Fuckit Goes Big

A new Vancouver wheatpaste artist with big pieces and big ideas

Back in June, a massive mural appeared depicting a zombie King Charles clutching at a crown. But unlike so many murals, this piece is a wheatpaste. For those who don’t know a wheatpaste is art on paper that is glued to the wall with a paper mache paste made from boiled flour and water (though, each artist concocts their own recipes). This summer the Artist, known as Fuckit, pasted up a massive piece depicting the 90’s rapper Biggie, as a Star Trek Borg, complete with a functional red light in its eye.

It is clear that Fuckit is pulling together big and interesting street art in the city, but what people may not know, is the big plans and goals the artists pulling this work together is cooking up. Thanks to the artist for chatting and if you haven’t give them a follow on IG @Fuckit

You’ve had some recent pieces around the city like your massive zombie Prince Charles & your Borg Biggie at Clean lines. Can you tell us about those? Why the theme of zombies and the Borg?

To me, the zombie is a symbol of having your identity lost in a large, perverse system - corporate, religious, colonial, conspiracies or whatever. I generally use it for "rotten brain" characters, and generally in a negative way. This could include politicians, religious leaders, police, and other authorities.

Similarly, I use the cyborg as a symbol for people that have built their identities into systems – these are generally used for "rock star" and "visionary" types of characters with followers. This could include musicians, entrepreneurs, academics, authors, influencers and other idealistic folks. I use the cyborg in both positive and negative ways – I've used it to draw Mark Zuckerberg in a negative light, and with Biggie Smalls in a positive light. In the case of my "Biggieborg" works, I had envisioned it to be a portrait of Biggie in the afterlife, having lost a bit of weight and gaining cyborg augmentation.

All of these visual metaphors of hybridized humans are a bit fluid and being figured out along the way - but that's the fun of graffiti-based work that is never permanent.

The collision between technology and society in general is also a theme underpinning my work. As a part of this, I've been incorporating functional electronics in my pieces - the "Biggieborg" currently at the legal graffiti wall in Vancouver has a red cyborg eye that lights up when people walk past at night, for example.

I see technology as a double-edged sword that is both a blessing and a curse, which greatly enhances our lives but also debilitates it. This love-hate relationship with technology is one of the key issues I wrestle with: is technology controlling us, or are we controlling technology? Are things like social media helping us or hurting us? The truth is clearly both yes and no, and for me a lot of creative pathways exist in that paradox.

What’s your process for making these massive wheatpastes, like the Zombie Charles one?

I'd prefer to keep most of this info a secret for the time being, but it involves a whole hell of a lot of papercutting and glue - that particular piece was 360 individual sheets of 11" x 17" tabloid paper. I generally start by drawing with pencil on paper, then I move back and forth between Procreate on an iPad and hardcopy drawing, redrawing it several times. When the image is done, I split it up onto hundreds of sheets, print it out on a battleaxe laser printer literally from the 90s, trim it, and glue it up. I manufacture my own glues.

The paste-up process is considerably more difficult than it looks - at least in terms of how I do it - it is often honestly faster for me to paint the same thing. This is due to needing to align hundreds of sheets within +- 3mm of each other, wind blowing your pile of paper away, and the meticulousness of it. When writers are like "wheatpasting is neat because it's so quick and easy" I groan and roll my eyes. I'd say bubbleletter throws with high pressure Molotow Burners are 10x more quick and easy.

Does the city need more spaces for people to freely graffiti and install street art?

Absolutely. For starters, Leeside skatepark in Vancouver should be officially designated a legal graffiti zone - after decades of world class work there, it still is technically illegal. After that, I think all Vancouver skateparks should be made legal graffiti and street art zones, plus all of the alleys in the downtown core. 

Vancouver City Hall needs to move beyond the outdated mindset of graffiti being only an illegal activity: it is a vitally important part of our local culture, is a healthy artistic community activity, and a big draw for local tourism. The city wastes an incredible amount of money deleting this artwork - it's as if Mayor Ken Sim's slogan could be "Make Vancouver Grey Again" (after Trump). I think it also targets artists from lower economic backgrounds that do not have the resources to write a proposal for doing a mural.

Many, many other cities globally have embraced graffiti and street art as something to encourage, and the benefits are significant. Locally, the Vancouver Mural Festival has shown how public street-level art benefits the city - this just needs to be extended into the more unregulated DIY practices of graffiti and street art. I'd be excited to help make this happen.

What’s the next project we’ll see from you?

I generally try to make a new piece (or sketch) every single day, so there are always new pieces coming - just watch my Instagram story for lots of new things in the works. 

One longer term project that I've just started is a bi-weekly graffiti jam at Leeside Skatepark, Sundays at 11am. The first one was just a few days ago - it was super encouraging - a number of OG writers like Dedos and Zens came, with Tuner, Wase, Bee (writing in Farsi script), plus a bunch of other folks. Elmer was also there with a big crew of young writers, plus the wheatpaster Onelinetwohands along with the awesome bencher "Graffiti Marilyn" soaking it all in. The next one is Sunday October 8th 2023 at 11am - and it's planned to happen every second week after that - October 22nd, November 5th & 19th, December 3rd & 17th - come on out!

What would you create if you an unlimited budget and no constraints?

Unlimited budget? Yes please. Here's a quick shopping list that totals around a billion dollars:

1.    An immaculately researched and produced documentary film on the history of graffiti and street art in Canada. This would then be spun into a book, a YouTube channel, and a travelling exhibition.

2.    Purchase a large building in downtown Vancouver and establish it as "The Canadian Museum of Graffiti and Street Culture" and have public programs somewhat similar to the Vancouver Art Gallery with regular events and exhibitions. Have $100k/yr for 5-10 artists in residence with studio space that produce work there for public consumption.

3.    Personally, I'd like to work my way up to eventually be known as the best wheatpaste artist in the world, and to do this, I'd likely need a studio space, a small army of staff, and a ton of budget for insanely ambitious projects.

4.    Create a political lobby organization to advocate for the legalization of graffiti and street art across Canada.

5.    Form a nonprofit that buys houses for the top 1,000 artists in Canada.