COMFORT Magazine Issue #2

GO HARDER. GO AGAIN.

RAPHA PERFORMANCE TRAILWEAR IN THE SHAPE OF A DIAMOND TRAIL MARKER, WE HAVE A NEW EMBLEM. BUT OUR MENTALITY TOWARDS RIDING WILL NEVER CHANGE. THE BEAUTY OF MOUNTAIN BIKING FOR US LIES IN THE COMMITMENT, THE REPETITION, AND THE COUNTLESS HOURS IT TAKES TO CAST YOUR OWN PROGRESSION ON THE TRAIL. NOTHING WORTHWHILE EVER COMES EASY BUT FOR THOSE WILLING, THE REWARDS ARE INFINITE. GO HARDER. GO AGAIN.

SS21 COLLECTION

RAPHA.CC/MTB

Co-Editor-in-Chief Robert Leblanc CO Editor-in-Chief & Creative Director Yudo Kurita Beauty Editor at Large Sara Tagaloa Contributing Editors Morian Thomas Nicholas Amato Andrew Wren Cover Design Cameron Morse

COMFORT is and always will be FREE.

Logo Design Lucas Grassmay

Featuring 550 BC AJRadico Antoine d’Agata Audrey Nuna Aurel Schmidt Avi Gold Caleb Flowers Chineway Okona Clinton Van Arnam Damar Davis Daniel Regan David Donald Sutherland Ernest Rareberg Fawn Rodgers Frank Nesbit Ivana Dama Joshua Gordon Kucka Kyle Keese Lynssey Adario Maria Dora Mason Silva Nathaniel Mary Quinn OAA Roman Kamalar Ryan Preciado Topaz Jones

Contributing Stylists Avigail Collins Kailee Takashima Karolyn Pho Niambi Moore Nicholas Amato Sebastian Jean Shaojun Chen

Contributing Photographers Andrey Tarasov Antoine d’Agata Caleb Flowers Daniel Regan Hiroyuki Seo Joshua Gordon Korth Avens Lynssey Adario Mason Silva Micaiah Carter Michelle Corvino Nayquan Shuler Nori Rasmussen Yulissa Benitez Zachary Harell Jones Zong Li

Thank You to: Arc’tryx Arc’tryx Veilance Brownstone Carhartt WIP Georgia ic25 Helmsleyway Huf Maiden Noir Murmurs LA Nike The North Face PRMTVO Rapha Salon Recordings Visvim

Contributing Beauty Sara Tagaloa Tammy Yi Tiago Goya Contributing Writers Andrew Wren Essence Harrden Frank Nessbit

Editor’s

Welcome to issue 1 of COMFORT MAGAZINE. Moving forward we will aim to present an ever evolving magazine circulating around our genuine curiosities and cultures we move within. The magazine will use it’s ideas as it’s foundational aesthetic and evolve visually with each issue.

We view our magazine as an art object. As we move deeper into the age of digitalization we find it important to create and share “media” that is truly tangible. As the world continues to spiral we hope that this can be a place to discuss ideas openly , with a focus on unity over division.

We are deeply grateful to the individuals who contributed their work to this issue and are truly humbled by the generosity they showed by giving us their time and allowing us to showcase their work. We hope you enjoy our first issue.

- Robert LeBlanc & Yudo Kurita

Spring/Summer

INDEX

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LYNSSEY ADARIO

Badakhshan Province, Afghanistan 2009

portfoLynsey Addario has dedicated her life to telling the human side of conflict. Creating images over time that have told a countless number of peoples stories.

In 2009 she was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for international reporting. Lynsey has the ability to connect the viewer with the subject almost immediately. Something that seems to be of the utmost importance when telling the stories of people who are going through extreme situations, without this connection it’s easy for us to ignore these realities. But what Lynsey does is destroy this ignorance with each photograph.

They are quite literally impossible to ignore.

The following photographs are a collection of images from Lynssey’s career up until now.

Pademba Road Prison in Freetown, Sierra Leone 23 November 2006

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A boy dives into a pool at the Mosel Palace, formally Owned by Sadam Hussain. Since the fall of the SadamRegime civilians enjoy the riches of the former leader.

Iraq 2003

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(1) An Iraqi women searches for her husband after a massive fire at a gas factory. Basra, Iraq 2003 (2) Fourth Infantry Division soldiers escort a detainee to be photographed. Balad, Iraq 2003

2

1

(1) A man feeding seagulls at dawn. Baghdad, Iraq 2011 (2) Night time drag racers near Jadriya Lake. Balad, Iraq 2010

2

Women and children, who have expressed their unwavering support for the Islamic State, wait to be registered at Hol Camp. Recently fleeing the Deir Ezzour Province in the final days of The Islamic State’s presence in Baghouz.

Northern Syria 2019

Nine year old Chuol fishes for Talapia in the swamps Surrounding his host village. Several months ago Choul was chased out of his home village with his grandmother and sister. Their village was attacked which led to his father and grandfather being burned alive.

South Sudan 2015

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Lynssey Adario

Displaced due to intense fighting between the Congolese Army, the FDRC, and Tutsi leader Nkunda’s soldiers, these Congolese people take refugee in an abandoned Catholic mission in Shasha. Due to the fighting many civilians have been forced to leave.

Their homes all over the North Kivu region. This mass displacement led to a severe health crisis. In the year leading up to this photo roughly 410,000 Congolese civilians have been displaced by the fighting. This is in addition to the displaced civilians of the year before putting the total at 800,000 people ripped from their homes in the DRC. Democratic Republic of Congo 2007

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Families await doctors and food supplies in Kenya.

Due to an extreme drought this year has been specifically difficult and has created dangerous levels of malnutrition.

Turkana, Kenya 2011

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(1) Rebel forces burn tires to mask themselves from Qaddafi’s air strikes. Libya 2011 (2) Syrian refugee, Hanaa, naps beneath a mosquito net. Like many other Syrian refugees, Hanaa works ten hour days to maintain her place in the settlement where her family landed. She earns $5 a day picking cucumbers in the Bekaa Valley. Lebanon 2015

2

1

(1) A patient at the Kandahar Insane Asylum. Patients are chained to walls and locked in court yards. Decades of war have led to severe mental illness throughout the population, with very little finical support to fund their treatment. Afghanistan 2001 (2) Blue Ridge and Irvine Fires. California, USA 2020

2

Taliban fighters. Pakistani Afghanistan border 2008

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(1) Taliban fighters. Pakistani Afghanistan border 2008 (2) Salim Shaheen’s son gets married in Kabul. Afghanistan 2010

2

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(1) Afghan women police being trained by Italian Caribinieri. Afghanistan 2010 (2) US Marines with the Female Engagement Teams visit a clinic in Now Zad. North Hemland 2010

2

Hidden in a basement in Herat City, friends and family of a bride and groom dance to Hindi music during a bridal shower.

Since taking power of nearly 90% of Afghanistan in 1996, the Taliban had banned music, dancing, make-up, interaction between men and women outside of the home, and most forms of entertainment, all of which have been deemed grounds for sever punishment.

Herat City, Afghanistan 2001

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Recruits on day two of the Crucible, the 54 hour series of physical tasks and events which they must pass before officially becoming Marines at Paris Island, in South Carolina.

United States of America 2019

Recruits during the Crucible at Paris Island. South Carolina, USA 2019

Recruits during the Crucible at Paris Island. South Carolina, USA 2019

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(1) US Border Patrol agents patrol along the border of Mexico near Penitas. Texas, USA 2019 (2) Robert Rodriguez, US Border Patrol agent, apprehends a person attempting to illegally immigrate. Texas, USA 2019

2

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(1) Michelle watches her son, Brandon, in Yamhill, Oregon. Due to sexual assault by her father when she was 15 Brandon’s father and grandfather are the same person. United States of America 2018 (2) Iraq and Afghanistan veteran, Daniel McDowell is attempting to recover at a Baltimore recovery station. United States of America 2018

2

A mother and daughter asking for spare change near a bombed out bridge on the road from Sana to Sa’da.

Yemen 2018

Gasim Foreich was burned when her home was bombed in an airstrike on the outskirts of Sa’ada. Gasim is 21 years old.

Yemen 2018

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Lynssey Adario

20 year old Miriam Hamdan and her daughter Jenna Ali Hatman. Jenna is only 1 year and 8 months old and has just been diagnosed with lymphoma due to extreme undernourishment.

Something that has become common at the UNICEF feeding center in Northern Yemen.

Sa’ada, North Yemen 2018

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A solider with the 173rd Airborne Battle Company on a battalion-wide mission in the village of Yakachina in The Korengal Valley.

Afghanistan 2007

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Lynssey Adario

US troops carry the body of their Staff Sergeant, Larry Rouge, who was killed when Taliban insurgents ambushed their squad in the Korengal Valley.

Afghanistan 2007

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1

(1) A Sudanese People’s Liberation Army solider walks through the remains of Hangala Village. Darfur, Sudan 2004 (2) As fighting continues across Darfur between Arab nomads backed by the government and the Fur and Zargawa tribes, hundreds of thousands of people are internally displaced from their homes and head for refugee camps, like this woman riding through Kalma Camp in Nyala. Darfur, Sudan 2005

2

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(1) Sudanese People’s Liberation Army soldiers wait for truck repairs as a sandstorm approaches. Darfur, Sudan 2004 (2) Sudanese rebels walk past dead Sudanese government soldiers. Darfur, Sudan 2005

2

Italian sailors rescue 109 African migrants coming from Gambia, Mali, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Guinea, and Nigeria. The Italian Navy has several ships patrolling international and Italian waters at an attempt to rescue migrants and bring them safely to the Italian shore. Since the beginning of 2014, roughly, 120,000 refugees have landed in Italy, more than doubling the amount for the entire year of 2013.

Sea between Italy and Libya 2014

A man walking through the forest in Rethung Gonpa Village outside of Trashigang.

Bhutan 2007

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Lynssey Adario

24 year old Taimaa with her new born daughter Heln.

Heln was born a week ago in the refugee camp in Thessaloniki.

Greece 2016

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1

(1) Sudanese rebels with the SLA, ran by Abdul Waheed, on patrol through the villages of Golol and Kutrum. The hospitals in both villages are being ran with no doctors and limited medicine. The SLA blames the government for removing international help in their region.

Darfur, Sudan 2004 (2) Two women walking through a sandstorm. Darfur, Sudan 2004

2

1

(1) Sudanese rebels with the SLA, ran by Abdul Waheed, on patrol through the villages of Golol and Kutrum. The hospitals in both villages are being ran with no doctors and limited medicine. The SLA blames the government for removing international help in their region.

Darfur, Sudan 2004 (2) Abdu Sourouj Village, burned out after an attack by the Sudanese government. Darfur, Sudan 2004

2

Thousands of Syrians cross from Syria into Northern Iraq.

Iraq 2013

Los Angeles

Mythology

by Frank Nesbitt

Pareidolia is defined as seeing familiar patterns in random objects or series of phenomena. The human tendency to seek patterns in random information is both natural and somewhat detrimental. Clinging to our own beliefs we hope to make sense out of the insensible, providing far-reaching explanations for the inexplicable.

In many ways, my time in Los Angeles had become a series of phenomena in itself that I have yet to explain. It was not the fires and it was not the irregularity of tectonic plates that caused the earth to shatter so frequently I had become immune to the feeling. It wasn’t the winds and it wasn’t the drought. It may have been the low variables of change in weather. Sunshine, after a while, makes for more delusion than a good time.

Above Sunset Boulevard tucked away on a small hillside road, erected in French Gothic splendor with castle-like peaks, towers, and turrets unmistakable to any passerby rests The Chateau Marmont. If Los Angeles is a place of fairy tales, this is the storybook palace that holds them all.

The Chateau Marmont was to Fred Horowitz as Versailles was to The Sun King. A fantastical idea on epic scale with no means spared. Except, one of these places is less adaptation of a French Chateau and the other, more realistically. Nonetheless, both constructed as extravagant accommodations for the new guard. And what Marmont lacked in halls of gilded mirrors for royal reflections, it made up for with Hollywood, a different kind of Monarchy.

Words like “adaptation” feature frequently when telling of Los Angeles. A city built not for its inhabitants but for its visitors and the studios that manufacture the industry by which the town is ruled.

Landmarks become “locations” sets for “adaptations” and then destinations for tourists to revel in the shroud of Hollywood’s Golden Age (LA’s final frontier).

I had met this ivory fortress before, Marmont. Or least I’d believed to. Its halls dressed in red drapery and the way the amber lighting from art-deco sconces rested on my skin was an all too familiar glow. Even my soles stomping the cobblestone entry, for what I was unsure was the first time, felt like a fond encounter.

It was not until, upon being met by the front desk receptionist, who greeted me by name with no introduction “We are pleased to have you back with us Mr. Nesbitt”–– while handing me the keys to Bungalow 2–– that I was convinced someone had lived this.

