In a sub-society driven by texting, social networking sites, and other forms of instant communication there are a few who choose an alternative means of expression. Pedro Matos absorbs his feelings, emotions, and depictions into the bristles of brushes and the innards of pencils. The 20-year-old street artist and painter hails from Portugal and was blessed with the ability to revel his perception via lead, ink, and paint. This self-taught artistic prodigy creates without and artistic itinerary, and simply goes where his memory takes him.

“I find myself captured by the beauty of this homeless street musician the same way I am about this damaged, tagged and vandalized abandoned 18th century building.”

Format: It is obvious that a lot of emotion goes into each of your paintings. Tell me about Pedro Matos as a person and how your personal life/upbringing/experiences influence your art.
Pedro: I am 20 years old and I live in Lisbon, Portugal. Having a graffiti/skateboarding background and traveling a lot has definitely influenced how I live, see, think and paint. I am a pretty emotional person myself, so I guess that will just reflect upon my work no matter what. The emotions expressed on my paintings are my own.

Format: It’s amazing how much you’ve accomplished thus far in your life. Your website mentions your rapid headway in the art world. How did you go from Lisbon’s underground art scene to international gallery shows in such a brief time frame?
Pedro: Thank you! Actually, that happened both out of ambition and necessity. There weren’t any galleries in Lisbon showing and representing the so called urban artists / low-brow / pop surrealism / whatever it is called. And I felt the need to go further and push myself and that’s why I had to go international early on. Fortunately, Elisa from the Carmichael Gallery in LA liked my paintings and gave me the chance to show some pieces there. I didn’t even have a clue about how to ship paintings overseas, but they got there in the end. She has been very kind and supportive. I had another show in London last April, which was cool because I could make it to the opening.

Format: I know you are a graffiti artist as well. How do you tie your graffiti passion into the beautiful works you create on paper and canvas?
Pedro: I don’t do traditional graffiti these days that much and that has always been something I did with friends just for fun. I do take street-art more seriously though, and I try to put up good work. Having a graffiti background has given me the experience to go out and not get caught. Obviously those influences translate into my paintings, and I find it beautiful to juxtapose this graffiti/street look with something more classic, realistic, figurative and detailed.

Format: Which surface you prefer: the walls of the streets or the blank canvas?
Pedro: They both have unique features and I can’t chose one to another (That’s why I do both). Street Art is really powerful! It reaches hundreds of people everyday, and it interacts with the city and people in a way it’s not possible in a gallery. Being ephemeral makes it a precious experience because you know it’s not going to last forever. On the other hand, painting a canvas on my studio allows me to go further and make higher quality paintings. It gets to people in different and unique ways and both mediums really compliment each other. It’s also great the feeling that one might create something that might outlive him.

Format: Your website also mentions how you choose to depict the “downtrodden, unnoticed, and unappreciated” people in society. These words make your movement sound political. What message are you hoping to carry out via paints and pens?
Pedro: I see it more as a social message than political. For instance, I recently noticed this ambiguous situation in Lisbon. There are a lot of empty buildings in the heart of lisbon. They close all the doors and windows with bricks and concrete so no one goes inside, and they have been like that for several years. And you see a lot of homeless people sleeping just outside these buildings in the cold and rain.. So, it just made perfect sense to me, to represent them, and paste them up on these same buildings. It’s funny how people ask me “are you painting that to put it on the streets? that’s such a waste..” and they don’t ask how much of a bigger waste is the building where I am pasting up these people on.

Format: Do you remember the first drawing you ever did or the moment you recognized your talent?
Pedro: I remember drawing as a kid. I did these drawings on math paper with all the squares, and I remember doing a lot of landscapes too. But that was abandoned for a few years. The skateboarding lifestyle and people like Ed Templeton made the connection from skateboarding to art and I started painting when I was 16 or 17.

Format: Many of your pieces have a destroyed look to them. The dripping paint, fading colors, and eliminated backgrounds give your artwork an ambiguous, dream-like tone. Is this on purpose?
Pedro: It is in a certain way. It is my very particular way of seeing things when I wonder in the city. I find myself captured by the beauty of this homeless street musician the same way I am about this damaged, tagged and vandalized abandoned 18th century building.

Format:What is the meaning behind presenting an individual person in each piece?
Pedro: If I paint more than one person on the same piece, people will look for the connections and relations they have. And that’s not what I have been interested in exploring so far. I might do it in the future, but for now, I rather portray someone’s individuality, feelings, aesthetics, emotions, and so on, in a way they become more noticeable.

Format: Are the people in your paintings people you’ve actually encountered in life or do you paint what’s in your imagination?
Pedro: I draw / paint both from life and photos. Sometimes sketches from memory, but it’s essential to have some sort of reference to have the light and expressions correct. Either way, they are based on real people and real lives.

Format: What other passions do you have outside of artistic expression?
Pedro: Life. My family, girlfriend, friends, music, skateboarding, yoga, cycling, travelling, movies .. and so on. It could all be an artistic expression though right?

Format:I noticed your art is for sale. How did it feel the first time you sold a piece of your work?
Pedro: The very first ones might have been symbolic sales to friends and family but when I had my first small show in Lisbon, while I was setting up the show I sold two pieces to the owners before the opening and that felt really good. Having people paying for something you create and wanting it that bad in their lives, it’s amazing!

Format: You are a detailed artist when it comes to shadows and color choice and placement. How did you teach yourself such skilled techniques?
Pedro: Actually, I do not have a clue about what I am doing. I just try to do it, sometimes it works, some times it doesn’t.

Format: Do you have a ritual or routine when it comes to your personal creative process?
Pedro: Loud music is mandatory.

“Having a graffiti background has given me the experience to go out and not get caught. Obviously those influences translate into my paintings, and I find it beautiful to juxtapose this graffiti/street look with something more classic, realistic, figurative and detailed.”

