cottonrazorblade is an international street and graff (read: graffiti) artist. CW talks to cottonrazordblade about outlaw and sanctioned art and his upcoming blend of party and art show at Ruby Khi's Street Art Toga Party this Saturday.

Describe what you do. Is it your full-time job? A hobby?

In terms of graffiti I suppose you really have to look at it as some blend of crimey and artist. Warhol may have said being an artist "is just like any other job," but until you’re Tom Sachs it doesn’t always pay the rent. I write for various publications, and do some curating and design work as well, so, while art certainly isn’t just a hobby, it’s not strictly a full-time thing either.

How did you get started in street art and how long have you been doing it?

We all saw tags and burners on the walls wherever we grew up, and like Earsnot said "it was sexy as hell, and I was a horny teenager.”

Why do these formats appeal to you?

Something along the lines of as a response to the alienation inherent in growing up in a faceless urban environment. Some manner of paraphrasure of Rene Descartes, like “I tag, therefore I am.” Though truthfully, there was certainly an element of attraction in the simple vandalistic rebellion of it as a teenager.

What's one of the craziest pieces of street art you've done?

Paradoxically, probably the craziest experience I’ve had painting was a sanctioned piece. I was out in Inner Mongolia in this museum doing a piece on their wall. It was the dead of winter, and my fingers kept freezing up, because the heat wasn’t working, and I was three stories up on this hella rickety scaffolding. Then the lights went out. Fortunately, you get used to painting in the dark and doing it quickly, so I knocked it out in twenty minutes and climbed down.

What is or should art be to you?

Art is probably the most difficult of all English words to define, but to my mind the closest a person has come was Joseph Beuys, when he said “To make people free is the aim of art, therefore art for me is the science of freedom.”

Details: You can check out cottonrazorblade's dual show with Weapons-Grade Apophenia at Ruby Khi's Toga Art Party this Saturday at 10PM.