JULY 2014 Juxtapoz

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ART + CULTURE + DESIGN SHEPARD FAIREY REFLECTING ON POP ART FOREFATHER JASPER JOHNS + TODD FRANCIS // MARGARET KEANE // JESSE HAZELIP

JULY 2014, n162 $5.99

JUXTAPOZ

ISSUE #162 / JULY 2014

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CONTRIBUTOR

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INTRODUCTION

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THE REPORT

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EVENT

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PICTURE BOOK

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DESIGN

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FASHION

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INFLUENCES

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SHEPARD FAIREY

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ANDREW POMMIER

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JESSE HAZELIP

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MARGARET KEANE

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KIKYZ1313

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TODD FRANCIS

JEREMY FISH

ED RUSCHA

BAN7 AT YBCA YAN MORVAN

DANA TANAMACHI-WILLIAMS TELLASON DENIM JUSTIN BLYTH

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TRAVEL INSIDER

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BEAUTIFUL BITS

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BOOK REVIEWS

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EVENT

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PRODUCT REVIEWS

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SIEBEN ON LIFE

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POP LIFE

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PERSPECTIVE

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PHILADELPHIA

SFMOMA ON THE GO: GORGEOUS

Shepard Fairey in the studio preparing for his upcoming exhibition, The Insistent Image: Recurrent Motifs in the Art of Shepard Fairey and Jasper Johns opening at the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art through July 12, 2014. Fairey’s body of work is entitled Power & Glory and features brand new works, which will be unveiled for the first time at the Halsey. Photo by Jon Furlong

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JUXTAPOZ ISSN #1077-8411 JULY 2014 VOLUME 21, NUMBER 7 Published monthly by High Speed Productions, Inc., 1303 Underwood Ave, San Francisco, CA 94124–3308. © 2014 High Speed Productions, Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in USA. Juxtapoz is a registered trademark of High Speed Productions, Inc. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. Opinions expressed in articles are those of the author. All rights reserved on entire contents. Advertising inquiries should be directed to: [email protected]. Subscriptions: US, $34.99 (one year, 12 issues) or $75.00 (12 issues, first class, US only); Canada, $75.00; Foreign, $80.00 per year. Single copy: US, $5.99; Canada, $6.99. Subscription rates given represent standard rate and should not be confused with special subscription offers advertised in the magazine. Periodicals Postage Paid at San Francisco, CA, and at additional mailing offices. Canada Post Publications Mail Agreement No. 0960055. Change of address: Allow six weeks advance notice and send old address label along with your new address. Postmaster: Send change of address to: Juxtapoz, PO Box 884570, San Francisco, CA 94188–4570. The publishers would like to thank everyone who has furnished information and materials for this issue. Unless otherwise noted, artists featured in Juxtapoz retain copyright to their work. Every effort has been made to reach copyright owners or their representatives. The publisher will be pleased to correct any mistakes or omissions in our next issue. Juxtapoz welcomes editorial submissions; however, return postage must accompany all unsolicited manuscripts, art, drawings, and photographic materials if they are to be returned. No responsibility can be assumed for unsolicited materials. All letters will be treated as unconditionally assigned for publication and copyright purposes and subject to Juxtapoz’ right to edit and comment editorially. Juxtapoz Is Published by High Speed Productions, Inc. 415–822–3083 email to: [email protected] juxtapoz.com

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CONTRIBUTOR

JEREMY FISH

IT WAS A REAL PLEASURE FOR ME TO INTERVIEW Todd Francis for Juxtapoz. Both Todd and Jux played a big role in my life over 15 years ago. In the late ’90s, I worked in San Francisco for a screen printing shop called Printime. We printed the posters for Juxtapoz, as well as all the skateboards, tee shirts, and stickers Todd was designing for DLX at the time. This was my first job out of college, and I often refer to this period of my life as "grad school." Todd would have been my favorite professor, and Juxtapoz would have been my most read textbook. I’m not sure where I would be today if it wasn't for both parties. So, a massive

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thank-you to Todd Francis and all the dudes at DLX, Printime, Dustin and Duane, Keith and the dudes at Think, and most of all, Eric and Fausto. I am super grateful for all the cool shit I learned at that time in my life.