Format: Where can the public go to purchase your artwork and/or find more information on your upcoming shows?
Pedro: There are some pieces available at the Carmichael Gallery in LA and at The Brick Lane Gallery in London. My upcoming shows probably will be in Lisbon (solo) and LA and London (group) but I don’t have dates available yet. I’ll have them mentioned on my website / myspace / facebook etc when the time is right.

Format:Upon viewing your work, it is hard to believe you are only 20 years old. What do you do in your spare time? What is in heavy rotation in your CD player or iPod?
Pedro: Thank you. I’m attending some classes at the Fine Arts Faculty in Lisbon’s University. Other than that, I try to balance my time between all the interests mentioned above and I try to do new things and go to new places as much as I can. My iPod plays a lot of different things. From Justice, Crookers, Steed Lord, to Pete Doherty, Nirvana, Edith Piaf, Beethoven, Beatles, Jefferson Airplane, Velvet Underground, Doors, Notorious B.I.G., just to name a few.

More Info: www.pedromatos.com

Part art gallery, part toy shop, what makes more sense than the matrimony of both worlds to form the beloved Parisian space known as Artoyz. Not just a shop, nor a gallery, Artoyz is a full brand in its self, producing and releasing vinyl goodies featuring artists like SuperDeux, Bunka, New Era collabs, and a lot more. Yann-Claude Phillipot took some time away from his morning croissant to give Format a virtual tour of their vinyl universe.

“The gallery is our playground. We don’t work the same way as dedicated galleries. We barely make money off shows, what we want is to welcome artists we love the most, and help them increase their fame in France.”

Format: What was the original concept for Artoyz?
Artoyz: Our first goal was to introduce a new graphical culture that totally blow our minds in the first place. We wanted to share the concept, culture and philosophy around the Urban Vinyl movement that grown in Hong Kong at the end of the nineties. Designer Toy was the perfect thing for us, we were huge collectors of graphic books, music, comic books, clothes, sneakers, toys also of course, and when we discovered the new uses of this medium we fell for it immediately. We couldn’t be the only ones in this country to fall for those eye candies…time told us that we made the right choice! Michael, general manager of Artoyz, wanted to quit its previous job in the music industry to build something new and wanted to work on something he liked. I was able to quit mine, also in the music industry, a few months after to work exclusively on Artoyz.

Quickly after launching our website that consists in a shop plus a magazine, we became wholesalers and then curators; we opened a shop+gallery, then a second one, then we became producers of toys and clothes. From day one our dream was to produce our own figures, and it was like an outcome when we received the very first sample from the factory. That’s maybe the best job in the world (IMO taking care of an island lost in the Pacific Ocean is not quite as fun as our job).

Format: What sort of experience do you want your customers to have when they come to the store?
Artoyz: We want them to open wide their eyes, and to be ready to forget all they ever saw in other toy shops. We want to see smiles on these faces ! What we love the most is to see so many different people, from 10 years old kid that are new to the thing but really into it, and elders or art collectors that find an appeal in our products and rely to something else they might be collecting or loving. Young is older and older is younger when they enter Artoyz.

Format: When did you realize that there was a niche for a designer toy store in France ?
Artoyz: It was a pure brainless risk as you may imagine, in 2003 there was only a couple of artists and companies, HK Vinyl was slowly going down and we had no idea if we were going to find an audience, but we were so involved and really motivated by the project and the amazing possibilities that could follow that we put all our efforts together in order to showcase these products and talk about them.
We had very good feedback pretty quickly, we were astounded when we realized that the very first order on artoyz.com arrived less than 10 minutes after the opening of the site…and furthermore it wasn’t a friend of ours ! And there even was a queue when we opened the flagship in Paris in 2005.

Format: How does the French public receive designer vinyl? Has it reached a level of general public interest?
Artoyz: The answer was really positive and motivating, little by little a strong French community has grown, very supportive and also very different from what we saw on other sites and other countries. We thought that the French taste is also slightly different and we noticed a really strong support for creations released by frenchies such as Rolito, Mist or Superdeux for example. As of today, we have made way better than other countries that somehow dropped the thing on the way or weren’t enough into it, and we have reached a pretty decent level of popularity, which I think is also growing more and more everyday.

Format: France has such a rich artistic history, do you find that it is reflected in the artists and graphic designers that you work with?
Artoyz: Many French artists attended art schools, and even if regular public schools or universities are amazingly bad in our country, art schools are very efficient. So I would say that French graphic designers are overall very talented, whatever the style or the medium they work on. Most of the French artists that work in the toy industry or make toys have many skills and are definitely not limited on one medium; toy is only a part of their work and one of the many canvasses they work on to spread their art.

Format: Do you find that French designers have a different approach than Asian or American?
Artoyz: Definitely, we can’t avoid the fact they have been influenced and that everything from around the world but I think there is a French touch for everything. Toy included.

Format: Artoyz is a gallery as well. What sort of works do you like to see in your gallery?
Artoyz: Our first aim as a gallery was to showcase artists and newcomers that used the toy as a canvas. And furthermore, we wanted to put under the light French artists. So at first it was only toy oriented, then we opened to graffiti artists, illustrators but we want to keep a graphical link with the artists we welcome in our humble space. The gallery is also our playground, and we don’t work the same way as dedicated galleries. We barely make money off shows, what we want is to welcome artists we love the most, and help them increase their fame in France. That’s why we have worked with overseas artists such as Bwana Spoons, Dehara Yukinori, Jon Burgerman, Tim Tsui for example. We have slowed down exhibitions for the first semester, but the space is gonna live with many great shows upcoming, with foreign artists and well as French talents. And the current Steph Cop show is really amazing you should check it out.

