Pure Evil Genius

Wherever I travel, I always try to take at least one offbeat tour in every major city.

During my trip to London last summer I took a tour with Shoreditch Street Art Tours, where I stood face-to-face with Pure Evil. Don’t panic:Pure Evil is a graffiti artist whose work is featured in high-profile collections throughout the world. His gallery was one of the stops on the tour, and consistent with what I tend to do when I’m in a new country, I purchased art. This time, however, I did not follow my usual modus operandi. 

Readers of this blog might recall my acquisitions from galleries in Australia and China. In both instances the art was already on the wall: I saw it, I liked it, I bought it. Easy enough. The pieces were waiting for me after I returned home.

In London, however, I took a different approach. It’s a joy speaking with artists about their work, and Pure Evil and I spent quite a bit of time discussing one of his works, “I Am a Unicorn,” which is a picture of a rhinoceros with that caption written above it. 

Harkening back to my motto, #OnlyJoy, I often rely on adjusting my point of view to see if I can find joy – or at the very least, acceptance – from any negative situation I encounter. That’s why this piece spoke to me: how you view your circumstances makes an impact on how you view yourself.

The difference here is that my specific piece originated after a conversation with the artist. I saw a very similar print in his gallery, but it was bright pink and black – a bit too Avril Lavigne for me. I knew this print would be a perfect souvenir from my trip, but just couldn’t stomach the pink. The solution: a custom commission!

The good-natured Pure Evil agreed to make a blue version of the print for me, which is now hanging near a stairway in my home. Every time I look at it, I’m reminded that the labels society assigns to us, or the ones we assign to ourselves, are not set in stone.

Whenever we’re feeling negative, we just need to change our perspective.