For more information about Jeremy Fish, visit sillypinkbunnies.com

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Portrait of Mr. Fish at his favorite San Francisco landmark by Mike Hipple

INTRODUCTION

ISSUE No 162 “Giant stickers are both embraced and rejected, the reason behind which, upon examination, reflects the psyche of the viewer. Whether the reaction be positive or negative, the sticker’s existence is worthy as long as it causes people to consider the details and meanings of their surroundings. In the name of fun and observation.” —Shepard Fairey, Obey Manifesto, 1990 Talk about having a little future perspective. Nearly a quarter century later, this quote still holds true. Almost eerily true. Shepard, for all his early experimentation with the Obey Giant campaign, didn’t know the Internet was coming, that street art was about to become an international movement of epic proportions, or know that Beautiful Losers or Art In the Streets were going to be influential exhibitions of underground culture. And that a sticker would play a major role in why street art became such a phenomenal populist success, reaching the ends of the world because of a singular man’s relentless energy and pursuit of a goal. That goal—get you to see the sticker, think about it, remember it, contemplate why it exists. Well, we think it worked. I’m kind of amazed, looking back, that it took Juxtapoz until the Fall of 1998 to give Shepard a partial cover, sharing the spotlight with pop surreal artists. There have been so many moments in Shepard’s career that warranted covers, some moments that actually altered the way we as an audience look at art. The last time his work graced the cover was November 2007, just after one of his seminal exhibitions, E Pluribus Venom, opened with Jonathan LeVine Gallery in multiple locations in NYC. And then Obama happened, Hope happened, May Day opened at Deitch Projects in Spring 2010, Art In the Streets shortly thereafter in 2011, and Shepard steadily became a household name. He was on the cover of Time, covered by the New York Times and every other major media outlet. There is a chance even your grandfather knew his name (okay, well, mine did). There is so much to the story of how Shepard became such a force in contemporary art, but there is something uniquely special about his newest work, Power & Glory, that will reside within the exhibition, The Insistent Image: Recurrent Motifs in the Art of Shepard Fairey and Jasper Johns, that will be on display at the Halsey Institute in Charleston, South Carolina through July 12, 2014. For Shepard, obviously, it is a return home to South Carolina, to a city where, as he related in our extensive interview, he was seen as an outsider with interests that ranged from punk to skateboarding. “To get to go back to South Carolina and do a show at a prestigious institution with a great artist like Jasper Johns is a little bit of great revenge,” Shepard says.

his overall popularity. The clothing, prints, fine art, commercial work and gallery have all made Shepard a larger-than-life figure that has had its detractors, though nonsensically. So, in claiming later in this issue that Shepard is a gateway artist to so many integral parts of underground and prevailing culture, we note the doors he opened for street art to grow, to help awaken an interest in politics, to make fashion accessible, and I would go further to say he made art something to care about for thousands of people who might have never walked into a museum or gallery. This summer, he will introduce thousands of kids to one of America’s finest artists, Jasper Johns. That is important to Juxtapoz, the art community at-large and the future of museums. We need someone to lead the charge, and Shepard has been that one person. In our 20th year, we honor the pillars of our community, the artists who provoke while standing the test of time, who define what we do in print. I’m convinced Shepard remains the embodiment of our goals: to make art accessible and powerful on one’s own terms. Mission accomplished. Enjoy #162

The funny part about about that statement is not only is it revenge against growing up with counter-culture interests in what Shepard called the “rigid social structures of the South,” but revenge against perhaps a growing misunderstanding of

