GALO: Were you equally fascinated with art as a child or did this passion and talent only truly manifest itself in Rome?

KW: My first mural was for an ice cream store and manufacturer called McConnell’s Ice Cream. It is still a famous Santa Barbara institution. I portrayed the family of the owners in a composition that was a cross between the Last Supper and Alice in Wonderland. The family still owns it. I had done many other artworks before, but this was my first “large-scale” commission. I think the commission was for $500, which was a small fortune for a high school student in 1976.

Art is the way I am able to understand the physical world, discover order in the universe, and communicate those discoveries to others. I think that the desire to communicate has always been foremost in my personal agenda. Although I always created images, my formal decision to be a professional artist was made in high school. To this day I work nearly every day, including weekends, on artwork of some sort. I always feel that I have more to do than I can possibly accomplish.

GALO: You spend half your time in Italy. What moved you about this culture the first time when you arrived there?

KW: When I first arrived in Italy, I was able to see a culture that was vastly different than the one I left. Life was much simpler and there was a great quality to it. I admired the amount of time people had, the food, and the great works that were all around. Today’s Italy is closer to the U.S. in terms of lifestyle and culture.

GALO: Apparently you touched the Sistine Chapel’s ceiling! How did it feel to be that close to something that was painted by one of the greatest artists of all time – Michelangelo?

KW: Up close, I could see it as a painting — the work of a man. Fresco shows the brushstrokes of the artist, and when you are close, you can almost feel the painting process in action. This is lost when the work is seen from the floor or in reproductions. I was allowed to touch the toe of one of the great prophets and feel how smooth the plaster was. It was much grander than I ever would have imagined from the floor.

GALO: Italy isn’t the only place that you’ve left your mark on. You’ve created art in over 30 countries?

KW: In the last decade the majority of my work has been done in the Orient or in countries outside of Europe and the U.S. It has been a great experience to share my work with other cultures that then leave their mark on me as well. It always amazes me how global this art form has become.

GALO: Your street art is primarily painted in chalk. Why did you choose this specific material for your drawings?

KW: Chalk, or in my case, pastel, was the traditional medium of pavement art. It was essential that it washed off, as artists would continually use the same location to create new works. Today, some pavement artists use paint, which opens up lot of possibilities for creating larger works by withstanding storms. In the old days, we would have been arrested for putting paint on the pavement. I personally don’t use paint on the pavement because it degrades slowly and badly, leaving an ugly after-image.

GALO: And its unstable form doesn’t leave you disconcerted?

KW: The ephemeral aspect of street painting was most important when it was a religious art form. The 3D street paintings do not necessarily need to be ephemeral, as they would make fantastic permanent works of public art. The problem of maintaining a work on a horizontal surface is not an easy one, and only very recently has it been possible to use digital technology to create permanent pieces from the designs. I expect this will become popular in the near future.

I do not feel sad when a completed work is destroyed because I know it cannot remain fresh and beautiful any more than a flower can. Weather is still the most frustrating part of street painting, since pastels aren’t waterproof. It can be very exhausting to have works destroyed during the creative process. This does not get easier with age either.

I often need to be able to fix an entire work within a day after a rainstorm. This can be quite exhausting, as I must move over the whole picture, rather than concentrating in an area.

GALO: Many of your pieces are not only intricately detailed but they are polychromatic. Is it hard to blend the hues together to achieve a nearly perfect look?

KW: Blending pastels is the easiest part. On the street it is more difficult to maintain a good level of detail. Very large, subtle effects can be difficult to achieve as well. With larger pieces, I soon become acutely aware that I am trying to cover a very, very large surface with a very small piece of chalk.

GALO: How many pieces of chalk do you typically use for one of your average sized creations?

KW: When I first started street painting I used commercial chalks and pastels. I soon found the chalks to be too dusty and they constantly blew away on the street. The pastels were more permanent, but too costly, as I would consume a couple hundred sticks per picture.  It didn’t take long before I began experimenting and making my own pastels with pure pigments and binder. I started making my own pastels in Rome. I was fortunate because they still sold the necessary raw pigments in the hardware stores. Although I studied old recipes for pastels, my final recipe was taken from an unrelated text dealing with marbling paper. My handmade pastels are stronger and more permanent than commercial products.

GALO: And what was the largest piece you’ve ever made?

KW: The largest piece I ever designed was for the arrival of Pope John Paul II to the city of Mantua. It was 5 meters by 25 meters and had 170 full size figures. In general, I do not like very large pieces, especially with 3D artwork. There becomes a point where the painting becomes fantastically large and has little additional effect. I like to work to the point where the audience can still appreciate the quality of the drawing over the entire surface.

(Article continued on next page)