Of all the parts of our body, teeth, crammed into the mouth cave, are a
constant reminder that we are merely flesh hanging out to dry on an elaborate
chain of bone linkages. The pulpy ripped swollen scarlet and pink flesh
that we call the gums, barely tolerate their border-line function as a visual
testament to life and death. The mouth itself is in constant crisis. It is the
place where stuttering words come forth, where words are taken back,
where ‘sweet’ foods begin their rot. Francis Bacon understood that the mouth
is at once entrance and exodus. When we scream we also breathe. In order
to exhale we must inhale. For Sweet Toof this sway between horror and
acceptance is an important part of his work.
Sweet Toof’s painting starts with and evolves out of his street art; whether
as a solo graffiti artist or in collaboration with others. Typical tags, throw-
ups, and more elaborate pieces become a whole language which informs his
studio works. Like the streets of 1980’s New York, London’s streets today
are being reclaimed by an ever increasing army of street artists of which
Sweet Toof is one of the most prolific and artful. Out there, under the swirl
of lamplights, billboards and urban detritus, ‘bubble-Gums’ and pearly-Teeth’
push themselves up through the pavement cracks and concrete facades like
anarchic plants refusing the flimsy, rootless, cheap order of modern life.
If the sixteenth century Northern European tradition of painting Vanitas
was there to remind us of the transience and the hopeless vanity of life,
then Sweet Toof’s skulls and teeth continue that tradition but add in a more
Mexican viewpoint where if one accepts death then one can also honour
and celebrate it and use it as part of the life blood trip. Or in Sweet Toof’s
words: ‘To get ones teeth into things, before it’s too late.’
