XVALA is the artist behind the “Fear Google” stickers seen all over California. However, he’s recently been on a quest through celebrities’ trashcans to find objects he can turn into art – most notably one of Mark Zuckerberg’s wire hangers that made it into the pages of Forbes. And in this exclusive two-part interview, you’ll first get a glimpse into the mind of XVALA, and then later will receive clues as to who the main subject of his upcoming exhibit will be. Although, if you already think you have an idea as to who it is, I can only tell you to think again, since XVALA is always one step ahead of you – remember #FearGoogle. NOTE: Sources for the following photographs are listed below…
Daniel Rolnik: Are you going to be digging through more technologists’ trash in 2012?
XVALA: Yes.
DR: Why go through their trash?
XVALA: We give our information to the Internet the same way we give our trash to the world. And so trash is information to me and not trash like it is to you.
DR: But isn’t that an invasion of privacy?
XVALA: Privacy, to me, only exists in what can be erased.
DR: Is it true that you were trying to be taken off the Internet?
XVALA: My goal is actually to create the perfect hack piece that no one else can track back to me.
Photo by ReserveResult from Tech Crunch Disrupt in San Francisco
DR: Do you ever go to technology conventions?
XVALA: Yes I do and I hand out “Fear Google” stickers to the attendees, telling them I’m the official disrupt artist.
DR: Have you gotten into any conversations with actual Google employees?
XVALA: Yes, Googlers like “Fear Google” as a joke. One even has the sticker on the back of her laptop.
DR: Isn’t it illegal to go through someone’s trash?
XVALA: Once their trashcan hits the sidewalk, everything in it is considered abandoned. So I don’t go through someone’s trash if it’s by their house – it has to be on the curbside. That’s why I only do it on trash pick up days.
DR: How do you find out where your subjects’ homes are?
XVALA: Google Mobile searches. I have to know where to go, how to get there, and what the house looks like, but that’s it. And as an artist I have to connect the dots and complete the picture.
DR: Have you travelled outside of the USA to go through people’s trash?
XVALA: Yes.
DR: Are the laws about digging through people’s trash the same in other countries?
XVALA: I have people that work for me looking into that.
DR: Why did you start doing street art?
XVALA: Because it’s just another format.
DR: Did you do the pieces on the street that say “Love Love Me”?
XVALA: Wiki Curtis Kulig - I knew I could make his idea work better for himself, so I hacked my work into his as a Google AdSense opportunity. Who doesn’t want to be loved?
DR: Why did you censor your Scarlett Johansson wheat pastes?
XVALA: I didn’t, her attorneys did.
DR: Before Scarlett Johansson’s nude photos leaked online, we’re you already planning to use her in a project?
XVALA: No, I just responded to her wanting to be taken off the Internet. It was a point.
DR: Do you have anything of Steve Jobs’?
XVALA: I have an iPad, iPod, iPhone, and some of his used Band-Aids.
DR: Do you believe in the “singularity concept” by Ray Kurzweil?
XVALA: I’m more into how pretty soon we’ll all be able to use technology in ways to make predictions like him.
DR: Do you mean that in the future we’ll be able to do a search on Google for what’s going to happen tomorrow and it will tell us?
XVALA: Think of it as your autocomplete future.
DR: Do you have a background in computers?
XVALA: We all do.
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XVALA: http://www.feargoogle.com/
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*NOTE: Photos taken from Colors In LA, LISTAKS, The Site Unscene, Melrose&Fairfax, IFANDCO, HEAD8k, The Dirt Floor, Jennifer Lee Strauss, Palo Alto Tech Company, XVALA, and Google
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Sammy Sundae's COMIC 
XVALA should come back and do some pieces in OKC. We’re definitely lacking in street art and I think the city could be rocked by Fear Google. I don’t know how to contact XVALA but if I could I would tell him/her that…
[...] you read part 1 of my interview with XVALA, you’ll get a introduction to his artwork. And so now, in part 2, [...]
[...] More information about XVALA, please read my two part interview with him: Part 1 // Part [...]