Claw Money – on taking risks, standing her ground, and having fun with it
Who was infamous before Infamy? Who has blessed the streets of the Big Apple constantly since the late 1980s with her iconic and crispy throw-ups? Who is cruising down Delancey in a pink Cadillac, blasting Aretha Franklin? You guessed right, we are referring to CLAW Money. We took the chance to speak with her about beef, the importance of standing up for yourself, taking risks, and Alter Egos during our collaboration for the newest addition to the Montana BLACK Artist series. It has been almost two years since we last met, so it is time for an update!
Montana Cans: Hey, Claw, nice to see you; how are you doing? How’s life?
CLAW Money: My dear, so far, so good. I’ve been working on this content and doing all sorts of crazy filming for the release.
Montana Cans: Sweet! We are very honored to work with you. How do you feel about being part of the Montana Black Artist series now?
CLAW Money: This is a huge collaboration for me! A really important thing in my career is to go back to graffiti, my roots, and the basic essence of what Claw means. This is one of the top five collaborations I’ve ever done. Also, it’s just so incredibly cute!
Montana Cans: Super cute! What made you choose Pink Cadillac as a color?
CLAW Money: You mean because I am a girl? Pink has been being used in graffiti for so long that it isn’t necessarily like a feminine aspect. It’s just a great color. And, with my work, it’s essential to me to signify a female collaboration. And when I looked at all the cans that Montana did in the Artist Series, most of them were pink. So I was like, Oh, damn, I’m in big trouble! How do I make it look different? Most other pinks are hot pinks, fuchsias, beasts, and stuff like that. So, this shade now sits instead in the middle; it covers really well. Also, I wanted to give all hats off to all the young women who have entered this culture and make a nod to some fun female characters.
Montana Cans: The animation, the video, and the artwork are amazing! What inspired you?
CLAW Money: You know, it’s very Claw Money. Before I painted graffiti, I felt invisible. The stuff from Infamy, from 20 years ago, I pulled out some good sound bites as an interview narration. We need to fucking grime it out. It needs to be about graffiti. It’s not about my entrepreneurial spirit or all of these lofty things I’ve done in my career. I am vibing this out, you know. All I do is overdeliver. That’s my brand. I always need to set the bar high with standards for graffiti because there are a bunch of people who are sort of these unofficial ambassadors of graffiti, who bring graffiti into the world and the pop culture lexicon. Whether I like it or not, I’m one of them, and my standards are very high with myself. I owe so much to graffiti for giving me my livelihood and my work ethic; it taught me how to maneuver in the world, all of that that I feel like it’s my responsibility always to try to elevate the perception of graffiti, you know.
Montana Cans: I like how you take everything so seriously. Since our last interview contained so many universal truths, I was wondering how to switch things up and involve some hot takes. For starters, Claudia Gold or Claw Money?
CLAW Money: Claw Money gets all the fanfare, but Claudia Gold signs the checks. So, Claudia Gold, haha!
Montana Cans: Fair enough. Selling art for a living or living for art?
CLAW Money: Selling art for a living!
Montana Cans: Curating or creating art?
CLAW Money: Both!
Montana Cans: Both? Ok – so, making or stealing memes?
CLAW Money: Memes are so much fun. In a way, they are almost like writing graffiti you know, you put this anonymous thing into the atmosphere, and sometimes it just takes off. And it’s the same excitement with graffiti the way it spreads.
Montana Cans: It’s a nice way of seeing it! So what do you think what’s more important for your fame these days, memes or jock spots?
CLAW Money: Oh, jock spots! You know, it’s interesting. I think a lot of people follow me for memes, and they don’t know who I am, what I do, or why I say the things I do, and I always have to bring it back to the art so they understand, really, who is talking to them. So I force the meme lovers to get into graffiti. There are so many things I’m interested in that are worth talking about that are universal and go beyond graffiti. Graffiti is very niche, I like how memes go beyond that.
Montana Cans: True! How did your NFT project turn out if we speak about fast-lived digital phenomena? Are you still into that? Because when I re-read the last interview, I felt like this was the only part that might not have been rock solid in hindsight.
CLAW Money: Haha, this was the biggest joke of all! The NFT thing always seems stupid to me. It’s just like you own a digital image that can be replicated. Like, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, right? So, having something physical will always trump having something theoretical with theoretical ownership, right? There was no way for it to make sense. If this thing is going to take off, I have 30 years of digital art to exploit in this realm – perfect! I have always been super skeptical, and crypto is a pyramid scam. I mean, I want to, you know, ride it, make money and all that stuff, but it doesn’t make any sense.
Montana Cans: What I’m trying to get at is your view on taking risks in life or your artistic career. Is it necessary? What do you think about failure? Do you think it’s a failure, this NFT project in particular?
CLAW Money: I feel risks are everything, that if you’re not risking something, you’re not saying anything. And I am so excited to try something new in my career, figure something out that I don’t understand, and try to apply all the Claw Money sparkle to it. Those things keep me fresh! They keep me young. They keep me open-minded. I’m happy for the next NFT thing to come along and pique everyone’s interest. Jump on that if it’s exciting and fun that’s my brand.
Montana Cans: So it’s about excitement?
CLAW Money: Everything I do, whether I fail or I’m successful at it. It always teaches me a lesson: either I did this right, I did it wrong, or I got to try it this way next time; everything is informative and essential. And it’s the same thing with painting graffiti; I like to try lots of weird stuff. When I was a young toy, I would try to do that, like silver outlines. And, the old school guys would say, you can’t outline, but my response always was, you don’t get it. Obviously, after looking at it, I’m like, damn, I really can’t do silver. Nobody was going to tell me that. I had to figure it out, but it was worth trying. And also some of the ugliest stuff I ever painted that used to give me a stomachache. I try to put myself back in the mindset of a young Claw. I was experimenting. It was so free. It didn’t follow any of the rules. I did the 3d on the wrong side of this letter, but those things taught me something and made me improve each time.
Montana Cans: And did you realize you learned something in hindsight? Do you feel the same about work life?
CLAW Money: Risks are where I get the reward! Every time I make a clothing collection, something comes out wrong, some manufacturing defect that was not communicated properly, or can’t get the fabric, or something like that. I’ve always had to be able to adjust my expectations and be able to really like my own stuff by reinterpreting mistakes. Mistakes come with the territory. And the risks of making mistakes are something I don’t fear anymore because they are going to happen, and they are nothing bad.
Montana Cans: Great way to see it! What can we expect next from you?
CLAW Money: I’m doing a 35-year retrospective show in Australia in November!
Photocredit ©CLAWMONEY
Montana Cans: Oh wow, so many anniversaries! Last time we spoke, it was your brand’s anniversary, right?
CLAW Money: Yes, it was! That was fun. That was another hectic deadline, project management, and directorial nightmare. But it was worth it. But, you know, I’ve always said this kind of stuff, which is so dull, blah, blah, blah. The bottom line, as a woman, you can’t make a mistake; you can’t do a half-ass job. You just can’t, especially in male-dominated cultures like streetwear, sneakers, and graffiti, where they’re ready to just sort of, like, write you off. Overdelivering is always the brand!
Montana Cans: That’s harsh. Hopefully, we can change that for the better! Thanks so much for taking the time and working with us!
CLAW Money: Thank you! It’s been a pleasure!