For part 3 of our Stella Dore interviews we caught up with the young Hastings born rapscallion I-LIB. Check out his thoughts on botany, air kisses and life in general after the jump.

Hey I-Lib, thanks for taking the time to speak to us. Let’s get the obvious question out of the way first, ok, so you’re called I-Lib, which is short for I Lurk In Bushes, what’s the deal with that eh?! Lurking in bushes is clearly no way for a young wippet such as yourself to be spending his time, how did the name come about?
Well when you’re a graffiti artist you tend to spend a lot of time trying to remain hidden, lurking and waiting to paint other peoples properties without making one’s presence known, so the lurking part came from that. As for the bushes part that came from hiding in the shrubbery

– plus my friends would find me passed out drunk in bushes so it just all made sense and I-LIB was born.

For those poor souls currently uninitiated into the world of I-Lib, can you tell us a little about your work, your influences and how you came to hook up with Stella Dore?

– set in a dark monochromatic world of Art Nouveau and rococo style settings and attire.
Fashion plays a big influential part in my work, i love exploring what my creatures could wear and the patterns in the clothes. Also nature is a very big influence as my creations are cross breeds of a lot of strange thing, but influences arise from everything i come across from film, reading, music, the arts, people, life, death, love and hate.
As for Stella Dore, curator Steph Warren and i have know each other for years, we are from the same little town Hastings and she had always wanted to help me and push me forward with my work so i got involved with Stella Dore from the start and am so thankful to her, its pushed me in directions never thought possible.

You’re 21 years old and are evidently doing alright for yourself so far, how are you finding the art world? Have you got your ‘air kiss’ down on pat?
I think the question is how is the art world finding me? Ha yeah the ‘AIR KISS’ is patented it got me where i am today.

Your showing with Stella Dore in Dublin, are there any particular themes behind the work you’re showing or is it simply a collection of unconnected pieces?

The works are based around love, hate, life and death. The work’s all connected in some way and every character has a story to tell. There’s also some intricate typography pieces in there that i will also be painting on the streets to.

We’d love to see more of your stuff on the streets, do you have any plans to get more involved with the street scene? Is there anyone out there doing things that you particularly like and would like to emulate?
Well i am always involved with the street scene in some way or other but i have to be a little more clever now days as i suffered an acute case of xylene poisoning from painting without a respirator mask so my lungs are not as strong as they were and –

– but i will be painting some large scale ornamental rococo style letter pieces like the ones i have been drawing so look out for them. As for artists out there its got to be my dear friend WORDTOMOTHER, his works got so much life in it and i know his passionate about what his does, Lorenzo Petrantoine’s amazing and my good friend Alex Thornton is one to look out for.

Thanks I-LIB, take it easy.

• Tags: I-Lib, Stella Dore, Steph Warren, Word to Mother