EyeoneSh of LA (Interview)

We met LA based artist Eyeone a few years ago when he spent some time in Minneapolis during the traveling Scion Art Installation 5 series (he was a participating artist). He was also a partook in the Art/Style fundraiser we hosted this past April at Honey Lounge that raised money to benefit the Minneapolis Home for Children. We recently took time to talk with EyeoneSh about his past, present, and future projects; check it out!

FRANK151: How/when did you decide you wanted to make art?Was it something encouraged or was it something you just did on your own terms?

Eyeone: I've been scribbling pictures as far back as I can remember. I grew up surrounded by books, art, and music. My parents are both highly creative people. My dad gave me my first punk record (Dead Boys' Young Loud and Snotty), my mom taught me how to draw the Incredible Hulk, and my Grandma gave me my first spray paint can. Although I was naturally drawn to these things, I definitely was influenced, inspired, and encouraged by my elders.

FRANK151: What kind of things were/are inspirational to your creative output?

Eyeone: I think my initial inspiration comes from my family environment and their support and encouragement. I’ve always enjoyed looking at everything around me, absorbing and archiving everything I see. Books have also always been a source of inspiration. I was always the weird kid that was constantly reading something, despite all the bagging I would get from my friends. Music, art, cities, travelling, biking, walking, trees, rain, birds, water, smog, concrete, coffee, and beer are all sources of inspiration too.

Neo and Mandoe from MAK were the first writers whose work I admired, and seeing a piece by Krenz (Yem AM7) on my way to school finally pushed me to try my hand with graffiti. My pals Modem and Gloze 54 were also very motivational; they were there with me from the beginning of this graffiti fascination.

The work of others inspires me and motivates me: LeHumanBeing, Swank, Tempt, Patrick Martinez, Skypage, Kozem, Gorgs, Cache, Atlas, Luna One, C-Rocka, Ian Lynam, Defer, Bash, Panic, Precise, Asylm, Acme, Nerv and everyone in Seeking Heaven, graffiti crews K4P, STN, K2S, LOD, OTR, MAK, PDB, CBS, D2R and AL, Slick, Slay, Ruets, Spurn, Arco, Crae, Haeler, J. Shea, Tanner Goldbeck, Blanche Petrich, Leon Chavez Teixeiro, Michael Alvarez, and Andrew Hem are just some of the people I’m fortunate to know and whose work is a constant source of inspiration.

Putting on my fan hat, Minor Threat/Fugazi and Ian Macaye deserve special recognition in my eyes, as do Ashley Wood, Go Nagai, Leopoldo Mendez, The Beatles, John Lennon, Rini Templeton, the Zapatistas and Subcomandante Marcos, Noam Chomsky, Trembling Blue Stars/Bobby Wratten, Etta James, Billie Holiday, Käthe Kollwitz, Joy Division, Bob Marley, Ella Fitzgerald, Lee Scratch Perry, El Lissitsky, Peter Saville, Gail Swanlund, and many, many more. I think everything that surrounds me is and has always been instrumental to my creative output.

FRANK151: People might not know this but you're also a graphic designer, how did you get into design?

Eyeone: My first consistent graphic design work involved making flyers for hardcore/ straightedge/ punk shows in the early/mid 90s for a venue in L.A. called Macondo that I volunteered at. From there, I became the flyer-maker for my homie Gloze 54's seminal L.A. underground hip-hop nights Fillet O' Soul. I also started getting serious about making zines around the same time. Gloze got me a job at a print shop as a graphic designer that taught me way more about print than school ever had. Eventually, I decided to get academic and enrolled in the MFA Design | Media Arts program at UCLA.

FRANK151: You started Lost a graffiti zine in 1998 it has been praised for many years. What made you decide to create a zine specifically on graffiti and what motivates you to continue producing Lost? How many issues/volumes have you release?

