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conducted by John Clay
New York City, March 2003

Artist, designer, marketer, hustler, moneymaker; graffiti writer Marc Mazurkiewicz brings all of it into his work. I met up with Marc in the lobby of the midtown Manhattan building where he designs logos and images for a clothing company--one of many creative pursuits. Originally from Staten Island, Marc studied at Parsons School of Design in Manhattan. Ever since then, he has been writing and painting on walls, webpages, clothing, people, and anything else that strikes him as a good canvas to put his name to. My first time seeing the artist's work in person was at his latest Graffiti on Girls bodypainting event at SPA nightclub in Manhattan. It was an opportunity for me to shoot some photos and see Marc doing his thing. I was impressed by his easy rapport with the models and with clubgoers. Now, tonight, was the opportunity to talk. We walked three blocks to a favorite diner. "This is my latenight hangout." Characteristically, Marc selected a table he liked, a spacious booth, just as the hostess was eyeing a cramped two-seater. "How about this one?" he gently asked her. We settled into talking about the place, the lovely hostess, and writing graffiti. He pulled out a black sketchbook for me to browse. I considered it an honor. Ideas, explorations--an artist's sketchbook is a precious and personal thing. But Marc is cool that way. Smart about sizing up a person and a situation, and ready with hospitality and generosity. Many times in the course of our conversation, Marc expressed the idea that you get out of life what you put into. Marc puts a lot into it.

CLAY: Tell me about Cram Concepts.

MAZURKIEWICZ: Cram Concepts has been around since I was eighteen or nineteen. It started when I went to art school in the city. I was a Staten Island Catholic school boy, you know, and then I went to the city to grow up, pretty much. I started making T-shirts around then and the name of the company was Concepts. So when I didn't just want to be Cram, I added the Concepts and it became like a company. It's just hustling, trying to make money.

CLAY: What is your art training?

MAZURKIEWICZ: I went to Parsons School of Design for four years. I didn't study art; I studied graphics, especially for computer. I was pretty much the only one studying graphic design who also did paintings. Other than that, my training was around the neighborhood.

CLAY: Did you have a mentor in the neighborhood?

MAZURKIEWICZ: No one did that for me. Someone gave me an alphabet [for graffiti], back in the day. No one who was really great said, Yo this is how you do it. But I made sure that I brought up some little guys.

CLAY: Are there particular artists—graffiti or establishment artists—who have especially inspired you?

MAZURKIEWICZ: Who I'm looking at right now is Delta, a graffiti artist. A lot of people: Picasso—I'm like his number one son. Vanessa Beecroft—She has models, like twenty girls chillin' in the Guggenheim, in underwear or naked, standing and looking at the crowd, and that's the whole installation. It's really dope. I like Jamal GS, Ryan McGinley, Revok, Klimt, Haring, Warhol, Basquiat, Renoir, Sag, Matthew Barney, and so on.

CLAY: What's good to eat here?

MAZURKIEWICZ: The cheeseburger, yo. That shit is good. But it's a lot. Today I want to go light. I was thinking grilled cheese.

[Marc hands his sketchbook to me to look through—a gesture I deeply appreciated.]

CLAY: I should go light too because otherwise I'm going to be mumbling questions with my mouth full.

MAZURKIEWICZ: Don't be spittin' up on my drawings over there. [laughter]

CLAY: Tell me about the people in your sketchbook and in your paintings on canvas: Who are they?

MAZURKIEWICZ: The faces are like alter egos, you know what I'm saying? That's a way to describe it.

CLAY: So they're not portraits of actual people?

MAZURKIEWICZ: Sometimes. It depends. I do portraits once in a while. I've been working with this one particular style. I'll mix it up, you know.

CLAY: Your own alter egos? or general personality types?

MAZURKIEWICZ: Personalities. It's definitely some of me. But it's also what it is. It's like a bugged out view of the world. It's also about the shapes: Very designy like lettering, working with the letters. A lot of these from the sketchbook are on canvas.

CLAY: You also do wall graffiti and more recently, bodypainting—Graffiti on Girls. What other kinds of "canvases" have you painted on?

MAZURKIEWICZ: I was designing websites full-time. A few months after that I went to Enyce, an urban clothing company. Now I'm designing clothes: all the T-shirts, some sportswear, stuff like that. Today they had me painting boots, customizing boots for a fashion show.

CLAY: You've traveled a lot, painted in a lot of different places?

MAZURKIEWICZ: Yeah, traveling is good. I meet a lot of people, and usually I make friends with them. They tell me where to buy stuff, where to paint on the walls, where to party. Sometimes I stay at their houses; they're my tour guides. When they come to New York to visit, I show them around, take them out.

CLAY: You said you don't like people to have to pay to see your art.

MAZURKIEWICZ: I want to tell a million of my friends to come down to a crowded place. I don't want them to pay. I don't want no one to pay. I mean, if you want to own it, yeah.

CLAY: Would you say that is a philosophy of yours?

MAZURKIEWICZ: It's more like a marketing thing. But yeah, it's nice to have people get in for free, at least the people that I want to be there. Let in all the ladies for free definitely.

CLAY: In a book called Aerosol Kingdom, written by Ivor Miller, an old master named PHASE 2 talks (on page 13) about names being a major element of graffiti. Do you see that in your own work?

MAZURKIEWICZ: The name should mean something, but it's all up to what you want. There's this guy in Manhattan who has the stupidest name ever, but if you asked people about him, a large part of the people would respect him because he writes all over the place, and it's a style that looks pretty nice. It's more about getting that name up. The name itself is last [in importance]. As long as you know the name, it doesn't matter.

CLAY: Can you talk to me about the difference between unauthorized graffiti art that somebody throws up on a wall and authorized graffiti, like commissioned murals?

MAZURKIEWICZ: It doesn't really matter--if you do a nice piece, if you appreciate graffiti art. For the people who do it, there's an important side to doing illegal graffiti. And some people wear that importance differently. Some people don't really consider the commissioned art to be graffiti, but I think it is. When you do a commissioned wall, you're doing a nicer piece, you're taking your time. I have galleries, different stores, and businesses that let me paint on their walls, and I change the scenery every couple of months.

CLAY: One of the photos on your site shows a wall painting with a vent right in the middle. What was that place?

MAZURKIEWICZ: That place was actually pretty gross. It was like a refrigerator warehouse, and just in the corner there, there were roaches. I was on this ladder and the weather was hot. Some guy gave me some funny weed that day too, a homeless guy. He said, I like seeing the art being created.

CLAY: What reactions do you get from passersby when you're doing a commissioned piece on a wall?

MAZURKIEWICZ: Everyone will have a comment, which is great. You get the little old ladies or the little kids. It gives them the right to talk to me. I like it.

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© 2003 John Clay.