by INSA

A graduate of Goldsmith's, London, British artist and designer INSA began his career as a graffiti writer, painting streets and buildings as he travelled.Soon becoming known for his now trademark 'graffiti fetish' pattern, INSA's work is now held in the V&A collection, and has been presented at Tate Britain, London.Outside of the UK, INSA has left his mark in major cities around the world including; Tokyo, LA, New York, San Francisco Luxembourg, Lisbon, Hong Kong, Warsaw, Berlin, Brussels and Montreal.

Often touching on polemical issues, INSA's work unpicks some of the apocryphal stories of today: departing from some of the symbols of modern aspirations, INSA's visual motifs confront the fetishisation of products in modern society, and the commodification of success and ambition.The paradoxical nature of his work questions both his own position as an artist in a consumerist world, and collective ideals in our society. Also key to INSA's output is a pervasive sense of irony and self-deprecating humour, that has made his work accessible and enjoyable to many kinds of viewer, in many different contexts; from the conventional gallery space to the streets of an inner city neighbourhood.

INSA's early practice 'creating high impact and often ephemeral works' has undoubtedly informed his experimental approach with new media in recent years. INSA has independently built a veritable empire which encompasses furniture and clothing design, and his own high heel company, to custom cars and much more. From public installations to large scale commercial projects, works often only appear in very limited editions, or for a short amount of time, showing the artist's continued interest in confounding concepts of time and space, the way in which we process and consume, and the transience of objects.

Always keen to push boundaries and innovate further, INSA has gained a huge following for his work globally, and which he has expanded through his recent experiments with social and digital media. His most recent product design 'a limited edition release of digital print INSA leggings' sold out in just 6 minutes, using only Instagram and Twitter as platforms.

Another important facet of INSA's practice is the 'GIF-ITI', a term the artist coined when he began to create the first ever GIF animations of graffiti work; a meticulous and labour-intensive process often requiring the artist to repaint an entire wall by hand several times.

INSA's unique GIF-ITI invention has captured audiences by creating street art that paradoxically only exists online, as a 600 pixel wide image. His most recent GIF-ITI creation was a collaboration with Stanley Donwood for XL Records, 'Hollywood Dooom', a special commission to celebrate the release of a new album for Atoms for Peace.

INSA's impressive client base counts commissions for private collectors, celebrities and major brands as well as product collaborations with Kangol, Oki-Ni and NIKE. As part of the artist's 'swapshop' project in 2011 'one of his ongoing interactive experiments online, and further demonstration of his prowess at stirring worldwide audiences to a frenzy' fans and followers were asked to propose 'swaps' in return for a bootleg INSA x NIKE t-shirt. The offers elicited were astounding, one US citizen bid to name her first born child after the artist, while other fans were tattooed with INSA artwork to claim their prize.

Other recent significant moments include an invitation to curate and sculpt a room in the ICE hotel, Sweden, 2010. In February 2012, INSA produced a short film for Channel 4's Random Acts, 'Looking for Love in All The Wrong Places', again demonstrating his ability to play with a wide range of media.

Press highlights include covers for cult print magazines including Juxtapoz, Graphotism and VNA. 

Recent solo exhibitions include:

Self Reflection is Greater than Self Projection, (Londonnewcastle Project Space, London) Belong/Belongings (Yves LaRoche Project space, Montreal) Gloss (Above Second Gallery, Hong Kong), Girls on Bikes, (Hewett Street Gallery, London), MORE MORE MORE (Fifty24SF Galley, San Fransisco.)

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INSA STREET ARTIST BIOGRAPHY

 INSA was born in the United Kingdom and began painting at the age of 12. Prior to this age, he made low, low budget horror films with his friends, and even counts Nightmare on Elm Street’s monstrous Freddie Krueger among his creative influences. The artist is distinguished by the seamless mix of reality and fantasy apparent in all his work. His art is always changing, to the surprise and excitement of his viewers.

INSA’S PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE AND ART

 His strong opinions regarding popular culture and consumerism are what his art is all about. INSA wants to be known through his art, not by any personal characteristics. He keeps his private life very private, but is most willing to talk about his life and thoughts as an artist. This shrouded identity keeps others from pretending to be like him and allows his viewers to conjure up their own image of who INSA is and what he looks like. He may be of any race, age or physiognomy. In INSA’s view, whatever the viewer imagines, that is what the artist looks like. The one thing he does want his audience to understand about him is his belief that fantasy is always better than reality.

INSA studied art at Goldsmiths as a young man and earned a degree in Design. Goldsmiths also gave the artist an excuse to move to London and paint the London streets.

THE ARTIST’S INFLUENCES

 INSA states that his most important influence as an artist is the simple fact that he is miserable when not creating art. The artist is also influenced by fellow artists Jeff Koons and the surrealist German artist and photographer Hans Bellmer.

He is inspired and influenced as well by people’s obsessions. INSA is himself a self-described obsessive personality, so obsessing over obsessions is certainly very much in character for this eccentric artist.

The obsessions that most interest him are the ones people have with graffiti, tennis shoes, popular street culture, the female as a sex object and bright, shiny cars. He represents these obsessions as fetishes in his art.