“My inspiration comes from my love for sports and my determination to be one of the premium sports themed artists in Australia, if not globally.”
– Ohnoes, Muralist Artist
Muralist: Tell us a bit about yourself and your background?
Ohnoes: I am an artist born and raised in Melbourne. Coming from a street art background I had no formal training in arts, it was out of pure determination I have taught myself my techniques and the reason why I still feel like I can only get better with time. As I come from a street art background, I had to have an artist name that is totally unique to me and when deciding your own name, not only do you have to like the letters, but it also has to be a representation of yourself. “OHNOES” was derived from OH-NO, because I am a little bit clumsy and my friends would often repeat the phrase “Ohnoes Kevoes”, so it just stuck.
My influences are very aligned with my interests and the whole sports/sports collector cards, Americana influence. It took me a long time to find what I was truly passionate about as a subject matter, even though I really already knew at the age of 7 from drawing my favourite basketball players in class.
Muralist: Growing up, did you ever imagine you would be an artist? Tell us when or how you realised.
Ohnoes: My parents tell me when I was in kinder that I was claiming I would be a cartoonist one day. As I aged I got involved in the street art scene and that became my artistic outlet, even though at the time I didn’t see or think of it as that. I became more focused on design as I was completely uneducated in the ways you make a living in the art world so I went to university to study toy design. After 4 years and discovering it wasn’t for me, I finished a degree in animation. Whilst studying animation I began drawing consistently a lot more and that lead to me starting to create T-Shirt graphics which opened the artistic flood gates and began educating myself on street artists who had backgrounds in street art and now here we are today.
“It wasn’t an easy journey (becoming a full-time artist), but I set myself realistic goals and worked towards them as opposed to looking at the big picture and being consumed by disappointment”
– Ohnoes, Muralist Artist
Muralist: Do you work for yourself as a full-time artist? Tell us about how this came to be, or when you plan on taking ’the leap’.
Ohnoes: I am proud to say I am a full-time artist. It wasn’t an easy journey, but I set myself with realistic goals and worked towards them as opposed to looking at the big picture and being consumed by disappointment. The way I transitioned into doing full-time art for myself was I used to work seven days a week in retail and decided that every three months I would reduce a day from my roster and add a day to focus on my personal work and development. After 21 months I had transitioned to working for myself full-time, 7 days a week.
Muralist: Who or what have been your 3 biggest influences on your creative journey to date?
Ohnoes: My biggest influence in life is Kobe Bryant, his work ethic is unmatched and the way he has a single focus and isn’t distracted from his goals is truly inspiring and I try to live by his “Mamba Mentality”. On a local scale, for the longest time RONE has been my biggest influence. His attention to detail, the high quality of his work and constantly pushing the boundaries of art and raising the bar for all his peers. My final influence is also not a painter but is an artist. Victor Solomon creates sculptures of basketball related work. There seems to be no limits and no short cuts to what he does and is truly inspiring.
Muralist: What has been your most exciting, rewarding or daunting project to date?
Ohnoes: My most exciting project by far was getting to work with an NBA team for the first time. The Philadelphia 76ers contacted me and invited me to be part of an art show they were hosting for players, front office and fans in Philadelphia.
Muralist: What is a signature or trademark to your style & tell us how your works are inspired?
Ohnoes: Generally, there will be a portrait of some sort in 95% of my work and if given the reigns to do as I please you’ll commonly see influences of my past with torn textures, type and graffiti. My inspiration comes from my love for sports and my determination to be one of the premium sports themed artists in Australia, if not globally.