a lot of time working with youth offending teams and that sort of thing, going to prisons, going to hospitals, all sorts of different things, working with different people, people with learning disabilities.
peep – I look at your work and I see a lot of colour selection, nice tones, good compositions, and I knew you came from a fine old background. I’ve seen another piece that maybe you’ve done – the David Bowie mural, Ziggy Stardust
SUNE – I’ve done a Ziggy Stardust mural down in where was it? I’m trying to remember where is was. Hartlepool ! Yes, yeah, so that was basically a commission for a mural, but it was in Back Street just off Church Street. I had a lovely time doing that.
peep What’s the plan for the future then? Are you going to keep doing this? Have you got plans to maybe do a book? I mean, a lot of artists now are doing books, aren’t they?
SUNE – I’m sure they are. I haven’t really thought about doing a book. I’ve got an exhibition coming up in the next two weeks but we haven’t done any painting for it yet, which is quite normal for me. So that that’s going to be at the Globe Gallery in North Shields Called Blank Canvas with Mark 187 and Cack Handed Kid. So that’s happening in two weeks time. So, we’re gonna spend the next couple of weeks in the gallery like painting and making a horrible mess and yeah.
Editors side note : peep also got the opportunity to interview Chris Donald from the VIZ Comic at The Globe Gallery in North Shields. Check out the full interview with Chris Donald at the Globe Gallery
peep – I was at an exhibition last week called – Hope is a Radical Act in Byker. I was kind of half expecting to see you there. Were you down there?
SUNE – I wasn’t down there for the opening night, but I did go down and have a look, because I love the idea behind it. Hope-as-radical-act. It’s just like sort of a beautiful, like beautiful starting point for life, for work, I think. I thought the exhibition was great but, like, but I absolutely love the idea behind it yeah.
peep – how do you find getting on with other graffiti artists, street artists? Do you find it a seamless act, or do you get resistance because of your style of work? I chat to a lot of street artists and graffiti writers in Newcastle and sometimes they get on, sometimes they don’t, sometimes they want to stay outside of the scene kind of thing, even if there is a scene. Do you collaborate quite a lot with other artists.
SUNE – I’ll collaborate with other artists all the time I like working with other people. I like working with lots of different people. I love seeing other people’s work. Personally, I don’t have a problem between street art and graffiti or the crossover. I don’t in any way whatsoever and, to be fair, I have virtually no grief whatsoever anywhere. To be fair, people are like, genuinely kind. Stuff like gets crossed out. Uh, it’s gone over, but like, that’s the nature of the game. That’s absolutely fine by me. It’s just what that means more people can go and paint over the top, that’s fine yeah.
peep I always ask artists about school. Did you find that you got the right motivation and help within school, within the art department, or were you kind of, didn’t find anything that enthusiastic?
SUNE I think the art department was the place where I was happiest, but at the same time I didn’t really do well in schools at all. So it wasn’t until later, I always knew that I loved painting and drawing. But I think I started to learn about things properly when I was a bit older. Maybe I just had to mature a little bit.
peep I think it comes to age, we all mature at separate times. There’s no clock on it. We’ll get there and we’re on time.
SUNE Yeah, absolutely I think. Yeah, I’ll just have to agree with that yeah of course, of course.
peep So when you graduated from university, what happened then? Did you go to university Leeds?
SUNE yes, I did, I went to university in Leeds.
peep So then you graduated. Then what happened then? Did you come to Newcastle upon Tyne then?
SUNE Not straight away. What happened then was, uh, the first thing that happened to me graduating was like I took part in an exhibition at The Royal College of Art, which was great, with like lots of Northern Graduates, and it was just like it was a pick of all the graduates from the North of England, which was an amazing place to like go and see what other other people were working on. But, it probably happened too soon, so I didn’t make the most of it. I was a bit sick of the art world, so I started like getting into working with the theatre world. I basically just like disappeared into the theatre world, which was absolutely brilliant. I love working backstage. I started off just painting and building props for Opera North, but from there I ended up working with lots of different shows with various Playhouses. So I’ve done lots of things. I’ve been been a stage manager, assistant stage manager, taking lots of shows all over the place. I’ve been really lucky and toured all over England, which is great because I could just chuck paint on, like the back of lights on the wagon and working the theatres at night and then run about. I would work in the theatres at night and then run about and paint all over the place during the day, which was absolutely wonderful.
peep Wow, you’ve really done your apprenticeship in the arts..
SUNE I probably bounced about everywhere, you know.
peep That’s sometimes the best experience, though, is it not?
SUNE I’ve made friends a lot, worked in lots of different places all over the place. So I’ve been incredibly lucky. I’ve had lots of opportunities everywhere. You know, like the theatres, which took me all round Britain. Painting has taking me from some of the worst places in my life to some of the best places in my life. It’s taken me like all around Britain, all around the world. I’ve went from from darkest festivals to painting with royalty and that sort of thing.
peep Painting with Royalty? Did I hear that right?
SUNE yeah, yeah, that was, was with, that was with Prince Harry in Rio. So like the British Consulate got us to go out there and do paintings in there. So we spent a couple of days painting in festivals and then we’re like sort of on the on the ‘poshest’ red carpets in the middle of Rio chatting to Marcus Waring and people like that, and Prince Harry came trotting along.
peep You’ve come a long way from the humble beginnings of getting in trouble with the law kind of vibe. Well, yeah it could have been a different story, couldn’t it?
