Charles Uzzell-Edward’s eccentric alias, PURE EVIL, is as much of a reflection of his
art as it is of his personality. A graffiti artist from the UK, Pure Evil is renowned
throughout the world for his impressive street artworks powered by the urban and
skate culture he witnessed during his decade long sojourn in California. Boasting an
impressive yet eclectic resume as clothes designer for the Anarchic Adjustment label
and music artist in the 90s, he returned to London a street artist.
Pure Evil began his illustrious career in California, having graduated with a degree in
fashion and graphic design in London. With Alan Brown and Nick Philip, he put his
degree in fashion to good use as a clothes designer for Anarchic Adjustment.
However, it was as an electronic music artist in San Francisco, where he began
attracting the most attention and where he became best known for melding different
elements of music together. It was during his decade in California where graffiti
artists such as TWISTED and REMINISCE made their mark on Charles UzzellEdwards. The beginning of Charles Uzzell-Edwards’ career as a stencil artist may
have begun in California but it was in London where his career truly flourished.
Pure Evil is best known for a multitude of things. One example is the hugely popular
hit song “Tron”. This track is the exemplar of Pure Evil’s ability to create such a
unique sound comprised of various and often opposing music. It was this ability to
create a unique piece out of several elements that also made him a stand out stencil
artist. He is also best known for creating his trademark fanged rabbit derived from
his guilt over shooting a rabbit when he was a child. Interestingly, these oftensimplistic drawings harbor complicated meanings. For example, Pure Evil uses the
fanged rabbit to showcase him being haunted by the death of the rabbit he killed to
symbolize how one should be accountable for their own actions.
In his career as a stencil artist, his works have garnered him both popular and critical
acclaim. Some of his biggest achievements remain his collaboration with the people
of Banksy’s Santa’s Ghetto and opening up his own Pure Evil gallery in Shoreditch
London, where some of his famous pieces such as the Nightmare series remain today.
However, Pure Evil has always maintained his main goal was to create bold pieces
that encouraged people to stop and just look at his work. This is perhaps his greatest
achievement.
Pure Evil embodies an entrepreneurial spirit, which coupled with his tenacity to be
innovative is why he remains, to this day, a modern icon for stencil artistry.
WEBSITE LINK: http://pureevilgallery.virb.com/
A stencil combination of Marlene Dietrich
and Salvador Dali – an example of Pure
Evil’s
ability
to
combine
different
elements.
The aforementioned “fanged bunny” –
created based on Pure Evil’s guilt over
the childhood memory of killing a rabbit.
One sample of Pure Evil’s Nightmare
series – it is a series of stencil paintings of
celebrities which all share the bleeding
from the eye.
This is a stencil painting of Andy Warhol.