The tail of CAT GODS has reached new heights. From graffiti to stencils to wheat paste posters to stickers, there is virtually no medium CAT GODS has not embraced to spread his message! Have you seen this familiar face around town? It's written in paint by means of free hand and stenciling. Wheat pasted and in the form of stickers, you will see the same artists work in the image in a specific cat’s face in various forms. From high and low brow gallery shows to the streets - allow us to introduce CAT GODS, at large in a city near you.

Spray Planet: CAT GODS! Thank you for taking the time for this interview. Let's get right to it. I see this iconic image you have created all over the place. Can you share with us a bit about CAT GODS. (What you write,  paste and/or paint. What crews you rep./How long you've been at it.) 

CAT GODS: CAT GODS came to life after the death of my previous identity.  In a way I had rejected all that I knew about graffiti and was overall done hanging out with writers at the time.  I was part of a group called Ralph Macchio, we pasted karate kid heads all over southern California.  When everyone from the band went separate ways I still wanted to paste and it made sense that my moms cat would be my main image.

I write Meow.  I put up Cat posters and stickers.  I represent MDR, DTM and CAT GODS.  I started writing graffiti seriously in 1995 

Spray Planet: Where did you grow up at and what is the graff scene like there?

CAT GODS: I've moved around a bit, but I went to high school in San Diego and that's where my graffiti writing started.  When I started, I was a bus hopper, I liked to ride buses all day and write on everything, scribes, power scribes, grinding my streaks into the carpeted seats of the bus, jumping out bus windows.  That's where it really all started for me.  I knew this dude from being a mall rat and one day I saw him on the bus, he wrote Aero in front of me and I couldn't believe it, I had no idea he wrote, much less that he was Aero. 

He introduced me to all the guys from GI and at that time GI was hitting hard in San Diego.  They showed me what was up with piecing and freeway bombing, from there it just snowballed one could say.  The scene in San Diego was tight, there were lots of yards, not a lot of street bombing or dudes doing cool throw ups at the time.  There was a real delineation between the toys and the piecers, basically you could either piece or you were a toy. 

SPRAY PLANET: Can you tell us how CAT GODS originated. Do you have any merchandise you can tell us about and where to find it?

CAT GODS: As I said earlier CAT GODS came from my desire to change my style, my name and my overall outlook on graffiti as a whole. Whatever I have for sale I post on my IG. I have a big cartel link in my bio. That’s about it, I try to keep it pretty rare I guess.

The Impact of graffiti on CAT GODS and a day in the life. 

SPRAY PLANET: How has graffiti impacted your life? What's a day in the life of CAT GODS like? 

CAT GODS:I'm a writer, my friends are writers.  I kinda live like a writer, whatever that means.  Graffiti has influenced me to become an artist and photographer.  Graffiti gave me discipline, something that nothing else was able to instill within me.  A day in the life, that sounds like a good place to insert video content.  

SPRAY PLANET: How would you describe your overall style/work? Is there a message you're trying to send? 

CAT GODS:My overall style... I suppose on the funk side of town.  Kinda like a Euro trash dude backpacking through the USA

SPRAY PLANET: Three colors (Fill, out line, background) What are they?

CAT GODS:Silver, Black and Pink. (maybe yellow.)

SPRAY PLANET:   Its go time and you're ready to hit the streets. What are your go-to items when loading up? What are your essentials?

CAT GODS:Depends on what were doing, different essentials for different situations.  I usually have a scribe on me, some stickers, an adaptor and some sort of bag of paint ready to go. 

SPRAY PLANET: What is your favorite part of your graffiti art? Why? 

CAT GODS:I enjoy the immediacy of graffiti, satisfaction now, ya know.  It's very do it yourself, you don't need much to do it.  It is also meditative for me, I can go with a friend, a group or by myself, but when it comes down to it, it's all about being in that moment.  I like being in the moment.  Be here now. 

Graffiti Inspirations, Spot Preferences and Motivations

SPRAY PLANET: Who and what were some of your early inspirations when you were first coming up and developing your own style? 

CAT GODS:I've gone through many changes so what was relevant to me earlier on may not be the same as now...  Some of my early inspirations were the dudes from GI, Aero, Weapon and Nope. I was a fan of Chie from DNA, he tagged on everything and did a lot of street bombing in SD, that stands out in my mind.  When Shepard Fairey moved to San Diego that really opened my eyes to pasting and stenciling. 

SPRAY PLANET: What kind of spots do you prefer to get up in/at/on? (Streets, yards, tunnels, trains, Etc.)

CAT GODS: I like to paint anything that runs.  I don't have one specific type of spot I like.

SPRAY PLANET: At this specific point in your life what motivates you to continue to go out there and create graffiti art?

CAT GODS:It's part of how I live.  I enjoy doing it, as long as I still enjoy it, I will continue to do it.