Neonate unmasked?

File under: flanerie, street art, Wellington

Last year I posted about the prolific street artist who goes by the tag "Neonate". Since then, astroblastro has kept an almost scarily comprehensive archive of Neonate's "work", which I found thanks to Alan's comment on Stephen's most recent post about Wellington street art. Astroblastro adds notes on subgenres and stylistic evolution, points out a possible Neonate-forger, and speculates that Neonate's real (or alternative) name may be "Jerome Copeius".

This theory is based upon at least two examples, and seems a reasonable deduction, though the last name could be "Copelus" or "Cope!us". Some recent graffiti at Waitangi skate park (which is probably being wiped out as I write) offers more clues:

These are still ambiguous, since while the faces on the right seem to link the names together, the handwriting is very different.

But the strongest hint yet comes from this sticker I saw near the corner of Allen and Wakefield streets. It's in quite a different style from the toothy monsters and bulb-headed angels that we're used to, and the use of a sticker suggests that Neonate/Jerome might have a more ambitious approach to street art than the average teenage tagger. Perhaps an art student or designer working towards an illustration contract via street cred? But the new figure and text convey a sense of working-class ennui and alienation, struggling against the strictures of a menial job (and the English language) while idly dreaming of escape. On the other hand, the drawing that astroblastro thinks might be a portrait of Neonate shows a tousle-haired smiling skatey kid.

I wonder whether Neonate knows about the attention he's getting on line? And if so, what he thinks of it all?