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THE REPORT

ED RUSCHA AT GAGOSIAN NYC FOR THE SPRING, A CALIFORNIAN MOVES EASTWARD

ALTHOUGH BORN IN OKLAHOMA CITY, Ed Ruscha has been in Los Angeles long enough to be perhaps the most ideal and representative artist of the City of Angels. One could argue, without much debate, that Ruscha’s brand of art is synonymous with California itself, a commentary of westward expansion and the imagery that accompanies it. If California is the edge of the world, and movement toward the West is the great unknown, Ruscha has spent 50-plus years pioneering the journey. “I prefer drives that are long and desolate,” Ruscha told ArtBook in 2011. “That's the kind of experience I felt when I first drove out West—horizontal and empty. Some people get bored by driving long distances and not seeing any activity. I love it. I see things out there. I let the desert be the inside of my brain, like this space where I can begin to clear my mind, or inventory my mind. When I'm driving in certain rural areas out here in the West, I start to make my own Panavision. I'm making my own movie as I'm driving.”

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That passage has been bookmarked in our office for years, not only because of the sense of mystery uncovered by an artist at work, but it helps define a natural trait that the West holds in all forms of creative endeavors. There is hope, invention, reinvention, and a horizon of possibilities. Strike it rich in gold, tech, Hollywood, take your pick. In the artist’s mind, California is what you want it to be. Author James Ellroy once eloquently noted of Ruscha’s work “[He is] the visual deus ex machina of what has become the most over-scrutinized city on earth… Mr. Ruscha's LA pictorials contextualize paintings of mind-altering pills, could-be-anywhere gas stations and outright non-LA locales. Black skies that could mean day or could mean night tell us: ‘This is LA.’ Mountain ranges north of the city are the mental landscapes of persons seeking alternatives to LA. A hazy grey-black-white picture of a blank TV set is a denuded LA looking back at us.”

above Ed Ruscha, Honey, I Twisted Through More Damn Traffic Today A High Line Commission, on view May 2014 – May 2015 Photo by Timothy Schenck Courtesy of Friends of the High Line 1977 / 2014 right Cold Beer Beautiful Girls Three-color lithograph Edition of 60 30.5" x 40.5" © Ed Ruscha Courtesy Gagosian Gallery Photography by Robert McKeever 2009

In May and June 2014, this West Coast standard-bearer moved to NYC for a special three-part exhibition with Gagosian Gallery: a series of new, small-scale bleach-onlinen paintings, Crystal Skies, Service Clown, Sour Twist from Gagosian’s booth at Frieze, coinciding with a major survey of prints produced over the past 40 years, with a selection of photographs taken in the 1960s and printed in 2003 in Ed Ruscha: Prints and Photographs at 980 Madison Avenue. The third project features Ruscha’s first-ever public commission in New York City, the pastel drawing Honey, I Twisted Through More Damn Traffic Today (1977) reconceived as a huge mural painted onto an apartment building adjacent to the High Line on West 22nd Street and

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10th Avenue. At the time Juxtapoz went to press, the mural was to run through May 2015. “I guess that's what poets want to do: put ideas on stage. I settle for a single word,” Ruscha opined recently in an interview. At 76 years old, Ruscha remains a powerful figure in contemporary art, experimenting and expanding the Western narrative. For a month, NYC got to see it firsthand.

For more information about Ruscha’s Gagosian exhibitions, visit gagosian.com

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Periods Lithograph Edition of 60 28.75" x 28" © Ed Ruscha Courtesy Gagosian Gallery Photography by Paul Ruscha 2013

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EVENT

BAN7 AT YBCA ADOBE BOOKS BACKROOM GALLERY REPRESENTS

BAY AREA NOW IS THE SIGNATURE TRIENNIAL HELD at the ambitious Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. For the 7th edition, YBCA invited 15 local arts organizations to commission site-specific projects throughout the museum-caliber space. My husband, Jeff Meadows, and I are working on a collaborative installation curated by Adobe Books Backroom Gallery, along with visual artists Lori Gordon, Erik Otto, Aaron Bray, and sound artists Marc Kate and Brian Tester. Our curators, Calcagno Cullen and Christopher Rolls, explain: “We are creating an environment that is lively, cluttered, and colorful, evoking the spirit of Adobe as an all-inclusive space.

