Frank 151-Carolina Shiners introduces Garrett Scales

I first learned of Garrett on the NC blog IndieNC; as soon as I saw his colorful and arresting portraits, I knew I had to speak to him.

Garrett is a Raleigh based graphic artist, specializing in the classic art form and process of hand carved stencils and stenciling. He was born in Columbia, SC and has been in the North Carolina “long enough to [call himself] native.” Garrett did not focus on the graphic arts in high school or even college (he was an anthropology major at NCSU)­; however doodling and drawing were always a way to pass the time in and out of the classroom. Garrett explains that he drew his love for the visual arts from his mother. As a child, she “sat me down at a little table with crayons, pens and paper and I could keep [myself] entertained for hours – I just kept going from there.”

Late in college Garrett started playing around with spray paint. The turning point came when he read an expose of the graphic and street artist Chris Francis. “His primitive stenciling” and “simple technique” combined with a pro-union and worker’s right message had a “huge impact” on him. Francis made evocative and moving art with simple tools (e.g., utility blade, scrap wood and cardboard). “I wasn’t against art stores,” Scales explains, but rather “disenchanted.” He liked the idea of creating art with tools gathering from the scrap heap and the hardware store. After the article he knew that he “[had] to try this – I had utility blade and a box of Cheez-Its.” Recently Scales found the original Cheez-Its stencil; it was dated 2003, which he considers his official starting point.

Nowadays, much of graphic and visual arts are prints and/or are digitally-based; few people are still doing stenciling in the manner of Scales. The grand exception is the man behind the face(s), Sheppard Fairey of Obey (Giant) and the ubiquitous Obama Hope campaign. When I asked Scales about Fairey he said, “part of me wanted to hate him and part of me wanted to love him.” Nevertheless, “I definitely respect him and the boundaries that he’s pushed. He’s definitely a force and helped legitimize the artform [of stenciling].”

With the growth in popularity of Fairey and the recent release of Banksy’s Exit Through the Gift Shop, I wanted to know if graffiti and street art had played a role in his life as an artist. “No, no run ins with the law, yet.” However, “I am looking for the remaining pieces of the puzzle and street attacks may be the next step. In the future, I may focus more on the street. I focus more on the gallery stuff [now], but it’s not doing it for me – I feel it’s just too stiff and stale.” With regard to street installations, Scales says he wants people to say “who the hell is that?!” He explains that the “street is the gallery open to everybody. “

He hopes that his audiences will take away from his art that “there is no limit” and to “challenge the idea of traditional art [and art forms].” With regard to stenciling, he wants to “keep pushing limits” especially as it relates to his art’s intricacies while remaining true to the simplest nature of the artform.“I want to people to say, ‘I can’t believe somebody spent that kinda time,’ and ‘that must of taken you forever!’”

Some seven years after the Chris Francis expose and his first cuts into a Cheez-Its box, Garrett is the resident artist at the Artspace in Raleigh from July until January. 

Learn more about Garrett and his work here and follow him on Facebook here.