The Blackmail » 2009 » October

Your Own Life

tristan — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 14:09:16 +0000

Words: Gabriel Knowles Images: Asuza

They say if you need something done you should ask a busy person. If that’s the case then the men behind Asuza are worth asking if the need arises. Not content with holding down full time jobs of some repute, or playing and recording albums with their respective bands, Jonny Goldcoast and Dan Preston decided the time was right to enter the men’s fashion game with their special brand of retro futurism. With a dedication to combining the best of now, then and what we haven’t even seen yet – stealthy designs coupled with classic craftsmanship that focuses on the finishing touches – Asuza are breaking to mould. Gabriel Knowles catches up with the Asuza crew to find out more about their philosophy…

Gabriel Knowles: You guys have been running Asuza together for a few years now. How did you guys meet?

Jonny Goldcoast: Yeah, we’ve been doing Asuza for about two years now. I met Dan in Sydney when he was living there and I was living in Melbourne and then I moved to Sydney and Dan moved from Tokyo to Melbourne. So we haven’t really been in the same place much but it’s worked out pretty well.

Dan Preston: When I first met Jonny we just had one of those loose nights were you start talking about doing something together. I think we were in Vaucluse cemetery, we’d been at a party nearby and got rambling. Then I moved to Japan and I was running a ski lodge there before and then I moved down to Harajuku in Tokyo and started on Asuza in between freelance jobs.

GK: How did the long distance thing work out?

DP: It’s great to have him back in town, now we can get done in a day what we used to get done in a week.

JG: But now that we’re both back here in Melbourne it’s good because we’ve got the studio space and we have a pretty free flowing creative connection, we can just sit down and talk about bullshit for ages. So it’s not a matter of not having enough possibilities it’s a matter of pulling back and refining things to a point that’s actually achievable given the circumstances.

GK: You’re both pretty busy guys outside of the label with your full time jobs. Do you find yourselves wanting more time for Asuza or are you happy with the balance?

JG: A lot of people think you can’t do anything properly unless you focus on it full time but I think if things are linked, and most things are these days, then you can. More than ever people are doing multiple things. We’re the ADD generation. I think it’s confusing for the generations that have preceded us, I hate to think what our kids will be like. Everything feeds everything else, I’d be bored if I just did one thing. I think we’re far more interesting these days and a lot of the people out there doing good stuff at the moment aren’t just doing the one thing.

GK: It’s interesting that you both also play in bands on the side too. Is that a response to the fact that everything else is in your lives keeps you so busy that you need another outlet?

DP: Music’s my outlet where I can switch off and still be creative and not have to think too much about the end result, where as the fashion you’re always considering trends and the commercial aspects of running a brand. With Outrun, we’re supporting Fischerspooner this month and we’ve got our first EP out soon too. The thing with the music is you can just go for it and have fun and if people like it then that’s a bonus.

JG: I agree. We’re (The Amazing Phillips Sisters) finishing up our first proper release and we’re hoping to put it through someone local, maybe just as a vinyl and digital release. We recorded with this amazing guy call Jack Farley in his warehouse in Northcote. He’s recorded Beaches and Spider Vomit and a bunch of other local acts that we’re into.

GK: Is there a special formula that you guys use to come up with your designs in between everything else?

JG: We work together coming up with a theme and then Dan goes away and turns that into visuals and then our friend Scott McPherson goes away and interprets that with his crazy moon pig mind and then we end up with something skewed from what we might have done, it adds diversity. It also still tells a story which is really important. When you’ve got multiple people doing things it can look like you’ve gone to Japan and just bought the top ten most popular prints!

GK: I know you guys have had some issues with people referencing those prints and designs a little too closely. Is imitation the sincerest form of flattery?

JG: We’ve had a few people reference things we’ve done but at the end of the day it’s a compliment and it means we’ve got a pretty good idea about what’s happening out there. You can’t get too upset because everything seems to be referenced these days. As long as you’re continually moving forward then it doesn’t really matter anyway, although if you only had one trick in your bag then you’d be fucked.

DP: I think it’s actually quite a compliment having worked in this industry for a quite a while. I mean we all reference things anyway, we try to get our reference points from obscure places like old Italian horror films and transcendental videos and all sorts of stuff. It’s kind of cool seeing your idea interpreted by someone else. Especially if it comes out a season later!

GK: What does the future hold in stall for Asuza?

JG: We’re looking to expand the range a bit more now that we’ve had a good response. We’re developing more unisex items and some women’s stuff too.

DP: We’d like to develop more things under the guise of You Have Your Own Life Now: Asuza. Which might not just be fashion – it could be site specific installations, projects, multimedia stuff. Anything unusual we’d like to get involved with.

Asuza

For your chance to win an Asuza shirt just email prize@theblackmail.com.au saying why you should win it.

Next Article: John Safran – The Race Card

The Race Card

tristan — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 14:09:01 +0000

Words: Gabriel Knowles Images: ABC

For a man whose list of notable achievements includes placing a fatwa on Rove, being exorcised of demons, placing a curse on an ex-girlfriend and streaking naked through Jerusalem it’s hard to fathom that he could top them all. But when John Safran headed off to the Philippines to take part in a crucifixion re-enactment, complete with real, appendage piercing nails, he more than outdid himself. John Safran explains to Gabriel Knowles why his new series isn’t quite as outrageous as it sounds and how he’s managed to wield enough power to finally get himself nailed to a cross.

Gabriel Knowles: There isn’t long until you go to air now. Is it all going according to plan?

John Safran: We’re still madly and furiously editing the very last episode so we’ll get past the post just in time. We could have finished by now but we haven’t, it’s mainly my fault. This whole show has got more of a story arc than my previous shows and I think there’s a few kind of spiky things in it where people will be like ‘I haven’t seen that before’ which should be good.

GK: In the past your shows have always had very strong themes. What’s the premise behind this series?

JS: We started off with the story of cross-cultural love. If you’re brought up in an ethnic group or your friends and family are should you just stick with it or marry someone outside of it? Obviously because I’m Jewish and it’s such a big issue in the Jewish community so we presented it as my investigation into that as it relates to me. So it’s credible as opposed to to me just doing a series of stunts for TV. The catalyst is three decades in the Jewish community. I think it will relate to a lot of ethnic groups in Australia.

GK: It looks as if the quality of production is a bit higher this time around. How else does Race Relations differ to some your previous offerings?

JS: I’m not really sardonically commenting from the sidelines, this time I talk quite literally about my feelings on issues. For example at the start of this show we thought an aspect of it would be all about racism. There’s nothing more boring than being anti-racist. How boring is that? So we thought this series would be me being ironically racist all over the place but it was really hard to sell to a TV audience that I have these genuine racist thoughts. Most of the stuff is pretty un-malicious even though it’s outrageous and I’ve noticed in the past that tends to get you off the hook.

GK: You did a bit of a whirlwind tour of the world for this series. Does that shine through into the series?

JS: The actual shoot was crazy, we spent seven weeks overseas in 12 countries. I usually fall into this mental state where I become really uninhibited. This time was uninhibited even for me. I had more support this time around as well, well a slightly bigger crew. And slightly more leverage than usual, as in I’m old now and I’ve got a few shows under my belt so there was less of me stuttering around and more of me trying to push things through to get what I wanted. That was a big difference this time around which was cool.

GK: Such as?

JS: Lots of what you have to do, for example, is mega expensive. Like ‘oh we’re going to go overseas and do this and it requires prosthetic make up that costs heaps of money’ and all that kind of stuff. I was more involved in making those decisions this time around. I think I just cut to the chase a bit more this time and wasn’t very shy about it.