meant to mimic the backdrop of San Francisco and the Mission District where Adobe’s Backroom Gallery is located.” It’s a high honor to exhibit our work at YBCA, a space that has hosted some of our favorite shows like Beautiful Losers and David Shrigley. And the chance to represent the Backroom Gallery, which has supported many of our favorite artists over the years, is truly a dream. This summer, expect your mind to be blown and soothed at the same time. We’re bringing our YBCA game. —Kristin Farr

BAN7 is on view July 18 - October 12, 2014

There will be a large structure that is both warm and inviting as well as meditative, welcoming visitors to spend some time contemplating and participating in the space. The surrounding installation will provide a colorful intensity,

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For more information, visit ybca.org/ban7

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Installation detail Kristin Farr and Jeff Meadows

PICTURE BOOK

YAN MORVAN THE MOMENTS BETWEEN THINKING “WHEN WILL MY LUCK RUN OUT?” must have certainly crossed the mind of Yan Morvan more than once. Chased, beaten, shot at, kidnapped and tortured, sentenced to death twice and having his family threatened have been ancillary job hazards in Morvan’s 40-year career. He has documented every type of criminal and fascist sub-culture imaginable, whether it’s Hell’s Angels, skinheads, rockers, or other gangs. Often referred to as a leading figure in French photojournalism, Morvan’s gripping photographs reveal the unsettling reality of threatening and dangerous conditions that exist in this world. He has covered 20 wars over the course of 8 years, including those in Iraq, Philippines, Northern Ireland, Lebanon, Iran, Rwanda, Kosovo, as well as the fall of the Berlin Wall. He lived in a hotel in Bangkok for six months, recording conditions of the local prostitutes, and is most well-known for his extensive 20-year documentation of Parisian suburb gangs. Of all the stories that have surfaced about Morvan’s experiences, the most astounding may be his interaction with France’s most notorious serial killer, Guy Georges, who actually served as a sort of photo assistant to Morvan before kidnapping him. Morvan’s resume reads like that of a PTSD victim who relentlessly returns to the battlefield. A slew of books featuring his work have been released over the years, and he has spent time as a teacher, Newsweek correspondent, staff photographer for Sipa Press, and even paparazzo. —Austin McManus

For more information about Yan Morvan, visit yan-morvan.com

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DESIGN

DANA TANAMACHI-WILLIAMS CHALK WAS ONLY THE BEGINNING

YOU MIGHT FIND DANA TANAMACHI-WILLIAMS listening to country music or collecting vintage packaging for inspiration while she works on any given number of projects within her newly-formed Brooklyn-based design firm. Tanamachi Studio started modestly, but now Dana is adding clients such as Oprah, Time Magazine, Nike, Burton, Target, and even Google to her roster. —Brent Gentile Brent Gentile: I think I discovered Tanamachi Studio as a result of the chalk-based work, but is that something you’re currently moving away from? Dana Tanamachi-Williams: The funny thing is that by trade, I’m a graphic designer, letterer, and sometimes illustrator. When my work began to gain traction, it just happened to take the form of chalk. But I’ve never considered myself a “chalk artist.” That’s something totally different. I’m a designer, first and foremost, and that can come in many sizes, shapes, or mediums, so working with new materials was certainly uncharted territory professionally, but personally—not at all. For instance, last year I was approached by a publisher to

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create a how-to stencil book specifically to be used with chalk. I thought the idea was pretty fun, but felt that chalk was pretty limiting, considering how much I love working and crafting in different mediums. So, I pitched it to the publishers to let me do the book using paint, embroidery, cut paper, bleach pen, etc. I simply showed them all the personal work I had been doing in these mediums, and they immediately gave me the green light. And I’m incredibly excited about releasing a typographic stencil book, DIY Type, this September. So, am I trying to move away from chalk? Not necessarily. It just feels like a natural progression to work in other mediums that I enjoy and feel comfortable in. I’m incredibly thankful my clients trust me enough to do so! Have you always been interested in typography? Before my first design classes in college, I had no idea what typography was. But when we started learning about parts of letters, and the differences between serif and sans serif, a whole new world opened up to me. I remember thinking, “Wow, so you’re telling me that the spaces between each