Eyeone: All the zines I came across in the hardcore scene inspired me to apply the same approach to documenting local graffiti. L.A. graffiti legend Tempt One wrote an article in Big Time Magazine about photocopied graffiti zines throughout the U.S. that motivated me to put out the first issue of Lost. The access to printing equipment and materials I had at my print shop job also enabled the evolution of Lost.

There have been 12 "regular" issues of Lost and one issue that compiles material from its first 10 years of existence. I also occasionally put out a companion zine called Free Copy, and once in a while I curate art shows under the Lost concept.

The graffiti movement as a whole is my primary motivation to keep publishing Lost. I also feel it is important to feature and document work that for a myriad of reasons gets excluded and erased from more "official" media sources.

FRANK151: Do you have a concrete idea before you begin a piece or does it play out on it's own? Do you use reference materials or do much sketching?

Eyeone: I sketch quite a bit, but most of that stays in my sketchbook. The majority of my wall stuff is done freestyle. When I collaborate with others we sometimes discuss an idea, and maybe rough out an outline, but it is rarely set in stone. The improvisational nature of graffiti is something I highly value. All my fine art work begins with my own photography.

FRANK151: Who are some of the people you’ve collaborated with most recently? Who were some of your favorite writers to collaborate with?

Eyeone: Most recently I’ve collaborated on projects with Tempt One. We co-edited a zine featuring his work and essays on the art of lettering by luminaries such as Chaz Bojorquez, Cosm NCW, and Defer K2S. The zine was part of a larger collaborative project to raise support for the Eyewriter, a system that allows immobilized people to draw using the motion of their eyes.

The latest wall I painted on was a huge mural honoring Tempt involving a massive collective of graffiti writers including L.A. legends like Panic, Angst, Prime, Mandoe, and Slick; OG New York king Mare 139; and Bay Area true-schoolers Vogue and Estria.

I also worked on Tempt’s installation for the Street Cred show at the Pasadena Museum of California Art that just opened. I frequently collaborate with Cache on big murals. I actually started painting my Zapatista characters on walls at his insistence. Most of my current work on the streets of L.A. has been painted with Cache, with guest appearances by a few other writers including Kofie, Skypage, Bonks, Gorgs, Neo, Kozem, and the notorious Cat Tagger wink wink... I also did a production not too long ago with Swank and Adikt that I really liked.

LeHumanBeing hooked me up by bringing my Zapatista characters into the 3D world for a recent installation at the Chinese-American Museum. We collaborated on similar installations, based on her paper sculpting and my character design, at 1:AM Gallery in San Francisco and Hold Up Art in L.A. (with a guest appearance by my grandma.)  I’ve also been collaborating with my mom on my Zapatista characters and making them in a traditional Mexican folk art method.

Patrick Martinez and I have done some collaborative stuff together that I really enjoyed. We did a rad two-person show at Tradition and put out a companion zine. We’ve been involved in quite a few exhibits together in different capacities. I recently worked with rad designer Ian Lynam and his type foundry Wordshape to release my first typeface. That was an amazing learning experience and I am super stoked with the results.

I worked with Unique L.A. on designing the fourth of their artist series bags. It was cool to collaborate with an organization rooted in DIY culture that values and supports the work of independent artists and designers in L.A.

I am part of a collaborative sculptural project called Duality spearheaded by Hacer, an L.A. based sculptor who works in a massive metal origami-style. The project is to be a monumental public art installation and includes work by Tanner Goldbeck, SharkToof, Kofie, Retna, and Saber.

FRANK151: With some of your finer art pieces you incorporate graffiti ie stenciling into them along with other mediums of layers, how do you build/create your pieces? Can you walk us through the process of creating a piece of work and through your technical process?

Eyeone: My "fine art" work is based directly on my photography. Each piece begins as a photograph, which I then work with using digital and analog methods until it becomes the image I have in my head.

My approach is that of printmaking, but I rarely edition my work. Each piece is a one-off. The process is most commonly known as paper lithography.