BUTTERFLY

by Joshua Gordon

Joshua Gordon

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But-

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Joshua Gordon

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Butterfly

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Joshua Gordon

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SPACE

HAIR & MAKE UP Tammy Yi

PHOTOGRAPHY Yudo Kurita

AUDREY

NUNA STYLIST ASSISTANT Niki Friedman

STYLIST Avigail Collins

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CONG TRI patent coat

previous pages: ACNE t-shirt MIKIO SAKABE jacket

SIMONE ROCHA head scarf KIDS OF BROKEN FUTURE jacket & pants suit

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SIMONE ROCHA head scarf KIDS OF BROKEN FUTURE jacket & pants suit

“ I’m undercover

I’m underwater

But I didn’t notice ‘Cause I was too focused On all of the tokens I wanted the bonus

I shot the valet

He parked in my space space space I just need some space space

Don’t make me the one to say it Don’t make me the one to say it ‘cause I can’t come down

I’m only human now

ACNE shirt

I just need some

space space space

I just need some

space space

I just need some

space space space

Sick of the cinema, I’m burning Hollywood I am the carpenter’s daughter, you know I could My heart is slowing ‘cause all of the fast food I flush it down ‘cause I know that I have to

I just need some space

NIKE ESC jacket & polo

STYLIST OWN hat FOO AND FOO hoodie JULIET JOHNSTONE pants

space, space, space I’m only human, human human human,human,human human,human,human No, no

human, human, human space, space, space I just need some space space I just need some”

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NIKE NSW jacket SIMONE ROCHA necklace

Baja, MEXICO Venice, California, USA Watts, California, USA 9400 Arrondissement Paris , FRANCE Takawa Bay Logos, NIGERIA Port Royal, Kingston, JAMAICA Hackney Downs, London, UK Dalston, London, UK LES, New York City, New York, USA Newport News, Virgina, USA Venice High School, California, USA Imperial Courts Housing Projects, California, USA Tompkins Square Park, New York, USA Oakwood Park, California, USA Marina del Rey, California, USA Malibu, California, USA

A Life in Debt

A Film by Daniel Re-

Score & Edit by Jo “22”

A life in debt was made from archival 8mm footage shot over the course of a three year period - the film was made during isolation as a cathartic visit to a world prior, an earmark of the way we once were.

Honoring tradition, ritualistic behavior, and our basic human need to be nurtured and nurture one another. The inception of the title derived from an overwhelming sense of gratitude, reflecting on these moments shared and captured meeting the idea of just how indebted we all are to our collec-

DAN REGAN

DAN REGAN

How Are You Feeling?

Styling by Niambi Moore

Portraits by Yulissa Benitez

Assisted by Melissa Devi Morales

ERNEST RAREBERRG MUSICIAN

How are you feeling?

Very limited with time. So overwhelmed.

Where is home?

Wherever I lie my head. For now, home is New York.

Where did you first find your love for music?

I get very bored with things, this is one of those things that stuck around for longer than a day. Not sure where I first found it due to there being many encounters with it. But, it’s here now and that’s what matters.

Is there anyone in particular who has inspired you the most throughout your life?

I think I’ve just recently become conscious of my inspirations to the point where it actually matters. I could name a few but the ones I hold dear to me are more recent and I am interested in where that will take me.

What does utopia look like to you?

Disney World and the 24/7 5th avenue Apple store I used to spend nights at.

What does originality look like to you in the 21st century?

I think getting to the place where you can have even a fragment of your own thoughts and ideas, building a foundation based off other opinions and truths and then doing what you may with it. There’s a difference between an idea accepted by a people and one which creates a people.

What advice do you have for anyone pursuing music?

We are the crazy ones.

What makes you uncomfortable?

A lack of leisure, having no time to think.

Whats next?

Well I don’t know what’s next and that’s the best part. I’m just drifting through life and experiences. I really don’t think about it that much. I just know I have to do something better than the last. Sort of like an animal living by instinct, you know?

Like bees know they have to find honey, the birds know they have to fly south for the winter, I know I have to do something better each time.

How do you stay sane?

I bought my sanity on a recent trip to Manhattan, it’s on sale, fifty percent off.

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NATHANIEL MARY QUINN in conversation with

No Wedding, No Cake; No Prom, No Date, 2020. Oil paint, paint stick, oil pastel, gouache on linen canvas stretched over wood panel, 48 x 48 inches, (121.9 x 121.9 cm) NQUIN 2020.0013 GAGOSIAN

EH: I want to open our conversation with this essay by Fred Moten I was just reading, “The black topological experience.” The essay is many things, chiefly a rumination on Arthur Jafas exhibition A Series of Utterly Improbably, Yet Extraordinary Renditions. But it’s his thinking on blackness as this expansive site, curving onto and outside of itself that intrigued me. The dimensionality in your paintings have this endless curving, bending, and geometry; a type of topology as described by Moten. Does this sense of an expansive and winding blackness resonate for your practice?

NMQ: I will answer that question with a story. When I finished grad school at NYU, I moved to Chicago for one year so I could save some money to get back to New York. During that time I remember reading about and being deeply impressed with Kehinde Wiley, Wangechi Mutu, and Mickalene Thomas. And I thought well, this seems to be a suitable pathway that my work will respond to American blackness. If I make works like that, I will improve my chances of being acknowledged, you know?

Now at the same time, I was still contending with my tumultuous upbringing in Chicago. Losing my family at a young age,dealing with issues of separation and abandonment. And there wasn’t anything about my black skin that gave me any sense of relief from that pain. During this period I had also met my now wife, we were dating, and you know, I was a broken person. At one point she said if we’re going to continue on then you have to go to therapy. I complied, I didn’t want to lose her. And It was the best thing we could’ve done in my life.

Because of therapy, I spent a lot of time becoming more introspective and taking a real hard courageous look at the makeup of my identity. I began to relinquish myself from whatever sense of need or responsibility to make works about “Black people” and instead began to make works that explored the spectrum of humanity. I take a more introspective look in the creation of my portraits. You know what I mean? So that’s my way of exploring blackness. The whole fight here really is to establish a truth. And the truth is that we, all people ought to be treated with the same sense of humanity and we are far more complex than the fantasies attached to one skin color.

While my paintings look jumbled, broken apart and reassembled there’s also a harmony present and that to me is a real reflection of life. So when you look at my work as anybody of whatever race you’re actually looking at a reflection of yourself. This is what you look like. This is you. This is us. We all look like this because we’re all built this way. And that’s, I think that’s the best way I could respond to your inquiry.

Nathaniel Mary Quinn

He Brought This Upon HImself and Hides with Self-Pity, 2019

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Fight Bully Run, 2019. Black charcoal, gouache, soft pastel, oil pastel, on Coventry Vellum Paper, 50 x 38 inches (127 x 96.5 cm) NQUIN 2019.0016 GAGOSIAN

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Nathaniel Mary Quinn

Bottom Lip, 2020. Black charcoal, gouache, soft pastel on Coventry Vellum paper, 12 x 9 inches, (30.5 x 22.9 cm) NQUIN 2020.0020 GAGOSIAN

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Nathaniel Mary Quinn

Buck Nasty Players Hater’s Ball, 2017

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I think this is what blackness gets you? An openness, expansion, the capacity to build a world? My vantage is one towards black possibilities and I think that sense of mirroring and inferiority upon gazing onto your work is certainly a true one.

There’s also this thing of assemblage I wanted to ask you about. Assemblage as a medium is one thing but I’m interested in how we can take that term and use it for more of a radical sensibility around refusal, a refusal to keep discreet boundaries between things and recognize that objects are imbued with energy and spirit. I wonder if we can think of your work also as a two dimensional extension of these more generative possibilities within assemblage? Can you belong to the same genealogy as Betty Saar, Noah Purifoy, John Outerbridge, and David Hammons?

I think the spirit and the spirituality in it are the same. I am pulling in sourcing extraneous material and then re-imagining those materials onto a single plane.

I am in fact, doing that as a means to remove the boundaries between these materials in which case everything becomes opaque. There’s no set boundary anywhere. And then through that, you are able to communicate something that’s a bit more spiritual. You can’t quite touch it, but, you know, it’s there. And you’re doing it through the black body. To me there’s nothing more powerful than to show humanity through blackness.

For example, my piece Mr. Nightmare is a black man’s face on the body of a comic book character. That piece is nothing more than a reflection of every time you see an unarmed black man being accosted by police and there’s always six, seven police officers. And I’m like, do they think this guy is Captain America?

The Incredible Hulk? Do you think this guy has the ability to shoot rays from his eyes? How dangerous do you presume him to be? But in their fantasies, of course he is insanely dangerous, he is remarkably terrifying. But after the hail of bullets it turns out the guy was just a human being. He died and lived like a human being. He worked like a human being, he paid taxes like a human being.

That whole scenario, of assault and death of Black people happens because of the refusal to see their humanity. This type of display, amongst other things, is my source material.

In a later question you mention Toni Morrison and the difference between fact and truth. I am interested in painting the truth which is that thing that is not always tactile. Like when you meet somebody for the first time and within the first five minutes of talking, you sense something about them. You can’t put your

Uncle Dope

Three Months In, 2020. Black charcoal, gouache, soft pastel on Coventry Vellum Paper, 50 x 38 inches, (127 x 96.5 cm) NQUIN 2020.0006 GAGOSIAN

Monique

finger on it, but there’s an energy. I want to paint that. That’s the truth. I definitely have a connection to Saars, Hammons, Purifoy and Outerbridge. They were moved by intuition, by a connectedness to community and so am I. You sense something here, you see a piece there that interests you. You can’t quite articulate it, but that’s not important, what’s important is the visceral response you had. And then you find a way to reincorporate it into a final work of art. That’s how I make my selection with my images and photographs that are sourced through social media or magazines or a picture I find walking down the street.

I’m also a big fan of comic books and I use those images in my work too. It’s all an effort to further portray the complexities of humanity, particularly from the sites of blackness. I consider my work to be tremendously radical in that way, because I’m not talking about it, I’m being about it. I’m not going to wait to be seen in a human way, I’m going to do it right now.

Absolutely. I think there’s this other component that links you to Saar, Hammons, Outerbridge, Purifoy is the ritual happening within the works themselves; there’s a transference of energy towards other visions. It’s not only intuition, but something that connects you to a broader spectrum that is about internalized processes. And these ritual art objects are gestures towards this expansive/other vision. West African ceremonies with masking as part of ritual and transference and energy work feel like part of your aesthetic lineage. Because the features of those masks, which are distorted or stretched, exaggerated and curving are quite present in your painting. This feels like an African diasporic vernacular.

There’s a guy that lives in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn who’s a card reader. He gave me a reading once and he knows my work very well. He said to me you have West African roots and that’s why you make these works. You are carrying on a tradition that dates back further than your lineage here in the states and what you’re doing, this is in your spirit. This is in your soul.

When you posed that question, I was like that’s amazing that you picked up on that because I’ve never discussed it before. But now that we’re talking about it you are correct in your assessment. And then he, the card reader, showed me some West African mask and he says, y’all in the same line and you’re from that world. That’s your spirit man. It’s funny how you get that longevity in the DNA and it comes through, you know, it’s still, it’s still there. I’m always present in a state of being, I don’t overthink anything. I feel my way through the process and I just let it come out and I trust and have faith that it’s gonna come out.

I love Toni Morrison and the essay you pointed to earlier, The Site of Memory, is one of my favorites. In that essay she’s thinking through genre, her writing and

this question of truth and fact. Ultimately, Morrison settles on her desire to tell the truth and that the truth is in excess of the material archive, that imagination and memory get her closer to the interior lives of the people within her pages.

And as I was looking at your paintings it feels like this is a type of truth telling.

And that the truth is often stranger than fiction.

Absolutely. That’s why I said earlier, when a viewer looks at my work, it is my hope that they understand on some level that you are looking at a mirror reflection of themselves. You are not as perfectly put together as you perceive yourself. And if you get closer to that truth, it would eradicate so many problems that we currently deal with in society. You will no longer be locked in the matrix of your racism. It would not be possible if you were able to see the truth of the matter, but you are too caught up in the matrix and the fantasy of whatever you deemed to be.

Here’s another thing about the truth. The truth is most effective when portrayed through an organic fashion. It just must be allowed to come out at its own time, you can’t force it. You can’t dictate it. I never go into a work and say to myself, I’m making a work about such and such. I get a vision, at first it’s not very clear, it’s a little blurry, but then I feel it. I can feel it. And then I can see everything. I see the size. I know if it’s to be on paper or canvas, I know what materials that must be used to make it happen. That’s why none of my works look the same because every moment is different and you have to feel your way through that journey, you can’t think your way through it. Now the key here is that the more you work, the more you sharpen your craft, your craftsmanship and the caliber of it makes you more efficient with your expression of the truth.

Kobe, Kendrik Lamar, they are all led by spirit. They’re tapped into that stuff you can’t touch, that you can’t buy that from the store. I try to do that in my art practice.

