Ministry -Pure Evil – Andy Warhol’s Nightmare

Pure Evil – Andy Warhol’s Nightmare

Charles Uzzell-Edwards is a graffiti and street art artist, better known by the nickname Pure Evil, who is also friends with Banksy. As the son of the Welsh painter John Uzzell Edwards, he was born in South Wales, where he grew up in a world of art thanks to his father. His father’s artwork undoubtedly impressed the son, showing a range of influences from Cubism to Minimalism, Matisse to Chagall.

His tag in the form of one of his paintings, the Vampire Rabbit was plagued by the artist’s sense of remorse after shooting a rabbit in the countryside as a teenager. Charley explains, “I’ve always regretted that terrible act, and the idea is that the hare will come back to haunt me. When you’re running through the streets of Moscow at night, you can just make a quick bunny at the side of a house and run away.”

Having Pure Evil as a nickname is a bit of a joke, Charley admits, however it is also a licence to have fun with dark imagery. It reflects the darkness that is always in the world.

The South Welshman studied fashion and graphics in London. After graduating, he lived in California to escape the ruins of Thatcher’s Britain. In the early 90s he lived on the West Coast and worked as one of the designers for a clothing label called Anarchic Adjustment with Alan Brown and Nick Philip.

He produced screen-printed T-shirt graphics and was also present in the electro music scene in San Francisco. As a result, he attended a lot of raves and took a lot of psychedelics. “Pure Evil’s street art began in California, where he painted DUMP BUSH on motorways and MURDER on gun shops.

After 10 years in California, heavily influenced by West Coast graffiti artists like TWIST and REMINISCE and skate art, he returned to London and started painting crazy Pure Evil bunnies everywhere.

“I’ve started to miss London,” he explains, “it’s a dirty place, however it is the dirt that makes things grow.

Pure Evil got together with the people behind Banksy’s Santa’s Ghetto and started producing dark new prints and artworks. In recent years he has exhibited around the world in China, Russia, Mongolia, Brazil, the US and across Europe. He produces a monthly radio show and regularly holds workshops and participates in lectures on street art.

In May 2012, Pure Evil appeared on the prime-time BBC TV show The Apprentice, where he took part, leading to huge interest in his work ㅤ

For most of 2014, Pure Evil has been ambitious. The 365 Street Art project promised himself that he would paint, stencil or paste in public every day for a year.

Wherever he is, whatever the circumstances. Pure Evil, who regularly posts photos on his Instagram account, often leaves artwork as street drops for his loyal fan base to find in a game of Interactive Hide and Seek.

Pure Evil runs his own gallery in London.