GK: I know that one whole episode of the show is set in Chicago. What was the rationale behind that?

JS: Chicago was great, I think we ended up there because it’s Barack Obama’s home town so we kind of liked that, and obviously the show’s about cross cultural relations so there’s quite a few Barack references over the series. There’s also this hot dog restaurant in Chicago called the Weiner Circle where there’s often this tension between the black staff and the white customers. They all start off the night sarcastically ribbing each other and then as the night goes on and everyone gets drunker and drunker it gets weird and uncomfortable. It’s one of those places that people go to after clubs. I saw it on this documentary called This American Life and they’d done a serious study of this place so we decided to go there and put my weird spin on it.

It’s about at what point does everyone just being cheeky and sarcastic cross over into revolting? There are all these strange cross purposes, for example a black person will defend themselves against a white person attacking them by calling them a faggot. So they’re defending themselves against racism by being homophobic, so everything becomes really confusing which is kind of compelling to watch.

GK: There was quite a reaction to your being shown in the Australian media re-enacting a crucifixion in the Philippines. Was that a deliberate ploy or was it purely coincidental?

JS: We didn’t release any images or footage of it, we just wanted to just shuffle off and edit our show but there were some film crews from Reuters there and they got some of the shots and then the Australian media put two and two together and then it blew up. But now that we’re editing the show we’re actually happy that there were other camera people there because we’ve bought some of their footage. We didn’t quite capture the glorious wide shots but Reuters did! I was looking though their footage and I was wondering why the hell we didn’t hire their guy because he seems to get every shot!

As far as I know there are only two little villages in the Philippines that do it. I’m actually annoyed I didn’t get to do it in the other place because the place I did it at makes you wear this stupid wig and outfit but the other place doesn’t. Maybe I’ll go back next year and do it at the other place. I’m not sure why, it’s not as if there’s a crucifixion society or anything but it’s worked out like that at this little village that you have wear a wig and dress like Jesus in the olden days.

GK: Wouldn’t that have been more at home in your previous series?

JS: For some reason my demented mind ended up there. I was thinking about why I didn’t do it for the last show (John Safran vs God) but I didn’t have the leverage with a TV station to let me get crucified so this time I took advantage of it. Most people take advantage of the system so that as they move up they get more money but I’m so screwed in the head with every show I just work out a way to get away with more. I probably didn’t have the power in this town to get crucified last time but now I do.

GK: Are there any concepts that you’re particularly pleased with how they turned out?

JS: The ladyboy thing I’m quite happy with because we didn’t really think it through before we went overseas. We didn’t really have a good idea, well we did but then on the spur of the moment we figured out a way to tie it into the story arc and it’s a bit of a climax to the series. Even though we just kind of made it up on the spot. That was pretty exciting because often ideas like that can fall over, a lot of our smaller ideas on this show rolled into something bigger.

We try to plan each idea out thoroughly but when you get overseas there are so many variables that can change it. But very rarely do we just go over and do something and have no idea. Actually a few times we had spare days and we tried to go out and find a story and it never worked that well. If it was that easy you would just do it quickly and everybody would do it. The thing that makes it hard is thinking up a believable motivator, the audience has to be convinced that I’m really motivated to do the things that I do. Particularly in this series we’ve treated me like a character who needs a valid reason why he wants to do these things. And not just for TV but a valid reason for wanting to do it for my life. You know like “I’m John Safran and I’m on this actual journey” that’s outside the context of the show.

GK: What do you hope people will take out of it?

JS: I reckon especially for ethnic Australian’s, even though it’s a stupid comedy show, it will really resonate and bring to TV a conversation that goes on behind closed doors. I reckon maybe white anglo saxons watching our show will be wondering why this is such a big issue. If you talk to anyone with cultural ties for five minutes and you bother to start digging you realise it’s such an issue. You’re torn and your parents start to hassle you.

I mean now I’m so old people just let you do what you want but when I was younger and I went out with a non-Jewish person there was a lot of pressure for family and friends. It’s pretty raw and powerful stuff they drop in your lap. But it’s not a self-rightous show where I’m trying to shove my views down people’s throats, unfortunately all the jokes are at my expense.

John Safran’s Race Relations airs on ABC1, Wednesday October 12 at 9.30pm

Next Article: Angelique Houtkamp – Tattoo Mystique

Hot Graphics

tristan — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 14:08:27 +0000

Words: Tristan Ceddia Images: Grafik

Circulating in one way or another since the mid-80s, London’s Grafik magazine showcases multidisciplinary design work from the worlds most influential known and unknown creatives. Building a cult following from discerning designers and students a like, the magazine supplies a fresh look at the current state of the world in design. On the eve of Grafik’s trip down under for Semi Permanent, Tristan Ceddia asks editor-in-chief Caroline Roberts to shed some more light on this influential publication…

Tristan Ceddia: Grafik is in its twenty third year as an independently published magazine. What’s the history behind Grafik?

Caroline Roberts: Grafik started life as Hot Graphics International, a rather dull large-format magazine that was invented solely to capitalise on the new advertisers that were emerging during the ‘digital revolution’ in the mid 1980s. It then became a monthly magazine and turned into Graphics International, with a redesign by Meta and a new editor – Tim Rich.

I took over as editor in 2001. By then Grafik had been purchased by a large publishing house based outside of London, but the editorial team (of myself and then Angharad Lewis) were in an office in the East End near Brick Lane. We were pretty much left to our own devices, which is how we liked it. In 2003 I persuaded our publisher at the time that we needed a redesign, and in July of that year the magazine turned into Grafik, with a radical redesign courtesy of MadeThought.

In 2005 Angharad and I (and another business partner) did a management buy out, we moved to our current office in Fitzrovia and the magazine became independently published. Earlier this year we sold the magazine, and Grafik is now published by Adventures in Publishing Ltd but remains independently published. Nothing has really changed in the day to day running of the magazine (apart from expanding the team), but we now have some much needed investment which will enable us to put some longstanding plans in place.

TC: Each issue of the magazine holds a specific theme with its content. Has this always been the way things have been run? How have things changed over the years?

CR: We’ve always had a Special Report – it’s the part of the magazine that covers a subject in more depth and looks outside the immediate area of graphic design. Over the years we have expanded this section—and as well as the regular Special Reports into topics such as music, fashion and photography. We have added Graphic Design Heroines, the Illustration A-Z, Defining Moments in Type.

TC: Who was responsible for the initial conception of the magazine and who is involved now? Has anyone been working on Grafik since the beginning?

CR: I was editor from 2001-2009 and am now publisher and editor-in-chief. Angharad Lewis joined in 2003 and is now the editor. We also have an in-house designer and part-time design assistant, a sales manager, a marketing manager, a part-time senior reporter, a web and production editor and a studio assistant.

TC: Grafik’s recent redesign includes a new variation of your masthead. What is the idea behind each redesign? Does the content of the magazine vary as well as the design?

CR: We keep the basic editorial structure, but take the opportunity to reorganise it and introduce new features, such as How to be Green, and Andrew Bojkowski’s magazine column. We’ve always said that you need to redesign the magazine before the readers think you need to do it – by then it’s too late. It’s all about keeping things fresh and exciting – and if we’re feeling bored then we know it’s only a matter of time until are readers are too. The main impetus for the latest redesign was to introduce a typeface that would be more readable, and to reorganise the back section of the magazine. We’ve had fairly radical redesigns in the past, but our readers are generally happy to embrace the change.

