Ricky Also
Photography by Ed Hill
In conversation with artist Ricky Also, co-founder of Paintshop Studio & Gallery.
Hi Rick! Can you give us a short introduction about yourself and your style of work?
My name is Ricky Also, I'm an artist and designer. Together with my partner Sandra Ramos we run Paintshop Studio & Gallery, a creative studio based in Poole, but working throughout the UK with the aim to transform spaces using a mix of large-scale design and hand-painted murals.
As an artist, my personal style is based around interlocking layers of exaggerated letterforms which have been developed over many years and draws on my background in graffiti and graphic design. This work can be seen around Bournemouth and the UK in mural form and smaller scale as art prints and hand-painted skateboard decks, some of which are for sale online and in our studio & shop space on Kingland Crescent in Poole.
Can you give us a bit of background on your career and some of the milestones so far?
I started my creative life pretty early getting into graffiti when I was just a kid. This developed a love for typography and illustration which then led me into a career in graphic design. I travelled a lot when I was younger and ended up in London working for a wide range of creative studios there, gaining a broad mix of experience within the design industry.
My last full-time job was with a design company called Unorthodox Styles (now U-dox), which also ran a sneaker website called Crooked Tongues. This was a game changer for me as we were a small studio but solidly entrenched in Hip-Hop, streetwear and sneaker culture and were able to work on some incredible campaigns for brands like Nike and Adidas. Working there showed me that you can do anything if you focused on your passion and that brands were desperate to connect with audiences from the street level up.
With this mind, in 2007 we founded Paintshop, with the idea of mixing graffiti art and graphic design to help brands speak to new audiences and a build solid connection. Over the years, as this approach has become less 'niche' and a huge industry has grown around street art, we evolved and adapted our idea, moving away from live art and promotional events and focusing more on murals for interior and exteriors. Our passion is to use art and design to transform spaces and to help to change the world around us for the better.
One of our favourite local projects to date is the Upside outdoor gallery in Bournemouth gardens, which showcases artworks from many leading UK artists on 10m tall concrete pillars and helps bring this neglected space to life for everyone to enjoy. We feel the change in this area encapsulates what we try to achieve with our work at Paintshop.
What was your most memorable moment in your career?
I have a favourite memory from when I was painting a wall in Shoreditch back around 2011. I turned around to see a lady, in her 60s, taking a photograph of me. When I heard her New York accent I instantly knew it was Martha Cooper. Her photographs of New York graffiti in the book Subway Art changed my world back when I was 11 and has been one of my biggest inspirations throughout my life. It felt like a full circle for my work to be the subject of one of her pictures and will always be something I'll never forget.
Where is your happy place?
I'm happy being anywhere I can be myself and be creative, in my studio, with friends painting on a wall and with my family.
Do you have any advice for people who want to follow in your footsteps?
My career has taken a pretty unusual path so I don't think I could recommend following in my footsteps. The best advice I could give would be to find your own path and follow your passions as best as you can. Embrace what makes you unique and bring that into your style, work hard and create your own opportunities and always try to enjoy your work :)
Website → paintshopstudio.com
Instagram→ @paintshopstudio
Instagram→ @rickyalso
