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An Interview With: David Nash

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Bio: I started out in 1985 - as a whipper snapper - tagging and doing throw ups in Harlow, Essex. At the time, there was a growing graffiti scene with Kanz and Fuge leading the way. They knew a lot of other big writers who often came to Harlow. I was absolutely blown away by the characters those guys were dropping, then Spraycan Art was released and was I was immediately drawn to the Chrome Angels pieces. And, especially the characters that 'Mode 2' was doing. I was hooked from that point on and started drifting away from letters.

In about '93 I started college studying art, graphic design and stopped graffing. In Feb 2009 a friend invited me out to go spray painting again, so I bought some Monster cans and was hooked even since. I remember using one of the 'black cans' and it came out really watered down, so I threw it away thinking it was a duff. I later found out it was a Transparent Black, doh! We all started learn from expierence.

I signed my character Gnasher, as that was my old DJ name (I'm a failed house DJ. Have you ever heard of DJ Gnasher, thought not!). And I've kept with graffiti ever since. Doing 'Gnasher' pieces were a pain to do, as there was about a million letters. So, I trended towards"Gnash", then "Gn" character sh… the 'A' being the character. I've recently stopped lettering at the moment. But, would like to start again. Hopefully experimenting on 3D and organic styles.

Ever since I was a kid, I've loved films, so most of my characters are taken from the films I love. I see this as a hobby. Although, I do do this for a living. I still see painting as a hobby, and hobbies are to be enjoyed. I enjoy painting images from films. To some people this isn't graffiti. And they have a point, graffiti is prodominately letters. Nevertheless, I've called myself a writer. Moreover, I'm just a spraycan artist and paint with a lot of writers.

My Process: I spend ages looking at images, then when I find one, I play around with it in Photoshop, adding and removing, then bring back detail and playing with levels. I grid this. Then when I get to a wall I emulsion it, put a 1ft grid on the wall, and thus making my image easily scaleable. I then start on the dark areas, working to the light. Following this I use a stencil, ( a cap that produces a thin line) to add detail, add transparencies black and white for shading.

Please feel free to contact me with any further questions. Thank you for your interest in Gnasher art, and please enjoy my work -- Dave.

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Gnasher: Gnasher on Facebook
Description: Streetart & Graffiti by David Nash
Medium: Digital to Spray Painting (Streetartist)
Online & Contact Information: Portfolio; @GnasherMurals on Twitter; Website