TC: You publish content varying from commercial graphic design to photography, illustration and everywhere in between. This seems to break away other more traditional graphic design magazines? Has this always been Grafik’s prerogative?

CR: The best graphic designers look outside of graphic design for inspiration, and we try to reflect that in the magazine. We just fill it with stuff that we like, and hope our readers will too.

TC: Speaking personally, I find most graphic design magazines to be rather uninspiring. Grafik seems to appeal to a niche set of creatives, professional and non-professional, who would not traditionally read graphic design magazines. How do you maintain fresh inspiring content month after month?

CR: Blood sweat and tears! It’s basically by assembling a passionate and committed team, working with the best people we can (within the obvious budgetary restraints), and by sourcing as much original content as possible.

TC: Your magazine publishes world wide content from hard-hitting designers through to students. How do you source material for each issue? Do you trawl the internet or is content discovered through other sources? What excites the people at Grafik?

CR: Ideas come form many sources, but over the years we have put a huge amount of effort into developing contacts, treating the work shown with sensitivity and presenting it in the best possible way. That way we can ask for exclusivity and produce exciting and original content.

TC: Grafik presents its content in a way that is in some ways often as interesting as the content itself. Strong art direction is clearly responsible for this. How important is this?

CR: Very important, given our very discerning readership. Our magazine showcases the best in graphic design – if the magazine itself isn’t designed well, we lose credibility with our readers. Obviously you can’t please everyone all of the time, and our redesigns often provoke strong reactions initially.

TC: Can you tell us a bit about the process of putting an issue together?

CR: We work on a four week turn around, two weeks of those four are design time – as we commission writers we have to start on the next issue before the one that we’re working on is finished. As well as the writing that we do personally, we have to gather content from lots of different sources, which involves being very organised and doing lots of nagging. Having our designer Matilda Saxow inhouse has made a very positive difference to the process, as there is a constant dialogue between the design and editorial teams.

TC: Joseph Allen Shea spoke to Australia’s Doing Bird magazine in Issue Two about the importance of creating a magazine in a world fixed on the internet. What do you feel the importance is of the magazine in this day and age?

CR: There are many different ways to access content now, but there will always be a place for printed magazines. Our magazine is full of beautiful pieces of print, so it makes sense that it should also attempt to be one.

TC: What exciting moves has Grafik got instore for the future?

CR: Our website is finally being launched this Autumn. Honest.

Grafik magazine speak at Semi Permanent on October 9 & 10 at the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre. Book tickets.

Click here to view Grafik’s poster exhibition at the recent London Design Festival.

Next Article: Krozm – Smoke, Screens & Mirrors

Tattoo Mystique

tristan — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 14:08:02 +0000

Words: Louise McClean Images: Angelique Houtkamp

It is a rare occasion when you come across an individual in which you can say with true fervour that they were born with an ability of a most striking kind. Angelique Houtkamp of Amsterdam is one such person – she has used her uncanny creative finesse to just do about anything that springs into her mind. She has been developing and refining her talents over a host of mediums and projects, making her mark on bodies, canvases, journals, bags, shoes and greeting cards to name a few.

Best known for bringing modern, feminine elements to old style tattoos, her style purveys sentiment, beauty, nostalgia, romance and death – gifting us with a powerful and illuminating visual experience, communicating her deep interest in history and symbolism. Angelique’s industrious nature has resulted in a second book Tattoo Mystique which promises to be as beautiful and inspirational as her first. Louise McClean finds out a little more about the lady herself…

Louise McClean: The first thing you ever painted was a tattooed woman in a sea of flames. Vivid and unusual – carnival, bestial and beautiful imagery heavy with symbolism of feminine power, death, beauty and love has always been a signature throughout your work. What are your influences and inspirations that have given you the unique style we see today?

Angelique Houtkamp: Over the years you save a lot imagery in your head. Things that speak to you, that you explore or that just happen by. I think that there are a lot of things on your mind that you can’t really help, I definitely started paying more attention when I began painting and tattooing. I used a lot of old-time tattoo drawings to understand the medium. Trying to duplicate them at first and understand what it was about them that appealed to me. Eventually this led to exploring where the old timers took their inspiration from and I ended up looking at a lot of their contemporary popular images – anywhere from advertisements, illustrations, photography, fashion and art.

I found a wealth of reference looking for all these things from the start of last century. Of course old tattoo imagery is pretty heavy with symbolism and I always really liked that. For some reason people are looking for something with meaning if it involves something as definite as a tattoo. So a lot of it is about basic emotions like love, death, power and fear. Just look at all the tattoos that have panthers, girls, hearts, daggers, and eagles in them. Conveying these basic emotions has always kind of stuck with me. They seem to be the reasons and triggers for most of the things we do.

LM: I’ve noticed a pretty strong recurrence of mixing the beauty with the beast in a lot of your work. Beautiful women’s faces on the body of a variety of different creatures, can you explain what it represents for you personally?

AH: Mixing human forms with animals is of course something that goes back to probably before the Roman and Greek days. Most well known must be the centaur, the half man/half horse. For me this intertwining of forms is a way of giving a human the additional benefits of animal qualities. Qualities that we sometimes covet. To be as fast, fierce, elegant, strong as a ……, fill in any animal that you want. And I am genuinly surprised at how good my girls look with almost any animal body you can think of.

LM: Your last book delved into the meaning of some of your own tattoos. So many of them are deeply meaningful and relevant to you – do you think that this is important for anyone who gets or wants body art?

AH: Without a doubt a first tattoo is nerve wracking for anyone. It’s forever, it needs to be beautiful, it needs to be important enough to be there till you die. If people go on getting tattoos, this becomes less and I even know people who have so many tattoos that a little joke more doesn’t make a difference. It becomes more fun and like an adornment rather than something very serious. I always wanted to keep in mind to get things that matter to me. That can be lighthearted as well. It’s very easy to be tempted to get something cool. Like, I’ve seen tattoos of beautifully embellished guns, but I don’t like the violence that comes with guns, so it would be silly for me to get one. If that’s important to everyone, I don’t know. I think you should consider a tattoo as a part of yourself and of the story that you are.

LM: Sydney/Melbourne Gallery Outre have published your book, Tattoo Darling and your upcoming book Tattoo Mystique. How did you guys cross paths and why did you choose this particular gallery to work so closely with to publish your books?

AH: As I started painting more while tattooing I had prints made that I sold at tattoo conventions and in the studio. One of the girls who work at Outré heard that through the grapevine and they placed an order for some prints. It all sort of went from there. The prints sold well, I did a groupshow with them and came over, also because Australia had been on my list of places I wanted to travel. We got along really well. That’s important I think, we clicked and understood each other and sort of have the same mentality. This makes working together on projects a lot easier and enjoyable.

LM: You have tried your hand successfully at so many different artistic mediums – sculpture, painting, tattooing and illustration to name a few. Are there any avenues you haven’t yet explored which you would like to in the future?

AH: I would love to do some industrial design. Something like designing a tea set, dinnerware or furniture, you know, things we use everyday. Mostly because I find it difficult to get my hands on things that you need that also look good.

LM: Have you found a medium you enjoy working with the most?

AH: I really like to paint with watercolors. I think it’s what I’m best at and I didn’t even had to work really hard to get it. I just had a knack for it. A good friend taught me how to do it and I was immediately hooked, also because the result was there. I think it’s much easier to like doing something that you’re good at and comes naturally to you. Having said that I do always get enthusiastic about ideas that involve other mediums. I have to hold myself back to not just do something different all the time, because I realise that to get good at something takes experience and time.