above Flourish Photos by Andrew Ryan Shepherd top right Women’s Deja Vu Flying V Snowboard for Burton right Puffin Chalk Series of book covers for Penguin’s children’s division

letter in a word really matter, and that they should all visually be the same? There are people out there who care about this stuff?” And I decided that I wanted to be one of those people. I love design, and I put those elements to use every single day, but I mainly use letters and simple illustrations to solve most of my design challenges. It just feels right to me. After I graduated and moved to New York, I was able to draw a lot of type by hand while working on Broadway show posters at SpotCo during the day. And I’d find myself doing the same on my subway ride home or on nights and weekends. With your most recent personal project, Flourish, it seems like you’re moving more toward using ornate patterns. Is that something new for you? Yes, pattern is definitely something new for me. While traveling to Tokyo a couple years ago, I became obsessed with collecting books of Japanese floral patterns. After I returned, I would visit Kinokuniya Bookstore here in NYC just to stay inspired. I knew there was a way to incorporate these patterns with my typography, I just didn’t know how that would take shape. Finally, last year, I embarked on this large-scale personal installation, Flourish, where I used these Japaneseinspired patterns to create giant letters on a 36' x 11' wall. I didn’t outline the letters, but instead let the pattern just fill up the shape of the letter and stop when it reached the exterior. Flourish was a lot of hard work, but incredibly therapeutic. After quickly mapping out each letter, I spent the next three days drawing these patterns freehand with a gold paint pen. A month later, I was working with Nike on branding the 2013 San Francisco Nike Women’s Marathon, and they loved the Flourish piece so much, they asked for a similar installation of their own. It definitely goes to show that if you continue pushing your limits with personal work that inspires you, clients will see what you’re capable of. Can you unpack the balance of working on personal projects versus client projects? Creating personal work was how this whole thing started for me in the first place. I was simply a young designer working long days at an agency in NYC, and I found myself practicing calligraphy and lettering on my commute home and in my spare time. One Saturday, I happened to attend a friend’s housewarming party in Brooklyn, and when I entered the apartment, I noticed their kitchen walls were painted with black chalkboard paint. This was pre-Pinterest, 2009, and I had never seen such a thing! The hostess encouraged me to pick up a piece of chalk and doodle something—”You’re artsy, right? You should draw something!” So, my friend and I drew the word Brooklyn in an arch shape using Victorian-ish letterforms just for fun. It wasn’t until friends began asking us to take their photo in front of our silly scrawls that I ever considered it being worth a second thought. The next day, everyone went home and uploaded their photos to Facebook, and our drawing became the souvenir for that first party. Throughout that following year, my friends asked me to come over beforehand to create a themed photo wall for each

subsequent party—Alice in Wonderland, Great Gatsby, and the Mad Men holiday soiree. Like I said, at that point I was a recent grad who was working long days spent mostly on the computer, and I longed to do something with my hands again. This was the perfect outlet—I would go over beforehand and just start fleshing out ideas. No sketches beforehand, no art directors, no clients! Just me, a piece of chalk, and my type specimen books. Believe it or not, I actually got my first commissions through friends of friends who saw those pictures on Facebook. The first was for a modern furniture gallery in Soho, and the next was Google. Talk about a big jump. But, do you see what I mean about creating personal work that inspires you? Practicing my lettering in the form of these chalk installations not only helped me improve in my craft, but also opened up a whole world of opportunity. What a great story! I imagine that a young designer doesn’t often hear that personal work can make just as big of impression as client driven work. For some reason there’s this overwhelming feeling that if your project isn’t a national campaign, it doesn’t have validity. Don’t get me wrong, I think that client work is incredibly JULY 2014

