San Francisco nightlife has been coming to life thanks in part to street artist Jeremy Novy. His unique stencils of epic, legendary drag queens, gay pulp and local talent alike have been spotted
all over town, and even got him a showcase at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. We caught up with him and talked art, inspiration, and, of course, a bit of drag.
What drag venues inspired this project? Parties, cities, venues, etc.
Last summer I lived in a house on 18th and Sanchez were Divine and John Waters lived at one time when it was a gay comunne called “The Wind Gone Through.”
How did you get interested in queer street arts? Why did you choose graffiti?
I chose stencils (not graffiti). I moved to stencils because of their pop culture references and for the most part stencils are political in nature.
I used to do interventional things telling the city to clean up urban blight with the one thing they hate the most a can of spray paint. Life size stencils of doors and windows began to appear on boarded up houses.
So what changed?
I did Divine because of the house I lived in and I found a whole new group to rebel against. My stencils are trying to change the rules of street art and allow for anyone to put up images just like GAP, Pepsi, Absolute Vodka and many more.
Is your art enhancing the view in any cities beside San Francisco?
Yes. I just went to Milwaukee, WI and Chicago for a week. One thing I did was to get paid to graffiti the Pabst Mansion. Yes, Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer. They have my koi fish around their pool.
Did you go to Chances Dances or any other fun underground parties while in Chicago? How about Wisconsin?
Yes!!! I can breakdance and pull it into some erotic dance moves without losing the beat to the music. I was big into raves starting in ’96. Then moved to NYC in 99 for a year of NYC’s club scene. I’m a big house fan and made alot of chicago parties. Me and my friends would do Minneapolis, Chicago, Detroit, Indianapolis or Milwaukee. Doing Friday in one state and then Saturday in another.
You can see more of Jeremy’s Art by following him on Facebook or visiting his webiste.
