Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Interview with Buff Monster
Interview with Buff Monster from Archinect:
http://archinect.com/features/article.php?id=46913_0_23_0_C
Quotes:
"Hopefully, graphically, [I achieved] aspects to the design of the Buff Monster that are immediately familiar but also new – it should exist as part of a language that you’re already familiar with: Hello Kitty, the Smurfs, Powerpuff Girls. Everybody has an understanding of this [family of] visual language in popular culture, and the idea was to tap into that in a new way. Also, I’d say that it’s not necessarily fair to blanket all street art as confrontational. Some of it is, [particularly traditional graffiti] which is usually a terrible blight, but certainly some of it isn’t. To some degree, street art can be considered like a gift for the city, something created to make the environment more interesting. Instead, consider thinking of street art as a candy coating on the city."
"If you think about parts of the city that are really dull, shitty, gray places, then street art becomes this amazing burst of color, suddenly changing the environment. So I looked at that idea very loosely, and then established it more concretely, and then [specifically] as ice cream, cherries, etc. The imagery of the Buff Monster character is very vague. I didn’t want to dictate the interpretation. I like that the motifs can be interpreted as tits and cocks and cherries and ice cream, but kids can look at it and not be threatened by it. It wasn’t something that would cause parents to hide their kids from it. I wanted it to be fun."
"I like to work at two different scales: I like to have mass-produced T-shirts that are affordable, and also have paintings that are really nicely detailed, rare and fun, but pricey. I don’t want to be super-exclusive with my stuff. It’s a weird thing, because on the one hand, I put my stuff everywhere in the streets, so everyone can “have it” and see it, [and then on the other hand,] owning it can be the exclusive part. My heroes – Takashi Murakami, Shepard Fairey, Andy Warhol, Keith Haring – as much as I love their work, they’re my heroes because of the empires they’ve built. Like them, I’m trying to be patient and avoid going after the quick buck. Takashi Murakami, in terms of a business model to follow, makes more sense for me than Hello Kitty. And also, Hello Kitty doesn’t yet have a theme park. Walt Disney had the idea to make Mickey Mouse into a theme park. I think it would be rad to have a [Buff Monster theme park, with a] big, giant Buff Monster Cloud Coaster."
"BM: One of my biggest inspirations is heavy metal music. I almost exclusively listen to heavy metal. And metal can be considered this incredibly masculine thing. There are guys on stage wearing all black; it’s loud and aggressive. For the audience, it’s really empowering. But really, the most masculine thing you can be is feminine. So, pink, the idea of pink as femininity [due to] color associations we were given as kids, is enormously empowering." ¶ 4:03 AM
Interview with Buff Monster from Archinect:
http://archinect.com/features/article.php?id=46913_0_23_0_C
Quotes:
"Hopefully, graphically, [I achieved] aspects to the design of the Buff Monster that are immediately familiar but also new – it should exist as part of a language that you’re already familiar with: Hello Kitty, the Smurfs, Powerpuff Girls. Everybody has an understanding of this [family of] visual language in popular culture, and the idea was to tap into that in a new way. Also, I’d say that it’s not necessarily fair to blanket all street art as confrontational. Some of it is, [particularly traditional graffiti] which is usually a terrible blight, but certainly some of it isn’t. To some degree, street art can be considered like a gift for the city, something created to make the environment more interesting. Instead, consider thinking of street art as a candy coating on the city."
"If you think about parts of the city that are really dull, shitty, gray places, then street art becomes this amazing burst of color, suddenly changing the environment. So I looked at that idea very loosely, and then established it more concretely, and then [specifically] as ice cream, cherries, etc. The imagery of the Buff Monster character is very vague. I didn’t want to dictate the interpretation. I like that the motifs can be interpreted as tits and cocks and cherries and ice cream, but kids can look at it and not be threatened by it. It wasn’t something that would cause parents to hide their kids from it. I wanted it to be fun."
"I like to work at two different scales: I like to have mass-produced T-shirts that are affordable, and also have paintings that are really nicely detailed, rare and fun, but pricey. I don’t want to be super-exclusive with my stuff. It’s a weird thing, because on the one hand, I put my stuff everywhere in the streets, so everyone can “have it” and see it, [and then on the other hand,] owning it can be the exclusive part. My heroes – Takashi Murakami, Shepard Fairey, Andy Warhol, Keith Haring – as much as I love their work, they’re my heroes because of the empires they’ve built. Like them, I’m trying to be patient and avoid going after the quick buck. Takashi Murakami, in terms of a business model to follow, makes more sense for me than Hello Kitty. And also, Hello Kitty doesn’t yet have a theme park. Walt Disney had the idea to make Mickey Mouse into a theme park. I think it would be rad to have a [Buff Monster theme park, with a] big, giant Buff Monster Cloud Coaster."
"BM: One of my biggest inspirations is heavy metal music. I almost exclusively listen to heavy metal. And metal can be considered this incredibly masculine thing. There are guys on stage wearing all black; it’s loud and aggressive. For the audience, it’s really empowering. But really, the most masculine thing you can be is feminine. So, pink, the idea of pink as femininity [due to] color associations we were given as kids, is enormously empowering." ¶ 4:03 AM
