THE BENCH #1

The 21stCentury Boyz sat down at the bench with one of Australia’s finest for a conversation. Here’s how it turned out.

21STCB - Tell us some words about your style.

DEST - My style I would say is quite traditional with a New York influence. I used to love the flow and structure of 90’s New York and German writers. I like to change my style up from time to time depending on what I feel like painting. Sometimes I might feel like a traditional funky style and fade or a real technical style with elaborate effects.

21STCB - Tell us about your life story.

DEST - Well I was born and raised in Perth, Western Australia. I was a troubled teen and it also carried on to my early 20s. I was always getting into fights and trouble with the law. In my late 20s I was involved in a crime in which I was sentenced to 3 and a half years imprisonment. In prison I studied fine art and just did as much painting and drawing as I could (spray paint was not allowed in prison). It was in prison that I realized I must turn my life around and try to pursue my dream of becoming a fulltime artist. I served 2 years and was released on parole in 2012. After getting out of prison I began to get back into aerosols and graffiti and after many years off I found my true passion again. I have never looked back since.

21STCB - How did you get into graffiti? 

DEST - I got into graffiti by meeting some local older guys from my area who were up all around the neighborhood. They would take me out tagging and just hanging out. From there I just kept progressing and exploring more into the graffiti and hip-hop subculture.

21STCB - How do you see the graff scene today and in the future?

DEST - Graffiti today is quite scary to think how it will be in the future. I mean with this influx of hipster graffiti or “Anti-style” or this whack retro revival of 70s-80s graffiti becoming more popular with these art fags who want to be trendy. It is ruining the graffiti subculture in my opinion. This hipster graffiti shit is quite bad in my city and the hipsters are even starting beef with real writers and getting beat down for it. I love to hear these stories :)

21STCB - Who are your all-time favorite writers / crews?

DEST- I have many such as the early 90s New York and European crews such as f.x, S.U.K, T.N.B and many more. These days I love the works of crews such as Love letters, T.M.D, M.S.K, The Bullshitters and more. In Australia I like the works of crews like S.D.M, I.D and many more.

21STCB - What would be your advice to young writers starting just now?

DEST - Just keep drawing, sketching and painting as much as you can. Don’t fall for too much of the graffiti ego bullshit, just do it for yourself and for the love of it.