Did I mention that we’d dream to see a Michael Lau exhibition in our gallery ? Oh yeah now I did it…

Format: You are currently showing works by Steph Kop at your gallery. How did that come together?
Artoyz: Steph Cop is a very talented fashion designer and also one of the earliest French toy designer we have met. He released the Imaginary Friends in resin almost ten years ago. He was at the time responsible of the style for one of our beloved streetwear brand (Homecore and then Graphik D-zign) and his work was very different with an aesthetic that we haven’t seen before. We made the connection with Steph (also a old school graffiti legend) and when we asked him if he could work with us for the clothing line we had in mind (ATZ) we were thrilled. When he talked about his new concept of Wooden Aro and the creation of several wooden toys created with a 25kg chainsaw, we were very enthusiastic, and we of course gave him the keys to the gallery.

Format: Have you had any of your own releases or are there artists that you represent?
Artoyz: As I say previously, making toys was our first dream, our child dream as adults. We aren’t artists by ourselves but we had ideas on who to work with and what may please us and the audience. Then we created Artoyz Originals in 2008, our dedicated toy label. Our first releases were with relatively unknown artists such as Bunka (Chaos Monkey) and Easy Hey (Kid Onion), who released their very fist vinyl toys and had strong feedback from collectors all around the world. We developed also the concept of Elements, an ongoing series of platform toys impersonating Air, Water, Earth and Fire into small collectible toys. Our first series ELEMENTS ALPHA SERIES is out now in the USA by the way. And we have many projects for the second half of 2009, including AUTO by Superdeux which will be revealed at the SDCC this year, and also the first toys by Alexone, Koralie, 123KLAN, and more to come. We work close with artists but they are free to work with whoever they want, if we have good opportunities we submit to those we are close to.

Format: What is the coolest thing in vinyl that you have seen all year?
Artoyz: Last year was overall a shitty year (besides the fact that we released our own productions which we are very very proud of – Chaos Monkey by Bunka and Kid Onion by Easy Hey, and our Elements but they are made of ABS plastic). There are a few things that have been noticed: The Kaws Effect, with people ONLY focusing on the many releases of the talented New Yorker, either to collect or to flip for profit.

The Kaiju rise, with the best productions in soft-vinyl that pushed one step further with more and more collectors, but that’s also very indie…hard to follow, it’s a game inside the game, with fewer players (that told us they were hardcore). And then the rise of anything, with many many, MANY companies created thinking they might be rich in no time and releasing shitty toys. You just can’t release anything. What used to be a game has become an industry, we are aware of that, but it would be cool if the crisis could expurgate the useless. Anyway, whatever the releases we are always excited to open new boxes and discover new creations, we are just a lil’ bit more critical than when we started, that’s quite normal.

Mindstyle has been doing a pretty good job these last few months, all their releases are f’in great with very efficient QC. 3A Toys is also amazing and all their toys with Ashley Wood gives back the word art into Art Toy. In fact the coolest thing in vinyl may be…the resin ! Many artists have rised using this material for new perspectives and amazing creations. Keep an eye on the Portland scene. Also can’t wait to see what will be unveiled during SDCC, and of course our forthcoming releases that we hope you’ll like !

Format: What have you not seen that you think should have already happened?
Artoyz: I keep secretly wishing that the Jeff Soto Walker might come out sometime. It should have been released years ago, but we are still a few to be convinced that it will rise from the dead some day.
I’d like to see more collaborations and crossovers between artists.
It’s also fun to notice that only a few toys have a function yet besides decoration. Will somebody jump the shark one day?

Eyeone – a man whose run-in with a miniature tall-ship is forever emblazoned in his monicker, is a deep and introspective artist and writer born in Mexico City, and raised just about everywhere else. His work is unique in its application and execution, taking its cues from the various subcultures that were forming in the early 1980s. He currently lives and works in Los Angeles. He was kind enough to take the time to respond to our questions about his past, what inspires him, and where he’s going next.

“When I was about 4 years old, I pierced one of my eyes with the end of a model boat. It was one of those Spanish galleons with the long battering pole in the front made out of metal. All I remember is my eye shutting immediately.”

Format: Can you describe who you are and what you do?
Eyeone: My graffiti name is Eyeone. I paint walls and other surfaces, indoors and outdoors.

Format: What is the meaning behind “Eyeone” ?
Eyeone: When I was about 4 years old, I pierced one of my eyes with the end of a model boat. It was one of those Spanish galleons with the long battering pole in the front made out of metal. All I remember is my eye shutting immediately. When I got taken to the doctor, they forced my eyelid open and I saw the brightest light I have ever seen, like staring straight at the sun point-blank. I had to wear an eye patch for a long time. I thought I’d be one-eyed for life. Miraculously, when the eye patch came off I had perfect vision. Still do, three decades later. I had to do all these crazy eye exercises as a kid; I think that strengthened my vision, literally and metaphorically.

Format: So, how did you fall into graffiti, and at what age did you do so? You said that you were inspired by the work of Mandoe and Neo Mak in your neighborhood, how exactly did they “itch” you? What neighborhood was this?
Eyeone: I fell into graffiti quite typically I think. I was scared for the most part by neighborhood scrawls; however, in elementary school I copied things I saw on the walls in my notebooks. When I saw the movie Beat Street, something clicked. I wanted to be like one of the main characters, Ramo, painting colorful messages on the trains. We didn’t have trains in L.A. at the time, so I started noticing graffiti on the walls. What stood out the most to me were tags by Mandoe and Neo’, which had a flow unlike the gang stuff or the Beat Street stuff. It felt alive. Their productions, which I later found out were basically illegal, also amazed me, especially one in the Echo Park/Temple area on Alvarado. It was an unfinished mural with some crazy fish characters. They also had painted a gas station in the Wilshire area where the colors seemed to float off the wall. I wanted to figure how they did it.

I actually moved around quite a bit in L.A., but MAKs work seemed to pop up in all the different neighborhoods I lived in or near: Virgil, Rampart, Temple, Echo Park, Angelino Heights, Wilshire/MacArthur Park. When I moved to the northeast, specifically Atwater, my friends and I encountered a piece by Krenz on our way to school, and that was the last straw: I grabbed a can from my Grandmother’s garage, and along with Modem and Gloze, hit the L.A. River in Atwater/Los Feliz/Silverlake/Griffith Park.

