Would you do work for every company? Is there a code? What wouldn`t you do?

MDV - I look at each opportunity on a case-by case basis. There's no code, per se, but I wouldn't work with the KKK, NAMBLA, the Nazi Party, Al Qaeda, or the Bush Administration.

What else do you do besides painting and drawing?

MDV - I go to the gym, walk the dog, pick up my son from school, do homework with him, watch TV, sleep- stuff like that. I went to some gallery openings last night and had a couple of martinis with my friend Fernando at his bar In Chelsea, Glass . I don't smoke, but I am fond my cocktails. I can't even seem to get to the movies any more, so I watch a lot of DVD's. I don't really care for the beach anymore, like my wife and son do. They go all the time in the summer, but I stay home and work. We get together with friends once in a while for brunch or dinner. I was way into the NFL last season and I have always loved the Oakland Raiders, pathetic as they've been in recent years. I seem to find comfort in my old age watching football and drinking cognac after everyone's gone to bed. I like baseball, too, but don't pay too much attention 'til the post-season.

You hail from LA but work and reside in Brooklyn, NY. Now you plan on going back to LA, why?

MDV - We're going to L.A. for the lifestyle. It's an easier, more pleasant place to live in general. I love New York, too, so I'll be keeping a place in Brooklyn and plan to spend about half of my time here.

In the art world there is the discussion that one can either be an illustrator or an artist but never both. How do you feel about that?

MDV - That's a very old-fashioned argument- that topic hasn't come up in years. The boundaries have become so blurred that those kinds of distinctions are completely irrelevant. You've now got "illustrators" hanging in museums and "fine artists" doing ads.

Where do you see yourself in 5 – 10 years?

MDV - I see myself settled in with a few good galleries internationally, with comfortable places to live and work, making the best work of my career to date, having some museum shows, and having a good time with my family and friends.

Banksy, Barry McGee, Faile and other (former) street art activists are paid a lot of attention by the fine art world right now and their work is sold for a lot of money through renowned galleries worldwide. Did you ever think this would happen, that graffiti influenced art would find its way into traditional galleries? Your thoughts about that development?

MDV - Actually, on my first trip to NYC for New Year's Eve 1983-1984 there were a lot of street artists showing in renowned traditional galleries. That was the hot thing that year; the fashion. It didn't last long for a lot of artists, but guys like Keith Haring and Kenny Sharf for example, had major careers. Barry McGee sort of became the new Keith Haring in my view. Both went to art school, both gained their initial notoriety on the street, and both went on to have commercial success in the galleries. Barry seems to have fared better than Keith vis-à-vis the institutional and critical worlds, but I think that's true due to a softening of the rigid hierarchies that were in place. The development you're referring to is the gradual acceptance of something that has existed for a long time, and over the years there's been a changing of the guard.

A lot of street artists are having tremendous success right now, as well as mainstream artists. It's the hottest art market in history, and collectors are always interested in the young and the new. When the bubble bursts and the dust settles, we'll see who's left standing just like last time (although the new genres will keep their place at the table).