Ryan Chun: Days of Grace

Wednesday, October 14th, 2009, Filed under: FEATURED

Ryan Chun is a graffiti writer, yes, but to label this bourgeoning artist as such would be drastically underestimating his talent and ambition. He’s going places—both literally and figuratively—with his art, which he signs using the alias “Grace,” (a name he decided he liked enough to have tattooed in elegant script letters on his hand). Whether his pieces materialize on stretched canvas or concrete walls, one thing is certain: he will always, regardless of medium, continue to evolve as an artist.

Let me get this question out of the way: Your last name is Chun, but you obviously have a multi-cultural background?
(Laughs). I’m black, white and Puerto Rican. My last name is Chun because I was adopted when I was young. I ran away from home at a young age because of abuse. I was living in Guam, and my birth parents were drug addicts. I just ran away, and got picked up by the police, ended up in foster care and eventually got adopted. My family that adopted me when I was 6 years old is Korean. I definitely stand out from my adopted family, but I’m glad I got to grow up in such a diverse way. It made me the person I am today.

How did you get into graffiti?
When I was a kid, my mom and I went to the library and she sat me at this table. There were these books and the one that stood out to me was Subway Art. My mom knows I do graffiti, and till this day I tell her, “It’s your fault mom; you sat me at that table that had Subway Art!” And that was it; I always liked graffiti.

How old were you at the time?
I was probably 10 years old, in elementary. I never actually did graffiti until high school. At 15 or 16, that’s when I got serious about it.

I couldn’t steal [spray paint] because my mom’s a pastor, and she scared me about karma. So the way I would get money for paint was “spanging” which is asking people for their spare change. I’d collect it up, and at the end of the day I’d have enough for four cans. Another thing I did was crumple up paper towels, get a little stick and shove it up the change pocket in the soda machine. That night, I’d go back, undo it and would collect all the change (laughs).

How did you know you wanted to do this for the rest of your life?
It was mostly the part of being with friends and making new memories while doing graffiti. As I got older, every time I had a problem, I could turn to graffiti. It’s kind of like my therapy, in a way.

Which graffiti writers in Hawaii have you looked up to, or been inspired by?
The first that I got really hyped about was the TR guys, cause we’re all from the same neighborhood and I learned a lot from them. Other guys are Katch (Natural Koncept), he is amazing. Mean (EV) is one of my favorites and so is Phyto (AF). He has a lot of stuff going on, but he still finds time to bomb harder than anyone.

If you had to name one artist you idolize or whose level you aspire to be at, who would it be?
I can’t say one, but I have two: Jean-Michel Basquiat and David Choe. If you put those two guys together, that’s Ryan Chun. See? Basquiat was Black, Choe is Korean. Black-Korean.

This is sort of off-topic, but you worked at In4mation too, right? What was that like?
Yeah, they taught me how to network. They took me and my friend Ricky in, we worked for them for two years, and everyday they were teaching us something new. They really showed me a new way of thinking, of how to approach things.

What was your first art show experience like?
The first show I ever did was at the Coffee Factory. My friend did an event 7 years ago, and this is how I got into canvas painting. It was way different than graffiti ’cause I could watch people’s reactions to see if they liked it or disliked it. That turned me on to doing more art shows. I would network and meet a lot of artists, and that kind of got me in the art game. I was like wow, it’s not all about graffiti, and it broadened my horizons to all spectrums of art.

Let’s talk about New York. You lived there for six months, right?
Yeah, I was painting and skating a bunch. Once in a while I bombed, just for fun. It was pretty crazy, ’cause the lady that I lived with was a drug addict/prostitute that had HIV.

When I found out I was living with someone with AIDS, I wasn’t scared; it opened my eyes and helped me to not be judgmental towards anybody. It made me realize there’s so much crazy stuff going on in the world, outside of Hawaii. It was my biggest eye-opener.

You’re working on pieces for your next solo art show at 84. I know that in the past you used to do these intricate, elaborate paintings, but for this next show you’re going in a whole new direction. Can you talk about what you’re up to, with the rainbows and the paper towels?
I’m just not really caring about typical art that people are used to seeing. I’m basically trying to get how I feel out, in a way where it’s like “WHAM!” Straightforward, without spending too much time on it. That’s what came out. It’s the most honest when you just go for it, and whatever happens, then that’s it. With the rainbows, I like dark colors and I like light colors, but I like them together. I use paper towels to dry my paintbrushes, and I started to notice that it makes patterns. That’s my art as well, because I’m the one making those patterns, unintentionally. It’s a whole different series of art that you don’t mean to do but you’re doing it.

This show, I just want to let people know what’s in my head instead of making nice things for people to see. Things don’t have to be perfect or nice.

You’ve been back in Hawaii for a while now, but you’re moving to Long Beach, CA. What do you want to accomplish there that you can’t do here?
Make more connections and network. I just want to meet people, learn from them and do the best I can do. Push myself and make something with it, and don’t let it go to waste. I just want people to be like, “All right, Ryan Chun is not wasting his life, he’s doing something productive.”

That said, where do you see yourself in five years?
I’m definitely still going to be doing graffiti. I just want to be chillin’, able to do what I want to do with art. It doesn’t have to be graffiti, but as long as it’s art and I’m happy.

Anything else you want to say?
My mom always told me: “Be a peer, not a fan”.