A Guy Called Minty Interview

We are due to launch our much anticipated collaboration with A Guy Called Minty online this Sunday so we thought now would be a good time to catch up with the man himself to find out what makes him tick...

What’s your background in terms of art?
I have been drawing and painting since I can remember. After School and Art college  I had a spell working for yellow pages designing adverts but it didn’t work out due to the commute. Since owning my own pad I have always kept my foot in the door in terms of creating art whether it be pen to paper or digitally on my mac so the desire to improve has always been there. Now currently freelance I can let my creative juices flow adding a bit of a distinctive edge so that my work can be recognised anywhere.

What’s the process that goes into making a painting, do you always have the finished article in your head when you start or do the pieces develop as you work on them?

I pretty much take inspiration from anywhere and everywhere. Whether it would be viewing other fellow artists work, browsing the world wide web or watching reruns of Auf Wiedersen Pet. I find that forcing the creation does not work for me. I can be sitting down for days thinking and sketching ideas that never see the light of day and then a day trip food shopping and staring at a box of persil can generate some of my best works...Sounds mad, I know but that’s just the way I see things.  99% of the time the idea from in my head has evolved and taking as far as I can to the finished painting.

I know what you mean, we have spent days on prints that we've never used, but knocked up some of our favourite images on the back of a fag packet while sitting in the boozer. The first works of yours we saw were the Casual figures wearing classic terrace wear like Milles and vintage Adidas. What got you into creating artwork around terrace culture?

I love art, football, fashion, music…film and the whole madchester scene. Always have a soft spot for classic humor so I wanted to adapt all these factors into my work. Being an artist there has been times where I have taken work that I have no interest in the subject and to be honest totally bores me but pays the bills. Back in xmas 2008…being made redundant and out of work I decided to create my first casual…and stick it on ebay and see what happens  It Sold, happy days..The rest is history and here I am collaborating with Peaceful Hooligan.

If you could have any of the kit you’ve painting throughout you’re ‘Casuals’ series what would it be?

Jacket and Trainers speak volumes for me. My Favourite trainers would have to be Gazelle indoors. I have searched high and low for these and I have either been out bid or out priced but maybe one day I’ll own a pair.

The Holy Grail hey? The hunt is always an important part of the process for me. What team do you follow?

“Always follow your local team” and that for me is Cardiff City….due to work I do not go down as often as I should.

What where the factors in making you want to collaborate with Peaceful Hooligan?

The whole brand I think is genius…from the logo to detailing in the clothing. If my artwork can help the popularity of the brand then that does it for me all day long.

As well as the collab, we are planning a competition to give away a portrait of the winner done by yourself. You’ve clearly got an amazing talent for portraiture, is it something you have always been into?

Portraiture artwork is something I have strived hard to be good at. I am massively into caricature art and follow artists all over the world thanks to social networking. Artist such as Jason Seiler, Seb kruber, Joe Bluhm, Paul Moyse. I can only dream to be as good as.

What do you get up to when you’re not in the studio?

Keeping fit and winding up my kids.

What does the future hold for ‘A Guy Called Minty’?

The Futures bright the futures…………I don’t know really. I dont have any master plan…..but just have an aspiration for my work to become popular nationally and internationally. That’s the whole reason behind the name “A guy called minty”. I sell a lot of work word of mouth… people always ask “where did you get this from” the reply is always “A guy called Minty”.


Well we're looking forward to watching the story unfold mate. Nice one for taking the time to have a chat with us. 
The t shirts will be hitting our site on Sunday, check out our facebook for future updates or Minty's site / facebook to see what else the man's been up to...