Minggu, 20 September 2009

Interviews with Aaron Horkey


Saya sangat suka dengan cara dia menggabungkan ideide old school yang dekoratif dan juga ornamental dipadu gaya surealistiknya yang edan. Sungguh tangan ajaibnya sangat brilian, penuh kesabaran dan juga dedikasi. Interview ini saya cuplik dari juxtapos edisi April 2008. Interview dilakukan oleh David Choe salahsatu artis keren juga. (terimakasih Hun) Semoga memberi inspirasi dan motivasi. Nikmatilah!!

Iam an artist living in and uninspiring town. Not a day goes by where I don’t get asked why I live in cultural wasteland like San Jose, California, and don’t move to an artistically inspirational, superior cultural mecca like New York, Los Angeles, or Paris. In the end of it comes down to things: either you don’t have it in you and you require living in a big crazy city to inspire creativity, or you house so much inside that is difficult to keep contained on your surroundings have no effect on your creative output; therefore, you can live in place called Fresno, Orange County, or Truckee.

Aaron Horkey falls into latter category. Relatively unheralded in at world, he spend most of his days creating, painting, drawing in the middle of nowher, miles from anything desolate of Minnesota He creates Goat-headed, heavy metal fantasies, world that are haunting and surreal. This guy has a fucking brush with one hair on it!!! For the fuck sakes! (I still cant find all the goats, Can you?)

When you meet up he’s a shy, lanky, unassuming guy you’d never gues is a hardcore getto MC, graffiti artist, and pretty good skater. In a time when we praise sloppy, naïve art preschool kids could do, along comes horkey with his unvelievable painstaking, hand drawn letters, old-skool traditional techniques, and draftsmanship, tackling untraditional subject matter. You’re in for a treat, because we brought him out of the cave. Good luck trying to buy on of his painting , though; I hear he sleeps with them, makes love with them and then have kids with them-Interview by David Choe

Little bit about yourself and some background please

Aaron Horkey: Name’s Aaron Brenden Horkey, born 30 years ago in Westbrook, Minnesota during a harsh Midwestern blizzard. Iam an only child; my folks still together and are, without doubt, the best parents anyone could hope for. I have wife and 3 kids I share my a-126-years-old house with. I manage Black Orsprey Dead Art Society and (sometime) enjoy drawing.

What’s up with no meat eating?

Got into vegetarianism through hardcore punk music at 15, and cut out red meat initially; but by 16 white meat and fish where out. Stopped drinking Milk by 18. Last hold out was cheese, wich I finally kicked in 2006. Been vegan for little over a year; never felt better.

What were the Horkey teen years like? What where you into?

I was lucky enough to grow up just before the internet/mobile phones/shit culture of instant gratification had a chance to really establish itself. The fact that I lived two and a half hours from the big city and had and interest in—what was at the time—weird stuff forced me to search out any scrap of useful information and follow up on it, research it, mail order it—whatever it took. Consequently, my grades started slipping around the age of 14 when I got heavily into skateboarding and music. Most of time was spent going to shows in nearby college town, mail ordering zines and records, skating. Also comic reading (Tantalizing Stories, Eight Ball, Hatem Tank Girl, and my parent’s stash of 60’s and 70’s underground) and drawing during cold months. When I was 16 I somehow got an early copy of Can Control and it was all over. Got accepted at an arts high school just outside Minneapolis and heavily into graff and rap. Really embarrassing time looking back, but fun nonetheless; coed living with a bunch of horny, drug addled, socialy inept fuck ups with a few straight-laced nerds thrown in for good measure. I would have dropped out had I not gotten into that school, and as it turned out I barely graduated anyway. Fuck it, I wouldn’t change a thing.

What do you believe in?

Hard work and Dan Higgs

A lot of things you do from your amazing screen prints to your text is old schoold; no one does shit the way you do anymore. Are you one of those people that hates everythings that new?

I do hate most modern things, but extremely negative and shitty anyway; doesn’t have anything to do with being Luddite. Is ininitely easier for me to draw something than try to simulate it on computer. I’am also pretty set in my ways. I like the tactile aspect of making stuff, that’s why I prefer screen prints, actual records with packaging and liner notes, and hand written correspondence. I hate checking email; always feel like lifeless husk after being on the computer for any length of time. As for me being the lone wolf doing this shit, I am aware of a good number of people who continue to crank out incredible handmade stuff and I’m sure there is a bunch more out there toiling under the radar that are destroying the stuff I’m doing. At least I hope so.

How did you learn to write like that?

Five years of self-imposed exile on high plains. No distractions, suppressing all emotional impulse. Become a singularly focused aoutomation. Hone thy craft; don’t crap out.

What artist do you admire?

David choe, Rand Holmes, Dave Coper, James Jean, Al Columbia, Aurel Schmidt, Ernst Haeckel, Todd Bratud, revoke, pushead, Walton fucking ford!, uncredited engravers of stock certificate and documents, mid- to late- 1800’s, bob artley and mari and Bruce Horkey and more…

Shoplift? Crime?

Took some rad sculpt animal eraser from a girl when I was really young, five or six. Lived fear of police for year because of it. I still have erasers. Other than that, art material mostly. Ran out of money on the ‘Hound coming back from San Francisco once, so I resorted to pocketing sugary granola bars and bottled water from truck stops for a couple of days. Only ever been caught for trespassing. Charge was dropped, but I’m still in the system.

What question would ask yourself?

Why haven’t you finished raking? Could snow anyday, you know.

How do you make a living doing art in Minnesota?

Its generally very affordable to live in Midwest, especially once you get outside metropolitan areas. As such, we’re able to scrape by on the few freelance gig I manage to pick up, along with print sales and the occasional painting commission. Hopefully the minute amount of steam I’ve built up doesn’t dry up and blow away as I have no either legitimate skills to speak of no back up plan. Terrifying!

You must’ve the kid that could draw in school growing up. Where kids still mean to you?

Yeah, the older kids harassed me fairly constantly until 10th grade or so. I was little and nerdy and really only interested in dork stuff… not much has changed, I guess, I swear, someday I’ll be something and I’ll show them all, God Dammit! (cut to me working at the post office in a year)

Every artist I know that has kids, their art got even more dark and demented after they spawned children. Do you think this will happen to you?

Probably not. I get very little work done due to the insane amount of house and kid stuff that needs to be tended to on a daily basis. You know that first issue of Self-Loathing Comics that depicts a day in crumb’s life and how he’s mostly just putting out fires around the house and cleaning out drains and never having to work? That’s my life—Except crumbs is a genius and can do no wrong. Anyway, as a result of that, most of my crap is either based on my sketchbook idea from 10 years ago or is purely decorative due to my lack of time to come up with decent idea, demented or otherwise. If I can still see when they get into college. Though, watch out!

What’s wrong with you?

Where I do begin

For more Information about Aaron Horkey :
Burlesquedesign.com
Mega-fauna.com





1 komentar:

I. Widiastuti mengatakan...

Didi, aku baru baca nih kamu punya interview sama Aaron Horkey! ini interview yg di juxtapoz ya? Aku senang sekali...tau nggak kenapa? karena si Mr. Horkey ini kan cenderung males2an buat high tech stuff, tapi aku sukanya sama dia karena detailnya gokil yet very delicate.