Format: Using the word like “itch” is really interesting to me. What does getting the “itch” mean to you – do you you still have that same today or has it matured?
Eyeone: I still have that itch. It’s like a search to scratch out the perfect letter-forms from my mind and translate them on a wall. The itch has also led me to try to capture the city in my art work, so in that sense it has led to a progression and maturation my artistic search. I see this as a life-long process. The band Adorable put out an album called “Against Perfection” and I feel that applies to me and my work. I see expression as a constant search; if I think I have achieved “perfection” and the itch is soothed, I’ll feel that my creativity has stopped. I want to always have that itch.

Format: What is your relationship to Seeking Heaven?
Eyeone: I am one of the newer members of the crew, and I strive to do work that merits being a component of SH.

Format: Would you say that this early inspiration carries on to today – or would you say that you eventually grew out to embrace your own style?
Eyeone: I think a little bit of both. MAK and Krenz were my earliest inspirations, but I have grown to embrace the whole of L.A.’s visual culture as nurturing my own work. Seeking Heaven has also directly influenced me; that still applies today, and I feel it will always apply. I can’t tell if I’ve developed my own style in terms of graffiti. I think that’s for observers to notice. I see myself as still seeking.

In my artwork, I think my earliest influences and inspirations are pretty obvious: Käthe Kollwitz, León Chávez Teixeiro, Leopoldo Méndez, Posada, Chinese and Japanese woodblock printing. These still inspire me, along with things I find as I continue exploring. I’ve embraced a very personal style, but I also do find clear connections to work by artists I admire.

Format: You were born in Mexico city, lived in LA and traveled around at other times in your childhood. How has this effected you in your life, and specfically your graffiti?
Eyeone: In life, moving around has made me really treasure permanence. When things I think are permanent break apart, it really is a shock to my system. Travelling, on the other hand, always fills me with new energy and inspires me to do more stuff. In graffiti, moving around the city exposed me to styles and names of many of L.A.’s freshest artists, so that has always been really inspiring and influential.

Format: It seems that your interests are pretty wide – you have a BA in Literature from UCLA, and a Master of Fine Art – what direction did academia take you?
Eyeone: I’d say my interests are fairly wide; I chalk it up to just absorbing things since I was a kid. As far as literature, I’ve been reading all kinds of things since I could first differentiate letters, anything from cereal boxes to Pablo Neruda to The Incredible Hulk. Kids thought I was weird for reading so much! My MFA came about because I wanted to get a formal education in the field I was already practicing. Academia took me in a few directions. First, it made me appreciate all the learning and experiences I had accumulated outside of school. At the same time, it forced a certain discipline in the way I work. My degree is in Design | Media Arts, which focused and relied heavily on digital technology for the creation of art and design. I think this pushed me to figure out ways of working both in traditional, analog media as well as incorporating new tools and technologies in my methodology.

“In life, moving around has made me really treasure permanence. When things I think are permanent break apart, it really is a shock to my system.”

Format: Your talents also extend into graphic design, and mentioned how you got into it by making posters for straightedge and hardcore punk shows. Where were you making these posters and what direction did the punk scene take your design?
Eyeone: My first serious stint at flyer making for shows was from 1992-1996. I designed most of the flyers for shows at a spot called Macondo which was located in the area now known as Hel-Mel in East Hollywood at the corner of Melrose and Heliotrope. I started out cutting and pasting photocopied images and using rub-on and sticky letters. I think the fact the flyers were always in black and white really impacted my use of those colors in my artwork. The grit and imperfection of photocopies and cheap paper also influenced what I would develop art-wise. Much of my artwork still involves stark high-contrast black and white images.

The punk scene also taught me the DIY approach to making things: do it yourself with any means at your disposal. Sort of like graffiti.

Format: Often it seems that the graffiti scene is populated with those who evovled out of the hip-hop or punk scenes – music is intensely important to the medium. What is the importance of music for you?
Eyeone: Music has always been important in my life, so much so that I currently cannot listen to much music. I don’t want to bore your readers with details, but I recently underwent a life-changing experience which has put a block on my listening to most of the music I value.

I know writers whose musical tastes vary from Johnny Cash to Pedro Infante and anything and everything in between. I think music is part of life in general, as is art.

Format: What are you working on right now and what can you tell us about it?
Eyeone: ‘m working on some pieces for a Michael Jackson tribute show at Tradition (www.shoptradition.com) that opens this weekend. My blog got wiped, so I’m working on bringing that back up to speed (www.eyelost.com.) I have a self-portrait in the Scion Self-Portraits art tour (www.scion.com/installation) that has been touring the U.S. and will end here in L.A. later this year. I am also brainstorming for the next phase of my ‘zine Lost.

The purple lines though this piece were not part of it originally. During a opening a few months ago, right in the middle of the event, a dude in a helmet ran in and added his bit of color to the mix. Hate is such a funny thing.

Could not get the whole thing in one shot on my phone cam, so book a ticket to XXX and come see the magic for yourself.

The first edition of the Trilogy Project, featuring collaborations between Asics, Ronnie Fieg of David Z. and Cultureshoq is this particularly awesome Asics Gel Lyte 3 done up by Cultureshoq. Expect to see more from this project in the not too distant future.

Info.Image: Highsnobiety

David Lopes is the acquisition editor of Gingko Press, one of the world’s foremost publishers of books concerning graphic arts, culture, and the streets. With this position comes great responsibility, since Gingko is known for consistently publishing bombastic and esoteric works. Works like the upcoming Store Front: The Disappearing Face of New York, Grotesk: A Decade of Swiss Design Lost in Brooklyn and a number of the seminal, yet out of print, works by cultural philosopher Marshall McLuhan. Think you know media from their messages? Read on and find out.

