Glitsh is the an alumni of Central St. Martins with a subversive and cryptic folio. His work takes a wide range of forms from gifts sent to the likes of Paris Hilton through to fake packets of Oreo-like biscuits replaced with dominos. Concept driven, Glitish likes to flip conventions on their head with wit and anonymity. He’s what you might call a visual prankster.
We caught up with Glitsh to chat about his work and what he’s planning next.
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Hi Glitsh. Is that your real name?
Hi FormFiftyFive. Nope, Glitsh is my pseudonym.
A lot of your work is mischievous.
Yes that’s true. That is why I take precautionary measures. I avoid the crowd. I usually operate at night or early in the morning when nobody’s around or I try to find isolated spots outside the city where I can work in broad daylight. In my projects, everything I buy is paid in cash, I register under a false identity. I always wear gloves, it makes me paranoid sometimes, but I like it.
Have you ever gotten into trouble for it or been spotted before creating installing the final work?
No I’ve never had any problem or been spotted. So far so good. Let’s keep it that way.
Do you ever stick around to see people’s reactions?
I don’t always have the opportunity. Anyway I have a get in/get out policy.
I may sometimes send my work by post to selected high profile individuals such as Charles Saatchi, Edward Dolman (CEO of Christie’s in New York), Sheena Wagstaff (Chief Curator of the Tate Modern in London) or more recently Jeffrey Deitch. It is almost impossible to see their reactions when they receive my work (if they do receive it). I always leave some clues behind so they can trace me back to my website and see the entire project. I invite those concerned to check out the project they are part of, because yes they are part of the final outcome. It is an invitation, it is playful and I would understand if they didn’t want to play the game.
There’s been a movement of Urban Art/Interventions over the last couple of years sprawling out of Graffiti street art. Where do you draw your inspiration from?
There is surely some great stuff and great talents in the street art world. Some of my work may appear in the street, but this fact only doesn’t make it street art. In fact I don’t consider myself a street artist. I am faithful to my roots and I have great respect for both the graffiti and the street art communities but my work is heading towards another direction.
I am inspired by people like John Draper aka ‘Captain Crunch’ or Kevin Mitnick to name a few. I really like the idea of trespassing, exploiting loopholes in a system for playful purposes. I am also interested in themes such as identity, impersonation, intellectual property, boundaries, attention tracking/seeking, hacking and deception.
So what’s your next subversive act going to be?
I am just about to complete a project entitled ‘Deitch angle’, about Jeffrey Deitch who was recently appointed Director of the MOCA in Los Angeles. A project which will be featured on my website shortly. Otherwise, I have Sotheby’s and Al Jazeera in mind right now.
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