The Matt Wilkins Interview

When and where were you born? Are you originally from London? What was growing up like foryou? What was your household like and do you have any siblings?

I was born in North London in July 1996, which is where I grew up and lived up until recently. It was very much on the outskirts of the city, so it was a nice place to grow up with a lot of fields and forests to mess about in as kids. My close family are all quite creative in different ways, my grandad was a great illustrator, and so is my sister.

When did you relocate to Barcelona and what initially led to this decision? When did you first become interested in graphic design/visual art as well as music and the other awesome elements that make up your style and approach? What other interests, jobs and pursuits were you participating in prior to becoming a freelance artist?

November 2019 was when I moved over to Barcelona, it was always a city that I could see myself living in since I first visited around 10 years ago. Over the years I came back a few more times before making the leap and just going for it. I love that now I've got the mountains and sea on my doorstep. It ended up being a bit of a strange time to relocate to another country as a few months into living here, covid hit and the lockdowns were much stricter than in the UK. In high school I started getting more into music around the same time I started skateboarding, which then led down further into the whole stoner/metal/doom that I'd hear in skate videos. Skateboarding graphics were a big influence early on, I'd always be obsessed with Jim Phillips designs. So it was a mix of that and then the music side of things with all the 60s-70s band posters, those really piqued my interest and I started finding my own style. Initially before becoming a freelance artist I hadn't considered the route I ended up taking being an option, I didn’t go down the typical route of studying art at college or university. Instead I studied carpentry and joinery as it felt like a good way to still do something creative.

What initially inspired you to become an artist? When exactly did you set out on this cosmic journey and what were those early days prior for you like? What would you say is the overall vision and drive behind what you do and create?

So during my carpentry studies I'd get some days off in a week where I'd mostly either skate, or draw. I ended up throwing some of those sketches up on instagram every so often. Somehow those got the attention of a few bands and some commissions started coming in. It got to a point where I had to kind of choose one or the other, at the time the carpentry would
have been the safer choice but I decided to give it a go and just fully focus on creating art. That was about 8 years ago and I haven't looked back. The drive to keep on going is really that I still get stoked on creating art for some of my favorite bands and brands. I love getting commissions that are a bit different too, that challenge me yet still staying within my style of creating art.

When did everything begin to click and you thought to yourself “Hey this could work!”? What do you hope people get from work and what would you say separates you from other freelance based artists out there that have a similar approach and style?

Probably the time I thought it really could work out was when I got contacted by Kadavar back in 2015 for a shirt design, that was really big for me, and made me realize that I could take this more seriously. I still see people wearing that shirt to this day
which is really cool! I don't have any deep and meaningful things within my art, but I really just hope that people get stoked on wearing things that I've designed or hanging my art up in their houses. If it can bring someone a little joy then that's rad. What I do isn't really reinventing anything, but I think I've developed my own personal style, and whenever people tell me they recognized my work without seeing my name beside it, that's always the best compliment I can get. I'm very much inspired by the past, whether it's vintage skateboard decks, horror comics to architecture, or even some art nouveau tiles on the floor of an old building. All those interests came together and helped me develop my style.

How has the pandemic affected you both as an individual and as an artist? How have you managed to stay not only positive, but above ground during these insane times? Are you currently working on any new projects, or commissions?

At the start it was definitely a daunting time, as up until then I was mostly doing band tee and event posters. But when covid hit, there were no shows, so zero demand for either of those. Fortunately I had some commission pre-booked which kept me busy for a lot of the lockdown, but also I put it out there that I could do custom motorcycles and car portraits, which I ended up doing quite a lot of for people all over. So lately I've been doing a lot of designs for the California clothing brands Loser Machine Company and Dark Seas, as well some smaller projects for bands, brands and festivals. Right now I'm working on a new design for my good friends in the Barcelona based band called Electric Monolith.

Links:
UK/Euro merch store - heavy-threads.com/collections/matt-sabbath
US/Rest of world merch store - usheavy-threads.com/collections/matt-sabbath

Dakota Brown