We had the good fortune of connecting with Kevin Welsh and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kevin, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
I pursued an artistic career because art and creativity are everything to me. It’s the only way iIve been able to think all my life. It has provided so many new experiences and allowed so much experience to come my way. If I even tried a job without creativity i’d likely be fired immediately or never get the job at all.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I like to use various mediums to convey my message, but I frequently use patterns. Most of my work revolves around ideas of delusion and false ideas we bring ourselves to believe, especially in isolation. The mind is such a complicated thing that is still not fully understood. I like to think of the mind as a sort of legend trying to read the map that is life, and if your legend starts to vary the meaning behind things then it is a whole different world you are experiencing.

Even when things come naturally there can still be a lot of difficulties, a huge one I faced when I came to LA was that most of my work was based in printmaking and I didn’t have the facilities or the money to make it happen. So I decided to pivot the work and dove into animation style mixed with photographic content in a sort of photographic essay layout.

The lessons I’ve learned along the way is just love it, love every bit of it thats when you’ll make the best work. If you love a project enough even the hard parts aren’t that hard. Also if you dont love it enough it might not be worth doing.

I created the handle and later LLC Localstreaker for my artwork because of a quote from Banksy that has stuck with me for so long, “You can win the rat race but you’re still a rat, what we need in the race is a lot more streakers.” I’ll forever be a streaker.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I would definitely take them through the arts district and specifically Hauser Wirth/Manuela. I worked at both places previously and its so cool how that space can transport you out of the city and into somewhere completely different. I love grand central market because you can get a little bit of everything, Afterward popping next door to La Cita for some dancing. Dan Sang Sa is a whole vibe, you have to go there at least once. Then probably finish out the trip at merkato. Los Angeles has a really cool food scene featuring cuisine from everywhere and Its one of my favorite things about this city.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I’d never be here without my high school art teachers Mary Atlas and Nathan Leventhal. They took me under their wing and supported me when I needed it most. I would also be having a lot of trouble without my SCAD professors and classmates Andrew Lawandus an amazing graphic designer, Brett Kuck an awesome illustrator/printmaker, Faisal Mohammed an amazing photographer, Professor Robert Brown a printmaking superstar. I could spend a lifetime thanking everyone that has helped me along the way, thats the best part of the art world, its a community working together.

Website: kwelsh.com

Instagram: localstreaker

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