There is a lot more going
on in the world of JK5 then you may be aware of. We caught up with the
5 to see what the deal is for the '05-'06 season, talk t shirt, and find
out what he thought about episode III, among other things...
A Silent Flute: Ok, so you
opened your exhibit at Kid Robot, can you tell us about it?
JK5: There were 8 new works in the show, the rest had pertaining character
material as well as larger and more complex personal narrative works from a
group show at Capsule Gallery in November. There were 18 works total
wrapping around the space above the ill spectrum of products at the Kid
Robot shop. There were 6 new paintings (acrylic on wood panel), one of each
of the FLOWBOTS...the cast of characters that will become toys, scheduled
for mid 2006 release. Also, there was a larger nature/nurture diptych behind
the register, and some other framed drawings. Two of the paintings were from
1977, Saint Michael slaying the devil & VINcent from The Black Hole.
All of the work stars or introduces the Flowbot family of archetypes. Check
it all out at kidrobot.com (JK5, news +events section).
Lay some more on us about the whole Flowbot project you are working on
with Kid Robot.
Well, since the alife show in ’03 we've been cultivating this project. Over
the last 2 years I’ve been focusing & developing these 6 characters;
preparing them, through extrapolation, for 3D realization. Paul & Chad from
Kidrobot saw that I had a whole world of potential toy translations, and
we've been building ever since... they are wonderful to work with. It’s been
quite a growing process. This is the co branded introductory set, and
following suit of my love of synthesizing and wordplay, it’s called
JKIDFLOWBOT5: THE PIX SIX FUN FIX NEVEREVER WACK PACK!
The 6 characters are called:
KID KRECTIVADER FLOWVEX
WIKKIE WIKKIE WIKKIE
CUTIE CANE
DOGBOY REDNEKK
SIR OSCAR CLOUD (RAINFLOW)
PRETTY PECULIAR PEPPERMINT PONY
They each have a symbol and metaphor, plus the box is hand drawn in full
color and comes complete with a lyrical bio for each dude. I’m stoked for it
developing from here. Stay tuned.
Word dude, it’s fucking far out that there is an extended concept to the
figures, it’s not just “Whee! I made a robot!” You know? How was the
opening itself though? Party central?
It was dope. All my friends & family were there; even the Super Sucklord as
Boba Fett. I sold a bunch opening night which made me very happy, plus the
crew in the NY store is awesome. Good times, great vibes, and an overall
electric response to the workworld. The energy & palette of the work really
flowed well with store. I’m honored to have my shit up in there for a while
this summer... it was packed and everyone had fun... a crew of us went out
afterwards & got well fucking knackered.
Art
Some might say your work is “trippy,” have you ever done acid? Got a good
acid trip story? I guess that’s not really an art question...
Funny shit; ever since high school I’ve been accused of being aided by
hallucinatory drugs while drawing. Honestly, they were never the drug of
choice... no way. Those doors of perception have been off the hinges since
the womb ride for reals. I did do some acid at RISD though. One night, 10 of
us dropped acid and went out to explore the city of providence. I think I
only took like half a hit or sumfin... at one point, I started bugging hard.
At like 2am we all decided to lay down in a row in the middle of the street
near the capital building, for those that may know Providence. The road was
a slick rainbow, blinking & sparkling from the recent rain... all of a
sudden, my horizontal world went completely vertical, and I felt like I was
sliding down some crazy mad high Blade Runner building; 20 stories up, on
some back to the wall, hands & feet clinging to the surface Spiderman type
shit.
Ha-ha, yes, that is a good one. I’ve never done acid, but I always love
to hear people’s acid tales. Yo, what about mushrooms?
I've done mushrooms a bunch. The last time was New Years Eve 2000. I kept
eating the ones I had in my pocket, thinking I wasn't getting effected
enough; within an hour, I got caught in that "holy shit, I’m in this mad
loop/time warp circle of making a drink, putting it down, losing it in the
vast crazed saturated surface camo of a kitchen after an all night party,
going outside having a smoke..." I literally repeated this for 2 hours
straight, or at least it felt that way. On the mushroom clock, it probably
was only 20 minutes... hehe. I haven’t done ‘em since, but I do like weed a
lot...
I guess that wasn’t an art question either. OK, wait, here’s one: you do
tattoos in addition to your multimedia type stuff, so you gotta have some
good stories from doing tattoos in the city...
I've been tattooing for nearly 12 years, and every piece/client/day is an
interesting story, such a spectrum of folks and ideas. I did a heavy piece
on a social worker a while back; he wanted "Simico beat cancer" in a nice
simple font on his inner bicep. Simico was his wife, and this was his
hopeful tattooed meditation for her, you know? She passed away a bit later.
It can get quite deep. Tattooing embodies so much, so many facets
instantaneously. I consider the vocation and practice an ever opening portal
of creative exercise, style and aesthetic exploration, while dancing with
the highs and lows of human experience... there's endless stuff to say about
being a tattoo artist & tattooing...
How did you get into doing it in the first place?
