Skratch Magazine April 2000 interview.

Joe: When I was a little kid I drew silly pictures of Dracula and space ships. Not much has changed really. I dropped Dracula for puzzle men, bunnies, sexy eggs, and crying hearts. I’m sure the prince of darkness will show up again soon. My mom thought I once drew a picture of Dracula with a big dong. I assured her it was just the back of his cape peaking between his legs. I was probably eight. As for inspiration, I’d have to praise Dali and Vonnegut. Mark Ryden is a definite favorite among the new painters. If we’re talking inspiration on an inside level then I guess I would have to say the voices in my head tell me what to do. Sure we argue a lot over opinion and we fight over circumstance and probability but we can make pretty pictures at times. Illustration is a dirty word for painting pictures. I’m more of a painting pictures type. I just want to make a living by painting so sometimes I’ve got to call it illustration.

Skratch: How old are you? Is there a thriving Art scene where you live in San Jose?

Joe: I’m 27, wait, yeah that’s right 27. About six months ago I was pulled over on my skateboard and asked how old I was. I replied “21”. The cop said ok and I didn’t realize until a good five minutes later that I was 27. If there’s an art scene in San Jose I don’t know of it. There are a few galleries around but most are pretty glitzy or just a pain to submit to. I don’t even know many artists around here. I guess I’ve been to involved with the underground music scene. Art and music have their own scenes and I’ve never known anything more than punk rock. Every now and then I have art shows at small galleries, record stores, even at hair salons or houses.

Skratch: How have you incorporated your art with music? I know you are in a band from San Jose called The Unit Breed.

Joe: Well, I’ve run a record label for about nine years now and do all the art and layout for it. The record label is called Nothing Enterprises. Actually it bounces around from Nothing, Nothing Everything, and Nothing Enterprises. The Unit Breed is something I’ve been working on for the past two and a half years. It’s a very elaborate recording project. I spend a lot of time writing and recording songs. We just got back from a small tour around most of the west coast. Washington and Oregon were very kind to us. Our new CD “A Proxy of Noise” comes with a 10” x 10” hardbound art book. Each song is illustrated or vise versa. I wrote songs from paintings and painted pictures from songs. There are 12 full color high-res paintings and 14 songs. Even a fold out in the middle. Most of the paintings accompanying this interview are in the book. More recently I put out a five band compilation called “The All Seeing Monotony”. Each band gets 15 minutes of space to include however many songs they can fin. Yogurt, Brain Blood Volume, Outfit, The Unit Breed, and Anhedonia are on this compilation. I recorded and mixed everything with help from the bands. The Unit Breed songs on here are the most recent. The CD comes with a full color print 5 1/2” x 11” . I plan on making a series of these comps.

Skratch: Do you see computer art wiping out real handmade art with paint, oil, Etc.? What are your feelings on this subject?

Joe: No way. There is nothing better than viewing a nice painting. Looking into the brush strokes, and wondering how the hell did that person do what they did? A painting makes you want to sneak a touch, or let your mind get lost in its history. I can look at a painting for hours. I can look at a computer generated piece for five second. Oh – nice way you scanned in and touched up a photo. Fantastic collage. There are very few computer artists that do anything for me. Then again I am very ignorant of current art and the artists who dabble in electricity.

Skratch: Is all your art created on computer only?

Joe: Hmmm, well no. None of it is. I paint mostly with Acrylics using very fine brushes. The kind that has tips smaller than needlepoints. I use Oil and Gouache occasionally. Mostly paint on Masonite, if I’m out I’ll use Illustration board. I draw everything out first on tracing paper. That way if I want to add something I don’t know will look all that good I can draw it on a separate piece of tracing paper and then move it around the picture area. This helps allot with composition, getting things to move right. Once I have the drawing completely finished I trace it onto apiece of gessoed Masonite. Then the paint comes. I tend to block out all large parts I’m painting with Frisket. That way I can be loose with landscapes and paint over my drawing without losing anything. The drawing doesn’t always stay the same. Somewhere during the long painting process I change things, add and delete elements. “Here’s a better idea!” myself will yell to itself.

Skratch: I’m a big Salvador Dali fan. I see a lot of similarities in your art. Is he one of the most influential artists for you?

Joe: Yes. Dali is the king. I think I’m going to submit portfolios to large galleries as the reincarnated Salvador Dali. I will send past and current work from before death to present living status. Dissect to Emulate!!!

Skratch: What are your goals as an illustrator? It’s a tough gig. What keeps your head up?

Joe: Goals are ludicrous. I wish to abolish personal freedoms by minimizing the production of anything artistic. I wish to start a world ballet on “Vote Armageddon”. I wish to live off of things I like to do best, mixing sound and color, composing infinities. I wish not to drown in water waist deep. There’s no way of stopping this roller coaster, when the much gets neck deep and you’re dodging sharks. Ideas reproduce like bunnies.

Skratch: What background or education do you have in art?

Joe: I used to do a lot of finger painting before school. During elementary school I mad a clay dinosaur for a contest. Everyone told me it would win. I left the room during the judging and when I came back someone had smashed the horns of my Triceratops together. I didn’t even get third place. In Jr. High I was held up with a knife for my sandwich during lunchtime. I laughed at the kid and he went away. In High School I did two portfolios’ in an A.P. class for college credits. I went to the Academy of Art in S.F. one year on a scholarship. I hated it and dropped out. For the following three years I hosted insane punk rock shows and painted really dark pictures. I went back to the Academy of Art for six years on grants. I paid about 200 bucks a semester until my grants ran out then I dropped out with five classes left. All five classes were liberal art classes, meaning they had nothing to do with my major and I had fulfilled my quota of art classes to graduate. The Liberal art classes I did take I slept through and passed with high marks. I had one teacher that kept me interested the whole six years. His name is Time Racer and is a very good illustrator. I watched a lot of T.V. as a kind and read a crap load of comic books. Now that’s good art education!

Skratch: What is the most emotional or most personal piece you have created? Please shed some light on it for us.

Joe: Most of my paintings are very personal. It’s pretty hard to place one in front of another. A lot of my paintings lately have to do with losing my hearing in my right ear, the ever growing population of deceased friends, old and new lovers, arguing opinions with myself, loneliness, spiritual enlightenment, atheism, knowing originality doesn’t exist, and a lot of trying to fill the time. Of course I try and keep things very cynical and fun. What good is anything when you can’t poke fun at it? Sorry I can’t elaborate on a particular piece. If I did I might ruin your idea of the painting. Who wants writers to explain their stories? I’d rather get to the end of a book on my own and be excited by my interpretation. I’m up for answering specific questions. The characters are skinless and going nowhere, yes stuck in a loop of nowhere fast. Most of the paintings submitted have writings that might help in definition.

Skratch: Where do most of your visual concepts come from? Dreams, in the moment, etc?

Joe: I steal them from other artists. Actually I don’t even paint them. I copy everything straight out of books.

Joe:. …Ok, so maybe not. The many people who live inside my head make up stories, movies, and plays, whatever. I just try and gain control and copy ideas down. Or I sit around late at night on those nights I can’t sleep, which are plentiful, and conjure up symbols and characters to relay my problems. I spend a lot of time thinking up ideas for paintings. I try to ling everything together. The objects that might not mean too much in the end hat the greatest importance. Are you trying to make me crazy with this question? I’m going to stop right now.

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