SUNE Well, it’s very weird. Last month we did a big painting of subways which was commissioned by a local crime commissioner, which was absolutely brilliant. So basically, the police are paying me to do what I got in trouble for. It was fantastic, what else happened. We’ve been doing a lot. We’ve been doing over the years, like lots of stuff with North Tyneside Youth Offending Team, and one of the blokes I was working with was an incredible, amazing bloke. Princess Anne came along and said well done to us all.
peep That’s really cool. Obviously, you’re hugely influenced by contemporary art and maybe traditional art as well. Is there an artist or artists that you have maybe been influenced by or someone that you’re inspired with?
SUNE I get inspired by everyone. I look all over the place. I love Rembrandt. It’s amazing. I love the darkness of Goya and that sort of thing. But then you got like um, like figure stuff like sort of Lucian Freud, Celia Paul, people like that. I genuinely like seeing other people’s work and painting from from history, from like stuff that’s happening now. It’s amazing. I love the visual world. It’s great. I think I probably do love the art world.
peep I’ve got a bit of a saying – I understand art, but I don’t understand the people involved in art. Would you agree with that?
SUNE I’m not sure. I think, like I want art to be like sort of music. We all know whether we like music or not, like music. There’s like there’s some rubbish music all over the place and there’s absolutely incredible stuff in different genres, like sort of everywhere. I’m not sure about people who go into like an art gallery and really quiet and respectful. I don’t particularly want that. I want people to go in there and go like this is brilliant or like this is really interesting or this is a pile of rubbish. But, even if something’s a pile of rubbish, you’re talking about it, you know. I think that’s one of the things, but I think I should ask questions yeah, and art galleries shouldn’t be like libraries.
peep You know like we’ve got to be quiet. You got a whisper and you got a point and you got a rub your chin.
SUNE They should be fun places. You go in there to like have some sort of an experience.
peep Yeah, I think the whole art scene now is changing. Because when I was a kid and you know, when you ‘bunked off school’, me and the lads would bunk off school and we’d say, oh, come on, let’s try and get in that art gallery, but when you’d go in, you’d just get chased out. The security guy would see to three or four kids and shout get out ! You shouldn’t be here ! That’s the kind of vibe you got from fine art or, you know, contemporary art or abstract art. But I really feel now it’s starting to change and, um, and I’m seeing a lot of kids, I’m seeing a lot of artists bringing the kids down and the kids are getting, uh, involved. I mean, you would never see that 25 years ago. I would never see that, even 30 years ago. The whole art scene and the whole art world wasn’t really a career option back then. I bet you it was never spoken about that you could write on walls and make a career out of this. Do you know what I mean?
SUNE I think society in general has changed. It was interesting going to Europe and seeing the murals all over the place and coming back to Britain and seeing it as actually still quite dark and the idea of paint all around you towns and that sort of thing seen as a bad thing. I want the world that I live around to be like a bright, colourful place. I just I think it’s better like that and I think like nowadays, I think you know like sort of people are getting older, the generations are like sort of changing and that sort of thing and people are just more interested and more open for artwork in general.
peep Thanks for chatting SUNE. peep have been wanting to do it for ages. This interview is completely off the cuff. We seen him along the balcony and I said, right, we’ve got to chat to him today. I didn’t rehearse this. He hasn’t rehearsed this. It’s just completely un-scripted and off the cuff, so thanks a lot, mate.
SUNE Absolute pleasure. You probably nailed me down this time, didn’t you?
Immerse yourself in the captivating world of street art as SUNE, an internationally acclaimed graffiti artist, shares his artistic journey from humble beginnings to global recognition. In this episode, ‘SUNE’ opens up about his multifaceted career, recalling how an early passion for painting evolved into a path where he could not only express himself but also impact communities positively. Listeners can look forward to his personal anecdotes, including a poignant tribute he created for Keith Flint, the legendary frontman of The Prodigy.
SUNE’s engaging personality shines through as he discusses the importance of collaboration within the artistic community and his work with youth offending teams, using art to ignite passion and inspire change among young people. He tackles the perception of street art in modern society, emphasizing its role as a vibrant element of urban culture that deserves appreciation and respect rather than disdain. Another Street artist that shares this artistic ideology, is Mark-one-87 who collaborated with SUNE and Cack-Handed-Kid at the Globe Gallery in North Shields.
Through his experiences, Soon illustrates the belief that art should be accessible and engaging, transforming how we view creative expression within public spaces. Don’t miss this insightful conversation that showcases the beauty of street art, the journey of an artist, and the potential for art to transcend boundaries. Be sure to subscribe, share your thoughts, and engage with the vibrant community around street art!
Discover the vibrant world of street art through the eyes of ‘SUNE’, an international Graffiti artist who blends creativity with community outreach. From unforgettable portraits to impactful collaborations, ‘SUNE’ shares his fascinating journey.
If you would like to watch the full interview follow this link – SUNE Graffiti artist talks to peep OR if you would prefer to listen on the move follow this link – SUNE Mural artist talks with peep podcast
