We came across Peter Grigoriadis aka MuscularTeeth from South Australia by fluke. To keep it simple, let’s call him an artist but we wonder if there is anything this guy doesn’t do with his time. In parallel with his various day jobs and art, he tops a couple of art-related online forums with active posts and collaborations under his alias.

Name: Peter Grigoriadis NickName: MuscularTeeth

Profession:
Well, this changes almost each year. I’ve worked in publishing, banks, Telco, IT point of sale networks, ran about 70% of Pokie machine networks in Australia, been a builder and a glazier as well as a part-time bum focusing on my “art”.

Technically, I’m in the building trade again – converting my dad’s window and aluminium factory into a modern one – adding computers, email, spreadsheets and fabrication software to help it expand further. Last year. I did barely 15 hours of work a week (the rest was into my art) and this year, I work almost 50 hours… If I could choose one word that I am more than anything though – is the generic title of an Artist.

Location: About 7 minutes away from Adelaide CBD in South Australia. I love it here.

Passion:
I have many passions and to choose one over another, I’m not sure. Probably music – both my own and from around the world. Music is where I started as an artist, and it’s where I turn when troubled or needing soul-food.

I get my inspirations from:
Literally everywhere! Everything I look at, I try and interpret into a way I can use for my music, videos and t-shirts. I might be roaming the urban wastelands of suburbia taking photos or taking my field recording equipment to record sound of lift doors opening, birds tweeting, a motorcycle, a cat purring or a jack hammer. Whatever, sound is something I’m perpetually listening out for.

When my brother and I went to Singapore last year, we spent a few days just roaming the clothing shops looking at what was popular, what themes seemed to be in style etc. When I walk the streets of Adelaide, my eyes are always open to what’s around me, and what can be twisted just a little bit to make it funny or weird.

Likewise for my video clips, I get inspiration from old vintage movies, my scuba diving, when I strap my spy pen camera to the underside of my scooter – anything!

I don’t have any rules and my creative process is organic, spur of the moment is common for me. Life is art, art is life. I am also lucky knowing a few other t-shirt designer and graphic artists – it is a lot of fun to sit around and just brainstorm random ideas on what might or might not work.

Nuance

How I got my break:
I’m 100% self-taught. I did art at primary school, but as soon as it was optional, I went down the line of IT, physics, maths etc… I’ve never done art at TAFE or uni or a course. I can’t read music or play an instrument – I just have a good ear and patience.

Technically I’m still working for a living, and haven’t quite made it yet. However for me, a true highlight has been when I was voted Most Helpful member of Red Bubble in 2008. It consists of thousands of artists worldwide with over 200,000 members. This was a great honour, and reflects the fact I’m always happy to help others and collaborate on artworks. If I have to go for another job, that will be on the top of my resume.

You can also find me pretty easily in my many myriad forms – just type in muscularteeth on Google!

My top tricks of the trade:
Being an artist has highs and lows. My one “trick” would just to say – have faith in yourself, persevere and follow your own style. Don’t imitate others – get inspiration from them sure, but you are you, and you see things in your way. Embrace this. Don’t get discouraged, keep hammering away with what you do and eventually you will be noticed. Most great bands don’t have overnight success – they work and struggle hard for 10 years before “overnight success” hits them… same for any industry… Oh, and I always say “a day not spent creating SOMETHING is a wasted day” – you only have so many days in your life. Make sure you use them!

My style in a sentence:
A seriously flippant and irreverent artist where nothing is forbidden, nothing assumed – MuscularTeeth Style!

Bet you didn’t know I can:
I can spin a fire stick pretty mean. I can dive to 60 meters, I can rock climb like a monkey, I can do anything I set my mind to. And so can you! I’m also really good at computer games haha.

My latest project is about;
I’m pretty excited with my latest project – I’m working with established singer/documentary sound track person Tania Rose on an album. My music with her melodic beautiful voice. We are about halfway through the album and boy it’s sounding good. Very Massive Attack in style.

I’m also working with a friend on a live video/music show (VJ) where we incorporate our music performed live with a few projectors with visuals. For example, whenever a drum snare hits, you see something on the screen that reflects that. We will end up using some pretty damn sophisticated software to have hundreds of clips all ready to play – you hit a key and the graphics come up. We can add effects on the fly, and this is going to be really cool when it’s done.

I’m also designing a few more t-shirts both as my self and with a good friend, the artist named Malkman. We are in the early stages of designing a CD cover for DJ Shadow too (I hope they’ll like it enough to accept it). I’m also making a video for another artist in Melbourne – Diesel Laws. When I’m not doing something, it’s a wasted opportunity.

My latest purchase:
A little AV switchboard thingy. It can have 3 inputs of visuals, and you can switch between them and add effects – this will compliment the software I am running (VJAMM). I also had my birthday on Valentines day (I turned 30… nooooooo!) So, I bought myself a steering wheel for my Xbox360. I can drive fast now

My current favourite mecho item:
Lego Bricks Ice Cube Tray. I love lego, but my parents gave it all away to other kids. I need to stay young and immature; I think they are the bees knees!

Travel destination and tips:
I’ve not travelled extensively but suggest Bali and Thailand for diving. My tip would be – take a camera with a huge memory card and either a laptop or something like an iRiver. Then you can take a massive number of photos, and when the camera is full, you can upload it to your laptop or iRiver and then take more. I use a lot of what I’ve taken later on in video clips or into t-shirts or posters. And treat others with respect!

Pssst… One time I…
Delivering about $30,000 worth of aluminium commercial windows to a building site, there was a low lying tree branch I missed and as the windows were taller than the car, the tree branch just totally destroyed them all. Glass and aluminium everywhere!

Another time, I was diving and I had a wild dolphin nudging me on my back – I thought it was a shark! Almost died from a heart attack! Haha…

The mecho team invites you to continue the conversation below with Peter during April… Make it fun! Post comments with your own free personal Gravatar

NOTE: ARCHIVE ONLY from Apr-10. You may leave a comment but please note Peter is no longer actively responding to any questions post 30 Apr-10.

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