I got into it while at RISD in 1993 my junior year. That September after I
graduated with no job, wanting to do nothing but personal, creative work, I
started an official apprenticeship in a shop. Four and a half years later, I
opened my own custom shop/gallery called JK5. I had that for 5 years. Now I
tattoo twice a week while doing a bit of everything, nurturing all
applicable facets, staying ever free and creative...
Obviously the whole tribal thing is beyond played, what else is played
out, or about to be played out in tattoos?
I think most "styles" in tattooing are played out. I’m inspired by
technically proficient craftsmen who innovate in the realm of tattooing with
unique approaches to already tried and true formulas; tattoo artists that
are fueled by the myriad of other art forms and design- most of what you see
is regurgitated crap. I stay in good touch with what I consider interesting
and fresh; the rest of that microcosm can carry on without me.
Who's a good example of these type of artists?
There's a shop in Williamsburg called SAVED. I'm friends with the owner
Scott Campbell, and he and his crew are doing amazing work. He’s on some
antique/design/type-driven work, then marrying that with some really
progressive and inventive visual languages... true next level stuff.
Killer. Aside from the tattoo scene, are there any new or upcoming NYC
artists who you’re feeling?
I'm thankful to be tight with the large family of seminal creators in the
NYC. So many cool people growing and working independently yet together...
all doing our own thing. Way too many to name. Right now I’m tripping on
Anthony Goicolea, Tim Hawkinson, Tiffany Bozic, Andrew Guenther, Matt
Houston, Devon Ojas, Kenzo Minami, Wes Lang, Dan Kopp, Beau Chamberlain,
Billions McMillions, Duke Riley... most of whom I know well... it’s endless.
There are new people all the time... in all disciplines.
With so many quality folks, how would you describe the NYC art scene
currently?
Moist, ever fertile, now & assimilatory.
How about any artists/brands/magazines that you have had a good
experience working with?
I love the peeps I’ve just grown with and am friends with... that’s who I’m
working with... The Barnstormers, Surface 2 Air, Nom De Guerre,
Kidrobot, always Houston...
Did you read the recent New York Times article about Sperm, McGinley and
those cats? Any thoughts?
I haven't read the article, but I love Ryan McGinley’s work. I almost bought
his new book the other day.
T Shirts
A Silent Flute first mentioned JK5 with the recent Star Wars bootleg
shirts you designed. When did you do these shirts? How did the release come
about? Through who, and any reason it became Japan only?
I did the Sar Wars silly stoner stuff in sketchbooks back in
1996-ish. The other designs are from newer work. A distribution company from
Japan approached me through mutual friends. This particular collection,
including a spring collection that I’m working on now, is for Japan only.
However, I’m currently working on my own, more personal, poetic line
celebrating New York. I’m doing the line with 2 friends, with whom I just
formed a creative agency called MAKE BELIEVE. This line will be close to my
heart, the line I’ve been working towards. It will crystallize the best of
what I’ve made in the last few years...
Sounds on point, now, were these Star Wars joints your first line
of shirts? Any other t shirt work in the past? I know recently you designed
a shirt for BBS’s line, which has some really hot shit collabos like Surface
2 Air...
I've done some t shirts for JK5, and some random ones in the past, but this
was the first official collection. They'll be "pop” lines in Japan under the
name SUBCONSCIOTHESAURUSDRESS, for the kids to bug on season to season, but
this one coming will be the truth. I love the S2A guys, I was stoked to be
in the mix on the BBS line...
The Star Wars shirts instantly took me back to Mad Magazine
(Sergio Aragones, Al Jaffee, and Mort Drucker), National Lampoon, and even
parody movies from the late 70s like Kentucky Fried Movie and The
Boob Tube. Were you into that stuff growing up? Personally, I grew up
reading Mad, and my mom used to buy us old National Lampoons from the 70s-
she didn’t know they had titties in ‘em. She even let us watch The Boob
Tube, which is pretty fucking raunchy for middle school kids... anyway these
were big things to me...
Of course man, I grew up on all that shit too. I looove that stuff. I've
been doing my thing with those influences forever. Those artists were like a
drug to me in grammar school. I used to practice drawing Don Martin style
feet... remember the flap over foot style?! Ill..
God damn man, that is awesome. Yeah I used to, like, even read Groo cuz I
dug that shit so much. Back to shirts for a bit... Seems like pretty much
everyone has their own t-shirt line out, or soon to come out. What do you
think about it all? Good thing, bad thing? Any thoughts on who’s the best,
who’s line you are a fan of?
Most vehicular markets and corporate collabo concepts are super saturated
right now, and becoming a bit bastardized. Like all things, the most
interesting and communicative work will weather the storm and grow into its
own larger self (or "larger world", Kenobi). There’s cool, new shit popping
up all the time. It’s a matter of ratio. There is always the slim faction of
righteous creation, art & design, while the rest just kind of smells funny.
I'm a fan of Houston (who will be dropping some hot rocks magic soon). All
of my friends in the global community are doing rad stuff... we are the
music makers, the dreamers of dreams...
Star Wars
What did you think of Episode III? Let it flow dude, cuz I know
how folks like us can get about Star Wars...