It’s like jazz, right? It’s a level of mastery, but then it’s intuition that takes over that mastery. Your work does feel like jazz in that way. It does feel like John Coltrane, it does feel like Alice Coltrane who writes on that spiritual plan 100 percent, but for you it’s wrapped up in a visual landscape.

Yes, yes, yes, yes. I think Kanye West as a producer when it comes to the amalgamation of sounds and beats.

Madlib, MFDoom...

They’re making art. I pull from all of that. All those beats, the rhythmic pattern of Kendrick’s voice. I think how can I do that in my work? How can I get that

Not Even the Military, 2019. Black charcoal, gouache, soft pastel, oil pastel on Coventry Vellum Paper, 16 x 13 inches, (40.6 x 33 cm) NQUIN 2019.0031 GAGOSIAN

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Nathaniel Mary Quinn

Space Monkey

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Nathaniel Mary Quinn

Duckworth, 2018

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rhythmic pattern, visually speaking? Red Foxx, Richard Pryor, great comedians.

Denzell Washington is a great actor, I mean, I’ve pulled from everything, everything, everything.

And it feels that way. I think art writers could open more to consider the process of making a visual landscape as something that belongs to other worlds and that in turn could generate a richer understanding of the dynamism that’s happening. When I see visual art I do wonder about what people were listening to when they’re making work because it’s an energy flow, an exchange of sorts.

I wonder then how the pandemic has been affecting your practice because you mentioned in person encounters, chance, found objects as vital. And it’s been over a year now, and while we’re slowly emerging I imagine you’ve been making work non the less?

Earlier you mentioned assemblage and artists from LA from the 60s and 70s. If we take the Watts Rebellion and the works that were made out of the debris, we’re talking about the physical attachments of a domestic battlefield being used. The pandemic is its own kind of war, but it’s not physical debris, it’s emotional debris. I made sure to get out of the house and take a walk from time to time. And because I’m a very empathetic person I was still able to pull things into me and they would then filter through into my work.

I don’t communicate with a lot of people, like most of us, but I see my neighbor in the window I look at her eyes and I get it. She’s an older woman who has been cooped up in the house. I can sense what the weight may be, what she’s enduring. But most of the work I’ve been doing is very introspective. I have been coming to terms with this moment in time and also feeling very grateful for my circumstances. I need to take stock in my blessings because there are so many people who are in a different circumstance than me. You know, I understand that I’m not naive to that. I’m just too empathetic to be naive to that...

I still create, obviously, it’s just being filtered in a different way. When I make a work I let the work, tell me what it is. I don’t tell it, the work speaks to me because I think my art is a reflection of that with which I have been dealing because you don’t always know the forefront of your mind, you know? But when you make a work, the work can tell you what’s within you. What you’ve been dealing with on a subconscious level.

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Portraits courtesy of the artist.

IVANA DAMA ARTIST

How are you feeling? public class HowAreYouFeeling { public static void main (String [] argos) { int weeklyMeditation = 4; char emotion; if (weeklyMeditation >= 5){ emotion= ‘JOY’;

} //optimistic, excited, proud, happy...

else if ( weeklyMeditation >= 3) { emotion = ‘LOVE’; } //romantic, passionate, enthusiastic...

Is there anyone in particular who has inspired you the most throughout your life?

John Cage What does utopia look like to you?

Solving Climate Change How do you stay sane?

Besides daily meditation and exercise, doing long walks in Topanga with my dog Niko is absolutely the most crucial element to my mental health. Hiking, in general, is where I think and generate most of my ideas and where I find the focus and motivation to keep going.

What does originality look like to you in the 21st century?

Knowing where to borrow.

else if ( weeklyMeditation >= 1) { emotion = ‘SURPRISE’; } //amazed, confused, touched, moved...

What advice do you have for anyone pursuing a career in the arts?

I like three things that every young artist should know by John Baldessari.

else { emotion = ‘SADNESS’; } //lonely, guilty, melancholic, disappointed...

1. Talent is cheap.

2. You have to be possessed which you can’t will.

3. Being in the right place in the right time.

System.out.println (“I feel...” + emotion);

What makes you uncomfortable?

Politics, hotel art, laziness, and bureaucracy.

} }

Whats next?

(Left blank intentionally)

Where is home?

Spaceship Earth Where did you first find your love for the artist?

2001: A Space Odyssey

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A Persistent Illu-

Styled by Nicholas Amato Photographed by Yudo Kurita

(previous pages) FACETASM jacket SALOMON boots

FACETASM jacket ARCTRYX VEAILANCE jacket

ARC’TERYX jacket SPENCER BADU jacket & pants

ARC’TERYX jacket

ARC’TERYX jacket SPENCER BADU jacket & pants OUTDOOR REASEARCH hat

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Kyle Keese

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Kyle Keese

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Portrait by Korth Avens

CHINWE OKONA ARTIST

How are you feeling?

Right now? Tired. I can’t remember the last time I didn’t feel tired, which may be a side effect of being alive for longer and longer periods of time, but I’m starting not to mind it.

Maybe I’m getting used to it? Anyway, someone recently told me that tiredness isn’t a feeling, so how do I FEEL? Today I’m content. I was happy yesterday and today I’m rather content.

Where is home?

I’m coming to terms with the fact that I don’t have a short answer to this question. My routine answer is I live in Los Angeles, but was born in Atlanta, lived in small town Texas, and went to high school in South Florida, before coming to California. An amalgamation of all those places is home, but Los Angeles inches closer and closer to being a concise answer every day. Or maybe I should just start answering, “Planet Earth.”

Where did you first find your love for art?

Hmm. I remember the first time I feel like I had an obligation to myself and my life to make art, but “first found love” feels like it requires a much softer memory. My mom used to be a storyteller at the public library when we lived in Texas and would bring me along to assist. I must have been seven or eight years old in the particular memory I’m thinking of? We would dress up and I would inject at integral moments to add dramatic flair to the narrative. We never practiced and she never had to assign me parts--these were interjections I had improvised when she read me these stories before bed; we really just took the show on the road. This was before any notion of having an art practice, or any sort of career. Just pure love of the game.

Is there anyone in particular who has inspired you the most throughout your life?

This is a hard one. I think no? Inspiration has this connotation of positivity that feels pretty momentary and fleeting to me, especially considering how over time people become more complex and flawed. I would call curiosity my particular synonym for inspiration; if I had to call out some people in that regard, I would say my parents. For me, my parents have been a fascinating case study in observing raw humanness and feeling the full emotional range of relating to other humans. Much of my practice is an interrogation of the self and how time, circumstance, and history impacts self, so continuously referencing the people responsible for my existence is a constant for me.

What does utopia look like to you?

Stillness. When I close my eyes and try to imagine utopia, I just see endless blackness. But not necessarily a cold void à la deep space. More like a perfect everlasting meditation, with no need to return to reality.

How do you stay sane?

I don’t. Trying to stay sane will make you go nuts so I gave up on that.

What does originality look like to you in the 21st century?

I feel like what I’m about to say isn’t particularly revolutionary and is sprinkled with a ton of hypocriticism, but I hope somewhere in this century I hope people get more comfortable with acknowledging that nothing is original. To be original is to be the first of a kind; just because someone says something is original doesn’t mean it is. In fact, I feel like we’re so far along in humanity that there’s no way anyone is still coming up with new ideas. Everything is derived from somewhere, and that’s okay. However, that packaging of every idea, clothing line, film, etc. as completely novel is exhausting to me. It’s like we’re all trying to metaphorically one up every experience with an even LARGER burst of dopamine and I just don’t know if that’s possible. I think some things can just be cool because we like them, not because they’re new. Creation is exhausting dude.

Anyway, I’ve been called both a contrarian and a hipster in the last week, and this answer is making me understand why.

I digress.

What advice do you have for anyone pursuing art?

There’s no right way, path, or answer. Make art because you want to and make choices such that your art practice is sustainable for you. Don’t compare your practice to the practice of others. Quit when you’re over it.

What makes you uncomfortable?

Lasting memories of times I upheld perfection as an achievable goal and failed to rise to the occasion.

Whats next?

I’m looking for what will be my very first studio space. This feels like an artistic growth moment. If you the reader have any leads or recommendations, hit me up.

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AJRadico

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VUARNET sunglasses NOON GOONS pants AKNVAS jacket

AJRadico

Your music seems to create a window into yourself and to New York City, simultaneously, for the listener. How has growing up in Queens influenced your music?

Queens deff motivated me to make my sound diverse. It’s the biggest borough in the city, so overall the cultural differences you see here, just from hood to hood, are always fascinating.

For sure it’s rare to grow up somewhere that gives you so much access to multiple cultures. I also read that your aunt was a jazz musician, in Brownstone you say you know she’s watching over you with a grin, can you tell us a bit about her and how she influenced you?

My aunt has always been a huge inspiration for me. I probably wouldn’t have picked up a guitar or even touched a mic if it wasn’t for her. She really pushed me to express myself through art. I remember one time she was babysitting my siblings and I and I was singing to some song on TV. I tried to lie and act like it was my sister but she was like “Nah, I know that’s your voice when I hear it. Don’t be ashamed of your talent.” That’s a moment I’ll always cherish.

It’s interesting how having someone to push you in that direction can change your whole life.

From being ashamed that you were signing along to the TV to now with a lot of people coining you as New York’s new sound, new voice, rising star etc. How does it feel to see things like that?

They ain’t lying! (laughs.) But, it feels amazing. Ironic enough a lot of people don’t even think I’m from here, but that’s going to change real soon. I think it’s cos I don’t box myself in to just being a New York Rapper. When I create, my mindset is “think universal.”

Does that make you think about relevancy, in the sense of a world wide audience in a global culture that is moving faster and faster in attempts to keep up with the shortening of attention spans?

Of course! A New York minute is the quickest minute on earth. What’s trending here could be over in a couple of months to a year at most, so I think naturally NYC artists are super conscious of what’s trending. I am less worried about that though. What’s more important to me is capturing those timeless feelings, almost like those train ride convos you’ll never hear twice.

You recently released “Transit” a culmination of your work leading up to where you are at now.

It seemed to rip the mundaneness away from what I have been hearing in the majority of music over the past couple years. It gave me the feelings of when I first heard albums like Reasonable Doubt, Kind of Blue, or Illmatic. Somehow completely new, but also nostalgic. So I think you are accomplishing the timeless goal. Was that something you aimed for us to experience when listening or do you just focus on doing your thing and that happens to be an outcome?

With Transit being my debut project that was fosho part of the initiative. In a sense the EP isn’t only an introduction to myself, it’s an intro to my own little New York for those who’ve never been. One of my main focuses in the making was that it’ll be heard all around the world. A lot of nostalgia went into making the visuals. We shot a ton of film and cassette. I wanted it to feel closer to watching a VHS tape of you as a toddler and having it randomly taped over by a TV movie.

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FLATLIST sunglasses UNTITLED COLLECTIVE top A.POTTS coat

VUARNET sunglasses ARC’TERYX jacket CARHARTT WIP pants ROA x ALYX boots

AJRadico

That is a takeaway for sure while watching the visuals. It’s pretty impressive you dropped videos for Armor, Centre, Ballhog, and Brownstone so quickly after the EP released. Do you take inspiration from any directors or video based artists when approaching these?

Surprisingly it’s kinda the other way around. For me, films I love have inspired more of the writing that goes into the songs than the visuals. So the visuals follow the songs like a chain reaction.

When I wrote Vertigo, I had just finished The Dark Knight Trilogy so the bars felt like Gotham.

Is there a particular track off Transit that is most meaningful to you?

I’d definitely say Brownstone cos it’s the outro and also kinda sums up the whole project. Also production wise, it’s the most complex track of the bunch. The two halves of the beat were made 2 years apart then recorded in LA and NY. Making It was really like a journey on its own.

Outside of your solo projects you collaborate with a pretty wide range of other artist on projects.

How do you choose who you work with on collaborative pieces with?

Honestly I could be a hermit at times, but a majority of the people I work on music with are friends who’re fellow musicians and that I could trust to tell me when shit sounds wack. Those are the types of people you should keep around.

Absolutely having “yes people” around can be dangerous. You’ve worked on projects with Bakar and Dua Saleh right?

Those are the homies! We all met in London some time ago. It’s always great working with artists from around the world. They’re both really open minded and just down to get out of their comfort zones.

I also hear you have something you have been working on with Kelsey Lu as well?

Yeah big ups LU. One super talented and beautifully spirited human being. We’ve got some masterpieces inbound.

That’s incredible. How are you feeling about the overall scene at the moment, are there any other contemporaries you’re hyped on?

The scene here in NY is pretty odd, there’s so many sides to it. So many underrated artists to keep up with. But Lou Palace, Kris Yute, Ernest Rareberrg, just to name a few.

You also cross over into fashion as well. Playing shows at fashion week and being featured in campaigns for Telfar. Are there any brands or designers you want to work with that you haven’t 200

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AJRadico

had the chance to yet?

