INTERVIEW: Nante Santamaria. PHOTO: Cholo dela Vega. ARTWORK: TILT. SHIRT: Walter Westmoreland by The Twelfth House

What does your “devil style” say about your personality?
I think it’s a self-portrait. I used to paint devils in ’95, so I kept this character as my work evolved.

What’s the best thing about the old school graffiti style?
That’s our heritage. We come from there. We didn’t choose it. We didn’t think about it. We are old school for some guys, but we are new school for other guys.

What’s your number one rule in graffiti?
It’s almost a brand new movement compared to other kinds of art ’cause it’s only like 40-years old, so there’s a lot of people who try to create rules, but the idea is to have no rules—to practice it the way you want to practice it and not listen to other people saying, “This is graffiti. This is not graffiti.”

MIST’s Thrilla Manila exhibit with fellow French graffiti artist TILT is running at Ronac Art Center’s Secret Fresh Gallery until January 3, 2012.