This is an insight to Otis Chamberlain, painter, designer, musician, artist. The self proclaimed government sponsored (though they wouldn't know it) creative maestro who goes by the alias Mephisto Jones. Growing up a "metal kid" listening to guitar rock and punk well before his "natural progression" into Hip Hop, the stimulating, soulful, urban aesthetic approach to his work is definitely of a subconscious street nature.

Catching up with him before the Ill Phonics gig, with whom he drums for, in Auckland last month was inspiring to say the least. He's a relaxed laid back kinda guy, who is down to earth and speaks passionately about the art he makes, and the facets that influence him.

Browsing through some of his portfolio work which contains a diverse range of mediums, including the CD cover for De Clive Lowe album and numerous canvas pieces, I noticed some stencil documentation of his trademark characters throughout his hometown of the "small multi cultured creative" Wellington. It is pretty evident that his work has an element of Hip Hop styling within it. He is untrained, yet contemporary, self-taught, and is definitely streetwise. In his own opinion of his art, he's "more graphic than anything", and is quick to note that although he loves Hip Hop and graffiti culture, he is not a writer. In the capital city he says there is such a cross-over of genres that it's hard not to take something from everything that's around you.

"Not just from other visual stuff but also from the music community there, because it's a very multi-faceted sort of scene, it's almost goldfish bowl like, so like everything is right up in your face the whole time, so that's where my influence comes from, my peers."

Asking whether or not he thinks stencil work is becoming more widely accepted by, what I myself would consider 'purist' graffiti artists, he comes up with an explanation that puts things in perspective.
"I could see why it would be (frowned upon by those purists), but I mean if you go out and you're doing something of a graphic nature on public property or in public view then it's street art. If anything I would put it (stencil art) under that (street), as a singular umbrella, as soon as you start breaking genres down and getting too nit picky on it, that's where the walls come up and I can see where that kinda thing would be with graffiti to stencil shit, but at the end of the day I'm starting to see cats now incorporating both, with some pretty tasty results, so there shouldn't really be any lines between street art I guess, you know?" Doing a lot of "tailored one off commissioned" work has made Mephisto aware of what his audience wants, but he still stays true to doing things he loves. When he does things for himself, he tells me it's more spontaneous and not fitted to any particular mould. Mephisto also enjoys designing gig flyers (design work over winter is his bread and butter he states with a smile). By doing these, his signature style is getting out there under people's noses, in a sense, making his art accessible to those who wouldn't normally see it. He grew up skateboarding, so when I asked him who he thinks are cool artists, he notes the skateboard graphics in magazines were pretty much "grained into my subconscious". Pioneers such as Shaun Cliver and Andy Howell. Dave Kinsey's art "bugs" him out, but he also notes that "locally, I get tweeked out on local artists just as much these days, I never was really too aware or conscious of the whole local art scene... but now that I'm tryna do something, I'm going to shows and checking stuff out more, and I'm like- whoa man we got a whole backyard full of fuckin creative cats and that choices me out just as heavily, you know? Seeing someone turn something dope out in your own backyard, is just as much of a high as checking out some wicked international artists." Check out Mephisto Jones' work at Maw, 504 Karangahape Road, Auckland City, or http://www.angelfire.com/ill/mephistoart/

Article by Renae, from issue 23, Out4Fame magazine. They own this stuff, not me.