Being from Queens, it’s really crazy to see what Telfar has accomplished and I love that he’s putting our city on the Map. I also really like what Pyer Moss is doing as of late. Also, big shouts to Michal and Advisry. I’m here for all things Young, Black and Creative.

For sure I just saw a pair of the Daitona shoes, that Moss did with Reebok, in person for the first time. It was one of the most interesting shoes I have seen in a long time. I think we both view culture from an architectural viewpoint, I often refer to fashion being a pillar of culture, similar to your analogy of it being a foundational piece for a Jenga tower. Because you approach things in this way are there other mediums you are interested in?

Jewelry is one. I wanna get into sculpture. I love figurines and statues, things like that. The idea of bringing something like a mannequin to life by putting it in cool garments is so cool to me.

That’s art.

Interesting...so things that can exist in physical form. Are you able to stay focused on your music completely? How distracting is the business side of it all for you at the moment?

Yeah. The business of music is always something us artists have to pay close attention to. We live in a digital age where technology evolves literally overnight so it seems like there’s always a new platform to market things. For me it’ll always be about the art first before anything else. A great visual can only do so much for a bad song ya know?

True. I guess the world in general seems to be changing overnight. Which also seems to be making it more and more confused constantly. How do you navigate this constant change?

I think life’s always going to come with some sort of obstacle or confusion and the past year those stemmed from us being in a pandemic; A first for a lot of us too. I try to stay reminded that God don’t give us nothing we can’t handle. Instead of something negative I think of it as fuel, I put those thoughts into the art and don’t keep em bottled up.

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STYLING SHaOJUN MAKE SARA (using HAIR ANNA

by CHEN UP

by TAGALOA Shiseido) by KATO

P H O T O G R A P H E D by YUDO KURITA

Nym wears Simone Rohca

Heaven is a Place

(previeous page) Megan wears Martin Asbjorn

Devin wears a vintage scarf & a blazer by Second/Layer

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Nym wears a top by Our Legacy & pants by Martin Asbjorn

Nym wears a vest by Our Legacy & pants by Second/Layer

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Heaven is a Place

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Megan wears Second/Layer

Devin wears Christian Wijnats

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Ryan Preciado Mr. Wren & Friends A Creative Studio based in Los Angeles, California

Photography by Yudo Kurita

Ryan Preciado

Where did you grow up in CA and what were you into at the time?

I grew up in a small town on the central coast of California, called Nipomo. I didn’t have a car until I was 18 so I would take the bus into the next town over called Arroyo Grande and meet up with friends and skate all day. I worked at a local skate shop that use to be there and would spend a lot of time loitering even when I wasn’t working. 90% of what I did in my teens was working at that shop, skate all day, and walk everywhere. I loved it.

What about some of the sub cultures around that time? Is that something that led you into the world of art and design?

The honest answer is probably skateboarding. It really was the best thing I could have done growing up. It gets you in the habit of looking at your surroundings with different eyes. It also surrounds you with the most creative people. Allows you to get into the mind set of “by any means necessary.” It really generates good work ethic, necessary risk taking and creativity. Cheesy sounding but in some way or another I owe whatever it is I’m doing to skateboarding.

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I’m not sure you can be labeled as a furniture designer, as your output is very diverse and the objects you create could be considered more sculptural. Given your work is so sensory would you think of yourself more as a fine artist? Or do you not really care how you’re labeled?

I’m not entirely sure how I would label myself. Maybe just as a “Curious Person.” Although, if I’m not entirely sure how to label myself I can’t be too mad if someone calls me one thing or another.

Ryan Preciado

Do you feel there is a decline in people using their hands as a craft?

Or maybe it’s the opposite now that we’re definitely seeing a resurgence in people wanting to do something more tactile and rewarding.

I’m usually in my bubble when I’m working or talking with friends, so I’m surrounded by individuals who often work with their hands fortunately. I think you’re right though, It seems like a lot more people are picking up trades.

I know you’re also working on a few curatorial projects, can you speak a little about this type of discipline? Especially related to Downhearted Ducking at South Willard which was an incredible group exhibition.

The show I curated in November 2020 Downhearted Duckling at South Willard felt really natural.

Ryan Conder (owner of the gallery) asked me if I had been thinking of anyone that I would like to show and ultimately just said “ I trust you, do what you want.”

He’s generous like that. It was a real opportunity he gave me. It’s a continuous thing, but with this I was really asking myself questions about my lack of feeling close to my Mexican/Chumash culture. I have some amazing friends/artists who I admire, who’s works have made me feel seen. So being I’ve never curated anything before, I just wanted to do something personal and possibly give the opportunity to anyone else that may have felt insecure or distant from who they are culturally, a chance to piece themselves together through the works that were shown. Even if it was in a small way. It was a very special thing and I continue to thank my friends and new friends I’ve gained in the process that have participated.

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Ryan Preciado

Which artists are currently having a major influence on your work?

Chucho Reyes Any music that is on rotation as you’re working?

Alci Acosta The Nerves Cypress hill Hideo Shiraki (Sakura Sakura) Favorite food joints in East LA? La Azteca is good...

Can we call out a few people who have been tattooing you of late?

I haven’t gotten one in years.

I recently watched a friend get a terrible tattoo from a 16 year old.

It was great. It was a TV but it came out looking like a pizza box with a coat hanger coming out of it.

Maybe I’ll let him give me one too.

What does the near future hold?

I’m working on something for Canada Gallery this coming January. Possibly a tattoo from that kid.

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ryanpreciado.com mrwrenandfriends.com yudokurita.net

How Are You Feeling?

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Portraits by Yudo Kurita

DAMAR DAVIS MUSICIAN & CREATOR OF SALON RECORDINGS

How are you feeling?

Right now kinda hyped, we just had our 1 year anniversary and had a successful release with Jay Sound.

What does originality look like to you in the 21st century?

Man....I truly feel like everything is a copy. But anything that feels and sounds fresh.

Where is home?

Home is L.A., Cypress Park to be exact.

What advice do you have for anyone pursuing music?

Just do you. Build your own community. Definitely look up to your idols, but always do it your way.

Ownership is key. Start your own shit ASAP.

Where did you first find your love for music?

With family playing in the church choir.

Is there anyone in particular who has inspired you the most throughout your life?

Na not really. But there are people that have most definitely left a mark on my creative life.

What does utopia look like to you?

I don’t believe in such a place.

What makes you uncomfortable?

Anyone that claps off beat, being late, and overly nice people. All those things bumb me out.

What’s next?

Honestly, looking forward to keep releasing quality music and highlighting the BIPOC that create it.

How do you stay sane?

I work out, make as much music as possible, see my close homies, and play records.

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“So many choices...all open 24hrs...I even found one that sold perfumes but it was out of order...”

- Caleb Flowers

Caleb Flowers

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Caleb Flowers

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Caleb Flowers

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YOU ARE STANDING IN A BURNING FIELD

Close your eyes, you are standing in a field. Take a moment to soak in the details and the environment you are standing in. What do you see?

When I ask myself this question I fall back on the images I captured in 2019 and 2020. They depict the culmination of a perfect storm, which launched the United States of America in to pure chaos. A mixture of political madness, national division, massive natural disasters, a pandemic, and the veil being pulled back from masking the ongoing racial injustice within our country to the masses. These two years, for me, became a mark in history where things spun out of control.

On assignment I found myself embedded with the extreme right, including Bikers for Trump and the now infamous Proud Boys. Sitting in bars as they got black out drunk and shouted about how Michelle Obama was actually a man and that Donald Trump was the best thing for America since sliced bread. Relentlessly attempting to convince me the only way to battle the left and all the “snowflakes” was to take physical force, and that their liberal way of life was the demise of this “great nation.”

After this time I finally escaped the chaos of political indifferences, but found myself in the midst of one of the largest wildfires in U.S. history and shortly after knee-deep in the aftermath of a hurricane that overtook an immigrant farming community. The wealthy neighborhoods, only 15 minutes away, now had power and dry homes, as they keep up with the Kardashians and the housewives of New Jersey. While here in this neighborhood I’m with a mother and son sitting in their flooded home without any level of aid. Later a young man shows me a photo of his precious pet chihuahua, then continues to show me another pho-

by Robert LeBlanc

to of his companion decapitated by an unknown assailant. Because the focus of support was with the affluent neighborhoods the lack of power, food, water, and shelter were only the beginning of this community’s worries.

Eventually I made my way home to Los Angeles when COVID hit. A pleasant ingredient to the already existing powder keg waiting to explode. I spent days in a local Los Angeles morgue as employees are surrounded by 60 to 70 bodies with more on their way. The rush of bodies is so intense that the employees spend 12 hours a day moving them around like Tetris blocks. Attempting to navigate through back rooms, preparing individuals for funerals or being boxed and sent out for cremation. The inside of the morgue is madness and the outside is deserted. Like a scene from The Walking Dead, you expect to see the last survivors of the apocalypse poking their heads out around corners or peering through the window blinds. The quietness is eerie and discomforting compared to the buzz I have become so accustomed to hearing while living in this vibrant city.

Then came the chanting and screams of protesters, George Floyd was just murdered. The silence is now broken and replaced by anger. The sound of tear gas and bean bags being shot at protesters. The sound of protesters crashing against riot shield. The sound of store front widows being smashed. All accompanied by the constant hum of helicopter blades chopping through the air and a steady stream of lights from above, as if God is controlling a spotlight from the stars to highlight how we all have failed immensely.

When I close my eyes I see a field, the field is on fire, and if we continue down this path there will be plenty of gasoline to keep it burning.

Bright pink fire retardant rains down along the tree lines during the August Complex Wildfire, California’s largest fire in history.

Protesters light dumpsters on fire in downtown Los Angeles as they confront LAPD. Robert LeBlanc

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You Are Standing in a Burning Field

A large crowd waits in the rain for the then President Trump July 4th speech in Washington D.C.

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A migrant neighborhood is flooded during a hurricane outside of Tampa, Florida.

Robert LeBlanc

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You Are Standing in a Burning Field

An area of the Trinity National Forest on fire during the August Complex wildfire.

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Downtown Los Angeles is abandoned during the first wave of COVID-19 lock downs.

Robert LeBlanc

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You Are Standing in a Burning Field

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Trees on fire during the August complex wildfires.

Bikers for Trump rally.

Massive smoke Columns raise into the sky during the August Complex wildfire. By the end, the ACW burned over 1,000,000 acres.

Trump supporters and opposer’s clash throughout the park around the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC. A child plugs his ears as the arguments continue.

A migrant community is left to fend for themselves after being stuck by a Hurricane outside of Tampa, Florida.

A portrait hangs of the, then, President Trump in a notorious Republican bar in downtown Washington, D.C.

Hotshot Firefighters during the August Complex Wildfire.

Robert LeBlanc

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The National Guard and Black Lives Matter protesters Los Angeles, CA. Robert LeBlanc

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A family watches a pro-Trump supporter drive through in Washington D.C. Robert LeBlanc

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A home flooded by a hurricane outside of Tampa, Florida.

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The bodies of people killed by Covid-19 lay in the back of a mortuary awaiting cremation.

Robert LeBlanc

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You Are Standing in a Burning Field

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A body lays in a coffin awaiting funeral service. Due to COVID-19 this mortuary has roughly 12 funerals a day.

How Are You Feeling?

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Self Portrait by Clinton Van Arnam

CLINTON VAN ARNAM MUSICIAN & ARTIST

How are you feeling?

Optimistic Where is home?

Topanga Where did you first find your love for music?

When I was a child. I remember hearing a wind chime and it changed my life, it’s my first memory of sound. Most things I have done have been influenced by that first memory, and the idea of the wind chime is still fascinating to me.

Is there anyone in particular who has inspired you the most throughout your life?

John Cage What does utopia look like to you?

A world where we listen more than we speak.

How do you stay sane?

Healthy body = Healthy mind

What does originality look like to you in the 21st century?

Being unafraid to take a chance. Being unafraid of rejection. If you can master both of those equally I think you’ve got it. It’s something I struggle with constantly.

What advice do you have for anyone pursuing music?

Comparison is the thief of joy.

What makes you uncomfortable?

500 hz.

What’s next?

I have one more year of school left, and after that, I plan on applying to graduate programs. Hoping to study more media arts and sound after this. I’m really enjoying the discipline school installs in you, and I’m hoping to continue for a couple more years. I will continue to release work as frequently as possible as a sort of diary of the development of my brain.

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DON’T GO T

YOUR

MOM

TELLIN’

directed & written by TOPAZ JONES + RUBBERBAND, creative direction by ERIC JMCNEAL cinematography by CHASE IRVIN, ASC, still photography by CHASE IRVIN, ASC. + JASON FILMORE SONDOCK, costume design by ERIC MCNEAL, produced by LUIGI ROSSI, edited by J.M. HARPER + NATE KATZ, production design by MADISON HATCH, casting by KATHERINE MATEO + NOURI HASSAN, for XYNE.CO, executive produced by KEVIN STORY a SMUGGLER + BWGTBLD GMBH presentation in association with FRENZY PARIS + Section 80

MMA

“ The making of this album and the film that followed happened in parallel to a very personal struggle with identity. It required me to thoroughly interrogate all of the factors -cultural, economic, societal- that lead to my understanding of blackness and black manhood.