LM: You have certainly established an incredible style, the fusion of old style sailing tattoos fused with modern femininity. How has your style developed since the release of your last book?

AH: I can’t say if it has developed a lot. My inspirations have stayed pretty much the same, but I always strive to become better and perfect certain aspects and details. I have been paying more attention to backgrounds in the last year or so. The emphasis was always on the subject and for me the background wasn’t that important. But now I look into trying other options with the background to see if I can make it more interesting or different, if it will add something or not. Also I’ve been playing more with the lines, doing them in other colours, sizes or not at all. I’ve sort of been experimenting with those things.

LM: Can you tell us little bit about what’s in store for us with your new book Tattoo Mystique?

AH: For me Tattoo Mystique is a follow up to the first book Tattoo Darling. Showing the work I’ve made since then and the progress and different subjects. My good friend Mike Giant wrote a little piece about me and he made artwork for the book that refers to me, which was really great to see. And we did a really swell photoshoot with one of my best friends Fotofloor who also took the shots for my first book. This time we wanted to go outside of my space and show a little bit of the city and my surroundings in Amsterdam. I really wanted to show people a little bit about me, mostly because I miss that a lot of the time that I buy books about artists. It has all the great art in it, but sometimes not even a headshot of the artist. I’m always curious to know who is behind the work and get a feel of who they are. I hope this book shows that.

LM: Do you have any future projects you’re looking forward to after the launch of Tattoo Mystique?

AH: In March 2010 I have another solo show in London and I usually do two or three group shows a year. I have one or two commercial projects lined up, but that’s in such an early stage that I can’t really say if it will happen or not. I like to keep my options open, so I’ll see what 2010 brings…

Outre Gallery launch Angelique Houtkamp’s new book Tattoo Mystique in Melbourne and Sydney this October.

For your chance to win a copy of Angelique’s new book just email prize@theblackmail.com.au saying why you should win it.

Melbourne
Launch Friday October 9, 7pm to 9pm
Book Signing Saturday October 10, from 1pm

Sydney
Launch Friday October 16, 6pm to 8pm
Book Signing Saturday October 17, from 1pm

Next Article: Grafik – Hot Graphics

Brave Art

tristan — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 14:07:42 +0000

Words: Melissa Loughnan Images: Amber Wallis

Amber Wallis’ loose and abstracted imagery is inspired by the landscape, relationships, experiences and emotions. Her strong lines and bold use of colour often incorporate references to the landscape and the figure. Her work has inspired numerous fellow artists in Melbourne through its rawness and ability to convey often very powerful messages. Her work can be seen shortly as part of the upcoming Shilo Project at the Ian Potter Museum of Art, Melbourne, and she has solo exhibitions lined up for Sydney and Melbourne in 2010. Amber is currently living in Paris as the winner of the tenth Brett Whiteley Travelling art scholarship, awarded by the Art Gallery of NSW.

Amber’s drawings have been featured in publications in Australia, Canada and the USA. She held her first solo exhibition at Utopian Slumps in 2009 and has participated in a number of group exhibitions in such galleries as Monster Children, TCB Art Inc, Utopian Slumps and Someday. She is a graduate of the Victorian Collage of Arts, Canberra School of Art and The Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design, Canada, and was a finalist in the Robert Jacks Drawing Prize in 2008. Melissa Loughnan caught up with Amber Wallis during the last stages of her scholarship…

Melissa Loughnan: You’re currently in Paris in the final weeks of your Brett Whiteley Travelling Scholarship. Could you describe the time that you have spent overseas this year as part of the scholarship, and where you’ve been basing your practice?

Amber Wallis: My time overseas has been amazing. I flew into Vancouver, caught up with friends, did a road trip to California which was spectacular, then based myself in Montreal subletting my friend Hadji’s room while working out of Redbird studios. I spent some time in New York and Sweden and am now in the Paris studio. After Paris I will return to New York where I will be based in Brooklyn for a few months living and continuing to make art, which I’m excited about.

ML: You were born in New Zealand and spent much of your youth in Australia. Can you explain the significance of North America to you, how it inspires your practice, why you try to return there when you can, and why you chose to base the majority of your scholarship there?

AW: They are tricky questions, things I really don’t understand myself and things I find difficult to put into words. North America has some kind of magic to it I think. It pulls me back all the time and I think of it a lot. I would like to spend more of my life there. The landscape is so incredibly majestic, varied and really so huge and vast. The arts and music scene are so alive and this is important to me. To be able to be in New York or Montreal and see five incredible bands in a week, these bands would never make it to Australia because it’s so unfeasible for them. I also feel privileged to know some incredible people in the music and art world who are knee deep in those scenes so it becomes easy for me to access and have an amazing time. So it’s little things like that which draw me back.

I also chose to base a lot of my scholarship there because for me my friendships and relationships with people are paramount. I felt I needed to spend more time with my friends there because they were friendships I didn’t want to see vanish into the difficulties of living so far away and I had always wanted to live in Montreal for a while. My work is absolutely based on my life and the people and places that are important to me. So essentially I just followed my gut and headed back to a place I love.

I really love Australia and it will always be a home for me but I heard Peter Carey talking about how he is able to write about Australia more easily now that he lives in New York, I understand that objectivity and subjectivity you can find while being away from your home.

ML: Are you able to tell me who those people in the music and art world are who have been so inspirational to your work?

AW: I don’t know about being really inspirational to my work, but inspirational because they are renowned, work hard at their craft, live a creative life and are absolutely dedicated and committed to their art. I find that really inspiring. On this trip I have been lucky enough to hang out with friends who play in bands like The Pink Mountaintops, Wolf Parade and God Speed You Black Emperor. I have also met people like Jim White, Will Oldham, Emmett Kelly, Eric White, DZine, Kaws, Jose Parla and Dave Eggers. I came pretty close to meeting Ed Ruscha, he was staying in the hotel room next to me. I am sure hardly any of them remember me but it is inspiring to be around people who are living their dream and it makes me want to raise my own bar, work harder and live a more creative life. Seeing the Kandinsky show and Kirsten Baker at the Pompidou has been an artistic highlight for me.

ML: Your work is often inspired by the landscape and your physical environment. Leading on from this notion of depicting Australia more easily when abroad, are you finding that the iconography in your current work largely references the Australian landscape, or is it more of a hybrid landscape coming out?

AW: Umm both things really. Initially while I was in Montreal I was working on a lot of drawings based on hanging out with Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy and band in Montreal and New York. I had a really amazing time with them so it just kind of found its way into the art. I did all these drawings and portraits of the American landscape, tepees and sex – nothing of Australia was in those.

Then when I got to Paris I found that the soft muted colours of Paris and New York worked their way into my palette as soon as I started painting. The colours inspired a painting about Dash Snow dying, which I found really devastating. But the art has a way of feeding itself so within that painting were colours which reminded me of eucalypt markings. So the mix of the archetypal outlaw dying and eucalypts prompted other paintings. One of a bushranger dying and another of Norman Lindsay’s place.

The next few paintings became about Paris specifically, the arched treed avenues and walking along the river at night jumping over rats with my friend Rick McCrank. So sometimes they are place, story, person specific and sometimes they are many things. I always think of them as stories made up of many parts.

ML: As you’ve mentioned, your paintings don’t just reference the landscape, but also your experiences, relationships and emotional circumstances. I’d like to chat a bit more about this. Do you think that the solidified friendships and new stories that you have experienced in the last few months will resound in your works to come?

AW: Yeah I am sure they will, they already are. I think my next show will predominately be about these stories and they will be labelled more specifically so the works will be a bit more insightful and accessible to the viewer.

