In the world of graffiti, few names carry as much weight as CASH4 when it comes to blurring the lines between social/political commentary, vandalism, and art. With a style that merges traditional sign painting with tagging and explosive fire extinguisher moments, CASH4 has built a reputation not only for his skill but for his ability to push boundaries. In this exclusive interview, we sit down with the artist to discuss his creative process, the challenges of working outside the traditional art world, and what it truly means to leave a mark on the streets.
1. When did you first start writing graffiti?
In 8th grade I was tagging up my Catholic school in about 1998. I got caught for one of the names I was using (”Esker”), but the truth is I was using multiple names and had written on the back of almost every desk in the school with the name “Royal”, which was a name my friends and I all shared.
2. Did you always write Cash4 and where did that name come from?
A few years after covering all the desks in school with Royal, I sprayed a piece with 3D at 16 for the first time using the name “Sar,” which was short for sarcasm. I ending up dropping the Sar, and wrote Casm or Cazm for years while doing weird graffiti futurism style influenced by Joker from the NW, Dais from Denmark, Mediah from Toronto and Eliscer. I also started another body of work drawing characters under the name “Cahbasm”. By 2010 I was finally living full time in NYC and was tired of the zonky weird styles no one understood, especially New Yorkers, so I took the letters I was already using and went basic generic “Cash4”. I guess I felt I needed a number for it to be a more historically accurate graffiti name. It was funny fun and written everywhere already, although IDK if the cash4 car guys were going as hard or had even started in NYC. I was very influenced by euro graff too that it was funny to take a generic traditional graffiti name and do weird styles with it, and I was just beginning to get proper tags and throwies down so I was doing both simultaneously. By 2010 Smells and I had started our roller campaign. Towards the end of the dart and trap era but before the loose and flash era of jet pack graffiti.
3. When did you first start painting on reclaimed yard signs and why?
Smells basically had an infinite supply of that material from his work, it’s called coroplast, so it was laying around quite a bit. I wasn’t taking it too seriously as a surface at first, painting on mostly wood and canvas but soon learned to appreciate it not only because of its abundance but it's light weight and water proof qualities. If I had to put a year on it probably during The Yellow Worm Hole days of 2012, a grimy crib upstairs from Smells he used as a studio that I got keys to after he moved to another spot. This period actually deserves a book of its own.
4. How would you describe your letter style?
I think legible and generic however it’s definitely identifiable as me. I have a signature A that I haven’t seen much of in the sign painting world, which evolved from my S and H.
5. Do you have a favorite sign that you’ve made?
So many are fun but the “we’re fucked” sign with 2 nukes going off was pretty nice, I painted the nukes with the mushroom clouds like 5 years ago or more and finally did the “we’re fucked” last November for our Election Day show.