An Interview With Dilk of Coverage Nottingham

Tell us a bit about your shop Coverage...
"We've been going for 3 years. We sell paint, ink, and general art supplies and specialist t-shirts that you can't get everywhere, I only order a few of each design so not everyone has one."

You've done a lot of painting around Nottingham, but also abroad as well. What countries have you painted in?
"Brazil, New Zealand, Australia, Thailand, all over the US, Mexico and all over Europe. I've got plans for later this year too, I want to go to Japan, back to Brazil and to Auckland."

When you go away do you hook up with other graffiti crews?
"I've got a lot of friends in Europe so I hook with them there but when I go further a field it's more a case of going into art shops, talking to people and asking who's painting and where the spots are. I generally make friends like that. I've been painting for years and my portfolio is pretty on top of the game, so it's quite easy to hook up with people."

You must have some good stories...
"Iv'e had some experiences, especially in New York, but not necessarily all things I want to say in print! One cool story was when I got invited to paint at this contest in Tijuana. There were 157 people painting on wasteland. It was amazing to be involved in something like that. I was the only English person artist and everyone who painted had to give the Mexican government $5. This all went towards cleaning off tags, so the Mexican government did something good that day for the name of graffiti."

Tell us about some of the workshops you run...
"I've done a lot of work with young people in schools and with young offenders. I've taken GCSE Art classes on graffiti which have always been really positive. The kids are really interested in it. They've really loved it, turning up early for lessons, staying afterwards and really working hard. For the teachers this has sometimes been a shock because it can be quite difficult to get these kids interested in things! I also did something for the Big Wheel, Nottingham City Transport; I painted a car for them live in the Market Square on a Saturday. It was based on the theme of cars causing pollution."

You must come across different new and talented artists every day...
"There's quite a few lads that come into the shop that work for the Council and they're doing a lot of good work. They are very active, working with young people, running a lot of workshops and actually making a living from it. I tend to look further a field than just Nottingham for artists though, not that I'm turning my back on the city, but a lot of my inspiration and contacts are from all over Europe, especially Holland."

Are you feeling any more traditional art?
"I've visited a lot of galleries and I appreciate that kind of art but it doesn't really give me the buzz of say, going to Paris and finding the "Hall of Fame", a legal painting site, and being breathtaken by the masterpieces you see. Or going to Brazil where it's a lot more relaxed and they're free to paint and just walking around and seeing amazing artwork everywhere. I can't get that from classical paintings in galleries, I can walk around thinking "that's ok" but for me it just doesn't do it in quite the same way."