SF was the brand [Will Paint For Cash] pop-up. We did that at SVRN. They started in Chicago, but they branched out to SF. You know, I'm from the Bay Area, so it was good to be able to do something for back home.

And then Tokyo, I just had to come scout a couple locations. I'm working on a solo out here, so I just wanted to make sure I have a better understanding of the layout, and just check in with the people I know out here and kind of cultivate the air for me to come out here. And I think I'm also going to be involved in this group show out here around November. So, just checking out the land.

Will Paint for Cash came about because I was ruining every single shirt—every nice shirt I owned—painting in the studio. I just have a tendency to paint in what I love. I really believe that fashion is a powerful thing: you feel good, you look good, you perform good, right? And so I was wearing some of my best garments in the studio when I was doing it. I had to come up with something I could wear. I didn't want to just wear white tees and stuff, and I looked at it as an opportunity to treat the shirt design like a canvas—a T-shirt design like a canvas.

In my mind, I was trying to design something that could replace making a print, in a sense, for me, and also carry another function. I came to the design of the T-shirt through signage. I've always been into signage. So I designed the slogan, Will Paint for Cash, and I really loved it. I think it was one of the smartest designs I've ever made. As far as the back, I wanted it to read like a promotional tool and to be something that influenced people to get into the art world. That's why you see “Buy Art Now.”

At the end of the day, I also wanted to make something that was for us, by us. And by “us,” I mean artists. I wanted artists to be able to wear this because I realized that, when I wear the shirt, everyone's always like, “Well, what do you paint?” It's a great way for an artist not to have to be the guy to break the ice and tell people, “Hey, look, I'm a painter.” She could wear a shirt and someone could run up to her and be like, “Hey, what do you paint?” That's them having an inquisitive mind about it without the artist having to be the forefront in that conversation.

And I also wanted to make them numbered. Once you get one of those cities, it'll never happen again, so you cherish that and you keep it. I wanted to make a garment that you didn't want to throw away ten years from now. I wanted to make something you would collect—that would be just as valuable as art from my studio.

I'm just super into the challenge. I was doing music since I was 18. I'm going to turn 39 on September 30. It was time to do something new, and I wasn't ever scared of a challenge.

I also wanted to do something that I was completely responsible for, top to bottom. The shirt—I designed every aspect of it. The art I make—I design every aspect of it. The studio I have my practice in—I designed every aspect of it.

Well, yeah, that's first. It's fun—keeping my practice exciting. I don't ever want to fall into a box. You know how the art goes: you get famous for one thing, and then they want to keep making you do that one dance.

I think if I constantly have a form of experimentation in my work, then no one can ever quite put their finger on what it is I do. I never want to be looked at as, like, “He's just this. He's just a painter.” I want to truly wear the word “creative,” and creativity comes in all forms, right? So, yeah, my base is painting, but that painting leads me to do all these other things.

Well, when I first started making work, I had no—I'm not a scholastic painter. I didn't come to this from Yale. We don't got the crazy BFA. We didn't do any of that. So, when I started trying to get into it, it was pretty hard. I didn't know anything. I didn't have any teachers.

I just remembered one thing from high-school art class. It was the one-liner, and the process of a teacher telling me, “Put your hand on the paper and feel it. Don't stop. Don't take your hand from the paper until you feel like it's done.”

With that process, that's how I started. That's literally the first thing I was doing. Through that, I've evolved. We've learned skill sets. We've learned different apparatuses, different applications of different mediums. I think, for me, it's an ode to my beginning, and to always trying to evolve that.

I always want that to be a little part of it because, like you said, it's recognizable. I don't want to be so all over the place that you can't recognize me, but I do want to be open to evolution.

As far as portraiture goes, like you said, I come from a musical background, as most people know. One of the first things I did with music was go on tour. I like to think I'm a people person. I like to think that I was a social guy—a ‘social butterfly’, as they would say. So, for me, connecting with people is a big deal.

You know, someone's got to do it. I think at this time, a gallery would do no investing in branding an artist. I think this is the thing that makes me so different and makes my work so desirable, because people can associate this with an energy and a lifestyle.

I think when I came into this place, a lot of people thought I was just some hype artist—especially coming from music. They think I'm some guy who doesn't take this thing seriously. But, on the contrary, I think I take it more seriously than most artists. That's why I took it all on my own. That's why I'm the guy in the driver's seat.

I'm not going to wait for some gallery to give me some opportunity and some programming where I don't matter. We have a calendar of 12 months, and you've got a 40-artist roster. If I don't shine in 30 days, then I'm forgotten. I could never let that happen to myself.

But it's starting to pay off, man. It's crazy to see all these people acting like it's just now starting, but we've been here for years. I've been here ten-plus years doing this. It's great to see that people are starting to respond to it because we're the real rock stars. Artists are the real rock stars, and we always have been. We put our life on the line. You come first, and then everyone else follows. That's how it goes.