Features

Give us the run down on who Panda Sex is?

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Where did the name pandasex come from?

A lot of people ask me this but I tell different stories. Basically it has to do with me losing my mind and going crazy as a teenager, getting sent to a mental institution, taking a girls virginity at prom, living on the streets of San Francisco, finding a diamond on the street and meeting a jewish kid after him being sent to jail and the aryan nation paying for his hair cut and starting doing a lot of DRUGS. True story.

Who are some of your greatest influences?

This changes a lot but right now I'm influenced by many things: designer brands and their collections (Louis Vuitton, Lacoste, Gucci, Coach), cartoons, blunts, street life, bus rides, rap music, conversations, Northface jackets (even though they're kinda played they stay classic), new socks/new underwear and old school computer/video game graphics.

Have you had a chance to compare the creative scene in San Francisco to anywhere else in Cali or the States? How do you think it holds up, how is it different?

San Francisco has an agenda these days. It wants to make money and keep its 70s hippy culture vibe/art center image that the rest of world thinks about. They even make money off that with tourists. It wants to take out the ethnic neighborhoods and move in out-of-towners so they can feel cultural. I can't speak on anywhere else because I haven't spent enough time there. Creatively, there still is that spark with its bay area natives. That energy that's out here cannot die even if the city wants to kill it by moving in rich people/hipsters/lames and charging higher rent. The rap, graffiti and art that is produced here is that of no other.

Do you have any sort of ritual before heading out to write?

I try to be real spontaneous, but if I can i'll get some drugs and do some pushups. That way I can get higher for a smaller amount. I hold the smoke in and do pushups. I try to do 100 pushups in a day.

you seem to give pretty equal focus to creating both character and letter driven pieces do you have a preference?

I'm glad you asked this because this is a topic in the bay area graff scene that has come up a lot. I heard from the "glory days" of the early 90s graffiti in san francisco, you would ask a writer "what do you write character or letters?" I use to paint pandas, at the time I wanted to get away from letters and work on my painting skills. after awhile I started to see this style best described in no other word than "cheap." I saw too many beginner writers/college art students use characters as a way to get fame in the streets. It was better for the "cross over." this left a bad taste in my mouth. this is when I returned to letters and then abstract forms of letters. basically I wanted to challenge myself as an artist and this is where it took me. Lately I've thrown away pieces for throw-ups.

San Fran has stepped up it's anti Graffiti policies over the years has this affected how often you get up? How has it changed the scene in general in SF?

All the buffing and cleaning of the city has turned a lot of its taggers into mutants. This has caused a lot of writers having to catch a lot of tags and bomb harder. People are hitting more ground tags instead of walls. The game has changed but the players still play. The culture is still there everything to me is beautiful. San Francisco stays a major force in graffiti, art, and style.

Anything coming up we should know about?

We got the rap album coming out soon sometime.

Any last words? 

Dream realize utopian graffiti society.

The best way to stay up on any new Panda Sex work is to keep your eye on Steve Rotmans Flickr.