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important, even for young designers. I want to know and see that someone can take an idea from start to finish, not just post unfinished sketches to Instagram. But I do think that it’s vital for designers to consistently be working on self-initiated projects because people won’t know what you’re capable of unless you show them. It’s the idea of doing work to get work. Personal work is so much better than spec work, right? Exactly! It’s for yourself and it’s about improving. You can experiment with no one watching. Everyone needs that season of anonymity—the freedom to fail. Do you create your own typefaces or manipulate existing typefaces? I don’t really create my own typefaces—for me, it’s more about taking elements from history and creating something new. What I love about lettering is that I can borrow from my type collection and apply different drop caps, shadows, flourishes, descenders, etc. Most days it feels like a puzzle that I’m putting together from all the images floating around in my mental and physical libraries.

Have you considered starting a Tanamachi type foundry? No way! Typeface design is a whole ‘nother beast. I have the utmost respect for people who make and sell their own fonts for a living. It takes a lot of time, patience, and attention to every painstaking detail. I’m more of a broad strokes kind of designer, even though I do try to put a lot of detail into everything I do. I just don’t think I have the stamina to run a foundry! I’ve always felt like type designers are the unsung heros of our industry. They really are. I can’t express how much admiration I have for type designers. They are a different breed altogether—very creative and visual, but also extremely mathematical. They quietly plug away for thousands of hours on a single typeface for little to no recognition, yet we use and interact with their handiwork every single day.

For more information about Dana Tanamachi-Williams, visit tanamachistudio.com

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San Francisco Nike Women’s Marathon branding Photos courtesy of Nike

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FASHION

TELLASON PURE, SIMPLE, AND STRONG

PLAINLY-STATED, TELLASON MAKES THE CLASSICS that you want in your closet, and they make them really well. What started as a single-fit of denim jeans made in San Francisco has grown into a staple of expertly-made, well-designed lines of jeans, fleece, and jackets, with plans to expand into other everyday basics. This isn’t trendy, this isn’t even part of some seasonal fashion planning—these are hoodies and jeans, utilitarian jackets and basic T-shirts made with care and thoughtful appreciation for what lasts. We talked to founders Pete Searson and Tony Patella at their studio in Sausalito, California, and asked them about Joe Strummer, House Industries, and the spirit of likemindedness in art and life. —Evan Pricco Tellason exists because of both of you and your joint effort, vision and determination. But one of the great things you have always made clear is the collective aspect of making a pair of Tellasons, whether from House Industries in the logo design, Tanner Goods’ emblematic leather patch, or

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fabric from Cone Mills' White Oak plant in Greensboro, North Carolina. You’ve even encouraged contributions regarding ideas on shape and fit from stores you sell to. What is it about collaboration that helped Tellason grow? Sometimes the word “collaboration” sounds overplayed, but the word and the exercise of collaboration still means something special if it is natural and part of your DNA. For us, we are secure enough to know that this industry of ours is simply a series of redefined and regurgitated tops and bottoms. We are not looking to invent anything since the reality is that it has all sort of been done before. Acknowledging that there is very little, if anything, left to invent in the apparel market, we just get on with making super high quality goods that serve each customer as optimally as they can. Back it up with some good old customer service, and try to make some friends along the way. When we speak with someone and listen to what they have to say, we are really listening. No BS, we are in this conversation because we respect the person we’re facing

