Interview of Londonian street artist Nathan Bowen
- Delphine & Romain Class
- Jun 27
- 7 min read
Updated: Jun 27
Hi Nathan, can you shortly introduce yourself?
I am 38 years old and I am based in South London. I am a street artist and I have been doing street art for about 14 years. So, I paint characters on the street. For that I like to use mixed mediums: I use spray paints, pens, paint brushes. I like to use acrylic paints as well.
And so, I like to make the street looks nice with artwork. There is so much advertising that promotes just objects or fashion, things we have seen so many times. So, it is important that us, as artists, we go in the streets and we create artworks that questions people’s minds. That is the whole point of street art. And then you can influence and inspire people. In particular I like to inspire young people. Kids see the work, they grow older and they might be inspired to do something else. Street art is all about giving back.
Can you tell me more about the goal of street art? What it is to you?
Personally, I do it for fun, and to inspire others. Like I said, it is just me giving back basically. You cannot keep everything for yourself. You have got to share with others, and to give love.
When did you begin drawing? When did you begin street art?
I have always been drawing. I probably began at nursery school, when I was about 3 years old. Before starting street art 14 years ago, I would draw mainly on paper.
At first when I began street art, I would not make a living from it. I did different jobs, I worked as a builder, I sold magazines, I worked in a supermarket. I have always done art but I had to work on the side. Nowadays street art has become my main activity. I sell my artworks, especially in art galleries, like Classartbiarritz. I think I became a full-time artist about 13 years ago.
You said you wanted to inspire people. Were you yourself inspired by some art movements or some artists?
Yes indeed, I was inspired by a Dutch artist, named Hieronymus Bosch. He is an artist from the 16th century and he used to paint images of heaven and hell. He painted the Garden of Eden and other stuffs related to religion. His representation of hell, and of demon creatures, particularly inspired me. His darkness is reflected in the characters I draw. Those are demons and they originally stem from a comic book I realized. And the goal of these demons was to represent hell and darkness. But then over time, as I started putting them out on the street, I made them a lot friendlier, a lot funnier. I did not want to bring this darkness to the street. So, my characters evolved from dark, evil characters to fun and loving ones. So now the demons represent people from everyday life. I make them into builders, soldiers, firemen, I also made a demon woman wearing a hijab, etc. I am going to do a demon Jesus as well actually! With long hair!
I let the dark side in the comics. I am still making them and I did not change the representation of these characters in years.
So, when exactly did you begin drawing characters like that?
It all began with my comics, that was called Afterlives. It was in 2007 so I began drawing these characters like little demons 18 years ago.
Can you tell me why you draw the teeth of your characters this way?
Well, the teeth were always jagged and sharp to represent the demons that bite your flesh. At first, I would draw a lot of teeth, and then over the years I minimalized the number of teeth of the characters. More generally I used to draw characters with a lot of lines years ago, and now I don’t anymore. Now I use less lines and so less teeth.
Where did you do your first street artwork?
I did my first street artwork ever in Brick Lane. Before doing street art I did a lot of things on paper. I wanted to exhibit them in the street but I did not know where to do it. I was looking for old walls, for what we call in England hoardings, that are located near building sites. So, I would drive around London with a friend to find these old walls, and I realized they all had graffiti on them and that maybe it was time to do some street art.
So, I went to Brick Lane and I saw a guy that was painting in the street. He told me that the owner of a shop allowed him to paint on his walls. So, I knocked on the door of the shop and ask the man if I could paint there too. He agreed and told me to come back tomorrow. So, I did my first street artwork there, on the side of a curry restaurant. Obviously, the piece is gone now, as it was years ago.
How do you decide the locations where you do your street art works?
It's mainly sudden. I see some spots and I might decide to come back later. I look for particular spots like big walls, old or even abandoned shops. Some places can be abandoned for years and that’s where the street artwork lasts the most. On the other hand, some places get refurbed within a month. So, I try to make the artwork lost for as long as possible. It might be a day, it might be five years.
Do you only do street art in London?
No, absolutely not. I have done street art in many different countries. Last years I did some in Paris, and in the south of France, like in Cannes, Nice and Marseille. I have never been to Biarritz but I have to come someday and visit the gallery Classartbiarritz. I also have to go to Lyon.
More recently, in December, I did some street art in Glasgow and Edinburgh, that was cool, there are lots of spots there. I think they like street art in these cities.
And more generally, I did street art in Brasil, in Colombia, in the US, in the Philippines, in Hong-Kong. In Europe I also did Albania, Greece and Bulgaria.
What is your most recent project?
My last project was a show. It took place on the 27th of March in an art gallery in Greenwich, in South East London, where I was born. There was not really a theme, the show was mainly about living in London. I don’t really do themes to be honest.
Before that my last show was October 2023 and this one had a theme. The name was ‘The Rubber Glove Heist’ and the idea was that there were two art thieves that broke into the gallery, stole the work, got caught and had to bring the work back. And so, I played around this little theme with my show. For example, people could buy a rubber glove. The art thieves in the work used to have a rubber glove and so I made a yellow rubber glove in which I put a lot of clay to make it hard and so it could stand itself. I love those gloves, and it was a great show!
I also work on some cartoons. I try to do one cartoon a week. For the moment you can find them on my social network accounts but I also want to do a DVD box set series of them. So that people could binge watch it.
I also saw in London various posters of your characters that look like missing person notices. Can you tell me a bit about it?
Oh, the “missing one”, I love that one! It is a new idea that I started last summer. I wanted to make a poster instead of a paste up. You can slap these big rectangle posters on the wall pretty much anywhere. They are very disposable, so you can put them anywhere, you don’t have to find an abandoned building like for street art. So, I just see some random spots and I decide to slap the poster on it. For that, I use an extendable pole so I don’t have to use a ladder.
Did you ever got into troubles with the authorities because of your street art?
Always! I had a lot of problem with the authorities. I have been arrested lots of time. Especially in Croatia, I got arrested and I was supposed to spend three months in jail. I took 18 months with suspended sentence. But luckily, I did not go to jail and I am back in England. But if I were back in Croatia and got caught again there, I would go in jail directly for three months. I can’t go to Malta neither, I am wanted there. So yes, I have had problems with authorities over the years. But recently it has been alright. But you never know who is watching you when you do street art. So, I do not take anything for granted, I know street art is not ‘pink clouds’, it is pretty raw.
Is there an artist you would like to work with?
Yeah, a lot of artists. I would like to work with PEZ, an artist from Barcelona. He is pretty sick! There is also a French artist I would love to work with, his name is Andre. He is about the same age as Invaders. These guys have been around for some times. They are old school mates.
Are there any other cities you would like to do street art in?
Yes, there are so many! I would like to go back to America, I have only done New-York and Miami in the US. I would love to do street art in Korea and in Japan. Russia is also a country I would like to go to. I also need to go to Thailand, and more specifically to Bangkok. In short, there are many places in the world where I would like to make street art.
Thank you Nathan !!
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