ML: Has there been one experience that has been most influential?

AW: Ha! Yes there has but I don’t know if I can be completely honest about that! There was a week in both New York and Paris which changed things for me in many ways. Moments of connection and then the consequent separation I always find are good fodder for the canvas. Even if it’s just as a rush of emotion to get you started, the painting then has a life of its own.

ML: OK, last question, I want to know where you’re headed next. Are you planning to return to Australia and stay there for a while, or are you already seeking out new adventures for 2010?

AW: I will be in Brooklyn for the next few months, living and doing some painting. Then back to Australia over the summer. I have no plans after that. I have some shows lined up so I will need to be working and I hope I get to do some more traveling and have some more lovely surprises and adventures in 2010, that would be amazing!

Next Article: I Heart Hiroshima – From The Heart

Smoke, Screens & Mirrors

tristan — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 14:07:20 +0000

Words: Oliver Georgiou Images: Krozm

Krozm is a Melbourne based, three-part directing collective made up of Chris Hill, Lachlan Dickie and Ewan Macleod. After only three short years together they have managed to compile an impressive reel of music videos for local acts including Midnight Juggernauts, Cut Copy, Van She and Jet. Drawing from a seemingly never ending skill set, Krozm utilise pretty much every film making technique, from hand drawn animation to CG, rotoscoping to live action, stop motion to digital effects and all the way back again. After gaining US representation with Mighty 8 earlier this year and recently directing Jet’s latest film clip in LA it would seem that Krozm are set to make Australia proud…

Oliver Georgiou: Krozm seems to have pretty much popped up out of nowhere and blown a lot of people away. How did you get together and what were you doing before?

Chris Hill: In a nutshell we all went to university together and come from backgrounds in art and music. More specifically just before Krozm I worked as a part-time director and editor for a design studio called Alter. This is where I had my first real introduction to commercial directing. Around the same time Lachlan, Ewan and I were working together on various animations, video art and short film projects. Most of our friends are musicians so after they saw our work we were asked to start creating stuff for them. This was before we were even aware that we were a directing collective. We were just having fun creating stuff together for our friends. After a few successful music videos we came to the conclusion that we were indeed a directing collective and that we could continue making music videos for a while. Although it has been a steep learning curve it was a fairly natural progression for us all.

OG: Your clips are all rich with obscure characters, from rocks with eyes to convertible driving drag queens. Where do they come from?

CH: Basically if you open your eyes the world is full of strange and wonderful characters and at the same time literature, film and art is abundant with equally bizarre characters. When the three of us get together it’s easy for us to get lost in our own little invented world of Krozm which consists of an amalgamation of reality based influences and fantasy/dream based influences. In coming up with ideas we often create a whole back story for our characters which determines the rules of any particular video. I sometimes think that the combined world of ‘Krozm’ has its own extensive mythology in which all of these characters have precise functions and meaning.

OG: The Midnight Juggernauts clip ‘Tombstone’ is definitely my favourite. A form of vented controlled animation and effects mayhem held together by the live set footage underlay. Was this a fun clip to make?

CH: For ‘Tombstone’ the Juggernauts wanted to make a low budget video which somehow used the live footage they had already shot. Our idea was that we would each take it in turns to mess with the footage via animation or lo-fi effects without necessarily taking into consideration what the other person was doing. It was definitely fun but that sort of frame by frame animation takes a long time to do. There were a few cases of RSI during the making of that video and I don’t think we’ve pitched an animated video since then.

OG: Earlier you were in LA to shoot the Jet clip ‘She’s a Genius’, also you are now being represented by Mighty 8 in the States. Is expanding your horizons outside of Australia something that you’ve proactively been in pursuit of?

CH: Although we’ve always considered our work outside the realm of Australia, I think our physical isolation from the rest of the world has to some degree helped us develop a distinct ideology and aesthetic, and I guess at the same time that’s partly why we have gained a bit of attention overseas. Strangely enough we actually seem to get far more attention from film and creative industries in Europe and America than we do within Australia. This is at times slightly disheartening but understandable considering the Australian film industry is so small, especially within the music video medium. This interest has spurred a little proactive pursuit on our part and in light of that we recently visited London and Paris to meet some production companies that we have made friends with over there. There are definitely possibilities for us expanding our horizons beyond Australia but we first have to work our way around the distance and jet lag.

OG: From clip to clip your mediums vary, as do the cameras that you use. Do you have a preference for shooting digital or film?

CH: We definitely endeavour to create something different with every video and as far as format goes it really just depends on the concept and the aesthetic we are going for. Sometimes a crunchy VHS video format shot handycam style can look just as beautiful as 35mm film shot by your favourite cinematographer. Of course we would be lying if we said that we didn’t prefer 35mm film over practically any digital format but the reality is most of the time music video budgets don’t allow for the luxuries of film. In saying that though I must admit that one of our favourite formats over the last 18 months has been the RED camera which is a digital format that can shoot at the same resolution as 35mm film and works on the same principle and file format as a digital SLR. Coupled with our favourite 35mm lenses this format can look amazing.

OG: I found myself totally mesmerised by your clip for Cut Copy’s track ‘In Ghost Colours’. The fact that it’s pretty much one slow motion shot that loops over, first backwards mirrored then forwards back to the beginning was a pretty bold move. Was it a pre-conceptualised idea or did it come together in the edit?

CH: It was definitely pre-conceptualised although we hadn’t chosen what song it was going to be for and thus it was always going to rely on the timing of the edit to make it work. The clip is actually part of some stage projections we were commissioned to make for Cut Copy’s last tour for their album ‘In Ghost Colours’. We chose five songs and our idea was to create a piece for each track that was more like a moving still image that would slowly change over time. For that particular piece we were interested in using the mirror effect that was used on a t-shirt that Dan from Cut Copy had designed for the band although as our image was moving we wanted it to somehow split and merge into different variations of the same image so that it had an almost climactic and narrative arc. To do this we basically planned out a figure eight like track for Lachlan (who stars in this video) to run along so that theoretically in the edit he would appear out of the landscape, split in half and then form back into one as he ran past the camera. We are quite fond of this piece ourselves and feel it could actually stand alone as a music video.

OG: I’ve noticed quite a few signatures and running themes throughout your work, including a lot of smoke, screens and mirrors. These are also tools of the trade for magicians. Is the trick of the eye an important part of film making for you?

CH: Film making is all about tricking an audience into believing the reality of what is happening on screen. The whole principle of film making is based on this manipulation of a created reality but specifically in regards to our work we are always looking for ways to create effects and transitions in camera rather than relying on the computer or the edit and in this way our work could be compared to a live stage magicians show. We often consider that directors have to become masters of the ‘slight of hand’, as in the ability to coerce an audience into concentrating on one element of a scene whilst you change another element. This is one of the basic principles of editing. It’s the same as a magician who uses smoke and mirrors to disguise the mechanics of his trickery. I would also say that the whole smoke and mirrors thing is probably a reference to our fondness for the mysterious and surreal and is probably directly influenced by some of our favorite sci-fi, fantasy and horror films.

OG: The film making process can be a logistical nightmare and things can go horribly wrong at any stage, have you ever had an actor, producer or hard drive explode?

CH: Yes, all of the above. Film making is like going into battle and you have to be prepared as much as you can to avoid or tackle any problem that may arise. So for the possible interest of other film makers I’m going to be completely honest in this answer. We’ve had various nightmarish incidents on our shoots – everything from a lead singer with chicken pox to one who couldn’t stand still and chewed gum all day, from drummers forgetting drumsticks to production assistants almost killing half our crew by falling asleep at the wheel after a particularly grueling all night shoot. As far as technical problems go – everything from camera’s overheating to lights exploding through to our personal favourite, a motion control technician who took five hours to program a simple motorised camera movement because he was too stoned to differentiate left from right.