“McLuhan spoke of the ‘city as classroom’, a percept that speaks to the permanence of many influential movements with which we [Gingko Press] are involved. Graffiti and Hip-Hop for example are prime examples…”

Format: How many years has Gingko Press been in existence? What is Gingko’s history?
David Lopes: Gingko Press has been around for about 20 years, was started in Hamburg, Germany by my boss Mo Cohen & his (then) wife Julie Von Der Ropp. As an American who had spent a good amount of time representing Black Sparrow press in Europe, first as a rep and then as a rights agent, Mo came to have a good practical knowledge of the market. Julie brought a strong graphic sensibility to bear, and Gingko Press was born as a distribution company to fill the need for graphic design books in Europe. Later around 1991, after acquiring North American rights to the classic photography book Atget Paris, Mo and Julie opened the Gingko US operation. The US company started mostly as a distribution operation, but eventually evolved into a hybrid of distribution and original publishing. Today we’re about 50/50 distributor/ publisher.

Format: During times of economic recession, funding for art and culture often takes a back seat. What is your counter-claim to this argument?
David Lopes: I can’t really speak to trends in funding for the arts since Gingko Press is a purely commercial venture. We rely on our wits and, more specifically, sales to shops to keep the books coming off the press. Fortunately, it seems that art is like air and water to many people; they can’t live without it.

Format: What has been Gingko’s bestseller?
David Lopes: Shepard Fairey’s Supply & Demand (recently in a new expanded 20th Anniversary edition, by the way) is a phenomenal bestseller at present. I’m very proud to represent this artist and book, as with Store Front: The Disappearing Face of New York by long time Gingko Press authors James & Karla Murray.

Format: Gingko Press covers such a wide range of interests from street art, to antique packaging, to architectural criticism. What are your boundaries?
David Lopes: We’re pretty well focused on the visual arts: photography, graphic design, art. We occasionally publish some comics/graphic novels (which I consider both art & literature). I’d like to do more in this category. It’s a dream of mine to publish the next Marjane Satrapi or Art Spiegelman.

Format: Marshall McLuhan has a tab devoted to him on your website. What impact do his philosophies have on Gingko Press?
David Lopes: About a decade ago, our publisher Mo noticed that many important McLuhan books were out of print. Since then, he’s been working to bring the important ones back. McLuhan is a philosopher and interpreter of the ascent of electronic communication. The very phrase sounds almost anachronistic, but McLuhan wrote with incredible insight about ‘software vs. hardware’ and the profound impact that communication at the speed of light would inevitably have on society decades before the existence of Microsoft or the Internet. One of the most interesting things about McLuhan is the way that his ‘probes’ resonate in surprising ways with the rest of the Gingko universe. For instance, McLuhan spoke of the ‘city as classroom,’ a percept that speaks to the permanence of many influential movements with which we’re involved. Graffiti & Hip-Hop for example are prime examples of movements born of the city and its oral culture.

Format: As acquisitions editor at Gingko, you must get hundreds of submissions, how do you decide what makes it to print? What is the process like?
David Lopes: It’s always a challenge. I see many interesting proposals that just miss the mark for whatever reason. In the end, it boils down to a very practical test—can we publish this work profitably? The business of publishing isn’t terribly different than growing grapes or almonds or similar crops that take years to develop before they’re profitable. It begs several questions: Do we feel comfortable having the requisite long-term relationship with the author or authors? Will this book stand the test of time? Does it add to our catalog? The process is different every time, and I feel like I still have a lot to learn about everything from the production nuts & bolts of printing to the psycho-social aspects of helping artists give birth to a new, or aggregate, work.

Format: When choosing books to publish, do you seek to dictate style, or do you acknowledge and reflect the current trends and styles in society?
David Lopes: I think it’s the height of arrogance to try to dictate style, and anyway, style is only skin deep. I think art and artists must have a discernable personality that either stands completely on its own, or alternately adds something meaningful to an ongoing dialog. I feel as if I’ve always gravitated towards art and design that is somewhat oppositional to the mainstream, so it’s been weird to watch so-called ‘underground culture’ get eaten and digested by the mainstream over the past couple of decades. I’m sure this is an ongoing cycle throughout all history, but I only have a perspective of this give and take as it pertains to some of the crucial contemporary movements such as Punk Rock and Hip-Hop. To the extent that I’m involved in this process, I feel a great responsibility to make sure that work we produce is consumed in a respectful way, given its due, and not merely blended in a process of homogenization.

Format: Who are some of your favorite artists?
David Lopes: Just about anyone in our publishing program to start. I’ve had the honor to publish and work with many talented and kind people from Rafael Rashid to James Marshall (DALEK), Julie Doucet, Bryan Ray, Sammy Harkham, Shepard Fairey, and Ryan McGinness to name just a few. Some of my favorites outside the sphere of what we’ve published, or have in the pipeline, include Claus Oldenburg, Bruegel, Diane Arbus, SWOON, Tiffany Bozik, Karl Blossfeldt… I could go on… My Mom’s been raving about the William Kentridge show currently exhibiting at the SFMOMA. I don’t know much about Kentridge, but this sounds like a must-see.

Format: What’s coming out in the future for Gingko Press?
David Lopes: I’m very excited about a monograph on New York based artist named Dan WItz. He has a ridiculous range and has touched on everything from street art to pranks and very fine oil paintings from a career that spans four decades. Look for a book on the oft-overlooked Minneapolis based band Atmosphere, and their parent indie label Rhymesayers coming out later this year—this is a long overdue document about some cats with mad talent. I’m also fired up to get our partnership with Upper Playground off the ground. For a couple years we’ve distributed U.P. books, but now we’re stepping into a more formal co-publishing arrangement to cement the relationship.

Like so many kids growing up in the Pasadena Valley in the early ’90s, Patrick Martinez‘ formative years were shaped by bumping hip-hop in beat up Cutlasses and b-boy movies like Wildstyle and Style Wars. While graffiti is still an essential influence on Patrick’s artistic expressions, he has traded in his Montana cans for Windsor Newton University brushes. Influenced by city life and urban decay, Patrick seeks to bring supreme beauty to things that we might find flawed or broken.