I broke bread with friends and had conversations with family and collaborators regarding the mixed messages we had received growing up. My hometown of Montclair, NJ was known as one of the most coveted school districts in the tristate area. Kids fortunate enough to have a relative’s address they could claim as their own would hop off the 28 bus at “The High” from Newark, East Orange and other surrounding towns at the behest of anxious mothers.

From the jump I was aware of the advantage I had over others when it came to education. What I didn’t pay mind to -what I couldn’t- was that the majority of my education was actually happening outside the walls of Rand Elementary, Renaissance Middle and Montclair High School. It was all around me. It was projected at me. It was blasted from car stereos. It was shown on screens big and small.

In it’s essence this project is about all of the teachers I’ve met, tests I’ve taken and lessons I’ve received that didn’t occur between 8 AM and 2:33 PM on a weekday, for better or for worse.”

- Topaz Jones

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Topaz Jones

Portrait by Jason Filmore Sondock

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JOURNAL

entry: 001 / Andrey Tarasov

My love, Olivia / Los Angeles /September

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Evan at the Lafayette curbs / New York / May 2020 Andrey Tarasov

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Evening stroll with Elodie / Milan / May Andrey Tarasov

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Vince and Giovanni / Milan / May

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Cal at the Home Depot spot / Los Angeles / June Andrey Tarasov

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Reflection in what’s been washed away / Los Angeles / March

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Olivia / Los Angeles / January Andrey Tarasov

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East LA / Los Angeles / January 2021

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Brian Odwyer frontside grind at LES / New York / May Andrey Tarasov

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Victor and Elodie / Milan / May

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Two girls in towels / Milan / May Andrey Tarasov

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From a bike ride around my neighborhood / Los Angeles / June

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In a studio / Los Angeles / June 2020 Andrey Tarasov

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Beatrice in Los Feliz / Los Angeles / March

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FAWN The World is Your Oyster

ROGERS

“The world is your oyster” was ofter said to young people about to embark on adult life. Originating from Shakespeare’s play The Mary Wives of Windsor, it exists as a phrase of passionate violence directed toward the pursuit of one’s desire. In 1918 as the Spanish Flu ravaged the world, oyster beds were pillaged and traded on the black market as they were seen to be remedies for the deadly disease. Beginning in 2020 Fawn Rogers revisits these exquisite forms, considering pleasure and pain, nature and industry, fragility and the future.

As inhabitants of the Anthropocentric, we each play a role in the sixth extinction. An oyster is paradigmatic of this inevitable destruction and the toll that is taken as humans have become a force of nature. Whether a producer of precious pearls or a gastronomic delicacy, they are expended just the same. The paintings are a form of archiving these creatures, still extant, but currently predicted to disappear in the relatively near future. Further delving into this concept, the works on canvas are scanned into digital assets, which are packaged for large-scale dissemination in an open-source format in hot to preserve them for collective memory.

The World is Your Oyster pays homage to these idiosyncratic and complex forms, inviting viewers to consider life, sex, and death simultaneously. While oysters and mollusks are largely considered feminine - (i.e. - Botticelli’s Venus emerging from the shell) this construction of the feminine, from a male perspective, only served as such a device. Ironically, in actuality, the oyster is hermaphroditic, existing between and at times switching genders. Rogers is reforming the image of the oyster in attempt to express the pride a woman could have in her own sexuality. “ With underlying sexuality, whether perverse, innocent or anything in-between everyone has a deep sexuality. My work is about the love I want to give to the world.” - Fawn Rogers Rogers’ paintings of various mollusks are rendered in larger than life scale (85 x 65 inches). They are astounding in their technical virtuosity as well as their sublime characteristics. The canvases appear photo-realistic from afar but reveal characteristic and painterly touch of their creation as one draws near. In Under Your Clothes You Are Naked Too the tension is installed with the shell ajar, while Episodic depicts entrails and organs as blatant sensory prompts of promiscuous thought. One is lured in by the seductive contours of each shell that is depicted by her hand, at times a mussel may appear vaginal, a utilization of visual mechanisms reminiscent of Renate Bertlmann’s phallic appendages, Judy Chicago’s The Dinner Part Plates, Betty Tompkins anatomical genitalia, or Hannah Wilke’s folded forms. In these paintings Rogers’ exhibits reverence for predecessors, artists such as Marilyn Minter, Megan Marrin, Rona Pondick, Sarah Lucas, and Louise Bourgeois.

In Happy as a Clam the deep purple tongue-like oozes from the interstice of the brackish wet clam’s shell. The can-descent orange background affords the work a playful tone, while the oozing slime conjures sensations of compunction.

Many of the mollusks in Rogers’ series are set out erotically unencumbered, with one or more luminescent pearls protruding from beneath the flesh. While oysters are commonly considered luxurious rarities forged by nature, like many things, human intervention has subverted the organic process of their creation. The oysters are harvested and pearls cultivated. Adding to the intricate layered narratives of the work is The Most Beautiful Pearls are Black, a painting in the series which provides poignant reference to the ongoing era of racial reconciliation our society is facing, Rogers’ addressing her own family’s Cherokee history. Having walked the trail of tears to a reservation in Oklahoma called Cooweescoowee, they worked as cotton pickers, at which point her great grandmother was forced into the reform program where Native American children were removed from their families and placed into homes with European settlers. Eventually Rogers’ grandmother made her way to the Oregon coast where oysters are harvested and Rogers’ spent time digging for clams barefoot in the tides and collecting shells that once housed life.

words by Kathy Battista

The World is Your Oyster Series. Oil on canvas. 65 x 85 inches.

Fawn Rodgers

The World is Your Oyster Series. Oil on canvas. 85 x 65 inches.

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The World is Your Oyster Series. Detail.

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Electric Oyster. Oil on canvas. 65 x 85 inches.

The Most Beautiful Pearls are Black. Oil on canvas. 65 x 85 inches.

Fawn Rodgers

Our Lady of Guadalupe. Oil on canvas. 85 x 65 inches.

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Oyster Reveal. Oil on canvas. 85 x 65 inches.

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Fawn Rodgers

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Happy As A Clam. Oil on canvas. 85 x 65 inches.

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The Most Beautiful Pearls are Black. Oil on canvas. 65 x 85 inches.

A Knot in the Wood

Styling by KAROLYN PHO Photographed by HIROYUKI SEO Hair by TIAGO GOYA using Bumble & Bumble Make Up by SARA TAGALOA using Mac Cosmetics

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Tom wears a Vintage shirt & hat / Hunter wears a pullover by The Elder Statesman

Bethany wears a Belle the Label swimsuit, Vintage bloomers, & a necklace by The Elder Statesman

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Tom wears all Vintage

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(opposite page) Hunter wears a The Elder Statesman pullover & Vintage pants

A Knot in the Wood

(opposite page) Tom & Hunter wear The Elder Statesman

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How Are You Feeling?

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Portrait by Michelle Corvino

MARIA DORA DESIGNER

How are you feeling?

I’m not sure, to be honest. A lot is happening right now.

Where is home?

San Dimas, California - about thirty minutes from my studio in downtown Los Angeles.

Where did you first find your love for design?

I briefly studied music in Ashikaga, Japan and my host father was a kimono printmaker. He was a stern man with a small studio, but still let me hang out while he worked. I was too intimidated to ask questions, but it was fascinating to watch him draw and work with various fabrics.

It took a few years to realize how profound his kindness and this experience was for me. I was a lonely kid, but instead of forcing me to talk about my day, he would just let me silently come and go as needed. As a result, I tend to go about design in a quiet way - it takes awhile, but I’m grateful for the space it provides.

Is there anyone in particular who has inspired you the most throughout your life?

I’m actually inspired by a lot of people. There’s a few artists constantly on my mind, like Georgia O’Keeffe or Ruth Asawa.

But it’s mostly loved ones - a lot of my design references come from the individuals around me.

How do you stay sane?

Reminding myself to stay intentional, through the ups and downs.

Consistent therapy helps - no one wants to see all of their attributes laid bare, but allowing myself to take up space is a new thing for me. It’s been a cathartic process.

What does originality look like to you in the 21st Century?

When a person creates an inclusive perspective on something that’s been taken for granted.

What advice do you have for anyone pursuing design?

Be open to new things, even if it leads to disappointment.

Good work is the pursuit of making things better, despite the obstacles.

What makes you uncomfortable?

People who are still the 2019 version of themselves.

Whats next?

Pursuing utopia and everything in between.

What does utopia look like to you?

A place that takes healthcare seriously and has moved beyond the need to police everything.

Maybe a quiet home on the coast; surrounded by trees and full of things I love. Somewhere Ruby can be happy.

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A

photographed by Yudo Kurita

styled by Nicholas Amato

Akwsi wears MAIDEN NOIR

A Life Time

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Cam wears all LADY WHITE

Cami wears VISVIM hat, pants, & shoes and ARCT’RYX jacket

A Life Time

Akwasi wears VISVIM sweatshirt, vest, and pants and LADY WHITE shoes

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Brooklyn wears MAIDEN NOIR hat VEILANCE jacket LADY WHITE hoodie

A Life Time

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Pharaoh wears MAIDEN NOIR top & jeans VISVIM shoes

A Life Time

Brooklyn wears MAIDEN NOIR hat VEILANCE jacket NIKE shoes LADY WHITE hoodie & pants

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Brooklyn wears ACG jacket HUEY LEWIS pants NIKE shoes

A Life Time

Andrew wears JAQUEMUS shirt and GEORGIA IC25 pants

Andrew wears VEILANCE jacket

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A Life Time

Rio wears MAIDEN NOIR pants & top and SALOMON ADV shoes Ian wears VISVIM sweatshirt and GEORGIA IC25 jacket

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A Life Time

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Jesse wears NIKE ESC

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Portrait by Nori Rasmussen

KUCKA MUSICIAN

How are you feeling?

I have that 7 AM optimism right now.

How do you stay sane?

Prioritizing naps.

Where is home?

If I could teleport easily it would be LA (where I live now), Liverpool (where I grew up), and Perth (where my parents are.)

What does originality look like to you in the 21st century?

Unlikely mashups and being unafraid of others judgment.

Where did you first find your love for music?

Probably The Spice Girls, when I was about 7.

Is there anyone in particular who has inspired you the most throughout your life?

Cheesy but my wife Dillon.

What does utopia look like to you?

Food + Shelter + Community + Play

What advice do you have for anyone pursuing music?

Follow the path you absolutely love, you will spend a lot of time working for free so you need to be able to have fun with it.

What makes you uncomfortable?

Tight pants.

Whats next?

More coffee then going to play around in the studio :)

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MASON Mason Silva self portrait, 2021

SILVA Skateboarding can lead to a life of non-stop movement, constant change in environment, and hours spent in the streets, which is why photography and skateboarding go hand in hand.

Mason Silva has followed in the footsteps of Ray Barbee, who taught him to process film for the first time, and is making photography a part of his life.

His photographs project a raw and honest perspective of his experience. You can sense a level of carelessness somehow juxtaposed with relentless perfection, similar to his skating.

THIS PAGE Tyson Peterson, Riverbed Crossing, Santa Ana, CA 2017 OPPOSITE PAGE Louie Lopez, After Party, Brazil, 2019

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Mason Silva

Mason Silva

Mason Silva

THIS PAGE Evan Smith, Barcelona Streets, 2017 OPPOSITE PAGE Tyson Peterson, Riverbed Crossing, Santa Ana, CA 2017 359

PREVIOUS PAGE Tyson Peterson, Van Life, San Francisco, 2018 THIS PAGE Ginger, La Paz, Mexico 2019

OPPOSITE PAGE Evan Smith, New Technology, Tokyo, Japan 2018

THIS PAGE Evan Smith, Hostel morning, Barcelona, 2017 OPPOSITE PAGE TOP Hands off, Venice, CA 2017 OPPOSITE PAGE BOTTOM Frank Gerwer and John Alden, Camping day 15, Oregon, 2019

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All images by Mason Silvia, from Manhattan Beach, Los Angeles, CA

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Portrait by Zong Li

AVI GOLD CREATOR OF BETTER GIFT SHOP

How are you feeling?

Despite the world being on fire I’m actually feeling pretty good.

Where is home?

Toronto, Canada however I’m a frequent visitor to many other places.

settle down in a really low key part of LA away from everyone and sort of just do my own thing and not worry about work. It’s definitely something to work towards, I’d say that is what utopia looks like!

How do you stay sane?

Nintendo Switch

Where did you first find your love for gift shops?

