Hobos and Homer Simpson seem to pop up frequently in your work. What fascinates you about homeless vagabonds and Matt Groening’s lethargic father figure?
I find hobos to be great drawing subjects because they can be such interesting and comical characters. I think that they represent finding pleasure in many of the simpler things or perhaps represent living outside the system. Of course, in real life, this often isn’t true– but that classic hobo with the bag on the stick slung over his shoulder, wandering throughout the country without any ties… it’s nice to fantasize about.
Homer Simpson is the quintessential American person in many ways. He is almost passionately ignorant, lazy, totally out of shape, and dependent on Duff’s and bad entertainment to keep his tiny mind busy. I sometimes feel surrounded by Homer Simpsons. I also think he looks funny.
Your work is at times instilled with a sense of social frustration that’s mirrored in your writings. What annoys you most in the world?
Well, I am frustrated with so much that I’m not even going to attempt to make even the most basic list. I think our world is fucked. I think our Western society is in decay, all religion is an illusion, our planet is dying and people are morons who don’t read books. That’s probably a good “fiery” short statement. I just don’t see how the current average human being can really rise above the filth to repair what’s left of our planet. Therefore, it’s frustrating to me. While I can make personal modifications in my own life, it doesn’t really impact or change anything.
It’s also staggering how many truths are really lies. The average person might buy a 99-cent jug of “orange juice” at the store and think they are being healthy. Of course, it’s only 10% juice and there’s high-fructose corn syrup in it, among other unnatural things. The most frustrating thing is that people think we live in some enlightened age and are on the threshold of greatness. If only that were true…
Describe your ideal post-apocalyptic scenario.
Unfortunately, it often seems that within my lifetime the world will witness some kind of horrible event. Ideally, I would like to be a traveling bard/warrior, riding an armored horse (with makeshift scrap armor). I would battle mutated survivors, religious cults and all elite bastards… infiltrating their underground bunker mansions and stealing their gold/water.
Describe your perfect woman.
Hmm… my perfect woman. I guess she would have to be fairly skinny, allergic to religion, not into making kids and intelligent. It would also be cool if she rode a motorcycle and had a bachelor’s degree in space science. Maybe if she could also like Judas Priest and be from another country (I could get citizenship!). Oh yeah… she can’t be clingy either.
I went to a Dimmu Borgir show in the O.C. recently (with about 500 teenagers), and it was possibly the worst live music experience of my life. I’m not entirely opposed to metal, in spite of my ordinarily soft-tempered musical inclinations– the aesthetic of vintage metal, for instance, is highly alluring. What aspects of metal do you identify with, and is there anything about it that you dislike?
Well for starters, Dimmy Borgir are like a bastardized WWE version of extreme metal, so I can only imagine how horrible it was to sit through their set. The crowd probably had the collective intelligence of a skunk, but I realize that they are kids… it’s slightly understandable.
Metal, to me, is more than music. It’s a spirit of rebellion and defiance, pride in self, connection to nature, questioning what you are told and general escapism. Perhaps you are empowered by beauty in life and “soft-tempered musical inclinations,” as you put it… so be it. If that’s what gives you an escape from reality and sense of personal strength, then listen away.
I am pretty much a loner type of guy. I spend a lot of time alone and metal really gives me a sense of confidence and self-empowerment. Metal also helps me to escape from reality and confront thoughts on death, the cosmos, the future of humanity and many topics pop music fails to address.
I guess my main problem with metal is people’s false perception of it. Equating it with stupidity, “cheesiness” and immaturity. I dislike a lot of the über-elitism that plagues metal. In certain cases it’s called for, but it can tend to be annoying. I mainly listen to a lot of old metal for the most part.
Who are your favorite artists and illustrators, and how has their work impacted your own aesthetic?
I like looking at art by Mark Delong, Ben Schumacher, Frederic Fleury, Justin B. Williams, Mehdi Hercberg and Jason McLean, to name a few. These particular artists that I have mentioned have really influenced me in becoming more loose, free and spur-of-the-moment in my drawing/painting. For such a long time, I was very restrained and so particular about even the smallest mistake. Over time I mentally overcame this problem, thanks in part to discovering some of these artists. I like how “fun” and imaginative these artists are. I also like some old dead people such as Pieter Bruegel and the American folk artist Mary Ann Willson.
What role does irony play in your work?
I think my work is ironic in the sense that it’s seemingly an escape from reality– by creating odd looking characters and situations– but at the same time, it embodies so much of our actual world and its many problems. I might draw some aliens at a bar, and this is not the least bit realistic. At the same time there might be cameras in the bar, a depressed hobo in the corner, trash all over the floor and peeling wallpaper. You see?
Are you working on any big projects at the moment? What can you tell us about the graphic novel you mentioned on your blog?
I’m always just working on little projects here and there. The one big thing I am going to be starting in the near future is a snowboard design for Monument Snowboards. The graphic novel is merely one of my wild dreams/on-and-off projects that may not ever see the light of day. I can’t really work on it in just any mood, and I often have other projects that have deadlines and stuff. |
i didnt want to sound like a broken record by being so impressed with everyone you spotlighted, because i loved them all. so just because this one’s different, i have to say:
i do not *care* for this mans methods and productions. not one bit. UGH.
Not to say that’s not a valid point of view, but it feels surprisingly harsh– care to explain what rubs you the wrong way so much?
rubs me the wrong way is right. because my reaction to it may or may not be further from the truth, but the gut feels that it’s just too affected. it’s pop culture, bright colors and pleasingly cynical imagery thats purposefully drawn weird and styled up to ask for the audience that doesnt care if you can draw. reminds me in a bizarre way of K Records from the early 90s. that kind of deliberate incompetence with passion to spare but fuck all for talent. it wasnt endearing to me with them either, they just sounded like bad writers and worse artists. the bit about recurring imagery and the rationalization for homer simpson just sounds like a lazy, LAZY rationalization for a cheap gag. the bit about irony just strikes me as classically pretentious and saying a lot while meaning nothing.
as always though, it’s open to change. maybe i’m getting the wrong idea/carrying prejudices/applying 2am logic. i’m not going to be so arrogant and outraged and pretend this is objectively fraudulent, but for now i have very bad instincts about what looks like his way of discussion-as-afterthought for most of what he does.
it’s difficult to find designers/artists whose style i vehemently disagree with where i’m also interested in talking about it. usually theyre just exhausting and i ignore them, so it’s not like i hate that this article is here. just to be clear.
me and my friend hayley met him online once and i think we freaked him out because we told him he was cute…. maybe this is making me look like a dumby or something but it really happened…not much i can do about changing it and it was like 2 years ago so whatever. oh and by online i mean myspace. oh and i really like his art…i know what the dude above is saying…i think theres this whole copycat trendy weird colorful darkside 80’s and 90’s cartoon refferencing art going on right now and its kind of annoying, but i think matt is the real deal. i think this is the way this dude actually draws. but i could be wrong. but the finally punk one is soo good. how can that be denied?
I want to steal gold/water, too.
He looks just like Patti Smith. I don’t know whether this is significant or not.
I am a big fan of the koalas_in_love journal. I think its a great read, and the collective imagery and artwork are the most interesting things I keep up with on the whole wide internet. I was introduced to him when iMomus wrote an article in his own blog about him 2 years ago, and have kept up to date since. With all the “twittering” and flakey social networking today, its nice to read some heartfelt thoughts and see a constantly changing selection of hand picked/hand drawn imagery. I repeat, Matthew Lock is the best thing on the internet!
It was once thought important to be able to draw, in order to call oneself an artist. Now any idiot with an ego can make that claim. How sad.