This is the first interview I have posted on Natural Adventures and I couldn’t have hoped for a better start. I have long admired the work of Dice 67, and have featured several of his Bristol street pieces on this blog over the last two years. This interview was an idea hatched at Upfest 2016 when I met Dice 67 for the first time. Several emails have been exchanged and a year has passed – good things come to those who wait.
Who are you and where are you from?
Andy ‘Dice’ Davies aka Dice 67 / Dice Sixtyseven
Can you remember your first piece of street art? where was it? how did you feel?
I was working for a college for 16-24 yr olds with learning difficulties and, as the board of the qualification I taught changed, the new one had furniture upcycling in. The students all wanted to do Banksy style stencils on there pieces and it went from there.
A couple of years later and a student asked to do a local bus stop in Nailsworth which was a complete mess. We planned the wall and I learnt to go bigger. Part of the wall had a space on it and I put the stencil of my daughter on it as a kind of guardian. The picture of her when she first saw it (wearing the same clothes) got put on Reddit and it got half a million views and voted on by 40,000! This was quite some introduction and people started to contact me asking to buy copies of it, be in magazines etc.
What techniques do you use and what is your favourite way of working?
Although I started out with stencils I have always wanted to try new techniques and have painted with acrylics, sometimes using brushes and often just using my hands! I have used an air brush on some paintings and done some completely free hand spray pieces now.
Freehand is definitely the most satisfying when it comes off but can be quite frustrating when it doesn’t! I’m still a newbie to it so still have a lot to learn, and can be a bit of a perfectionist, so find getting the fine details on portraits very difficult but its the way I want to go so Ill be doing a lot more.
Making your mistakes and learning in front of people can be quite daunting too! There will always be a place for stencils though – I love the cleanness of the lines and detail in smaller pieces so doubt Ill give them up completely.
Why do you do street art, especially when you know it might be tagged or over-painted as soon as you turn your back?
Essentially because I love doing it! Having a creative outlet is a blessing and I love having the opportunity to paint. I was made redundant from the college last year and have now taken it up full-time which has been fantastic. I’m getting a lot of very diverse jobs in and each one is a new challenge.
I’ve turned a lamp post into a cobra, painted a shipping container for the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra’s Virtual Reality headsets for the Cheltenham Music Festival, painted a 30x10ft magazine cover and am also making a sculpture for the Tour of Britain cycle race as well as running workshops and doing murals for schools, library projects and festivals so I am pretty busy but loving every minute right now.
I’m also running the first Cheltenham Paint Festival where I shall be having around 70 artists coming and painting around 14 locations around the town so life’s pretty hectic at the minute!
It’s nice when your work stays up and is there for a time but getting painted over is the nature of the beast and keeps everything fresh. You’re constantly pushed to come up with something new and that’s an exciting prospect.
Who are your artistic or life inspirations?
As I’m sure you’re aware my kids appear in a lot of my paintings and they’re definitely a big inspiration for me. I don’t like painting famous people and don’t like using other peoples photographs without permission so I guess its my way of saving on models fees!
As for artistic inspirations I just try to do my own thing – I love realism in street art, anamorphic styles and admire the form and colours of the writers but also love Da Vinci’s drawings, surrealism and abstraction. I’m a big fan of good sculpture and installation pieces too so my inspirations are pretty diverse!
Whose work do you admire?
My favourites are undoubtedly Pichi and Avo. I love their mix of new and traditional styles. It was something I thought about doing myself a few years ago but when I did a google search and found a couple of their early pieces, I realised I was nowhere near their level and it would probably take me a lifetime to achieve where they already were so went back to the drawing board!
Other favourites are Smug, Kazland, Id:iom, Odeith and I love Carlos Martin Burgos’ drawings.
What makes you tick?
Leaving something for my kids to look back on and seeing that I stood up for kindness and social responsibility.
What would you be doing (do you do) when you are not creating your art?
Trying to make my kids laugh or teach them something.
Do you have a ‘stand out’ piece that you are most proud of? what is it? is it still there?
I’ll always love my original Izzy piece as its taken me to where I am today. I often think if she had worn a different top or boots I might not be on the path I am now and would still be teaching. I find it crazy that the random choice of a 4 yr old has had such a huge impact on my career path! Yes the original is still up in Nailsworth as far as I know and is now four years old!
My recent SMILE piece is also a favourite as it forced me to go freehand due to time constraints and it came off and fitted the triple gatefold magazine cover! It was my goal to go freehand this year and this gave me the kick up the arse to do it. Its still there as we speak.
Do you have plans for your art? what will you be working on in the coming months?
Just to keep doing whatever opportunities come my way and finding some time for my own stuff in between! The paint festival is huge for me and I have a budget from the council to run 6 smaller festivals over the next three years so being able to paint the town is a huge honour and one I hope I can make people proud of.
Do you have any questions for me?
Would you like to buy a painting? 🙂
Nothing would give me more pleasure than owning a Dice 67 piece…a few more years down the mine earning shekels ought to do it. Many thanks to Dice 67 for giving us a window into his world.
If you would like to know more about some of the artists I post about, let me know and I’ll see if I can set something up.
Natural adventures 