When I came up with the original concept of starting my very own gift shop. It enabled me to push the boundaries of design, showcasing art, putting my friends on and creating a retail setting that would be unmatched. I traveled a lot when I was a child and that’s really what inspired my craft of creating and coming up with wild ideas.

What does originality look like to you in the 21st century?

Not having a smart phone and not being on social media. Pumping out original ideas. Seems like most people these days are all just doing the same things, it’s not that inspiring I hate to say it. I know there’s definitely a group of kids coming up that will shake things up.

Is there anyone in particular who has inspired you the most throughout your life?

Several people but in no particular order; Definitely my girlfriend Gabriella and without question all of my amazing friends that make art and keep things innovative. Nick Atkins, P Shines, Shaun Crawford, Liam Macrae, Paul Labonte, Bobby Dekeyzer, Earsnot, Chito, Rhett, Shay Semple, Nihar, Lopez, Adrian Joffe, Virus, Panda Sex, AOI Industry, Oliver Payne, Teen, Michael K, Teflon Tom...there are so many others. My experiences in communicating with these people and being fortunate to work with most of them has helped make me who I am today and I’m thankful for that.

What advice do you have for anyone pursuing design?

Think outside of the box, don’t be afraid to take risks and push the boundaries. t

What does utopia look like to you?

It’s so hard to say but at this point I’d love to just

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What makes you uncomfortable?

A few things actually but for the most part the following; groupies and fan boys, people that follow trends, old heads that can’t let go of the past, I always gotta be moving forward. Also brands that over produce products and cause waste.

Whats next?

Hopefully a gallery of some sorts and more exciting brand partnerships with Better Gift Shop.

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HARMONY OF SPHERES Photographed by Yudo Kurita Styled by Kailee Takashima Make Up by Sara Tagaloa using MAC Cosmetics Hair by Tiago Goya using bumble & bumble Featuring Josephine Chumley

Comme Des Gar-

Simon-

Salomon Ad-

Janashia

Tako Mekv-

Keti Chkhik-

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Portrait by Yudo Kurita

KYLE KIVIJARVI CREATIVE

How are you feeling?

Extremely blessed. 2020 was a wild year of the entire world and lots of people had the rug pulled out from underneath them in many ways. I feel fortunate to be living and breathing.

Where is home?

For the past 7 years home has been Brooklyn, NY. But originally the Bay Area and Pacific Northwest.

Where did you first find your love for overall creative Inside of the creative industry?

I was never that into fashion but, always admired people with great style. I’d have to say my interest came from watching my favorite athletes in the 90’s. How they wore their uniforms on the court/field just a little differently from everyone else and how they dressed off court. As a three sport athlete growing up I kind of looked at sports as performance art and I think that view of sport grew my interest and understanding in apparel and sneakers. I like to recreate those feelings I got from sports and the sports lifestyle.

Is there anyone in particular who has inspired you the most throughout your life?

My family inspires me everyday. They always remind me of who I am and where I come from. That motivates me to go to places I’ve never been and do things I never thought were possible.

What does utopia look like to you?

Doesn’t matter where as long as my friends and family are all there. But a cabin in the woods would be nice.

How do you stay sane?

By building a fire and sleeping on the ground.

What does originality look like to you in the 21st century?

I think originality throughout history stems from the rule breakers and the risk takers. The person that sees things the way they are and asks the question “why?” It comes from people who are not just existing and standing in line in this life.

But, constantly evolving things that inspire them and in turn create something new that has never been seen or done.

What advice do you have for anyone pursuing a similar creative path to yourself?

Be kind, be honest, and don’t let people take advantage of your skills and gifts. All good things take time so, if you care about something you gotta water it like a plant. The fruit will eventually grow.

What makes you uncomfortable?

Large crowds listening to pop music.

Whats next?

Next was an r&b group in the 90’s and a computer company Steve Jobs started when he got fired from Apple.

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DAVID donald

SUTHERLAND

portraits by

MICAIAH CARTER in conversation with Yudo Kurita

David Donald Sutherland

So we should talk about your paintings...

Which paintings?

is missing in relation to whatever the sentiment of the work was, and that’s completely different for every person. If I make a painting and it’s about something for me the image itself Your new paintings, the new series, there’s a series of paint- is going to provoke different emotions for different people ings shown in this. What’s the series? Is there a name for it? and I think that comes through when you’re talking about the Came up with one the other day but.. reduction of figures and the reduction of the color etc. and that just goes back all the way to the abstract expressionists You don’t like the name? work when you have people like Barnett Newman talking Um yeah well…. about Who’s Afraid of Red Yellow and Blue. The painting itself provokes people and some guy stabs the painting with a box I was going to call it Your Struggle Is Not Mine. cutter and rips it to shreds. The point is the piece itself provokes emotion but the title is intended to provoke the viewer And are you retracting that name? into a heightened state of awareness, where they’re in a state No...Not yet...I just don’t know if it’s finalized. off contemplation but they don’t know what they’re contemplating, so instead of dictating to the person what the subject So you think it’s called that? matter is you’re initiating a process that is normally only utiI think it’s called that….I think it makes a lot of sense. It’s lized when it’s provoked with topical material. slightly provocative in the sense that I believe it will antagonize a person who thinks in a certain way and perhaps as So the aim is to put a person in to a defensive thought patthey will look further into the work. When they do it’ll kind of tern before looking at the work, but without having a specific reveal itself as triggering a response that isn’t really respond- thing to be defensive about? ing to anything at all, other than meaningless words that are If someones going to go into a museum and look at abstract compiled in an order which is seemingly offensive. It’s a very work generally speaking that person is going to have some honest statement. There’s an obligatory and artificial sense awareness of how abstract work is made and the general off empathy being instilled in people recently. People are idea behind it and they’re already going to be in a thought being told to empathize with things they don’t understand. process prepared for evaluation and whatever their preconAnd so they automatically identify with issues that they know ceived notions of how to process abstract work is. But if you’re nothing about or have nothing to do with them. It makes you introducing someone to the same work but they have no faassume a stance or position based on a feeling that was never miliarity, you give them that title and it will get them into a your own to begin with so it doesn’t actually make any sense similar mind state. to you.

I think that makes sense in a fucked up way (laughs)...when I In the sense that people are being forced to empathize with see things written about you or people look at your work, that things they don’t understand so the feeling is never genuine term abstract expressionism normally comes up. Do you feel in the first place. like you do fall into that category?

Yeah and then it’s resulting in a more complicated situation, I think so...but it’s a new form of it in a way…not new but a communication and interaction...more divisive rhetoric that continuation, like when a musician makes one album but ultimately detracts from the progress they believe they are doesn’t make a new one for another 50 years…or like when striving for and makes everybody’s’ life more difficult. a genre of music becomes popular again, you’re not quite getting the same thing that you got before…obviously, but So basically with that being said, the idea is to essentially trig- there’s something to be said for revisiting older movements ger somebody with a title and then they would theoretically and building things based off of them, there was something realize that the actual words are meaningless? there that got lost along the way. There’s a reason the CIA proI don’t know that they’re meaningless...they end up serving moted abstract expressionism, while the soviets were telling a purpose, as something that brings someone in to have a their artists what to paint, how to paint it, in line with whatheightened sense of awareness when they’re looking at ever the party’s narrative was, the U.S. despite all of its fucked something up short comings was promoting itself as a place where the individual was free to do, say, and/ or make whatever the But in terms of the words literal meanings they don’t mean fuck they want. Paint the individual, paint the emotion, paint anything? whatever you want, it doesn’t have to be in line with whatYeah...well kind of, they also draw back to the paintings. In ever the societal narrative is….Which I guess is somewhat the sense that the work itself is not meant to tell someone ironic as the work itself was used as propaganda to define what to think or have a storyline imposed upon it. The work the narrative. is meant to fill a space in someone’s mind where something

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David Donald Sutherland

This country is never short of irony. I guess that goes into what I was going to ask next, which is why do you think these movements sprout up when they do. Could you coin any significant movements of the 21st century even?

I don’t necessarily know if you would call what’s happening now movements. I think it’s all broken down into sale trends. I guess that goes all the way back to the pop art movement…

We’ve established our individualism, we understand our identity, now what do we do with that, and then it becomes we need to sell it, we are the great consumers, we must create something to buy, and it’s been moving in such rapid cycles since. There are good artists making work individually, but the second one becomes popular the marketing machine propagates thousands of mimetic works.

Before you’d maybe have fifty people on the scene making similar work but not imitating each other. Where as now the imitation is a generative mechanism meant to squeeze every dollar possible out of any semi interesting thought...or uninteresting ones even.

Right and there may have been thousands of people trying to do that pre pop but their visibility wasn’t there. Whereas now if you’re good enough with social media your work will be out there and seen, which essentially makes these micro movements move and die much faster.

Yeah, they’re almost dead on arrival. It’s essentially a reverse trend they hit the biggest galleries first and then the smaller galleries try to collect the scraps of what’s left. Whereas before it seemed, though I wasn’t around so I don’t know for certain, that the smaller galleries would show new kinds of work, and the best artists would make their way up to the larger galleries and museums. Now it seems the bigger galleries pick up older more evolved artists and the smaller galleries try to mimic them, offering newer, but similar work at a reduced price point.

So everything is kind of swirling instead of moving forward.

Everyone is ripping each other off until one person moves high enough up in it and then that gets swirled for a couple years and then…

I mean that’s at least what it seems like to me when I go to gallery shows, I just see the same thing over and over again, and that’s not even necessarily a bad thing if people are making things that they care about. It just seems like most want to sell out before they’ve created something to sell out to, it seems strange to sell out to someone else’s vision and not give yourself time to develop something of your own…which is always what I thought doing this was all about.

In terms of searching for something to sell out to?

Yeah, to do it, get big enough, get your fame or whatever, make your money, that is seemingly of much more importance to the world at large than making something of actual value in terms of thought and something that’s actually helpful to other humans. Does being aware of that dictate the work you make?

Yeah sometimes, it definitely does. I’m trying to make work independently and survive off of that. When I create a series and it does well I’m naturally compelled to make more because it sustains my life in a comfortable way, as well as heightening my ability to create more.

But that is still based off of something you have made, not chasing whatever is hot at the moment and attempting to create that type of work?

No, I don’t think so…yeah…definitely not. I mean there’s definitely times I wished that my work would be the type of work that is trending or whatever that is. I mean I don’t wish…but it would be nice if I made that type of work so I didn’t have to make that compromise and start making figurativeness work or whatever seems to be the thing of the moment. I mean I want money, everybody want’s money. I would like money,I even chase money, I need money, I could make way more interesting stuff if I had a lot of it. Maybe not more interesting, but more of it…but every time I find myself changing work to make money in any capacity, I start to hate it. I don’t want to start a cult. I don’t want to tell people what it is I’m making in order to preach some sort of ego driven, narcissistic vision of how I think the world should be…because I’m not that smart…I don’t think anyone is. I don’t know what the world should be….I just want to exist in it, make it a little better, a more enjoyable and inspiring place. I guess I just don’t care enough about money. Because when it comes to money vs painting, the painting is always going to take precedent, and that’s probably part of why I find myself struggling so often.

So given the idea that art reflects the world around it and we’re in a time where “selling out” in all fields has become kind of the goal it would make sense in away that art has followed that path as well.

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“I don’t want to start a cult. I don’t want to tell people what it is I’m making in order to preach some sort of ego driven, narcissistic vision of how I think the world should be…because I’m not that smart…I don’t think anyone is.”

David Donald Sutherland

So you are conscious of that, because you do make sure that you don’t do it. But simultaneously you are playing the game.

You’re in the game, you have the instagram, you do the posts, you have the shit, you’re playing the game. So you are trying to find balance and still hold on to some level of your own thoughts. You’re not a fully disconnected hermit in the woods without the internet and making paintings that just stack up in a closet some where.

Sometimes they stack up in the closet…

I mean the feedback I get on the internet is “Look another boring white guy making big abstract work.” I just think whatever yeah, that’s a gross simplification of what’s going on here, but also maybe not totally inaccurate… guess that’s where I’m at. (Laughs) It’s not part of the prevailing narrative, and that’s fine. It was part of the narrative for a very long time.

Cycles, cycles, cycles.

I mean I don’t know about that being the soul of the feedback you get online your comment sections usually are relatively You know what I’m saying, your paintings exist in the world. positive. But I guess it’s all cycles in the end. Even with what Travis Scott has one and so does fucking Justin Bieber, people we talked about it’s as if the term “selling out” is almost passe are aware of your paintings to some extent... at this point. It’s more so just a part of the process.

It’s kind of like having one foot in the door though.

Yeah, I mean you have guys like Peter Doig who most people You feel like there’s not a way to talk about it that makes it had never heard of, but was making millions of dollars selling flashy and interesting? work through major galleries decides to do a Dior collection, probably because they paid him god knows how much money, or he wants to build more of a populist legacy.

Right so financially it wasn’t required in the sense the artist needs the money to live, but it was done regardless because that is expected of the artist at this point.

