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A self-taught artist, designer and professional dot connector, you may have seen FRIDGE’s trademark purple refrigerator on IG. He paints on whatever he can get his hands on as well as hand-cutting wildstyle wood sculptures. We spoke to FRIDGE about his graffiti roots, his inspirations and how he got to be the artist he is today.
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Where did the name ‘FRIDGE’ come from?
FRIDGE came from growing up in Brooklyn. All the kids in my neighbourhood were doing graffiti and being around those kids influenced me to paint graff and get up. One of my boys told me to come up with a tag name.
I knew I wanted it to be different, I wanted it to be cool because I think I am a cool person and I like cool shit and I do cool shit so what can I make that represents something cool?
So I had one of those AHA moments when I looked at my kitchen fridge, which is literally the coolest thing inside of your house, and was like I’m going to write FRIDGE. I thought it was funny and different so I ran with it, I started throwing up FRIDGES all around the city and the rest is history.
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When did you get into graffiti and what inspired you to start?
I got into graff when I was 15 years old. I will never forget my first ever experience, I was in Queens chilling at this park with the homies and out of nowhere this tall rollerblader kid pulled up in front of us and started doing a tag on the floor. It said “AND1” I will never forget, that shit was cool as fuck.
Ever since then, I started paying attention to all the graffiti on the street and on the train tracks. Just growing up in the neighbourhood I did and being around a lot of writers inspired me to start.
What also fascinated me and inspired me was seeing all the art in crazy places like the side of the buildings, on the tracks, on the trains and being like how the fuck did they do that and get up there?
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How did you go from doing throwies on walls to creating three-dimensional woodcuts?
One summer I had a job working with my uncle who was a contractor. He was in charge of all the construction for this one residential building in Manhattan. My job was pretty much driving the truck, picking up all the materials and throwing out all the garbage.
There was a lot of spare wood that I would have to throw out and I thought to myself “Damn, these would be some good canvases to draw on, plus it’s free!” So I would start to save all the excess wood and take them home. At first, I was using them as canvases then I started experimenting with cutting the wood after I would draw on them and that’s what started the 3D woodcuts.
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We’ve seen you do a lot of collabs with brands, especially fashion. Has fashion always been a big part of your life?
Fashion has always been a part of my life, I always loved getting fly and appreciated all the different fashion trends. I am a big Nike SB head, I was wearing and rocking all the OG dunks back in the day before it was cool. I have run through so many pairs of SBs and destroyed so many grails that would make many Hypebeasts cry. I don’t like to live my life for my kicks, my kicks live their life for me.
At a young age, I always had a passion for designing and making my own designs, not really so much cut and sew, but more like designing graphics. As I got older and I self-taught myself how to use Photoshop and Illustrator to further my career as a designer. With that passion, knowledge and a few calculated moves, that’s how I got to be where I am today.
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What’s been your favourite collaboration to date?
My favourite collaboration to date has to be my G-SHOCK collaboration. When they gave me an opportunity to design my very own signature G-SHOCK, it was a dream come true and a huge verification that I’m making big moves and becoming a reputable artist. It was mind-blowing to me.
There are a few artists from NYC that I look up to, that are in the same world of graffiti as me, who also have their own G-SHOCK. FUTURA, STASH, HAZE are the pioneers that paved the way for young artists like me to be able to do my thing, and it’s crazy to be a part of that select few graffiti artists. Those guys are twice my age and I am extremely grateful to be able to have my own watch and be a part of the legacy and push the culture forward.
Who’s the most inspirational person you follow on Insta?
@world_of_engineering posts a ton of dope engineering content that is both educational and inspirational. I get a lot of cool ideas and it inspires me to use different techniques for creating art and to push the boundaries of my work.
Have there been any positive/negatives for you whilst being in quarantine?
One of the positive things while being in quarantine was being able to stop and reset. Having the time to revaluate everything and figure out what’s really important and what needs to be done. I am very thankful that the only negative thing about the quarantine was just the slowing down of some momentum and the cancellation of some projects.
But at the end of the day, there are bigger problems and more important matters that need to be addressed and all we can do as creatives is to stay on target, keep creating and stop doing nothing.
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What can we expect to see from you in the future?
Bigger pieces! Bigger collabs! More legendary projects! More meaningful art! Designer toys and custom operational FRIDGES for your homes!
super cool artist!
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Thank you for your sharing. I am worried that I lack creative ideas. It is your article that makes me full of hope. Thank you. But, I have a question, can you help me?
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