Name: James Micallef Grimaud
Age: 33
Occupation: Artist
My best ever trip…
I spent a month-and-a-half skateboarding, painting trains and visiting every rave party in the forests around Paris
This is a hard choice. Every trip I undertook left a positive impact on me and opened my eyes a bit further to the world.
If I had to pick one destination, I guess Bermuda would be high on my list. In 2007 I set up an exhibition at the Bermuda Society of Arts entitled James Micallef Grimaud’s adventures on the shores of the devil’s triangle.
Setting the whole thing up was an adventure in itself and the exhibition was a success well beyond my expectations.
I had travelled to Bermuda a couple of times before to prepare for the exhibition, during which I made friends with many of the local artists and local characters, some of whom I used as a reference for my paintings.
I felt most relaxed in…
Christiania in Denmark and Metelkova in Slovenia. Both places have one thing in common: they were both army barracks and fortifications settled by artists and converted into artistic hubs. I guess the reason why I felt so relaxed there was because of the freedom I had to create.
I lost my cool in…
None of the countries I ever travelled to but I’ve had a few incidents of flight and luggage delays which were definitely a nuisance.
My luggage was delayed twice while transiting through Rome and Milan on my way to Moscow and my flight got cancelled in Venice due to dense fog, which left us stranded since we were just transiting through Italy from our trip in Metelkova, Slovenia.
I spent three days running around the flooded piazzas and narrow streets of Venice with some good friends of mine.
It was a totally surreal world where everyone seemed to be sporting a pair of wellingtons. I had a great time.
I also remember getting stranded in Bermuda when Zoom Air went bankrupt. I had just finished doing a number of scuba dives in some of the wrecks in the Bermuda Triangle when a Zoom aeroplane flew right over us.
The main instructor and I started chatting about the airline’s efficiency. Little did I know that the plane we had seen was the last to ever fly with Zoom. I ended up stranded for another week, which was actually a blessing.
I felt most welcome in…
I felt very welcome in most of the places I visited. I guess it also depends on the attitude you have towards the place you’re visiting.
One of the places I fell in love with was a village called Pai in the north of Thailand. It was a very picturesque place with a river, waterfalls, canyons and natural hot water springs. I got stuck there for a couple of months in 2005 and kept extending my stay. The place was a melting pot of artists and musicians who welcomed me in their homes and introduced me to their creative lifestyle.
Funnily enough, I would say that another place I felt very much at home was in Belfast. I was there as part of an EU project involving four countries on the subject of murals. My job was to help the youths create murals and organise the final exhibition.
This also gave me the opportunity to meet up with other artists from Belfast who invited me to collaborate with them in one of their street art projects in the centre of the city.
I couldn’t wait to leave…
Nowhere springs to mind.
I partied hardest in…
Most of the countries I visited but I will never forget Paris in 2000. After spending the millennium in Amsterdam, I flew to Paris with a good friend of mine, Cliff, and spent a month-and-a-half skateboarding in the streets, painting trains and visiting every rave party organised in the forests around Paris.
I was very lucky to be hanging out with the locals, who always seemed to know where to go and how to get there.
The most recent trip in which I partied pretty hard was to London last November. I was there during the jazz festival, which was a week long, and on my first day I got to see Herbie Hancock, who I had actually met while in Paris back in 2000. Mulatu Aztatke was also playing in Camden.
I cringe when I think of the deep-fried Snickers bar I ate in Edinburgh... it was awful. Every time I took a bite the caramel would crystalise on my teeth and practically become part of them. I couldn’t get past the second bite
The whole trip was a mixture of jazz legends, rave parties and heavy metal shows. I watched Motorhead and Anthrax playing live and also managed to meet up and paint in South Bank with one of the artists from my Troglodyte crew called Iella.
I cringe when I think of…
The deep lack of social welfare I witnessed while in Los Angeles. I spent four months in California painting and skateboarding. I was sharing a place with my girlfriend at the time, who was working in a homeless women’s shelter in downtown Los Angeles in an area known as Skidrow.
It was really sad to see homeless people sleeping on the pavement while in the same street, 25metres away, people were driving Ferraris and eating lobster in designer clothes.
The system is really harsh in the US and in many other countries around the world. I really hope it improves.
Another thing that makes me cringe is the deep-fried Snickers bar I tried in Edinburgh. We were in Scotland to watch the Prodigy in Glasgow but spent a few days in Edinburgh and while walking around the city I stumbled upon a sign advertising this Scottish ‘delicacy’.
It was awful. It was served with ice cream, so every time I took a bite the caramel would crystallise on my teeth and practically become a part of them. We shared it between two of us but I couldn’t go past the second bite.
I laughed so hard in…
Prague back in 2001 where I had done a skydiving course with an old friend of mine, Chris Jensen. The whole two-week trip was a mixture of skateboarding, skydiving and hopping from one jazz bar to another.
Our skydiving instructor couldn’t speak a word of English, which turned the whole experience into a crazy adventure of gestures and nods.
My longest holiday was…
In southeast Asia. I spent a total of eight months hopping from one country, town, village, city and island to another. I went alone but it was great to meet up with travellers and to meet them again months down the line to share stories of our adventures.
I wish I could live in…
Berlin for a couple of years. I fell in love with the city and it’s possibly one of the most interesting and affordable cities for a street artist to delve into. I might do a Master’s there in the near future.
I treasure the memory of…
All the experiences I’ve had during my travels.
The most delicious food I’ve tasted was…
Probably sweet and sour pumpkin soup while I was in a small town called Phitsanulok in Thailand.
I also loved the mushroom soups at French restaurants in Laos. Truly spectacular.
The hardest part of travelling is…
Usually leaving, especially after making friends and meeting and working with other artists.
Travel has taught me to…
Appreciate the world and view things and situations in a more open-minded and positive way. It has also taught me that the world is not as big as it seems. It has become extremely easy to travel around.
I dream of one day visiting…
South America and Japan. I’ve only visited Tijuana in Latin America, which is not even scratching the surface.