Right I mean Bob Dylan did an IBM commercial. Sterling Ruby has a clothing line that probably makes more money than his art does. It doesn’t mean I respect those people any less for doing what they’re doing…. they had to get to the point where they could do that.

Exactly so it’s just part of the process now...

And if you call someone a sell out, you’re just a bitter asshole who hasn’t been able to sell out themselves.

Well arguably that could be considered balance. Still being part of it but also maintaining some level of yourself while doing that.

Yeah but I think the only way to do that is to attempt to do what all these people emphasize as “circumventing the gallery system!… blah blah blah” but at the end of the day everything is still determined by billionaires who are collectors, donating works to museums buying out shows etc. and there’s nothing wrong with that. I hope all the billionaires come buy all my paintings...but you can’t “circumvent” that…there are gate keepers for those people, and gatekeepers for those people. You have to find your way. If you don’t make anything and you find the people, it seems like you can just make a bunch of bullshit that means nothing and sell that with the prevailing narrative… which is fine maybe you can live a happy life and make things…more power to you…and that’s not detracting from what I’m doing by any means, so you know, go ahead, get your money. My lack of participation that way is what I think holds me back at times…or maybe it’s my style of work…I haven’t found a way to talk about it that makes it flashy or interesting.

(laughs) Because if you get big enough the opportunities will present themselves and you inevitably will make the choice of who to sell out to.

Right and as an artist you’re building a cult of personality.

People will become obsessed with you. Eventually you’ll do something that skews that perspective they have, many times this is based off of a “sell out” moment.

Yeah...it seems like culture is moving into a place where there is very little space for forgiveness or thinking in general. It’s all narrative driven and if you break narrative you’re cast out.

Which is ironic because a lot of these narratives are masked as an attempt to make humans better overall, but there is very little humility inside of it. There are of course situations where people should be cast out and these narratives have served for a great shift in accountability. But now it has mutated to something else completely. If an artist breaks their audiences preconceptions in the slightest they could be cast out. But the system will replace them quickly.

And it’s a permanent record. These mistakes used to be forgotten but now they are available chronologically on Google and people tend to be drawn to the negative.

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David Donald Sutherland

You think negativity supersedes positivity on the emotional spectrum?

Yeah you can see the proof everywhere.

A personal example is when I worked with a couple shitty galleries for a minute, they were trash but they had a lot of SEO. So whenever you Googled my name this shit gallery came up, and people wouldn’t go near the work for what felt like over a year because of this association. When in reality they had two of my pieces for less than four months and I took them back, but online it looked like they repped me or something.

So the choice to give them the two paintings for four months caused you issues for almost two years in the end?

It’s wild, especially when you’re talking about people who are emerging artists who don’t come from Yale or CalArts MFA programs, that don’t know the drill or what they’re not supposed to do. That’s why those kids come out and they get sent into a feeder system of galleries and if they can perform that’s all they have to do in order to get up the ladder, because they have connections along the way and they know what path to walk.

Where as if you’re starting from nothing in the art world you end up trying to take every opportunity you can not knowing how fucked up the world can be because you come into it as someone who’s not in one of those programs and you really just want to make art and share it because you love and care about it and it’s history and the continuation of it and you have no idea how to get where you need to go and you’re not paying attention to all of this bureaucratic stuff is happening in the background So there are a lot of easy holes to slip into along the way if you don’t have the path laid out or the connections to keep you on the path.

Right and obviously you did not go to Yale or art school in general. You ended up in the coast guard, were doing Latin American studies and Economics after, eventually it ended up being that you wanted to paint and dedicated your life to that. How did you get there?

I went into the coast guard to get out of a bad situation and do something that I thought was productive with my life, attempting to better my situation, and it definitely did. It was probably one of the best decisions I ever made, but at the same time you’re serving a purpose that is not necessarily your own and you don’t always know why it is you’re doing what you’re doing for someone else. Deciding to paint was easy, knowing that it was something I love to do, and not wanting to do anything that I didn’t want to do ever again.

followed by everything you went through there that was enough, just that you thought “I just need to do something that I actually want to do”?

When your environment is fucked up and you’re trying to figure out what it is you want to do. You don’t always know what it is at first, you just know you want it to be something that makes you happy.

And it’s probably on the extreme end of the spectrum coming from a shitty situation and that’s how you end up doing something that is completely what you want to do, and it doesn’t necessarily always bring you happiness, but you can feel it coming in that sensation of powerlessness, having control over your own existence…. Not that you do anyway, but that someone else is dictating your happiness and your life outcome… the second that starts creeping in you feel it and want to get as far away from it as possible which drives you towards whatever it is that makes you happy. It’s a good thing it pushes you towards whatever sincerely interests you as a human being.

And for you that was painting?

Yes, I was working as well before in assistant roles working in film and fashion and I liked functioning in those other worlds, you’re still part of a creative process, you’re still making something. But at the end of the day, you’re still subject to the group consensus…which is fine in some cases and absolutely awful in others. Taking those jobs gives you the opportunity to learn about those things and appreciate them without having your heart in it. Just enjoying the experience of working on something with other people and less worried about what the end product is the experience is what mattered….

And that’s how I started selling paintings to begin with. But yes painting is always the focus.

Right...I think there’s a lot of people that come from a similar path that would love to be where you are now.

Which is mind boggling because I feel like I don’t know where I’m at most of the time.

So after everything you went through growing up and

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Do you fell like you strategically got to this place, was there a path that you were able to make out for yourself or was it just doing and reacting?

I mean I think there’s strategy at some points, mostly doing and reacting. I started selling paintings to people I was working with in film world, music, fashion, all that stuff, and then that sort of lead to some weird internet following that I don’t completely understand, and then being approached by galleries to work with them because of that internet following.

People at galleries get confused when you’re selling work without a gallery. It still doesn’t make sense to them.

are the things that people go to because they figured out the internet and they dominate the space.

And that’s something you encounter, that they’re confused, and asking how are you doing this?

Yeah I think most of the emerging galleries aren’t selling much work. They’re selling two or three paintings per show, and every artist they have has ten other jobs.

Makes for a very different experience(laughs.) But your point being that those pages helped build you a level of recognition but they don’t exist anymore?

Well, they still exist...

So in a way you have found a way to do it?

I just don’t make quite enough money yet. Which goes back to the chasing money thing. I have to figure out how to move forward each time in a completely new way. If the opportunity isn’t there, which it generally isn’t, you have to make it for yourself.

Do you think that utilizing social channels and this odd digital following you have accumulated is actually helpful for your “career”?

I think most of the internet following comes from the dissemination pages which started towards the beginning of instagram becoming a thing…

It is odd to think about when we first met, almost 10 years ago, getting stoned and going to look at work that we were typically very alone in gallery and museum spaces, it’s quite a different experience now.

Right! Or you had the social events before, gallery opening, but it use to be there were at least some people there to actually look at the work as opposed to being seen in proximity of the work. It’s like every gallery opening is a hype beast convention sprinkled with pretension.

But the level of relevancy is lower due to the major institutional take over of the space?

Exactly and most of them have started doing promotional stuff where people pay to post their work on them to keep going.

Right so there’s no level of meaningfulness to it... They become like malls…like anything else.

Yeah.

When it was just a fun app that exists before it became to an actual pillar of cultural things…?

Right and just a place to find shit… because all of these painting pages started and galleries were objecting to or dismissing them saying you’ll never sell art on the internet blah blah blah. Then all of these painters shown on these pages started selling work or at least getting followings, and a lot of them ended up getting picked up on the internet by the galleries.

Eventually the galleries decided that they were not taking anyone from the internet anymore instead they would take their people and put them on the internet, so that took away from the legitimacy of these dissemination pages.

So you feel like those pages don’t have the same impact because the galleries have found a way to supersede that digitally?

Yeah, say six years ago, your average person had no idea what any of these big galleries were. They weren’t house hold names. It wasn’t common for people to know what Hauser and Worth was or even Gagosian...maybe the names were familiar, but didn’t know what it was exactly. But now these

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ROMAN

KAMLAR

Roman Kamlar has been chasing the perfect jacket since the 80’s. From this search he grew his brand Tilak, which is produced in his home country of the Chezk Republic. In the early 2000’s he gained notoriety outside of the outdoor space when partnering with Errolson Hugh of ACRONYM, which led to an ongoing life long partnership and friendship.

His obsession with ice climbing and white water rafting creates a genuine perspective for his designs. We spoke to Roman about the importance of genuine considered design and where he plans to take his never ending mission for the perfect performance pieces.

Where do you find your inspiration?

In the mountains using my gear. When I am outside moving through nature I can notice how I can improve their function, fit, fabrics, and technology.

Two of my friends agreed with this being a hole that needed to be filled. I border the sewing machine and $20 for the nylon. I personally ended up making about 1,000 down sleeping bags by hand. This was the start of Tilak.

Have you had any experiences in the mountains that were specifically impaction for you?

I’ve spent almost 40 years exploring mountains and have added wild water to my exploration as well, for the past 20 years. I have climbed in Alaska, Nepal, Peru, and China. But the most impact-full was climbing the west face of Keith Mountain in Greenland. We spent 4 days on the 1.450 meter tall granite wall, which is 40% higher than El Capitan. Comparably difficult was rafting both the Brahmaputra River and the Zamezi River.

From a sleeping bag to full collections, with a laser focus on function. What is the most important function to you when creating a piece?

Fit, freedom of movement, a perfect hood, the pocket placement and, protection. Making sure the right fabrics are in the right places combined with the right technology. The goal is to make everything simple, light, packable and RELIABLE.

It seems like The Evolution Jacket, which you do in collaboration You created your first piece at home on a personal sewing with ACRONYMN is the prefect example of this. You improve matching in 1986. What inspired you to attempt making your upon the same design only releasing a new one when it has truly own gear? evolved, which is now an ongoing 20 year project. What has this process taught you?

(Laughs) Yes! I borrowed a small sewing machine from my mother. I made a down sleeping bag, because at the time you could Yes, exactly every generation is an improvement on the last. We not find any in the shops. I didn’t have anything to sleep in while focus on all of the aspects I mentioned above. The anniversary in the mountains. Now it’s hard to imagine that being an issue. jacket is not necessarily an “eye-catcher”. We hid everything in But at the time our country was very similar to how North Korea the details. The fit, the new hood construction, using the latest in ways with communism and nuclear scares. So sleeping bags iteration of GORE-TEX PRO and the overall workmanship is the were not a priority by any means. result of this process.

Roman Kamlar

How has collaborating with Errolson Hugh effected the evolution of the jacket?

Collaboration with Errolson is always good. He has great ideas and suggestions, specifically around the overall design aesthetic. I will respond with comments on function and production. He always immediately understands and adapts these points to the overall design. We both are constantly learning from each other.

You mention GORE-TEX before, you have a long history of working together. How important is that partnership for what you are doing with Tilak?

GORE-TEX plays a key role in the company and it’s growth. We partnered with them in the early 90’s and immediately sold out of everything. The brands overall worth almost tripled in that year alone.

Can you remember a specific moment that made you re-think a design?

Almost every time I am wearing my clothing, specifically in really bad conditions, I can find things that I can improve.

Currently we are seeing the world of high end fashion and street digging into technical and alpine based apparel. What are your thoughts on this current up swing in the high end space being interested in what you do? Was this something you anticipated?

Years ago it was “trending” here to wear real climbing and mountaineering jackets in the city. You would see sharp colors everywhere and the “fashion” guys hated that. But when you change the color and make the design simple, people continue to wear technical jackets in the city again. The jackets work really great in any condition and they last really long, why wouldn’t you want to wear them.

Does it bother you that these pieces become purely antithetical rather than purposeful?

I would assume that these customers understand the technical value of the pieces, even if they are not using it for any specific purpose. At the very least these pieces have real value in longevity and design, which I prefer over something that is pointlessly expensive because of the brand name.

Do you think that people who have no experience in the outdoors will get into nature due to finding these garments via alternative outlets?

I think that having the proper garments elevate the fear of the outdoors so hopefully this may give new people some courage to try something new, just a guess though.

What is the future for Tilak?

A lot of work! We will continue with our standard outdoor collection, bring new energy to POUTNIK and continue with out MiG collection for the military. All 3 collections have great potential.

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AUREL

SCHMIDT

TRASH DOLLS is an ongoing series by Aurel Schmidt. Each drawing highlights characters of New York City, that she has encountered throughout her life, depicted with the items that equally make the city what it is and the characters who they are.

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How Are You Feeling?

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Portrait by Zachary Harell Jones

OAA MUSICIAN

How are you feeling?

I’m a little scatterbrained and I probably drank too much coffee but overall peaceful today.

to get to a point where we can help people if we’re not there already. But, personally I think utopia represents complete mental harmony.

Where is home?

Right now home is Los Angeles and I love it for the most part, but I think of moving pretty often. Overall I think home is in the mind.

How do you stay sane?

