How did you come up with your artist name kaNO?  I’m sure there are people out there who are wondering the same.

Let me just start of by saying that it has nothing to do with the Mortal Kombat video game, which I sucked at lol. When I was younger I used to switch up tags all the time, I wasn’t into graff for the fame or the art, I was a little scrappy hood kid and I just liked vandalizing and stealing stuff for the thrill of getting away with it. At some point I started writing up Kane, which was taken directly from my favorite rapper at the time, Big Daddy Kane. In the 90’s it was a popular thing to add an “O” to the end of your name, for example Dan-O, Rob-O, so I dropped the e at the end and started writing kaNO . When I graduated from college and started working professionally at MTV, my co-workers started calling me kaNO, it quickly became my art handle. I would say kaNO is more of my art name then my tag.

When did you realize you wanted to do art for a living?

I honestly don’t think I ever considered any other options, luckily my parents where cool with it as long as I wasn’t getting into any trouble. In the neighborhood I grew up in, I was surrounded by artist who used their talent as a means of making money, so the concept was never really new to me. I learned how to airbrush, customize jackets, sneakers, design flyers and how to promote myself before I ever stepped into an art school. I always stayed loyal to my art and I honestly never really thought about failing at it.

What background do you have in design?

Well, I went to the School of Visual Arts where I majored in animation, which is an industry I have built a career in for the last 10 years. I have done everything from storyboards, character design, directing, animation and even some voice over work. I would say I am well schooled in character design and like every other artist out there, still have a lot to learn.

How did you develop your characters?

My characters are a fusion of everything that makes me.  To be honest, they’re really a reflection of my interest and my background. Moneygrip and Bodega are words I grew up around; the character designs are my personification of those words. My designs are based around themes from my childhood mixed in with influences and techniques learned throughout the years.

Mentors? Influences?

I don’t think I have any mentors, but I definitely have influences in all different genres of art. In terms of animation I was very inspired by Ralph Bakshi and all the innovative things he did in the 70’s not to mention the crazy subject matters, Coonskin was the rawest cartoon I ever saw and its impact on me was pretty big when I was in school. As a kid and even as an adult I was very influenced by Charles Schulz, I feel like he captured childhood in a comic strip and even as an old man he never lost the young nature and sensibility of his characters. Peanuts is the best comic strip hands down in my book. Al Hirschfeld is also on my top list, nobody flowed through the rhythm of a gesture like he did. He captures everything in the smartest most economical way. He made his stuff look genius and effortless as only the greats do.

I am of course influenced by all the pop art guys like Warhol, Basquiat and Haring. I feel that these guys merged art with consumerism and where able to successfully make a living and establish themselves as a brand. I’m really into the business side of art and I feel it’s very important for artist to have some idea on how things work.

Kaws, Futura, Murakami, Daim and Shepard Fairey are of course my top guys right now. Last but not least I am very inspired by my friends who are out there doing there thing. When you know the individual personally, it makes it so much more motivating for me, so big shot outs to Khary Randolph, Andrew Bell, Lesean Thomas, Mad, Sket, Jesse Hernandez, Marka27, Tristan Eaton and Toofly.

What stimulates your creativity?

What got you into the vinyl industry?

I think I got exposed to it at the same time that I was looking for a creative outlet to help define myself as more of an independent artist. I had been working in animation studios for a while and just needed something else to quench my thirst creatively. I was a character designer and already drew stuff in an “urban” street style. So people compared some of my stuff to Michael Lau, which is a big compliment to me, but you also have to understand that I was drawing like that before I knew who Michael Lau was. It’s sort of a street sensibility that a lot of NY artists have actually.

What is Hi-DeF???

Hi-DeF is a hybrid of a couple of my characters and certain things I always draw. I kind of threw them in to a melting pot and came up with a little robot DJ dude. There is a little bit of Charlie Brown and Boba Fett in him, but he is mainly a spin off of one of my characters I used to draw called Ebonyc (E-bon-ic). If you do some research you can find an Adventures of Ebonyc comic book out there some where.

What do you have to say to your fans?
I’d like to say thanks for supporting my art. I design my toys and make my art for people who are on the same page as me, so if you feel it, then we probably have a lot in common. I do not make toys for a living and this is a creative outlet for me, so unless it’s real to me or stimulating I am not putting it out. I appreciate all the love, and you know I always show love back in those sketchbooks you shove down my throat LOL.

Last words?

I’m just an artist doing his own thing, trying to control all my products so I don’t get over exposed and spit out by any companies. I want to keep this toy/gallery thing fun and exciting and see where it takes me. I will be trying to focus on getting on some platforms this upcoming year and hopefully I’ll have some luck with that.

To see more of KANO’s work, slide on over to (www.kanokid.com)

We're also taking pre-order now here, for the OG coloryway of Hi-DEF

Some works from KaNo: