Urban art for digital highways | Chris de Souza Jensen

Motivation

"What keeps me going is having an endless amount of goals I want (need) to cross off on my personal bucket-list, both progress-wise and where I want my work to go... that, and those two little things we call money and survival". 

Favourite artists

"On top my head, everyone from Alphonse Mucha, N.C Wyett, Moebius, James Jean to graffitti guys like Aryz, WON ABC, Mear One and recently Nychos. However, as much as these people are a constant source of inspiration, some of my more personal artist friends inspire me the most.

"For example, my good friend, Jimbob Isaac. To make this brief as possible, he wasn't in the best of places, nor did he enjoy the work he used to do within the more corporate graphic design and web-design realm of things.

He decided one day to just throw it all away and go into the deep end, going back to his drawing and inking roots.

"Through very hard work, sticking to his heart, keeping his head up, he is his own man doing stuff for big rock'n'roll bands and doing art shows. His perseverance and endurance has really made me feel proud of him, by showing that there's nothing you can't do if you give it your all."

Malta

"My base became Malta when I started finding steady work with various advertising jobs. Also, the relaxed vibe was what I needed at that time, and the surfing here became quite addictive. This country also gave me time to start to really do my own work, which was of utmost importance.

"As far as the art scene here, I used to think it was very tedious and dead, but these days I see a lot of promise, and there are some groups out there pushing the more contemporary accelerator button. Also, some of the younger generation are really showing some real potential, finding out how things properly work technique-wise,  with a sense of original flair.

"If I were to put on my artistic Nostradamus prophetic skills on, I see some hot stuff from people like iella and Nel Pace, also James M. Grimaud - aka 'Twitch' - is really pushing the graffiti mural scene in Malta... that alone is a very progressive first for Malta."

Being an artist, in tough times

"The recession hasn't affected me in Malta as yet, and the only time I've struggled as an artist is when I've grossly miscalculated the duration of labour of a new challenging piece. It's probably the worst feeling because you feel that you've been cocky and being poor is your punishment for miscalculating the time it would have taken you to complete a piece."

Prosimian online shop

"This store is nothing but a relief for me as this has been one of my biggest pending priorities for years.

"Something this beneficial was needed in my career that would not only serve the purpose in motivating personal works with incentive, but to make the most out of the rock'n'roll work I do from time to time.

"I also wanted to make my works available in various print forms accessible world-wide which would be both affordable and in the highest quality this island offers.

"As of now, as I'm starting small, I set my goals for beer money. However, eventually (and certainly), there'll be the champagne, women, private jets , buying off politicians to do my bidding and all that jazz that comes with total global domination... be sure of this, my friends."

Putting Colour into the Streets - the future

"About seven of us will be using a wall at Qui-Si-Sana. It will be pretty epic I reckon."

To help sponsor the Qui-Si-Sana wall and to see some of Jensen's selected work, log on to: www.seapuppy.net, and to purchase artwork log on to www.prosimian.bigcartel.com.