Yok & Sheryo - Best in the West?
SERIOUSLY TALENTED street artists Sheryo & Yok were recently in town adorning our citys empty walls with their own unique brand of crazy, curious and colourful.
Shoot Perth grabbed an exclusive chat with them about all things STREET...
Q) So we at SP freaking love your work and are pretty stoked to see you guys here in action. In fact, we feel there's a mighty change in the air what with all the mad activity going on to rev up this city – can you feel it? Living in Brooklyn, Yok, how does it feel to come home for you and Sheryo, what's your opinion of Perth?
YOK: Coming back to Perth I have noticed a lot of small bars and painted up lane ways in town, it's great to see the city and councils taking a more relaxed view on bar licences and letting people be creative with their spaces. It creates a much better city vibe I'm loving it.
SHERYO: it's my first visit to Australia; we've been travelling around - Melbourne, Sydney, Wollongong, Perth. I like Perth a lot - it's really beautiful.
Q) In fact, if you could summarise Perth in three words, what would they be?
YOK: Isolated. Hot. Growing up
SHERYO: Nature. Butcher Shop ;)
Q) How did you guys meet and when did you first start working together?
YOK: We met by accident when I missed a flight to Indonesia and Sheryo was on a work assignment. She handed my one of her homemade stickers, and it was love at first sticker.
Q) You’ve both completed some amazing works all over the world; which city most resonates with you and why?
YOK: I think the latest adventure to Vietnam has been the most fun. It was a new country I haven't been to before so everything was new and exciting. We spent about 2 weeks in an ancient factory painting ming style vases and another 2 weeks riding around on motor bikes exploring.
SHERYO: I love NYC; everything about it is great, people are amazing, appreciative, friendly. A close second would be painting those vases in Vietnam.
Q) So you've got this space and you get to leave your legacy; your mark - or at least for a while. What's your process of getting a design together?
YOK: Start with a theme or concept of some description and then we both do an interpretation of that initial idea. For example, we are doing a wall in Fremantle currently so the theme was nautical to fit in with the local environment so strange looking and fish men came out of that.
SHERYO: Decide on a theme, start drawing weird stuff together :)
Q) SP are all about encouraging people to tap into their innate creativity and aim to give them that excuse to come down and interact with their city streets and appreciate the urban art and culture. What do you guys think about street photography as street artists?
YOK: I think it's great - it helps expose the art work to a wider audience.
SHERYO: It's awesome, i'm just happy when people appreciate the murals we paint.
Q) Who/what inspires you as street artists?
YOK: Different cultures; fables, colours and mythology from countries around the world.
SHERYO: Rich cultures; adventures/experiences; SE Asian fables
Q) Do you have a motto or phrase you apply to life?
SHERYO: Always have fun, as a rule.