“I wasn’t about gangs, I was about art and producing it, but I can understand the complexities of street life and it’s big in my subject matter.”

Format: You mention in your bio that your discovery of Hip-Hop at a young age is part of what inspired you to create art. In your opinion, what is it about Hip-Hop that often inspires young visual artists?
Patrick Martinez: I think it’s the culture that inspires. The dance, song, and visual arts are strong in any culture, I think. I knew about all of the elements of Hip-Hop and that pumped me up but to be honest everyone around me was bombing, piecing, or gang banging. Some rapping and b-boys, but it wasn’t on some wild style shit. I could look at an issue of Can Control for hours, picking apart characters and letters. Graffiti has a strong place with the youth. I think that’s why it appealed to me at an early age. Sketchbooks were not enough. The visual was always my language. I never talked much in school, only when I had to start speaking about my pieces.

Format: Did you have a tag as a youth? Do you still practice graffiti today?
Patrick Martinez: Yeah, I used to be into going to the yards and spending crazy hours there when I was younger. I was into bombing a little from time to time—freeway spots, roof tops nothing crazy. My brother was the ‘let me get my name on everything in sight’ type bomber. Then he started stealing, breaking into cars etc. He actually just got out of prison; he was the crazy one. I was more interested in drawing and painting. You can see some of that graffiti influence in my work, I think. I’m just into creating now. I don’t specifically use graff as my vehicle for expression anymore; I paint canvases and work with many different media but I do use graffiti in my art arsenal. I could never deny graff; it’s deep rooted. There are more serious graffiti artists out there, it’s not a game in that scene, there is much discipline involved. Cats especially in Los Angeles are really doing it. Thinking back now, I had can control and I did decent work. But these dudes now are killing it; the work on the streets looks great. I’m always breaking my neck looking at beautiful work.

Format: Do you still enjoy Hip-Hop today? Who are some of your favorite Hip-Hop artists?
Patrick Martinez: I enjoy all types of music. In my car CD-player now (since I don’t have an iPod) on heavy rotation: Little Brother’s Minstrel Show, Amy Winehouse’s Frank album and the Back To Black album. J Dilla’s The Shining album, some random mix tape and Arcade Fire’s Funeral.

Format: How has the change in the style of Hip-Hop over the years affected your art?
Patrick Martinez: It didn’t really change much about my art. Graffiti and Hip-Hop music are in my roots because it fueled me when I was coming up but I wouldn’t say it’s the main catalyst for my art-making now. When I do speak about Pop Culture or Hip-Hop, I find myself making fun of something or someone. I think the radio is garbage right now.

Format: How has your location on the West coast affected your art?
Patrick Martinez: I would say Pasadena was a great place to grow up in. I didn’t grow up in the craziest part of ‘Dena but there was drama almost always on my block. There were fights and shootings here and there, a strong gang presence with rival gangs, and all that drama. So I grew up with the knowledge of who was lame and who really knew what was up. I knew not to kick it hard with some of the gangsters that grew up on my block but I just kept it cool with them. I wasn’t about gangs, I was about art and producing it, but I can understand the complexities of street life and it’s big in my subject matter. My studio now is located on 6th St. in downtown Los Angeles in the ‘artists’ district’ which sounds nice, but the next block over past Central is skid row, which isn’t nice. That daily experience and coming into contact with different people/ personalities most definitely has an effect on my art.

Format: Can you cite any visual artists, past or present, that have strongly influenced you as an artist?
Patrick Martinez: The Spraycan Art book, subway art, comic books, animation, Wayne Thiebaud, Lucian Freud, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Futura, Jim Dine. Also the people I work with: Mr. Cartoon, LiL Lucky, Estevan Oriol, and Rob Abeyta.

Format: What drove you to pursue graphic design in school rather than fine art at first?
Patrick Martinez: I studied and majored in illustration along with taking classes in graphic design and fine art at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. The illustration program at Art Center offered representational painting and drawing which was big on concept. It just made sense to me. The Fine Art program was big on concept and applied theory so I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to connect to the everyday person at the end of the program. I like to take action, so I always find myself speaking through my art, I didn’t want to have to talk about my pieces too much to the viewer

Format: What is your favorite medium to work with and why?
Patrick Martinez: I’m all over the place. Neon, paint, paper bags, plastic army men, etc. I would say mainly acrylic paint, graphite, and mixed media, but it’s tied with white paper and ink. When I paint, it’s more about detail, energy, subtle changes in color, and complexities in color. Black ink on white paper is more direct and graphic for me. So it just depends on what mood I’m in or what solves the problem best. I also enjoyed the foam hands I just printed which were silkscreen on polyurethane foam.

Format: Can you talk a little bit about your landscape works? For example, the streetlight paintings? Patrick Martinez: I did these paintings years ago. It was a series I called ‘Suspect Landscapes,’ meant to be landscape studies with weird unnatural elements invading it. In L.A, we always see the towers with satellites on the top of them but they try to dress them up and paint them like trees.

Format: Do you have any works that necessarily go together, that were shown together, or that are considered a series?
Patrick Martinez: Yeah I have some series of paintings. I’ll do a series if it calls for it, but other than that I draw, paint, then on to the next. I’m scattered and all over the place. You should see my studio. I don’t really think about them in relationship to my other pieces when I’m creating them, but when I step back and check the piece out I actually do think about how it’s going look with the other pieces. At the end of the day, everything is one cohesive unit, whether it’s a neon sign or a painting. The thought came from me and I think people can see that. I have scattered thoughts but all of them are relative, and that’s what my art will look like in a gallery context.

Format: Have you done any self-portraits?
Patrick Martinez: Yes, I have done maybe two. I actually did one that I’m ok with for the Scion Self-Portrait tour. It was fun looking in the mirror and painting myself. The light was always changing, so the color and value in the painting were as well. I think that kind of touch gave it a little more punch. No one wants to pose as a live model because people have shit to do, so I’m used to the photo reference. Painting or drawing from life is always refreshing.