Photography by Alex Nicholson

and value their opinion. If their ideas are relevant to our culture and we hear it from others along the way, let’s do it. In the video series, Tellason Stories, you do minimal, if any, branding, and yet you capture a spirit that matches your aesthetic and ethic. I assume the idea behind them was to tell the story of a certain style of classic sensibility prevailing amongst unique personalities. Turning on a camera and pointing it at us as we speak about raw denim, or selvedge denim or made in the USA just doesn’t feel fresh. For one, we have already done that. We would much rather highlight creative sorts out there just doing what they are doing, who happen to be wearing our jeans. The first profile, “Meet Todd,” is a perfect example of what this is all about. Todd, a photographer by trade, sent us some pictures of his grease filled jeans a couple of years ago. We did not sponsor him. He went into a local shop in Seattle, bought a pair and started wearing them. Once we saw the beautiful pictures of his jeans, we made contact and flew up to Seattle soon after and shot that video. It was a long day of shooting with a little bit of cop dodging as we rumbled down the freeway, standing in the back of a convertible, shooting a guy on a motorcycle six feet away from our back bumper. But, in the end, Todd spoke naturally about bikes and what it is like to live an authentic life. We remember standing there holding the microphone feeling pretty gassed and he just let the story flow. He is not the type of guy you can buy into, and for him, as a motorcycle builder, to appreciate what we do is one of the things we are most proud of. One of the reasons I wanted to pursue this story about Tellason is the brands and shops with which you are associated, whether in the US, Japan, Korea, or Germany. They all have a very smart and appealing art direction. Has that been one of the fun parts about traveling around, seeing how shops and other brands applying various art directed looks to their products, as in the photography, interior design, and the paraphernalia brands collect? Traveling is everything to us and we consider it a true privilege that these shops and distributors work so hard to tell our story and really have a go at it, just as we do here in the States. There are so many good things to buy, and they choose to stand up for us and sell our jeans in their shops with real pride. It is one thing to go to a tradeshow in another country and come home with some contacts and handshakes, but traveling abroad when there isn’t any industry thing going on is the key. These shop employees and owners are in their own court and we can have a meaningful discussion about business, life, food or some old punk band. Anyone who has spent time at a tradeshow knows that there is way too much hustling going on, as well as a thousand distractions that subvert the experience. Art wise, what are some things that inspire you two? We had a chance to discuss both X and Joe Strummer today.

A little art that hits you right in the chops can go a long way. What we mean by this is that we all can take a story or a visual and radically change our lives for the better. Think of the examples: the Guggenheim Museum was designed after the seven layers of Hell in Dante’s Inferno, the Eames bentwood furniture all derives from their innovations making leg splints for the U.S. military, it goes on. Small, pure ideas of something great, whether it be the philosophy of Joe Strummer and how he lived his life and interacted with the

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people, or the fact that we still laugh our asses off every time we see the movie Fletch, will always be part of our DNA. After all, every big thing or big idea started small. You see a ton of clothing and products every year in your travels. What are some surprise details and touches that stand out to you when you see something you like? If you see a jacket that appeals, what details do you remember? Sometimes we learn more about style and design by acknowledging what is not there. Superfluous notions of “trend” or “hot right now” always seem regrettable. It is great to have modern ideas and act upon them, but make them useful! Think about how you will feel if, in 20 years, you see a photo of yourself wearing it. We all have that box of photos and get a good chuckle out of the half shirt and OP cord shorts worn in high school, or the shitty parachute pants that

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seemed to be a good idea. They have their limitations. But the shot of you or your dad wearing a great jacket, shirt, or boots that stand the test of time evokes an entirely different impression—one of pride and satisfaction in knowing you had the minerals to buy something substantial. If you could dress one film in history, which would it be? Fletch. We’d love to see Alan Stanwyk, Fat Sam and Ted Underhill in a pair of Tellasons.

For more information about Tellason, visit tellason.com

JUXTAPOZ.COM / FASHION

INFLUENCES

JUSTIN BLYTH HOW THEM-THANGS BECAME A THING

THERE ARE PLENTY OF TUMBLRS THAT ARE WELL curated, searched and groomed, processing years of cultural imagery that were long-forgotten but more appreciated with age. Them-Thangs was one of the best, a site in which we invested hours upon hours spellbound by the clever combination of colors, eras, celebrity, and nostalgia blended into such an appealing aesthetic. Justin Blyth, a designer and Art Director from Los Angeles living and working in Amsterdam, is the man behind Them-Thangs as well as projects with Nike, Stussy, Playstation and more. Here, in his words, are his influences. —Juxtapoz NOSTALGIA It might be a disease, and I definitely suffer from it.

who has formal training, and more importantly, thoroughly understands and interprets the work they deal with, its context and cultural heritage. So maybe the web is more of a curator’s hell. People have time to kill, so they collect and share photos they like. It’s not curation, but at the same time, I’m not mad at it. We have insatiable and minuscule attention spans so we suck it up. I think if you do it in a way that the underlying themes tell an interesting story, then it can be cool. But, ultimately, we’ve ripped curation a new asshole and taken everything out of context, posting and reposting endlessly until any semblance of meaning has been completely shredded. I think the term curator is about as meaningful as creative director nowadays. It’s like, you put your logo on a tote bag, you’re now a creative director.

