Slawn – The good, the bad, and the Ugly Bastard

Slawn is everywhere.

Or so it seems. Just this year, he has redesigned the FA Cup and dropped custom Rolexes and Louis Vuitton totes. His meteoric rise has not been without controversy. In March, he faced backlash after selling a painting at Sotheby’s. Some were outraged by his appropriation of blackface minstrelsy, but Slawn doesn’t back down from a challenge. Here’s what he has to say.

Avant Arte: So a moment ago, when I asked to see the Ugly Bastard, you said "he's right here." And before that, you described it as a statue made in your image —

Slawn: — as God has made us in his image. I make this in my image, some kid makes something in his image, and then his kid makes something in someone else's image, and so on, but everything boils down to God. 

Avant Arte: Usually when referring to the likeness of God, people are talking about beauty – and this is a gorgeous sculpture, but you've named it the Ugly Bastard. What was the reasoning there? 

Slawn: You're seeing him as beautiful, whoever this is. He’s hiding his face still. Maybe he doesn't want to look up because he thinks he's ugly, even though you think he's beautiful. Or, viewed from another angle, he’s looking down on you.

Avant Arte: What has it been like working with the team to create your sculpture? 

Slawn: It’s like you’ve taken Bruce Lee’s punch and turned it into an elbow. Bruce Lee would see it and think “I would have never done it like that”. I would have left the work on paper if you hadn’t asked me about making the sculpture. But my style is still recognisable, it cannot be mistaken, even though it’s a sculpture.

Avant Arte: You’re right. How did you develop that style? 

Slawn: When I was younger I had a couple of friends who could draw Ben 10 and other cartoons really quickly, and I couldn't do that. That pissed me off. The one thing I could draw was Diary of a Wimpy Kid, so I kept drawing that and it evolved into this. The whole point of the art I make is that it's easy for me to do. 

It's muscle memory now – I can't help it. That’s where my style comes from, but it also keeps sending me back to where I’ve already been.

Avant Arte: A lot of people stop when they find drawing difficult. What made you keep going? 

Slawn: I was rebellious, man. My teacher told me I was shit. I said cool then I'll make sure I'm the shittiest, biggest artist in the world. I have a problem with people telling me I can't do things. That's my main thing. I'll prove to you that I can. So I convinced everyone that this shit I do is fire. So far, it's working.

Avant Arte: A lot of the time people focus on your persona more than your art. Do you find that unfair?

Slawn: It's not unfair, it is what it is. I can't go back on what I've said, so I stand on it. 

Avant Arte: What does being offensive mean? Is it something you set out to do? 

Slawn: I set out to do it. Definitely. I can't make art that people look at and cry out of beauty. My technical skills cannot get to that point because I'm so fast-paced. I need a quick burst of something, and the only way to get that quick response is through emotion. You can't always get that with happiness, but with anger and rage it works every single time. There's always something to be pissed off about. It spreads like wildfire.

Avant Arte: You’ve said that you like to tickle people where they don't like to be tickled. What’s the relationship between humour and taboo in your work?

Slawn: Everyone's seen my art. Art is so crazy – you switch a colour and it's a completely different thing. I could draw a KKK hood and make it green, suddenly it's an evergreen tree. So when people say "wow, this guy is painting, racist caricatures," I'm not even painting ‘coons’, I'm painting clowns.

If you do your research, and go further back in my art, you'll find clowns. But one day, I realised that if I change that orange or blue to black, and I made the nose and the lips red – it's racist. That was a way for me to turn what I already do into a separate type of art. But that doesn't mean that's what my work is based on.

Avant Arte: Is the idea that it can be interpreted either way what interests you?

Slawn: It's more the conversation. I see what happened on Twitter, and there's people replying "what is Jim Crow? I've never heard of that before." All it took was me being the villain in their life, and now they know something they didn't know. Now if they ever walk into a weird house and they see these objects they know what it is. Get Out!

I enjoy being the villain in things, because often you find out the villain is just someone who was trying to, if not save you, then tell you something. It makes the movie way sicker.  Everyone loves a eureka moment, like when you're doing maths and it ends up working out. The people who are intelligent enough to stop and research always find out that even if the work isn't groundbreaking, it's interesting!

Avant Arte: When does this eureka moment come in your work? 

Slawn: When you scroll down and scroll down, you see the whole story.

Avant Arte: So your artworks are an evolution on a theme?

Slawn: No, they've always been the same. I've never evolved. My work didn't get better or worse. 

Avant Arte: But you changed the colours…

Slawn: True, I changed the colours. 

Avant Arte: Why do you think it is that people see other artists, like Kara Walker for example, exploring minstrelsy in their work and think that they’re doing something intelligent but assume that you're not?

Slawn: I'm a student of the game. I never start talking about something that I don't know about. People say "the only reason people are working with him is because he is a coon." No, it's because I create conversation for people, and they enjoy that.

It’s why I created the Ugly Bastard. I've never, ever thought I'm ugly. People call me ugly – man, there's a good chance that your girlfriend might want me. Or they call me self hating –  no, you just hate that I love myself. The problem is that they really want me to not like myself, and it's not possible.

Avant Arte: Is this something that you’re consciously channelling while creating the works? 

Slawn: No, that’s not really where my creativity comes from. Since I was 13, I've been practising lucid dreaming. I have two or three minutes every time I wake up from any type of sleep, where my brain is so active. It's unparalleled. I wake up and write ideas down. 

My brain gives me the puzzle, all I have to do is put the pieces together to move forward. Then, when I'm painting I don't focus on the work. I think it's called a flow state. By the time I'm done, it's like I've time travelled, there's a piece of work, and I haven't had to worry.

Avant Arte: The last six years have been very crazy for you. What's the journey been like from working at WAFFLESNCREAM in Lagos to trophies and Rolexes?

Slawn: Slow. I've waited for a moment, and it hasn't come yet. 

Avant Arte: Do you think it will come? 

Slawn: My girlfriend says my job in people's lives is to fulfil but not to be fulfilled, so I've accepted my role.

Avant Arte: Do you think that's part of what it means to be an artist? 

Slawn: Some artists get fulfilled when they see a nice piece of work they made. I'm usually like, “I'll go and do another one that's better.” Not necessarily “better” – I've got work that I painted three years ago and it's much nicer than what I'm doing now. But that's because time makes things more beautiful. That's why I always finish a work, even if I don't like it.

Avant Arte: You might not feel fulfilled by it, but you are one of the biggest names in London right now. What do you think about the hype? 

Slawn: I could be the biggest name today and tomorrow no one gives a shit about me. I just take it as what it is. If everything ends tomorrow, I've got a couple things to my name that I could use to go and start something in Nigeria and call it a day. I give up easily. If people run up in this place with guns, I'm not fighting.

Avant Arte: What’s next for the Ugly Bastard? 

Slawn: I'm going to put one in Trafalgar Square one day. My cousin fell off one of the lions and bashed his head in and suffered brain damage. I’ll put one of these there one day for my cousin. I’ll put one in Nigeria at the airport too so it’s the first thing you see when you land. 

Avant Arte: Is it a character you see evolving?

Slawn: I’ll do one of him praying. One of him laying down. One of him drawing. The possibilities are endless. Movement is humanity. You have to keep moving. Maybe I’ll make one of him constantly moving. Maybe change the colour.

Avant Arte: Finally, what do you have to say to the world? 

Slawn: Fuck you. But that’s what you were expecting.