Artist Interview: Sean Webster

Sean Webster is an artist from Liverpool. Known for his colourful pop art and graffiti, Sean emerged in the art world in 2016 after developing a true passion for drawing. Having been described as an 'energetic presence on the creative scene' his work is now internationally collected and his graffiti can be found on the grounds of the world-famous Strawberry Field.

Black & White is a brand new exhibition of 10 original artworks alongside a hand-painted mural at The Art Space, Cass Art Liverpool. We caught up with Sean at the show to find out more about his practice.

Hi Sean, thanks for taking the time to speak to us today, firstly could you tell us a bit about how you were inspired to become an artist?

I was inspired to become an artist when I fell in love with the process. The process changes all the time, the day-to-day challenges and wins of being an artist excite me. Also, the fact you get to constantly develop something, a ‘style’ that you have created, never gets old. From a napkin doodle to a canvas painting, it’s all equally as fun to me.

You have a very bold unique aesthetic, that’s easily recognisable as ‘a Sean Webster’. Such graphic bold, lines, with bright backgrounds and colourful characters, how did you develop this individual style?

My style has developed as I have developed as an artist, as I have learnt new things and discovered new inspirations. My style is also something I communicate through. Being a bit of an introvert growing up, I feel like subconsciously the fact my art is so ‘in your face’ was/is my way of showing my extroverted side. I love that the colours and boldness makes people happy. Amongst this crazy world we live in, it’s nice to add a bit of colour and happiness.

Now if we were to wander into your studio what materials would we find and why are these important to your practice?

I’ve had a number of studios/workspaces. I used to hoard my art supplies but recently I’ve gone for a more minimalistic and fine-tuned approach to what I use. I’ve been working from a room in London this year and in there you will find a trolley filled with Posca markers, fine liners and a stash of Montana gold spray paints - parked up next to my iMac and MacBook. The fab 5! It’s a combo I have used and connected with after a few years of, as I mentioned, experimenting with a wide range of supplies.

I have to ask about the wonderful book you illustrated ‘Be True to You’ with Liverpool’s own UFC fighter ‘Meatball’ Molly McCann. Could you tell us about this book and your experience making this?

Molly is a legend! ‘Be True To You’ is about Molly’s coming-out story. Being able to work on such a personal project with her was an absolute honour and I’m proud to call her a good friend since. The book has touched so many lives since its release and the illustrations I did were shown on the big screen up the BT Tower in March as part of Molly’s documentary.

One thing we’ve been asking artists and creatives alike since 2020 is how the lockdown period affected you from a creative perspective? The answers have varied as some found it quite inspiring to make art whereas some found their creativity diminished so I’d be interested to get your thoughts.

Lockdown was obviously a tough time for us all! For me, I made the most of the time I had by throwing myself into my art. I painted a number of murals around Liverpool all with a key worker theme to say thank you, and also to brighten everyone’s ‘lockdown walks’ up.

Finally, could you tell us what’s on the cards for the rest of 2022?

Exciting question! For the past 10 months, I have been working on a large-scale NFT collection called The Pals. It’s my proudest piece of work to date. Me and the amazing team behind it are gearing up to release so follow @ThePalsNFT and @SeanWebsterArt on socials to follow along and be part of the journey!

Thanks Sean! We look forward to seeing what you create next.