It's a Stick-Up

KID ACNE

I’D SAY THE LOCATION WAS PARAMOUNT. OFTEN PEOPLE WILL SAY THINGS LIKE ‘THAT GUY’S UP EVERYWHERE’ OR ‘I’VE SEEN YOUR STUFF ALL OVER,’ WHICH IS RARELY TRUE – BUT YOU CAN CREATE THE ILLUSION OF IT BEING EVERYWHERE IF YOU CHOOSE THE RIGHT LOCATIONS.

Malawi-born but East Midlands-based, Kid Acne started writing graffiti when he was twelve years old, the same year he appeared on Rolf’s Cartoon Club. ‘As teenagers we used to write our tags on adhesive labels and stick them up in the street wherever we went,’ he recalls. The practice of stick-up revealed itself to be effective with a minimum of effort. It also suits Kid Acne’s different interests: ‘I like doing paste-ups as they incorporate my interests in illustration and printmaking with the ...