The Monkey on His Back: An Interview with Belowkey

UP Mag: How did you get your start with graffiti? Tell me the story of how you found your niche in this art form.

BelowKey: Like many, I was seeing graffiti around my neighborhood and the rest of the city in my travels as a little kid. I grew up in Queens, NY and started trying to do graffiti in 2003. Around 12 years old, I started making up different tags, trying to “find” paint and going out. One of the first cans I used was a tar aerosol can meant to fill in gaps or maybe protect exposed metal objects. I went hard with that can.

I think finding a niche is an ever-evolving practice—doing research, appreciating all the styles that came before me and constantly building my own ammunition with everything I collect in my mind. At this point I pull mostly from nature, my surroundings, things I read, and whatever the energy within me feels like doing.]

There are too many formative experiences to talk about and so much history and graffiti for me to share it all here. At the end of the day, graffiti was just the best way to get me out of my bubble and learn to express myself, but it does not identify who I am and I don’t really consider myself a graffiti writer. In spite of this, graffiti has shaped a large part of my creative journey and how people see me as an artist. 

 “At this point I pull mostly from nature, my surroundings, things I read, and whatever the energy within me feels like doing.”

UP Mag: What was your process for developing your signature character? I’d love to hear what inspired you to create your other characters as well. 

BelowKey: I started drawing characters at one point in high school mostly because I realized it made graffiti pieces look cooler when they had a funky character next to them. Later on in college, I made a habit of drawing on small sketch cards that I had just discovered. The goal was to just draw all different types of characters from my head while sitting in my classes. I will argue that none of those characters were truly original because it all came from some deep-seated connection to other things like cartoons, streetwear graphics, and old school graffiti characters… everything that came before me.

The monkey character came to me as an idea for a T-shirt graphic: the character’s face blasted on the front with the phrase “get off my back” printed on the back. It symbolized the proverbial monkey on my back which was, and in some ways still is, graffiti. Since then, the OG Monkey® character has evolved into what I’d consider a simpler, more pure and refined version. The other character that probably pops up the most besides the monkey is Hip-Hopula®. He’s the artist in me that wants to go out at night and be a hooligan.

“The monkey character came to me as an idea for a T-shirt graphic: the character’s face blasted on the front with the phrase “get off my back” printed on the back.”

UP Mag: Tell me about your relationship to New York City. How has your relationship to the city affected your artwork, and how do you choose locations for your work? 

BelowKey: My relationship to New York City can best be explained as follows: I sacrifice it all so that I can exist in a place that has it all. It’s where I was born and raised, and it’s the place where I feel the most myself. A big part of my art now is identifying visual elements within the fabric of the city that are otherwise considered mundane or so ubiquitous that we stop noticing them. Growing awareness, to me, is just an important skill to master.

Locationally, it’s really just any places I get asked to paint. The goal has always been to allow the work and my skill level to speak for itself and not have to play games to get opportunities. But as far as the wheat paste and stickers you may see around, I tend to see that as guerrilla advertising. The more eyes the better and every single creation counts no matter where it is. Every tag counts!

UP Mag: Can you tell me about one or two collaborations that make you proud?

BelowKey: My mind first goes to trying to define “collaboration.” When I get invited to production walls with graffiti crews like TRK and FTR, it feels like one huge collaboration with as many as twenty people working at the same time—combining our styles and ideas into one big piece of art—and those are always fun.

The sneaker release last year with Vincent Peak was one of the first times I felt I was collaborating on a product that had to reflect myself and one other artist, both of our aesthetics and styles and preferences combining to create one single and complete product that we can both be proud of. And I want to shout out my friend Fridge—the two of us have worked on a bunch of cool products that I’ve released over the years. Very proud of those collaborations as well. 

“The other character that probably pops up the most besides the monkey is Hip-Hopula®. He’s the artist in me that wants to go out at night and be a hooligan.”

UP Mag: What led you to combine graffiti and fashion? You’ve produced hoodies, hats, and T-shirts with your artwork for many years now. Why do you think graffiti and clothing go so well together?

BelowKey: The worlds of fashion, graffiti, music, skateboarding—as well as exploring the city I’m from—were all things that I embraced in my youth and that I felt intertwined. As I continue to build the “brand” or name, Belowkey®, I choose to make and put out art and objects that come from everything listed.

Graffiti’s connection to design, products and marketing is something I noticed later on in school. Concepts like scale, proportion, color contrast, negative space, visual balance, line weight, texture, foreground versus background… I had been applying these principles through graffiti as a kid, but I just never had the words to define them. 

UP Mag: What inspired your Interiors collection, including your Newsbox?

BelowKey: The Interiors collection of paintings is a direct response to my surroundings. I’m painting the insides of real and sometimes imagined rooms, adding elements from the street that don’t “belong” indoors. I’m also paying homage to painters that came before, including my interpretation of their art as paintings on the walls. I’m incorporating everyday items like hats, books, and spray paint cans simply because that’s what I surround myself with.

As for the red news boxes that I’ve painted and built (both as a life-size cabinet as well as the mini pen holder version), I had originally taken a metal one off the street because I simply thought it looked cool and deserved to live in a home. These boxes are iconic, and you find them across all five boroughs. Referencing them in my work stems from my appreciation for these street objects.

“Concepts like scale, proportion, color contrast, negative space, visual balance, line weight, texture, foreground versus background… I had been applying these principles through graffiti as a kid, but I just never had the words to define them.” 

UP Mag: What’s next for you? 

BelowKey: Just staying true to myself in my work. My continued learning and communicating through the act of creating ain’t going anywhere so I’d ask people to keep an eye out on Instagram or belowkey.com. Sign up for the newsletter!

Michael Lodato is a Brooklyn-based writer, independent tutor, and former philosophy instructor. His comedy has appeared in McSweeney’s, The American Bystander, and Current Affairs. He is passionate about using humor to teach big ideas and has contributed script writing to educational YouTube channels like Crash Course and Wisecrack. He is perhaps best known for the time he accidentally offered an edible to a former Bush administration official, who politely declined.

Instagram: @magnesiummike

Website: mikelodato.com