I don’t know if I ever feel sane necessarily, but more so distracted. I dive into a lot of different things and when I do each one seems to occupy my mind 24/7, until I find the next thing. I think staying away from personal identity has helped me too, although it doesn’t seem to help if you’re trying to get work and get paid. But I’ve never really named myself a photographer or musician or whatever thing I’m doing.

I think it helps me feel more free. I can go months without playing music and it doesn’t necessarily change my point of view on the world. I just do things when they feel good and if they don’t then I won’t.

Where did you first find your love for music?

I think I’ve discovered different types of love for music at different stages in my life. My first memory is of a Beach Boy’s tape I made when I was 6. As I got older I would buy every record I could. Finding new music from the insert pages of CD’s and skate videos, then scouring Soulseek for hours.

Each time I discovered a new genre it was like finding music all over again. I played in a few bands when I was younger, but nothing really clicked until I started playing music alone, which was a huge discovery in it’s self.

Is there anyone in particular who has inspired you the most throughout your life?

I feel like I’ve always had friends that made music or photos or wrote that I admired and that has definitely been an inspiration in general. I can’t remember having any desire to make music before I heard Neurosis. When I got into them I just wanted to hear every band like them. I discovered Godflesh, I loved the Love and Hate in Dub record even though I don’t think I understood it at that age. At the time it seemed like every artist that was in that sort of network just blew me away.

What does utopia look like to you?

I don’t believe there will ever be a physical utopia. Life is generally hard and cruel outside of whatever socioeconomic problem we’re in front of. Beyond that I think a lot of us are sort of stuck in a feedback loop of ideological narcissism. You see so little of the political complaints are ever about actual policy but are almost always about a perceived culture of the politician and how it relates to yourself. I think this last election is a clear indicator of that. I saw a lot of people celebrating, but you’ll see migrant workers will continue to be locked up and deported, the ones who need help will continue to be ignored, I assume drone strikes will happen even more frequently than before and a lot of us will wonder why we even pay taxes. I think we should all strive

What does originality look like to you in the 21st century?

I feel like right now it’s pretty schizophrenic. I don’t necessarily know how much I value originality, for the sake of originality in general though. I think it’s harder to make something truly good, than it is to make something that you haven’t exactly seen or heard before. For music I just want to listen to something that sparks whatever feeling inside me and that doesn’t always have to be original. I’m not saying rip someone off, but if you’re an honest person I think you can find the in-between.

What advice do you have for anyone pursuing music?

I’m not sure I’m even the person to ask. I guess I would say just first and foremost try to figure out what your voice is and what you’re trying to say. Figuring out what sound you want to hear is the most important and then whatever technical skill will follow that.

What makes you uncomfortable?

The idea of time in general.

Whats next?

I recorded a collaborative record in November that looks like it’ll be coming out later this year. I’m recording a new EP as well. After I finish that there’s some photography projects I want to focus on for a minute. Then I have no idea. Maybe the final collapse!

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550 BC

Pouria Khojastehpay

Undisclosed state prisons, United States, 2019 - 2020 Photos taken by inmates with contraband smartphones.

From the book and series Crowbar Hotel.

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Rio de Janerio, Brazil, 2020 - 2021 From the book and series

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An autonomous gesture inside an unbearable context, not an object but a gesture.”

© Antoine d’Agata / Magnum Pho-

Lock-down 2020

Paris, France

COVID - 19

Antoine d’Agata

“VIRUS is a series of 13,000 images, shown in exhibition as a 1,111 frame installation, and published into an 832 page book.

VIRUS

First day of lock-down, a deserted city. Wandering through the abandoned city, not knowing what’s the right attitude to adopt. The politicians dictate rules to follow. The unheard of dimension of the pandemic is the context. What is at stake is profit and loss. For the first time, a plague threatens the global community. No way out. We all share the same fear, uncertainty, fragility and impotency. Faceless figures occupy abstract spaces. Psycho-geography of the city: worried fleeing passers-by, imposed distance between bodies, anguish of those who have nowhere to hide. Defenselessness wounded beings. Going in forgotten territories where life hides, on the fringes of social life, where those without homes, junkies, and prostitutes continue to live despite the lack of access to commodities. Over the days, the behaviors change, become more aggressive. The repression toughens on those who cannot attest an honorable function. A farce of rules and regulations. To walk, photograph during weeks, months. Gestures - not words or ideas - define what one is. To make my own rules, live under my principles, make my way through the darkness. Struggles, doubts, risks, mistakes, refusals to compromise. The difficulty is to stay lucid, responsible and independent. To go as far as my strength allows. Lock-Down. Tension growing. Authoritarian figures : medics, cops, journalists, guards. The urge to document more than the surface of things, to look at beings and objects from the inside. Seeing too much. The situation is not spectacular but extreme. To experience a reality that is violent but imperceptible to the naked eye. Facing a non-tangible threat. Thermography, a technology invented by astronomers and developed by the military, to locate and monitor deviant figures, disembodies it’s subjects by dispossessing them of their envelope of flesh and the singularity of their features. It could become the tool for a sensual quest for the essence of beings, measuring the mass of heat produced by humans and buildings and therefore make it permeable to vision, expressing the porosity, the vulnerability of beings and objects, capturing the fever of the living which it transforms into light waves. The mystery of incarnation replayed on the very surface of the images, the camera apprehending the viral nature of superstition, giving a tangible form to the dissolution of identities, to the obscenity of the economic context. Photograph the tension, the collapse of the bodies. The somewhat obvious symbolism of fever as a symptom. The camera measures body heat. The heat proves to be a symptom of the drive to resist and survive. Thermal images distorted with luminous halos allow a relationship to the invisible truth. Shooting in a frenzy the time of agony in a space where all contacts are now prohibited.

The low definition of the electronic files, as a sacrifice of some sort, translates the range of intensities. Reaching a certain degree of abstraction, searching other levels of reality, undoing the fabric of our senses, portraying a space and a time where life and death merge. Fear. Our responsibility is to be here. Walking the streets feels like a privilege. There are no longer any gestures that link the bodies to each other, no tangible form of social bond. The flesh abandoned to it’s solitude. In the hospitals and the streets, plunged into silence, recumbent figures and penitents, everywhere. In the hermetic space of the intensive care unit, not to contemplate the spectacle of suffering but the fragility of humanity, the medical rituals, the desperation of fragile beings. Suddenly opened up an abyss in their little lives that swallows them into darkness.

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The pity, the empathy, the inability to keep death away. The graphic dimension of bedridden and intubated flesh dissolved into a kind of luminous abstraction. The flesh becomes spectra of light detached against a background of darkness. Troubling gentleness - or sensuality - of the caregivers’ gestures. The transparency of the figures and buildings isolates them even more in the unfathomable abstraction that reality has become. Multiple vision of those apparently identical lives. The effort is monumental. Having experienced them as unique and unrepeatable. To stay alive after that terrible revelation, leaving always little burning figures knowing that this fire is not exhausted with my departure. Every day dying, being the mirror of death. There is no life left inside of me. Compassion kills. Unbearable pain of having shared all those lives. Regenerating the desire to live with chemistry. Outside, lonely beings struggle to inhabit an uninhabitable space. Homeless beings scrambling to survive; the last men in a world that has lost what made up our common humanity. The thermal images convey despair, the sense of a lost humanity. Endless accumulation of atheistic ex-votos. Each single day, picking the camera up and going into the belly of the city. The void.

The senseless drive to go always deeper. Not to give up, not to be confined.

To live the present through the old paradigms of collaboration and resistance, feel it is my privilege and my responsibility to experience a possible apocalypse.

The movements of bodies in space, their isolation and desperate drive to exist.

The images contradict the idea of photography as we know it, undermine

the lazy assumption that photography deals with the excellency of the gaze regarding the composition or the light.

It is not a matter of looking any more.

Photography, to resist the force of the spectacle becomes again the language of action. Alienated by the pleasures of immediate possession, they become, always more, spectators of their own lives. They unknowingly support the insidious ideology of a global culture that instill passivity and cowardice. Violence, inequalities, threats, misinformation, manipulation, curfews, controls,

fear, accumulation of deaths, prologue to a civil war to come. The principle of violence runs our societies. The pandemic exaggerates the disparities between individuals, social classes and nations. No other choice than taking part in the turmoil. Meaningful and necessary gestures that redefine my destiny. Through photographs, instantaneous art forms generated at the very moment of the experience that provokes them. Too much is not enough.

The only strategy is excess, to unveil and keep at large the cowards, cynics and corrupts, the clones and the rats. To pursue fear, desire, lust for existence. Viral images, deviant artistic gestures, performed out of the state of poverty. The isolation, the fragility, the burden on the emotional and psychological state, the episodes of rage, of fear, of paranoia, the extreme fatigue of the muscles, the silence. The morgue. Nothing more explicit than a mute body. Closeness to death becomes bearable. Not to open eyes to horror, but to let horror contaminate the flesh and the mind, holding oneself responsible for the effort of not giving

up, of reaching decency, whatever the cost or the damage will be. No other way of living.

The rest is all lies. Vida nude, bare life, humanity reduced to its most basic form, the abjection of physical death - caused by a pernicious virus - or social death - caused by anonymous financial interests -. Readiness to absorb and be absorbed by the violence, the essential force of the artist. Techniques and aesthetics are anecdotes. Police and sanitary rules are a specific context, a condition of the necessity to resist passivity. There are no victims, only guilty individuals. Consumers and spectators guilty for giving in to the spectacle, for not having the courage to set free from the illusory certitude that condemn them to impotence. The imposture is to understand, to feel, to preach the good and the light and not to dare to go into the night.

They ignore suffering, not know how to differentiate the victims through their names and their features. Photographing a physical position, to tell a perspective as an existential being and a social entity. Struggling to provoke an inter-contamination between the language and the situations that generate it, aiming to make images that are no longer a parasitic trace of the event but a proof of living through rage and desire, working within the system of information and against it. Rejecting the status of a passive voyeur or witness, be a full share character of the documented experiences. Surviving the horror and my insanity. To consider the pandemic through the political prism, - through the inhibition of personal freedoms, the hidden imperatives and strategies of economic war and a class struggle - rather than as a medical

crisis. To focus on the horror of the present, of the instant.

Reality principle.

Ability of the mind to assess the reality of the external world, and to act upon it accordingly, as opposed to acting on the pleasure principle. To look at what they don’t dare to look at, to go to territories they don’t dare to go to. Apprehending contemporary existence as a slow death, an agony they choose to deny, anesthetizing the pain through entertainment, desperately trying not to feel the pain nor to face the horror. Words are part of the process. So

alternative lectures can be generated out of the inflation of information. Mutant diagnostics, dissident strategies of resistance. Reality takes slowly the familiar shape the photographs renounce and it is scary, always. But it keeps being a privilege to experience violence in my flesh. Deliberately walking into the darkness, provoking situations that challenge common certitudes in order to get away from the temptation of prostration. Obedience is produced by the virtual spectacle that made addicted consumers out of exploited workers and resigned slaves out of despaired victims. Pain, fear, desire, crime and fleeting passions allow the rebellious to surpass the unbearable burden of economic survival imposed upon defenseless excess and disposable margins of population. Those who own nothing but their own physical life are deprived of their existence. Aware of their condition, of their own ruin. A devastating obscenity that no public servant will acknowledge.

Art is vain, an image little more than a scream or a sigh of stupefaction as life fades away.

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In a world reduced to false and futile pretenses, in the absence of perspective, in the reign of flesh subject to exhaustion and prostrated souls forced into the void, action might be pointless, doomed to fail under the curse of financial cruelty, but is the last resort of a forgotten dignity. Action as the antidote to infectious passivity, to painless drifting into inertia. No answer to be found, but not to give up. Having to set the spectator up, and damage him, to force him to look at what he didn’t want to see.

All forms of communication are a compromise but affirming the sinister rule of merchandise and the disappearance of experience is imperative.

Keeping the pain alive, an ultimate form of insubordination. Financial violence administers and annihilates large sections of marginalized communities perceived as a non-productive and therefore disposable.

Consciousness gives up to the virtualization of communication. Under the misleading disguise of liberal and democratic rule, financial ideology promotes resigned comfort as a principle of existence. Contamination becomes a sign of the determination with which men undertake to annihilate men. Survival mutates into crime and deviance. Lust denies religious superstition. Expenditure dissolves the sole logics of profit and consumerism. Cruelty proving to be the last possible mean to resist the void. Art as a solitary, innocent, impossible pursuit of truth. A perpetual search for ever excessive sensations, situations and experiences. Ignoring the limits through insane strategies, renouncing impossible positions to take in the silent struggle between the forces of abstraction -, spectacle, profit, reason, etc. - and the mechanics of the flesh – pleasure, rage, instinct, etc. -. Immersing myself deeper into the doubt, as long as the flesh bears the pain. Challenge the mental and physical boundaries of life. Destroying certainties and polluting minds. Living up to my words. The artistic act becomes the equivalent of the act of living itself.

- Antoine d’Agata

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