Luckily for us, most of the bands we have dealt with have been great to work with but on the flip side dealing with some band managers and record labels can be it’s own logistical nightmare. Sometimes squeezing the budget out of a record label to pay for production is like trying to squeeze blood from stone and some band managers seem to think that they actually know more about film making and our own concepts than we do which is what happened with our recent Jet video. Some ‘managing genius’ who I won’t name decided it would be a great idea to re-edit the low-res internet version that we sent them by splicing in random live footage and then also add a scene they invented where the Wookie masked character barges its way past a bouncer to see a live Jet show. They then sent this re-edited, out-of-sync, low-res internet version to television stations for both standard and HD broadcast. Subsequently we all cringe whenever this video is played on TV. This was probably one of the biggest lessons we have learnt yet. Specifically not to depend on the creative integrity and general intelligence of the people who have the money. Anyway the original version of the video can be viewed on our website.

I hope that doesn’t scare off any potential clients. So to finish on a positive note we have definitely worked with a good share of very accommodating and forward thinking record labels and band managers. I would also say that mostly our shoots operate like a well oiled machine and this is partly due to all the experiences we have encountered as producers and directors along the way. We also believe that it is a necessary part of a directors skill set to solve any technical and creative problems that may arise in the middle of a shoot and I would say after a few years experience we have become quite good at this.

OG: What’s next for Krozm? Any secrets to share?

CH: At the moment it seems we have hit a point in Australia where we are being asked to pitch on a wide range of music videos but a lot of the time our ideas are seen as too weird or too risky for the average Australian pop or rock star. However every now and then someone with similar tastes and ideals lets us run with our collective imagination and we plan to take full advantage of those opportunities when they arise.

Recently we have been able to fit in a few small creative projects here in Melbourne and there are a few quite interesting things on the horizon here but nothing we can really discuss at this point. There are also a few interesting music video briefs coming in from Mighty 8 in the US so hopefully we can land one of those jobs and visit the refreshing climate of Hollywood again soon. However at the moment after our trip to Europe, which was an exhausting yet inspiring tour of meetings we would really just like to jump straight into a bigger and more challenging project. Ideally something that really lets us flex our creative muscles.

Krozm

Next Article: Karla Spetic – In Full Bloom

Constructing Things

tristan — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 14:07:05 +0000

Words: Caroline Clements Images: Tamas Jones

I wanted to find a connection between building houses and building music – a relationship between the two, for the sake of Tamas Jones. Though an architect by day and DJ by night, notably as one part of Hey Convict!, in his mind there are in fact no particular links between his two chosen ventures. For him, simply, work is one thing, and music is another, and he splits his time between the two. In the meantime, this bearded rogue has also managed to re-record a track with Dominik Von Senger, which is to be released in just a few weeks.

Caroline Clements: How did you know you wanted to be an architect?

Tamas Jones: There was no epiphany or moment but rather a slow accumulation of experience. We we’re always surrounded by buildings and it’s interesting to me to remember places from my childhood. Even seemingly ordinary ones, and realise that they have influenced me. I think architecture is a career that suits aspects of my disposition, and it’s a real challenge.

CC: Did you want to build big buildings as a child?

TJ: No, I was busy being a child. I was really into archery for a long time and then skateboarding. I made a cool spine ramp down the side of my parent’s house. My Mum and I spent loads of time with Stonnington Council to get the old Prahran verticle ramp built too. I remember the then Mayor, Chris Gahan, turning up at our place one evening wanting to find out what a skateboard ramp was all about and rummaging through my magazines to show him. I guess these were formative experiences in some manner.

CC: Tell us about where you work – Robert Simeoni Architects:

TJ: I didn’t like studying at RMIT much and didn’t do well at university. Once I finished I had some opportunities to do some private work and naively thought I would set up my own business where I could pursue both my musical interests and architecture. Looking back it was a slightly mad thing to do. I ended up DJing in clubs a couple nights a week and doing quite a lot of interior design – the Mimco store on Oxford Street in Sydney is one that’s still standing. At this time I collaborated with a good friend of mine James Staughton who now runs Workshop Architecture. Both James and his brother Stephen have been big influences on me. They are both creative, extremely disciplined, highly knowlegable and they are also nice guys. They have an impressive sense of the civic responsibility of architecture and I learnt a lot from them both technically and ethically. It was largely through their recommendation that I came to work for Robert whose work I’d seen before and really admired. Robert and I share very similar interests in architecture.

CC: What sort buildings appeal to you?

TJ: I like buildings that have a subtle quirk to them and particular kinds of spatial surprise – architecture that at first glance appears normal, even polite but that is on closer inspection actually unexpectedly beautiful. I also appreciate thoughtful detailing. My influences range from everyday things you see walking around near where the office is in Carlton, to stuff by a Melbourne partnership called Field Consultants who are no longer about, and my friend James Keulemans’ grandfather Neville Gruzman’s work in Sydney. I also really like what Durbach Block and Neeson Murcutt do.

CC: Now to the music – you’ve been playing and making music for while yes?

TJ: When I started DJing, I liked the challenge of mixing tracks together and played mostly house music, which then gradually led back into disco and sideways into rock. Eventually the whole thing kind of caved in on me and I now find myself buying almost anything that fits into what I do, which has evolved through experience playing out. But I still like the challenge of mixing tracks together.

CC: What sort of music are you into?

TJ: I largely feel my way through what I collect, meaning that I don’t try to over-analyse songs or over-determine a record’s effect. I’m certainly cautious of anything that is the latest ‘thing’ because I think the hype and newness of a piece of music can sometimes mask the fact it’s not really great. That said, I think I’m getting better at picking the longevity of music and certainly its suitability to my DJ sets. I swing from playing popularist stuff to the obscure, and the DJs I like hearing the most tend to do that well.

CC: Do you often play solo? Where?

TJ: Yup. I live in Melbourne and play around town. On Friday night I often play at The Toff in Town (who just won Best Music at the Australian Bar Awards) and occasionally on Saturdays at Revolver and Sorry Grandma! I also like playing the odd party at Joe’s Shoe Store. So far my attempts to break the interstate market have been met with at best, modest interest.

CC: And you are one half of Hey Convict! Tell us about this.

TJ: I met Jason Evans years ago and we started throwing some parties together on Sunday afternoons where we could play all sorts of stuff that I suppose might be described as Balearic but was probably a bit more erratic than that. We like smooth 70s rock, and the spikey stuff too, but we like all kinds of dance music. Occasionally these things go well together and at other times we just put them together anyway. We decided to make a mix which we called ‘Time to Noodle’, that was sold through Jetset Records in Japan and Piccadilly Records in the UK. Since then we’ve done a few more mixes and played together both here and in New York where Jason now lives.

CC: Where did the name come from?

TJ: Hanging out and saying funny things to make each other laugh. It’s an insult. The punctuation mark is our trend-setting grammatical touch.

CC: So you have a record coming out on a New York Label called Golf Channel Recordings in a couple of weeks. What’s the story behind this?

TJ: The record was to be a re-release of a song called ‘No Name’ that Dominik Von Senger recorded years ago. We put this song on a mix we did for Tim Sweeney’s Beats In Space radio program in 2007 and Dominik emailed us to thank us. We started talking about a re-release only to discover that the original tapes had been lost and to our amazement Dominik offered to do a re-record with Rosco Gee the original bassist. Jason told Phil South about it and Phil runs a great label that releases small runs. Brennan Green helped us to put together our own remix of the re-recording – it has come together nicely.