Format: What are you working on now?
Patrick Martinez: Different landscapes of the city with my twist on them, along with portraits and other miscellaneous images. I have some shows planned this year so I definitely want to show all new art and ideas. I’m also working on designs for Stussy, Upper Playground, and working on the art direction for Estevan Oriol’s first photography book entitled L.A. Woman.

Tara McPherson is kind of a rock ‘n roll chick. A post-college break-up led her to the creation of a now iconic image in the pop-surrealist world; the vacant heart wanders on and on. Well-known for her canvas-based illustration, she has also lent her hands to the creation of multiple comic books, vinyl toys, and rock show posters. Check out the interview to find out where her heart goes next.

“After hearing low-brow being used so much, I just don’t know, that makes me think of the So-Cal hot rod scene. My work is nothing like that. It takes place in a whole different universe.”

Format: You are famous for your missing heart motif. Where does this come from? Where does your heart wander?
Tara McPherson: It has wanderlust. It started with a bad break-up I went through after college. I had been toying with that idea and threw that into character. I thought it was so much better to actually draw and paint it, in a cathartic sense. From there, it grew in to this iconic image that people could relate to. It’s something we can all relate to, I think, the cycle of love and loss which repeats itself constantly and constantly in our lives.

Format: Yeah, it’s definitely a very intimate expression that you are sharing with the world.
Tara McPherson: Yeah, it is, but it’s grown beyond me, it’s an icon for everybody. It’s not just the void in the chest, but a reference to body anomalies, mutations, modifications, things like that. It’s also symbolic for the physicality of our being.

Format: You have a great history of producing rock posters. Were you inspired or mentored by anyone? I noticed that Frank Kozik, another poster artist, wrote the foreword of your first book published with Darkhorse.
Tara McPherson: Yeah, Frank definitely helped me a lot. He was an inspiration and father figure. He was the guy who was telling me like, ‘Alright! Let me show you what to do.’ He was really helpful.

Format: Was there anything that pushed you into the rock show poster world?
Tara McPherson: No, it was funny, when I was in school, I used to collect the posters, but never intended on making any. But after I graduated, I had time to be in a band again, and those duties got pushed to me. I would make the flyers, etc. I had friends that were doing posters too and it evolved from there. At one point, The Knitting Factory in LA wanted posters done one time, so I pitched them on some concepts and asked if they would pay for the prints plus a small fee. In the end I made $75, with almost half of that going to print costs, but that was ok because I got to pick and choose the bands and then they asked me to do some retroactive/commemorative posters for past gigs. I only did a few of those, including PJ Harvey and Beck. Things really started growing after I put them on my website. Visitors were going straight to the poster section so I thought, ‘Hey, I must be on to something.’ I started doing free poster art for bands I liked and asked if I could sell them at the show. Most were totally cool with the idea, and I started getting bigger and bigger clients.

Format: You seem to draw/paint yourself in to your work.
Tara McPherson: Yeah, I get that a lot but it’s not intentional. I look in to the mirror for reference sometimes. I think it happens a lot with artists.

Format: Are there other people in your life that show up in your work?
Tara McPherson: Yeah, sometimes I’ll see that happen so I’ll take it entirely in that direction.

Format: Is the sexuality in your work intentional?
Tara McPherson: Yeah! For sure. When things are seductive its very interesting to me. I like the seductive quality of paint too; line, form, texture…mm.

Format: How did you start with vinyl toys?
Tara McPherson: I always wanted to make toys of my art. I used to manage a Japanese animation shop in LA. I was always interested in character-oriented art. It was a natural progression for me; I already collected toys. The first stuff I had produced was with the Kid Robot LA Dunny series and things grew from there. It’s really fun, I want to hold characters; I want to play with them.

Format: Do you have any favorites?
Tara McPherson: Yeah, the new Kid Robot set is awesome. The Hellboy figure I did for Darkhorse and Toy2R is really cool too. The company asked Mike Mignolla, Hellboy’s creator, to pick an artist for a variant and he picked me, which was rad.

Format: Being an art teacher at Parsons in New York, and well-established in the art world, do you find you are still learning from your students?
Tara McPherson: Definitely, it’s a great conversation that takes place during critiques in the classroom. I want it to be like that. It’s very important to get feedback. It’s cool to see something coming together for them or seeing them figure out a new technique or character.

[The missing heart] is an icon for everybody. It’s not just the void in the chest, but, a reference to body anomalies, mutations, modifications…things like that..

Format: Emerging artist, Sarah-Antoinette Martin is currently your assistant. How do you go about finding one?
Tara McPherson: I’ve done everything from hiring friends (which doesn’t work out so well) to putting out ads, which is ok. But interviewing people for an assistant position is pretty hard. Things really worked out well with Sarah, her work is awesome; and she used to work at Kid Robot, which is how I know her. She’s exactly the kind of assistant that I want. Someone who is a young artist, who will benefit from the experiences they will have working with me. She does such a great job, but she actually called me up and asked me about the job.

Format: Your work is very surreal and dream-like. Are you an active dreamer?
Tara McPherson: Sometimes I don’t remember my dreams, but I have a book by my bed where I will sometimes write them down. I have definitely done pieces based on them before.

Format: What are your favorite kinds of dreams?
Tara McPherson: I like the ones where I’m flying, or swimming freely through water. They’re liberating and I feel so great.

Format: Some people call your work low-brow, others, pop-surrealism. How would you define it?
Tara McPherson: I prefer the pop-surrealism term. That applies more, because my work is definitely surreal, it fits in to contemporary pop-culture. After hearing low-brow being used so much, I just don’t know. That makes me think of the So-Cal hot rod scene. My work is nothing like that. It’s definitely weird and surreal. It takes place in a whole different universe.