I loved it man. You can hate, analyze, and scrutinize endlessly, but fuck
all that. Lucas came thru for the final installment. I was blown away. It
was genuinely emotive & moving to me. We, as the ill crew at the Ziegfeld,
were interviewed by mad TV crews (our fresh costumes and customized light
sabers caught ‘em in the tractor beam); they asked us how long we'd been
waiting on line...we all said "since 1977!" It’s true. This was the full
circle cycle arc of the better part of our lives... what we've all waited
for. I was choked up through the whole movie; from the evolved design
language and minutia, to the infinitely viewable otherworld scapes, to most
fucked up, gruesome, painful, timelessly Dante's Inferno-esque mythological
imagery of Anakin’s last moments of humanity. That shit was so powerful and
tragic. I'm working on a new series of drawings that cull those moments... I
thought it unified the trilogies quite nicely. My favorite scene was by far
Yoda entering and cold force-tossing the two crimson guards. He's straight
gangster mack, and does not fuck around. I’ll see it for the 3rd time
soon... this will be the blazed time...
Word man, I dug the poop out of it too. Haven’t seen it with Mary Jane
yet though. The Anakin lava scene was one of the more intense scenes I’ve
seen in a flick. Seeing how Vader became Vader was pretty fucking intense in
and of itself, adding in the actual gruesome circumstances was just, I don’t
even know, heavy. Also, I gotta admit, I got a little emotional over the
final shot, whaddaya call it.... veklemped. Now, what about the other half
of the Star Wars coin: Have you copped any of the new Episode III action
figures? I picked up a couple, they are kinda nice, I’ve always been into
the alien characters mostly, and there are a few good ones.
The Sucklord got me Grievous and a few others... I like ‘em, although I must
say, as much as I want the whole collection of Episode III toys, I really
don't like the extra diesel, hyper,over-designed packaging & style of it
all. They need to go back to some semblance of the original Kenner figures.
I think some balance is in order.
Favorite bounty hunter?
Boba Fett. He’s my favorite character created of all time, in every way. The
king.
What’s your favorite music from Star Wars? I’ve always liked the music
from Jabba’s lair and barge, you know, Sy Snoodles and those cats. I’ve been
banging the MP3 for the song in the lair, “Lapti Nek”, but never been able
to find the song from the barge...
I love all the John Williams scores, from the original theme, to the
Imperial march, to dual of the fates. My classic fave is the cantina theme,
I can't front.
The Breeze
What kind of music do you listen to while you work, or just in general?
Any good albums past or present you are big on?
I listen to everything from every phase in my life... I go from Madvillian,
to Sea and Cake, to Genghis Tron and Old Man Gloom, to Tibetan monks, to Os
Mutantes, Harry Nilsson, LCD Soundsystem, Pixies, Mars Volta, Quannum,
Tarantula, Deltron 3000, Van Morrison... on and on and on...
Word up, Tibetan monks are the shit- so slept on. Any guilty pleasure
albums or songs you like to put on? I’ve been listening to New Kids and
Ru-Paul this week...
I love Carole King, The Carpenters, James Taylor, The Bee Gees... my girl I
were just singing "What Kind of Fool" verbatim... that duet between Barry
Gibb and Barbara Streisand. I'm a schmaltzy German Jew; I can vibe with it
all...
Other than Star Wars are you into any other science fiction? Any
other movies you dig?
The classics: 2001,Close Encounters, Blade Runner,thx1138,
Barberella, Logan’s Run, Flash Gordon, The Last
Starfighter, even the cheesy sci-fi stuff. There’s always one good alien
glyph on a ship or something. I groove on the details.
Yeah, you just rattled off some of my faves, although I would like to
shout out John Boorman for making Zardoz a reality. OK, what’s the best
movie to watch weeded though, in your professional opinion?
DUDE, THERE’S SOOOOO MANY! Brazil, the brilliant documentary about
migrating birds... My girl and I just watched The Incredibles again,
very high... that’s a good movie... I end up watching The Karate Kid
every time it comes on. I'm high a lot of those times. I love TV & movies,
always have.
Word, one time I got a huge kick out of watching The Life of Brian
after some tubes; the shit was super fucking deep; you know how it gets...
How about in other media though, what are your favorite websites? Ready any
blogs regularly?
I don’t really get into too many blogs, although I’m an obsessive surfer.
HOUSTON ruled. It’s coming back, rebirthed soon: wehaveaproblem.com. I read
the Kidrobot blog for kicks sometimes, Beinghunted is cool... A Silent Flute
is my new shit...really dope plus you know what’s up... ha-ha.
Word, thanks homie, that’s real talk. Any “peace out” type things to say
to wrap it up?
Thanks a lot for the interview! If anyone wants to contact me, my email is
BABYGOAT4@AOL.COM... For more work/projects/associations just Google JOSEPH
ARI ALOI, and check out jk5nyc.com. LYTENESS PEEPLES>>> JK5
Proper thanks to JK5 for shooting the breeze, and keep your heads up for
all the ill-type shit he mentioned, you might see it here...
JK5.COM
asilentflute.COM