CC: Do your worlds collide much, architecture and music?

TJ: I used to look for relationships between the design I do as an architect and my DJing and I’m quite satisfied to report there is none. Both satisfy me in very different ways and I’m happy to split my time between them.

Hey Convict!

Next Article: Amber Wallis – Brave Art

From The Heart

tristan — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 14:06:50 +0000

Words: Gabriel Knowles Images: I Heart Hiroshima

I Heart Hiroshima are a prime example the modern trend that requires every band to sound like another band for referential purposes. Around the traps they’re described as sounding like various bands they actually sound nothing like. In the case of the Brisbane based and bass-less band it might just actually be their fault.

“When we just started playing I remember we first set up our Myspace page and I was filling out the influences section and I had no idea what to write. So I just wrote down what bands we kind of sounded like as a reference point for people in case they liked those bands so then maybe they’d like us. I think that whole sounding like other bands thing comes from actually planning on playing a certain type of music.” Guitarist and co-singer Matt Somers cheekily offers, confessing that the band, which also includes Susie Patten and Cameron Hawes, had found much amusement in perpetuating the myths. “It’s funny though because some of the bands we put there we don’t actually sound like but we just like and they would always turn up in reviews and on little press releases as bands that we sound like.”

While the comparisons to bands like TV On The Radio mightn’t have been entirely on the money it’s possible that they slipped through under the cover of their undoubted potential. That same potential has seen them become firm favourites with the increasingly crowded and cut throat indie scene in the UK and even make inroads into Europe itself during a grueling tour that saw them play 45 shows in just over two months.

“It was ridiculously good, I didn’t have many expectations but in Europe we had heaps of people at the shows, mainly because we were supporting big acts, it was more surreal than anything.” Somers continues. “It was good to play over there and experience something different. Because we’d played so many shows in Australia so it was nice to get excited about playing again. We also got dinner every night for free, we felt like huge rock stars!” He laughs before admitting that he didn’t tell his day daytime cafe job when he had returned so he could get the “tour lag” out of his system. “The days that we had off were all bunched up so we were pretty much playing shows every day. It was pretty much play the show and then find somewhere to stay, for free. We were zig zagging a lot, I think we went through France six times.”

Somehow in amongst all their jaunts across the continent they found time to work with Gang Of Four’s Andy Gill on their new album, The Rip. “It was pretty intense, I was really nervous.” Somers starts. “He’s also a really intensely musical guy. He’d ask us what we thought about things and if it was what we had in mind and you start to say something to him and he’d just stare at you really intently. It was really odd. A couple of times on the first day we were too scared to tell him what we really thought. But after that we were fine to tell him what we wanted. He kept asking us all the way through if everything was OK.”

Like many contemporary indie bands, I Heart Hiroshima are also Gang Of Four fans, not that Somers thinks that shines through especially. “We’ve always been a little Gang Of Four influenced but it isn’t consciously so. I think we’re a little less angular than that. Some of Cam’s parts are similar but a little more pretty.”

And with this being their second album Somers concedes that there was some apprehension about having to sit down and come up with new tracks all over again, especially considering that a heavy touring schedule had meant time to simply practice and jam together had been almost non-existent. “When we started to get this one together I was personally a little worried about having to write again. It was a bit daunting to have to write songs again, rather than just have songs and record them.”

But Somers is adamant that they’ve moved forward from their debut album. “I think we’ve definitely developed. There are a few songs from Tuff Teef that directly relate to the new stuff sound and creation wise. It’s more along the lines of the full chord songs, it’s a bit less wiry than the first one. We also had a lot more time to do the recording for this one. The sound of the songs has come out like how they were made rather than how they were recorded. We’ve also done a couple of overdubs but they’re very subtle.”

Subtle they may be, but there’s no escaping the presence of water based themes on the The Rip, with ‘River’ an particularly pleasing case in point. “There are a lot of water as freedom metaphors. I think they come from being stuck at work and living in the same place. It also probably comes from constantly touring Australia and the repetition of it. Not that it’s not fun but you need to get out every now and then. I remember I went through the ‘I’ve Been Everywhere, Man’ song and I’ve been to about half of them. There’s some really obscure places on there so I don’t know if I’ll ever make it to them all!”

I Heart Hiroshima

Next Article: Mario Hugo – Mario, Mario

In Full Bloom

tristan — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 14:06:42 +0000

Words: Adriana Giuffrida Images: Karla Spetic

Everyone knows that lIfe changes constantly, sometimes these changes are scary, and sometimes they can be extremely exciting. For Karla Spetic, her life changes involved a new country and new lifestyle which have helped shape her concepts. Her debut collection at RAFW 2008 caused everyone to look twice at the details within her garments and the care taken with each piece. This year, her collection Blossoms Will Run Away, saw the addition of beautiful nostalgic swimwear, stunning photo floral prints and scalloped tailored detailing – allowing you to be as feminine, structured, whimsical or powerful as you want to be. Adriana Giuffrida takes a moment to ask Karla how the changes in her life have influenced her design process, and proves that home is always where the heart is…

Adriana Giuffrida: You were born in Croatia, and came to Australia in 1993. How was this major transition for you? Do you find it took you some time to adjust, or did you feel at home straight away?

Karla Spetic: My whole life changed. Moving to a new country on the other side of the world at a young age was really hard, especially adjusting to the culture, food and climate. I was 11 years old and although it was hard I think it was a lot easier than it was for my mum. As a child you adapt quickly, we were refugees so we felt like total strangers but everyone around was so lovely and friendly it made it really easy for us to adjust to our new lifestyle.

AG: It must influence your design process so much, having experienced that change in lifestyle? Your collections feel quite personal and whimsical, do you feel you still connect to Dubrovnik through your designs?

KS: I miss everything about Dubrovnik especially my family and yes it’s a big part of my life and perhaps this bond somehow reflects in my work but I look for different influences every season and whatever draws my attention. So I wouldn’t say that I necessarily connect to my place of birth through my designs though.

AG: Have you been back there?

KS: Yes, I’ve been back only three times since I moved to Australia in 1993. I wish I could go every year but my work doesn’t allow for it.

AG: You launched your label in 2006 only 12 months after graduating. Was it daunting to start your own business? Did you work for anyone else in the meantime, or did you decide that you wanted to start your own label quite early on?

KS: After I graduated I did small ranges for a boutique I co-owned with other designers so I didn’t really launch my label until fashion week in 2008. I never worked for anybody in the industry, I always knew I wanted to do my own thing.

AG: I recently read that you and five other designers conceived The Graduate Store as an outlet for new designers in Sydney’s The Strand Arcade. How did this come about? Was your talent recognised while you were studying or did the store provide the platform you and other students needed to get your names out there?

KS: The head of The Fashion Design Studio, Nicholas Huxley, picked six fashion design studio graduates to set up a boutique showcasing ready-to-wear garments from their new collections. I was involved for a year before I decided to leave to focus on my own label and wholesale business. I launched my debut collection at RAFW in 2008 and this is when it all began.

AG: Do you think it’s hard for students to get taken seriously in the industry after graduating?

KS: I think that graduates don’t have as much business knowledge so this could be one of the reasons and also when you are fresh out of college you still have this desire to create unique designs that aren’t necessarily commercially viable.

AG: Your current collection Blossoms Will Run Away seems to be quite a nostalgic range. What inspired you?