Format: If you could change the world with your work, what kind of changes would you like to see?
Tara McPherson: Maybe more compassion. More empathy and understanding. More love, man.

Format: Do you have any personal causes?
Tara McPherson: I’ve been meaning to do a piece where I donate the prints to a charity, but I do a bunch of auction events for stuff like Rock For Kids and Breast Cancer research. There’s a thing called New York Arts that helps underprivileged kids, and I donate art to them so that they can make t-shirts and that sort of thing.

Format: What’s coming out next?
Tara McPherson: Well, the Kid Robot set and my second book, Lost Constellations, just launched so I’m touring all summer supporting them. I’m doing 28 cities in total, and I don’t even know how many countries, but I know for sure that I will be appearing in the US, Europe, the UK, Brazil, and elsewhere!

In 2004, a group of four Sheridan College illustration students and one OCAD (Ontario College of Art & Design) graphic designer joined creative forces to set up shop in a shared studio space. In this space, Team Macho began to create some of the most quirky, yet accomplished group art of this decade. Often confused as ‘hipsters’, Team Macho are actually not concerned with the latest trend on the street or consumed by popular culture today, rather they describe how pop culture images from their childhood have played a role in shaping the work they feel deeply compelled to create, today.

“If you were a fly on the wall in the studio when it was just the five of us, I don’t think you’d understand the conversation. And even if you got the words, you wouldn’t get the meaning. We speak in elaborate code.”

Format: How would you describe your aesthetic?
Team Macho: Non-sequential narrative is the one thing we’ve all agreed on for what we do. Telling stories that aren’t comic books. You know, that sequential narrative where it’s like, ‘here’s a story and some drawings to accompany it.’ Our work is about telling stories that haven’t been told before or are in the process of being written and have meaning to us. I think of them as folk tales from the studio, as a lot of inspiration for our work comes from misinterpreting what each other is saying in this big space.

Format: What helps shape the look or direction of your art?
Team Macho: We do this really hard, harder than anyone I know, and it’s hard to do this and work a full time job; so we starve a lot and get down to prison things like shivings, moral shivings! That’s a big part of it, you can do a lot of stupid shit in this space but you’re going to get called on it a thousand times more than is necessary just because that’s really good for generating a dynamic which then creates images and an aesthetic—the aesthetic of mutual brutality.

Format: You all make art as a group and individually. What classifies Team Macho work?
Team Macho: Very literally you could say that Team Macho work is anything that’s been worked on by more than one of us. So it could look like anything; there are no real restrictions on what we draw. Our most recent collaborative work involved pickling a pair of shoes. It’s pretty diverse in terms of what it is, and it’s how it’s done that makes it Team Macho oriented.

Format: What are the greatest challenges you have had to overcome as a group?
Team Macho: Ego is definitely not an issue we’ve had to work with too much. There’s not a lot of ego clashing because we’re pretty straight forward. There was a lot of mutual masturbation going on in art school, too many people saying ‘oh I love what you do.’ How about saying ‘I don’t like what you do nor am I a 100% on what I do?’ We didn’t even like each other at first but we were already working together at school and saw we had the ability to criticize and almost have complete candour without attaching little bits of our souls to everything. We’re here to learn to draw and that’s it. You need to develop a critical edge. I like being able to be harsh with someone and saying, ‘ok, because I know what you’re saying is the truth, not because you’re just some dick head.’

Format: How has your work been received internationally?
Team Macho: Well here in Canada it’s been absolutely unbelievable: people have been so accepting and excited and also extremely mean, which is nice because it’s great to have both. Abroad it’s been really strange, in Spain they really like us and our website gets hits from all over. LA’s a funny one because they don’t have work like ours. They may have a lot of art that people think is alike but it doesn’t seem to come from drawing practice which is the case with our art. We’re practicing artists, not just saying that we draw and paint.

“We’ll never stop doing this, as proven by our signed blood oath. Team Macho are friends for life and our members are unchanging. No in and no out, and there will never be new members.”

Format: What international exhibitions have you participated in so far?
Team Macho: We had a show recently with an art collective called Sid Lee in Amsterdam. They’re an ad firm from Montreal who decided to have a cool art gallery in Amsterdam and we were their inaugural show. Giant Robot in San Francisco and LA has featured us and we’ve been part of two art conferences in Germany.

Format: Do you have any particular rituals when making art as a group?
Team Macho: I wish we could tell but that’s really private. There are so many; our ritual is what makes the art making go on. When it comes to the literal art making, there is probably almost no ritual because it’s spontaneous. Someone will be like, ‘I’m going to pick up an air brush I’ve never used before and try it.’ There is so much ritual and the art is a manifestation of the physical environment we live with. There are so many nick names, so many inside jokes, weird stories, and reference points. We didn’t know each other when we met but we have developed these elaborate myths keeping us together that we all abide by. If you were a fly on the wall in the studio when it was just the five of us, I don’t think you’d understand the conversation. And even if you got the words, you wouldn’t get the meaning. We speak in elaborate code.

Format: Do any Team Macho members have jobs outside of your artistic collective?
Team Macho: Jacob is the in-house graphic designer at the Soul Pepper Theatre Company and was just profiled in Design Lines Magazine. Stephen and Lauchie teach foundation drawing at OCAD, and we all have our own illustration clients and solo art.

Format: Do Team Macho members draw or make art every day?
Team Macho: Yes. Some days are spent preparing canvases or wood panels, or cataloguing and archiving our work. It depends, but we’re always doing something that furthers the cause every single day. We’ve got over 1000 pieces now so storing them in an effective way that’s easily accessible is an ongoing challenge.

Format: What’s next for Team Macho?
Team Macho: Three of us have solo shows coming up at the Magic Pony Gallery and as a group our work is going to get bigger in scale. We’ll never stop doing this, as proven by our signed blood oath. Team Macho are friends for life and our members are unchanging, no in and no out, and there will never be new members.

More Info: www.teammacho.com.