If you haven’t been able to tell by now through my Instagram and personal style posts, I have this thing for street art. I just find it super cool to have access to art that’s beautiful, funny, ironic, and / or overall just intriguing…without having to step foot in a gallery. It catches you by surprise, as you never know when you’ll come across it. So that’s why I wanted to start profiling the brains behind these [sometimes illegal] operations. First up? Don’t Fret.
And I don’t mean like don’t fret because I’m going to tell you who it is in just in a minute but more like he goes by the name, Don’t Fret (because when your job consists of…decorating…a building, without one’s consent, you don’t necessarily want to be using your real name). I got to see Don’t Fret do this performance / art show hybrid last month (the title of the event was Don’t Attend This Event…so of course I had to), as part of promoting his new book, Don’t. I was already familiar with some of his work (and you’ve probably seen it too…this now demolished wall at Halsted / Lake was pretty fantastic) but hearing him speak about his own personal “don’ts” was not only fun and entertaining, but actually quite thought-provoking.
So I decided to email Mr. Fret to see what it’s really like in the mind of a street artist. First and foremost, you have to wonder…why Don’t Fret? I’m always curious to know how street artists come up with an alias. Sometimes I think about what my street art name would be. Perhaps Always Hungry? More Cheese Please? Just Keep Carbin’. But I digress. So why Don’t Fret? You know when you ask a newly engaged or married couple how they met and it’s something as simple as “through a friend” or “out”? (basically, it just happened). That’s sort of how Don’t Fret got his name — he’s been tagging since high school (about ten years now) and it just stuck. How romantic…
The one question I always want to ask street artists, so I went for it here, is if there’s some sort of unwritten rule for how long you have to leave one person’s work up before you paint over it. Many street artists are now commissioned to work on certain walls (so it’s actually permitted) but those are a different story. DF says he typically leaves them alone. When it comes to the permitted vs. non-permitted work, he says…
My work started in the street. It will always continue to be in the street and in a sort of “legal grey area.” I think graffiti is an important voice in our cities. I think some aspects of my work are challenging and present some challenging ideas, but I don’t necessarily find my work, especially the characters in the work, to be intimidating. That being said I find it funny that certain people find my work intimidating simply because their placement in the street is not sanctioned.
Like I said, not everything a street artist does is illegal. For example, that mural I talked about at Halsted / Lake. There was even an internal portion to that too (which I was bummed to find out only after the building was torn down). And it was 100% sanctioned. Although DF’s work started in the streets, he says he still enjoys the challenges of working on these larger scale murals with city entities, colleges, etc.
The hardware store was a piece that spoke to me but I asked DF if there’s a piece he considers to be his most popular work. He wouldn’t necessarily say “most popular” but there are certain pieces that resonate with his fans, like this…
Although these may be the pieces other people like, I want to know if artists can play favorites. Maybe some can but not for Don’t Fret. He wouldn’t say he has a piece he’s most proud of…at least not right now because it “changes all the time.” I get that. And although it was a collaboration with other artists, I’d be pretty damn proud of this one he did for Lollapalooza a few years ago.
Another question I’ve always wanted to ask a street artist — what comes first…the art or the location? Do you already know what you’re going to paint / paste or is there a specific wall you’re just itching to get your work onto? I’m sure the answer varies from artist to artist but Don’t Fret says…
It goes both ways. Sometimes going about my day I see a spot and I know exactly what piece or character to put there, and then sometimes I’ll think to myself about a character or city archetype that I want to make. Then the space it inhabits comes after the fact. This is true when I travel as well, I mostly make work beforehand so when I’m entering a new city I don’t exactly know where things are going to go.
Which leads me to my next question…does business slow down in the winter? There’s some days I can’t imagine being outside for more than a few minutes at a time, and these pieces obviously take longer than that to execute. Don’t Fret tries to keep up his work in the streets as much as possible, but as much as we’d love to be selfish and keep all of DF’s awesomeness to ourselves in Chicago…he does travel, so don’t be surprised if you see some shots at vegans outside the Midwest.
Speaking of vegans…one of my favorite things Don’t Fret does is poke fun at dietary restrictions. Random, but I find it hilarious (also ironic I try to eat vegan when possible but usually just at home…which isn’t often as I go out to dinner way more than I should). And good thing I dig it because he says we can look forward to “more anti-vegan rhetoric and some other surprises” in the coming months. If you are vegan, DON’T think DF hates you (it’s not like he has BEEF with vegans…hahah yeah I went there) but it’s more of a “beef with extremism and this sort of politically correct-don’t-offend-anyone-entitled-culture.” Touché, DF. Touché.
So if you want more Don’t Fret, just walk around. Literally. I’m sure you’ll come across something that will make you think / smile / laugh / stare. But the weather is kind of shitty today so you can just stalk him on Instagram and check out more of his work here.
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Have you seen Don’t Fret’s work before? Do you have any favorites? What are your thoughts on this artist profile? Want to see more? Or are you just like Jena, just stick to clothes?
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