THE WEB AS CURATOR’S PARADISE I don’t know if curator is the word. A curator is someone

THE RETURN OF THE PAST I mean, the past always comes back around as far as

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Portrait by Brian Williams

I READ WALDEN A WHILE BACK—NOW THAT’S A GOOD PERSPECTIVE SHIFTER. I WANT TO LIVE LIKE THOREAU BUT I’M TOO MUCH OF A PUSSY trends and fashion stuff go. But deeper than that, I think we’re really struggling for something to hold onto now. Everything is so quick, fleeting and meaningless. Tweets, hashtags and likes take up people’s entire days so that they completely forget to actually socialize in real life. All that shit is so dishonest and either totally vain and self-absorbed gloating, or passive-aggressive bullshit. I think everything is so backwards now that we’re looking to the past, to our parents’ generation and even earlier, to remember to slow down and just do physical, tangible things again. Just live in the moment a bit more, not try to capture and share every waking moment or fleeting thought, make tangible stuff, just chill out. I read Walden a while back—now that’s a good perspective shifter. I want to live like Thoreau but I’m too much of a pussy. AN AMERICAN IN AMSTERDAM Even though I sometimes miss the States, I’ve been here for six years and it’s been a dream. Some things are backwards, but a lot of things about America are backwards too. Amsterdam is such a beautiful place, almost idyllic. It looks like a postcard; you ride your bike to work, it’s very chill. I’ve been lucky enough to see a lot of the world over the last six years. It’s changed my perspective quite a bit, and I’m very grateful for that. I wouldn’t have that perspective if I had stayed in LA. All of that aside, I wouldn’t be mad at some better weather and a good taco. THEM-THANGS I was working at this agency in Amsterdam. Our client had moved on, and my freelance contract wasn’t up. I was in there at my desk every day and didn’t have shit to do. Naturally, I just surfed the Internet all damn day, saving photos along the way. I also have a thing for collecting old magazines and books, so I’d scan shit at my desk. Eventually, I dumped them all on a hidden page of my site and shared it with friends as a sort of inspiration thing. It just took off from there and eventually evolved into a small magazine. We did two issues, the second was with Hassan Rahim and Justin Van Hoy (RIP). I don’t really update the blog any more and the magazine is such a labor of love, it’s hard to make time. I’m not really sure what’s next for it, if anything.

BEING A DESIGNER AND ART DIRECTOR TODAY If I won the lottery tomorrow, I wouldn’t quit my job. I don’t know if a lot of people can say that, so it’s a nice feeling. I went to art school and did that whole thing, but it’s definitely a changing landscape. Kids think Supreme branding is tight but don’t know who Barbara Kruger is. That shit bugs me out sometimes. So I think there’s something to be said for going the classic route and not getting an Internet education. But, at the end of the day, if you have talent and a good attitude, then just go out and get it by any means. Ultimately, the goal is to get away from the computer more and more the longer you’re at it. I don’t think anyone wants to be a 50-year-old designer. Become a conceptual thinker, put the whole thing together and work with a team to bring your ideas to life.

R. CRUMB Always a place in my heart for Crumb. My dad had that melty stoner face thing in our house when I was a kid and I keep it out as one of my reminders of him. That documentary on him is amazing too, he’s a super weirdo. COLLECTING BOOKS I hate it. They take up too much space and they make everything dusty.

For more information about Justin Blyth, visit jblyth.com

JUXTAPOZ.COM / JUSTIN - BLYTH

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