I "print" on on textured surfaces created by incorporating printed efemera, paper, layers of paint, and different pigments. The stencilling I incorporate is used more for embellishments, especially with lettering, and I also use spray paint straight up.

I keep my palette subdued to mostly black and white. I'm sure that aesthetic comes from my flyer-making days and my love of woodblock printing and engraving.

FRANK151: Wow, I didn’t realize you were transferring your photographs! That is really amazing!! What new projects or exhibitions are you working on?

Eyeone: I'm excited to be part of an exhibition called Street Cred at the Pasadena Museum of California Art.This show runs through September 2011.

I’m part of an exhibition at The Chinese-American Museum that got extended to run through December 2011. 

I’m in a custom toy show called They Came From The Street out in Cincinnati at Unheard of that opens May 27. 

Also working on curating a photography exhibition for 2012 featuring work by Cuban photographers active during the Cuban Revolution. I'm working on a new body of work for a solo show next year. I also have a few zines in the works.

FRANK151: Are the zines in the works focused on graffiti or are you expanding on new ideas?

Eyeone: I am working on a zine series exploring the art of writing, letterforms, and typography as they relate to graffiti. Each issue focuses on a specific writer whose work has had a marked impact and influence on these fields.

The first one centers around the work of Tempt, with essays by other people working in the field. I am also putting together a zine based around my photographs of Los Angeles and showcasing the typeface I just put out called Cinta Adhesiva. It is a mash-up of a type specimen booklet and a photo zine.

And I am in the process of gathering material for a series of sketchbook zines featuring the work of artists, writers, and designers whose work I admire.

FRANK151: As a fellow music/art lover, what kinds of visual/musical connections do you make?

Eyeone: It's a bit weird but I kinda hear things when I look at stuff and see things when i hear sounds, music, etc. It is all interconnected in my head. Many of my visual ideas come from listening to music. My pieces are often named after songs and lyrics that inspired them, corny as that may sound ;)...

FRANK151: What are you listening to right now?

Eyeone: Right now I am listening to SETI's podcast "Are We Alone?" The specific program is called "Skeptic Check: Mayhem and Octoberhem." In recent days I've had the Fireflies’ Goodnight Stars, Goodnight Moon album on heavy rotation.

FRANK151: Do you see your work as a form of activism?

Eyeone: Graffiti in my opinion is a very potent form of activism. The act in itself appropriates public space for free expression. Graffiti is a direct challenge to the concept of private property. Can stolen land ever be ‘owned’? Some of my mural work carries overt political messaging, but I feel that the act of being creative on surfaces in the community is important and political in and of itself.

My gallery work is more introspective at first glance, but it is also documentary in nature. I see it as a commentary on many of the things encountered in this chaotic city. I also donate my art to fundraisers and benefits for organizations I feel are making positive change happen.

The Zapatista characters I paint were originally designed for use by La Otra Campaña, a Zapatista initiative for grass roots organizing and exchange across Mexico and the world. In Los Angeles, I participated with La Otra en el Otro Lado ("The Other Campaign On The Other Side" more or less) and contributed some graphic design work for them. These characters caught on and have been used on countless of flyers, posters, walls, crafts, etc. around the world by individuals and organizations working on similar social and political issues. They were created as an anti-copyright (or copy-left) set of graphics that people and organizations can take, use, remix, and distribute in whatever way they see useful. Hopefully no one has figured out how to use them to turn a quick buck. They were created in order to contribute in some way to movements in support of peace, justice, and positive change. (check more out here)

At the suggestion of Cache, I also began to incorporate my characters on the walls he was painting throughout the city. The murals we began to collaborate on often address current social and political situations that our communities are going through. For example, about a year ago we painted a big wall on a major thoroughfare here in L.A. addressing the racist and xenophobic anti-immigrant legislation adopted in Arizona.