KS: I was really missing home and wanted to go and visit my family but I knew I wouldn’t have time this year because of my AW09 production and preparations for fashion week. I think this stayed with me and most of the influences were related to home. I love naive paintings which are traditional to Croatian culture and my crochet pieces kind of developed from a small necklace that my grandmother crocheted and I found all these things she gave me when I moved to my new studio, so it all seemed to happen organically.

AG: It must be challenging entering new areas with your collections. With your latest, you’ve ventured into swimwear. As a designer do you feel this is a natural progression, pushing yourself in new directions with what you are doing?

KS: I never planned to do swimwear even in my debut collection last year but I just felt the need to make something that I’d like to wear and perhaps show something that was slightly different.

Karla Spetic

Next Article: Tamas Jones – Constructing Things

Mario, Mario

tristan — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 14:06:40 +0000

Words: Luke Lucas Images: Mario Hugo

Mario Hugo’s illustration, typography, design and art direction is of such a standard that it sets the minds of even the most left-brained amongst us alight. He’s as much a darling of the bloggers as he is of the world’s biggest magazines, proving that the best visual communication really does speak to everyone. Luke Lucas caught up with New York based illustrator, designer and business man to talk antique shops, drawing and the fate of print design….

Luke Lucas: Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your background. Were you born and bred in NY?

Mario Hugo: Sure – I’m a first generation American in an otherwise Argentine family. I was born in the suburbs of New Jersey, spent some time in Boston, and I’m currently living and working in New York City.

LL: When did you first decide you were going to be a designer?

MH: I’m not certain if there was a specific time. I thought there must be some more practical profession, but I’ve been drawing since I was a kid and I just kind of fell into the design stuff, with a couple of major catalysts along the way.

LL: A good portion of your work is editorial work and the printed medium really suits that level of detail you put into your illustrations. Do you ever worry that with the push for a greener world print as we know it will become an endangered species?

MH: I frequent antique shops, I love used book leafs, and I really like the idea of relics and ritual. I know where we’re headed, and I work digitally and in web all the time, but I think there is still a significant counter-current to the web, and that counter-current is where work feels most honest to me. I’m not too concerned with the death of print just yet, because I really believe in the beauty of tactile, tangible things.

LL: You seem to be as comfortable with free flowing organic forms as you are with geometric, monochromatic palettes as kaleidoscopic, graphic as illustrative – the level of versatility in your approach, as a fellow designer, it’s something that’s hard not to admire. What’s your general process for responding to a brief?

MH: Whether responding to a brief or not, I think every project is an opportunity to explore new avenues. I don’t like drawing distinctions between art, design, illustration, direction – I’d rather just make stuff. I like to treat my works as miniature experiments, where communication is the goal, and you can see the contexts build from piece to piece. I work in tangents a lot, so a small element in one piece may inspire entirely new projects. The aesthetic may change pretty dramatically, but we can’t really escape our personalities, or a tonality to the things we make, and I think tonality is more important than any style.

LL: Are there any modern day designers or past masters whose work inspires you? Where do you find your inspiration?

MH: I’m really inspired by so many things that I almost feel naming any author, artist, or designer can be a discredit to all the people who don’t get mentioned – but, I love old stuff, again, so the first three off the top of my head are maybe Bruno Munari, Paul Klee, and Ferdinand Hodler. I find inspiration everywhere really – books, movies, radio, music – and the list is forever growing.

LL: How long on average do you spend on an illustration?

MH: Too long. I’m trying to loosen up a bit now, but it’s not going too well!

LL: It’s great to see a modern designer still using as much pain, pen and ink as you do. How important are computers for what you do?

MH: I work a lot on computers for commercial projects (deadlines!), and rarely physically combine the computer and a hand drawing. It’s an either-or thing for me, really. I may spend time figuring out a composition in photoshop, and then commit that composition entirely to paper. Everything informs everything for me, and I might not stumble on techniques in my drawings if I hadn’t discovered something toying on a digital project for a client. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t wish I had more time for proper drawings though.

LL: Those album cover concepts that you did for Modern Guilt were amazing. I don’t understand how they could see such interesting work and then go “no actually let’s run with the boring cover with the helvetica type and photo that looks like a million other images”. It must have been disappointing. What’s up with Beck?

MH: Definitely an interesting project! I tend to enjoy working from context – I like making a sleeve look like the music sounds – but this project took place in a bit of a vacuum, so there was no music, a placeholder title (that eventually stuck), and I was basically asked to make whatever felt interesting to me personally. So I ran with it… for like thirty comps over the course of two months. Honestly, the process went really well, the label was very happy with the designs, but it wasn’t right for jacket I guess. Anyway, Beck’s rejection had its perks and I work almost exclusively in music at the moment. I should note, though unused as a sleeve, the graphics were later re-appropriated to support the Modern Guilt tour – no harm, no foul!

LL: Can you tell us a little bit about Hugo & Marie and how that came about? Do you find it hard to chop and change between designer-Mario and businessman-Mario?

MH: I have always been a bit ambivalent about representation, and I am very invested both in my personal work and the work of people I admire – I think it’s a sentiment a lot of artists share. Jennifer [Marie] Sims and I found Hugo & Marie was a way of expressing a love of art, design, and culture by sharing and promoting the work of talented friends whose work we really respect, and doing it all in an environment that was really open and comfortable for the artist. It can be challenging jumping from role to role, and it’s a weekend killer, but it can be fun too. Way more challenging than I’d ever imagined though!

LL: What do you look for in the artists you represent?

MH: We just want to really believe in someone’s work – there aren’t any other guidelines. I think we tend to lean towards craft and the kind of designer who lives/breathes/eats what they do.

LL: What’s your studio set up like? Do you share your space with others?

MH: We currently work from the apartment – it’s been a bit overrun by the creeping office/studio lately, so we’d like to move into a proper office sometime soon[ish]. And hopefully I’ll end up with a gigantic bar and a nice old turntable in place of the desks that take up half the apartment.

LL: You’ve recently contributed to the Some Type Of Wonderful project with shows coming up in Melbourne and Sydney early this month. What do you think of the project and how did you come up with the idea for your response?

MH: It’s a great project, and an awesome outlet. When I’m asked to participate in exhibitions with open briefs, I typically take the opportunity to play with new ideas – milky, icy typography felt on the money for February and the technique has inspired some other recent type treatments I’m happy with – everything informs everything.

LL: Any plans to come to Australia? Do you know much of the Australian design community?

MH: No travel plans at the moment, but I ought to mention one of those catalysts up in the “When Did You Know?” question was at the Semi-Permanent conference back in 2002 or 2003, so I’m well aware of Australia’s rather awesome design scene!

LL: What next for Mario Hugo? Any interesting projects on the horizon?

MH: We have a big new Hugo & Marie project launching in the next couple months which I’m super excited about, I’ll have a bunch more music packaging to share soon, and I’ve been delinquent about a collaborative piece I’m working on with Micah Lidberg, which reminds me…

Mario Hugo’s work appears in Lifelounge’s Some Type Of Wonderful this month in Melbourne and Sydney

For your chance to win a Some Type Of Wonderful calendar just email prize@theblackmail.com.au and tell us why you should win.

Melbourne – October 1-16
Opens Friday Octopber 2 at No Vacancy, 191 Little Lonsdale St, City

Sydney – October 23-28
Opens Friday October 23 at China Heights, 257 Crown St, Darlinghurst

Luke Lucas speaks at Semi Permanent on October 9 & 10 at the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre. Book tickets.

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