Maser is a visual artist and street artist based in Dublin. Starting with graffiti in 1995, Maser has since gone on to paint murals and exhibit artworks throughout Ireland, the UK and the US. With the establishment of his own gallery space, Atelier Maser, in 2018 he now offers a space for emerging urban and contemporary artists to showcase their own work.
Where did you spend lockdown?
Between my apartment and studio. I was one of the lucky ones, my studio is one street over from my place. So I tried my best (on a slower more relaxed pace) to keep some sort of structure and keep creating work.
Did you have access to a studio during this time? If not, how did you continue to create work?
Yes I did. My studio doubles up as a public gallery, so since that was closed and all projects and exhibitions closed, it gave me the opportunity to have time to revisit my practice fully. I found myself painting much more and rediscovering the rhythm of that, previously before lockdown it was a lot of start and stop due to what I now realise as unnecessary meetings.
Did you experiment with any new materials or methodologies?
Not so much to be honest, I’m looking at extending my artwork into textile design and furniture, still at the research stage but lockdown gave me the opportunity to find time for this, I’ll be excited to see where it brings me. I was more than happy just to have the time to sit, paint and sketch though, prior to lockdown that was a luxury.
Given the limitations and restrictions of the last few months, did your art making process change at all? If so, do you think this will continue to change how you will make art going forward?
The process didn’t change so much, how my work became visible to the public did though. For obvious reason I saw a lot more engagement and interest for my work though social media. The process may not have changed but the reason and purposes for some of the works, e.g. ‘Homebird’, did because I was responding to the new environment we were living in.
Did you have any projects during this period that went ahead?
No they all got cancelled, so everything I did was self incited, it was great learning. I want to keep that moving forward, rather than working on projects for someone else I realised I find more joy in working on my own projects and concepts and collaborating with other artists. There’s more freedom, as creatives I think that’s what we always fight for.
Do you have any upcoming projects?
Yeah! Aches and I are working on a collaborative print together, releasing soon. I hope to do an open studio of my new works in Sept and Aches and I are talking about a show together next year in April, so those three things alone will consume the rest of my year.
All photographs were provided by Maser. To see more of Maser’s work visit his website and Instagram.