Interview By Katya Guseva of Bigup magazine

MrGo lives in the roof attic somewhere in Brighton and dreams of moving to London to find a job as a stunt man, a pilot or something else weird like that. Weird is the key word. As well as it is the key element in his illustrations of dark but oddly cute fat-bellied, thin-legged creatures. MrGo says he is inspired by people and emotions in his everyday life, which makes his everyday life seem quite surreal.

How did your name MrGo come about?

At uni I lived in a house with my mates. On the gas bills we all had our names registered. So in the little viewing window you get on letters, it was just one long dribble of all our names. Mine was at the end and got partially hidden. Shortened down to Mr Go. I liked it, and kept it.

You seem pretty discreet about your art and what you do in general.

I’m a graphic designer.. I trained as a vehicle designer at university, got into vehicle design after graduating and found it to be not as interesting as I thought it would be. So I changed and focused on graphics and illustration.

What is your process?

Most of my stuff at the moment has come from mindless doodles at work. Then I just took them further with rendering them. None are really thought out. It’s all just from procrastinating at work. I sort of turn my brain off and see what shapes my pen makes.

Who are these little creatures in yourart? Do you somehow relate to them?

They have developed from all the early things I used to draw. I’m not entirely sure where they started or who they are. I like the dark side they have, but I also try to keep a fairly cute part to them. A bit kids-toys-like. As for what they represent, it’s just everyday things I see, the rat race, human emotions and situations, including mine sometimes.

They seem hurt...

Well, some of them are. I don’t think its too deep, but they

do seem to be in some odd little places. They are a bit macabre, but pretty cute in places. “Think of The Kids” is probably the most sinister in a way, or “sweet child”. Not sure where he came from, but he does a good job of looking fucking odd.

If “Think of The Kids” was a piece of music what genre would it be?

Probably something dark. Maybe some ‘death thrash for kids’ if that’s even a genre. I bet it’s not, maybe it should be. I’ll pioneer it. Or maybe something a bit more melancholic. Music to damage yourself to.

What is “Love Hurts” about?

Yeah, love hurts...Sort of self-explanatory. Originally it started as two separate pieces, then they came together in a magical moment . Everyone’s been hurt ain’t they? So this fella is a caricature of that break-up stuff.

What about “Pow”?

That was definitely too much late night TV watching. “Pow” was originally called “TV Cowboy”.

What would you pinpoint as the main inspiration that shapes your artistic taste?

I get my ideas from photography, other illustrators, and old paintings. I’m always finding new stuff that I love. I’m a big fan of the hand drawn elements. Too much computer generated stuff can get dull. Seeing where people have actually marked the work with their own strokes is class. Human element and all that. Some artist Ii like are Alexandros Vasmoulakis, Jiar, Robert Gregory Griffeth, Pictoplasma stuff. Tracy Hamer...Loads, basically. Jiar is mint. His characters are proper schizophrenic weird.

Do you watch a lot of TV?

Try not to, TV eats your soul and charges you for it! Most TV is bollocks mind-numbing shit.

Is there anything I didn’task you that you always ask yourself?

...You want a cup of tea?