patch whisky interview by ASHTON CHANDLER
Whisky can be smooth, but sometimes dangerous. Patch Whisky is smooth, but dangerously fun. His art is alive with playful creatures called ‘winkles” which often embrace the surfaces of skateboards, surfboards, t-shirts, and anything and everything that can become a suitable canvas. Originally from West Virginia, Patch came down to Charleston, South Carolina after studying graphic design at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. I met up with Patch in his home studio while the spring sea breeze encircled his easel and new winkles were born. We are all wanting to know, what is the origin of the name, Patch Whisky? Patch whisky, I made that guy up— he was a character from a video game, a wrestler I made up when I was about 14 years old. He kind of died away until I went to Pittsburgh (to college). I didn’t want people to know who I was and he was still in my head, so I took on the name. He’s based on my childhood experience of watching cartoons and wrestling. What did your first creatures look like, and where do these guys come from? My first creatures were more like a square with sticks and beady eyes—they were on coffee tables, dresser drawers, and other furniture. I wasn’t a standout artist when I was a young kid, so it’s been a long process to get where I’m at now. They’ve totally evolved, even since I’ve moved down to Charleston. My palette has definitely changed from doing a lot of colorful backgrounds to the more colorful foregrounds I do now. Does your work have any underlying meanings or messages you want to get across? I just try to keep it fun because there is so much serious stuff going on in the world. I want to try to keep people’s mind off of that and give them a world of bright colors and bright times. Even my scary creatures are still kind of silly. I just like to have a good time and I think that shows through my work.
How has graphic design influenced your paintings and drawings? I would say my practice of graphic design leads to the way stuff flows onto the canvas: the movement, the colors, and the overall balance. My eye has been trained to know what looks good and what needs to be improved during the process. There are rules and guidelines that you are allowed to break, it’s just a matter of how you break them. I still do a bit of graphic designing to make t-shirts and prints, but I think it’s more real to paint something. A computer can mass-produce stuff, but painting has brush strokes and is more real. What common link do you believe exists between skate culture and street art? The street art culture is a very rebellious type of thing; you don’t have to ask anyone or get permission. Skateboarders are exactly the same way: middle fingers up, they’re going to do what they want to do. A lot of them do street art and a lot of the graphics on the bottom of their skateboards are some bad mo-fos from the street art world. You paint on vinyl records, guitars, and surfboards… what’s next? Is there anything you won’t paint on? What have I not painted on? There’s got to be something! I don’t know, I’ll paint on anything if my paint will stick to it.
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