Over the last four years, Veng has made a name for himself as a member of the popular graffiti collective, Robots Will Kill. But it has been his work over the last year that has really caught the attention of the street art community. While continuing to paint murals, Veng has broadened his materials & techniques to include stencils, boards, trompe l’oeil and wheatpastes made from both wood and linoleum cuts.

In February Veng had his first solo exhibition as the featured artist in the showcase space at Carmichael Gallery of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles. As his profile on the street and in the gallery world continues to rise, it has become clear that this is an artist that we all should be keeping our eyes on.

Veng was kind enough to talk a little with me about his art and sit down and to provide us with a peek into his little more insight into some of his work:

“A friend of mine and I were driving around looking for spots and came across this location. We had both thought it was amazing with the thick wood frame and I lucked out having a board that fitted so well in it.This to me is the highlight of street art you have the ability to find a spot that can work with a piece to enhance it.”

“The idea of the fish came from a couple of different influences. I have always liked creating scenes with transportation, and having a surreal twist at the same time. Also I had a desire at the time to work on a piece with fish, from a technical standpoint they are great to paint, with all the details of scales and colors. When working on walls I can work with all sorts of caps to achieve different widths with the paint, Starting with caps with a softer larger width ending with a cap I make from the color cap of the can, which makes a very skinny line.”

“When working with paper it can open up new ways of working compared to canvas work. The ability to cut paper is something I love. The different papers you can use also affect the work, over time I have found that newsprint works well with oilpaint and the glue really gets to soak in the paper making puting it up that much easy. I had done this with oil paint on Kraft paper. I started by sketching with charcoal then applying acrylic matte medium to seal the drawing and paper. Then I paint the image and instead of having space around the image I have the option of cutting the image out of the paper, which for stuff like a birdcage is great.”

Veng is also known for his frequent collaborations with other artists from around the US and Europe. In this past year alone, he has painted with Os Gemeos, Flying Fortress, Pez, ECB, Chris Stain, Billy Mode, Broken Crow, Remed, Shogun, and Cake.

Veng, ECB and Chris RWK

Veng & Shogun

Veng, Col & Rok2

Veng, Billy Mode & Chris Stain

Veng & Broken Crow

For more information, visit the Robots Will Kill website or Veng’s Flickr page
The author, Becki Fuller, is a street art photographer from Brooklyn.