Posts in the "Interviews" Category

Obrist is a famed curator—one to look up to and be influenced and inspired by—both for his extraordinary ability to interview, but also generally for his breadth of knowledge and for being THE person to talk to about curating.

Here’s an excerpt from this great interview in Zero1 Magazine 07 edition, “Documented.”

A: How do you go about putting together group exhibits?

H: I think it’s very much inspired by John Cage. Cage said that during a period of time he doesn’t just make music, but he also writes texts, he makes etchings, and a whole list of other things, and he does them in a different way so it’s not a linear situation, and I think with me it’s also overlapping a lot of layers. I’m not just a curator of exhibitions, but I write texts, I make interviews, I do films, I organize panels, and symposiums, and conferences, and research, so it’s a lot of parallel realities. It’s very non linear and then within these overlapping layers all of a sudden things emerge. And mostly it starts with a conversation with an artist. If there is an umbilical cord, it’s because I’ve got a very strong proximity to artists and that’s how ideas pop out.

//Zero1Magazine is a great read all throughout—site a little slow to load but worth the wait.

Happy Friday friends!!

Holy crap! We’ve got an awesome product, interview AND giveaway right cheyeah, righ cheyeah! The one and only CUPPOW is here for your visual drinking pleasure. If you haven’t heard of this little wonder product, well, then I ask you, how were all those late night convos with Bin Laden in that cave y’all have been hiding in?

OK, so here’s the deal – we’ve had Cuppow answer some very important questions below, including “what’s the coolest way to drink out of a cuppow?”

If you’d like to be entered into this giveaway and have a chance to get your very own cuppow, then leave a comment telling us a little about how you’re going to use it, what you’re going to wear with it, what you’ll put into it, etc etc. You get bonus points for tweeting this post as well. Of course. You have until Monday, April 9th 11:47PM to enter.

Watch the very, very cool Cuppow reel and read their interview after the jump!

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What’s better than a kick ass design team/couple? NOTHING. Hillary Harrison and Dan Davis of Kin Ship Press are just more proof that being interesting people makes you bound to do interesting work. We asked them a couple of uber serious questions so that we could get acquainted. Also…there’s a GIVEAWAY involved! WOOHOO!

Kin Ship Press is generously giving one lucky reader a set of counting sheep pillowcases (aww!) and another reader a lovely framed print called Visitors.

All you need to do is comment below. Tell us what item you’d love to have and we’ll pick a winner next week. You may get extra points for re-tweeting, too! Contest closes on Friday, 8/12 and winners will be announced the following Monday. GOOD LUCK!

So, back to the interview.

What’d we learn? Honestly, these guys are talented AND funny and if we’re ever in Louisville, well, I just invited myself over for bacon and bunny pasta. DEAL WITH IT, KSP.

Can you give us just a bit of background on yourselves and Kin Ship Press?

Hillary Harrison: Dan was born in Germany, grew up in Idaho, moved to Louisville as a tween. I (Hillary) grew up in West Virginia, moved to Louisville when I was 19. (I’m 31 now. Dan is 27.) We started making things under the name Kin Ship Press in late 2009.

I’d just like to interject here – older women rule.

How did you make the decision to work together?

Hillary: I can’t really remember…

Dan:  Well, I do. When we met, we didn’t know a whole lot of people who were “do-ers” if you will. So, being like minded in that way, it made sense that we team up. We started first with an art gallery, The Kin Ship, which was fun while we did it, but after awhile we wanted to focus on making things of our own. And since we don’t really like doing things half-assed, the gallery got cut and we started making things full time.

What items do you keep at your bedside?

HH: Poor Dan doesn’t have a bedside table. He’s just stuck with the wall because I have to get up and pee like every 8 minutes. I have a bedside table, but there’s not really anything on it. Just a sad empty coaster right now. I used to keep a glass of water there, but Percy the Cat kept knocking it over in the middle of the night.

DD: She said it. I got the wall.

What meal do you cook for people you love?

HH: I don’t like to cook, but if I like you enough, I can make a mean pot of bunny pasta & peas.

DD: For people I love, I like to cook (or cut) crunchy bread with dipping oil, fancy cheese, apples, and blackberries. I can also make the house smell pretty great with some bacon. That’s how I do.

Describe how living in Louisville helps you and how does it frustrate you (since most cities seem to do both).

DD: Hmmm, Our friends are great, food here is good, rent is cheap, and there are a lot of parks. That stuff helps us stay in a good mood.

HH: I guess that leaves me with the frustrating… One thing that I’ve noticed since moving to Louisville is that some of the “creative types” here take themselves really seriously. Not that things should always be fun and ridiculous, far from it, but there is sometimes a weird sense of entitlement & self-importance among artsy types. It can leave you feeling kind of icky and just not wanting to be part of it. But, luckily there are also super supportive, encouraging, and inspiring people here too.

If you had a billion dollars, what would kin ship press look like (if in fact, you haven’t f-ed off to fiji)?

DD: Well, Fiji sounds pretty good, but if all the flights were booked up, I guess Kin Ship would be in a refitted classic farm house, on a nice piece of land, with a new studio/wood shop made out of some cargo containers. I also cannot rule out a couple of cute donks.

HH: I don’t need a billion dollars, but if I had just a small fraction of a billion, I would definitely want all of the things that DD mentioned above. And I might as well get a cargo container to house the darkroom I’ve been dreaming of. And I’d like a little greenhouse. And a beagle named Baxter. And our friend Amber can raise goats on the farm and make soaps and frolic with the donks or whatever she wants to do. And our friends Ashley and Brent could run a bed and breakfast nearby. And I’d probably buy a new computer for Kin Ship, one with a screen that doesn’t flicker.

DD – what kind of a ruckus do you make?

Ruckus of the music variety. I don’t really know how to play anything, but that doesn’t stop me.

HH – cat naps or naps that last for hours? And how do you do it?

It’s more like little sleep attacks. I can be in mid conversation & then out cold. I can also sleep just about anywhere. My first job in Louisville was at Walgreens and I mastered the art of sleeping while standing because we weren’t allowed to sit down. My favorite place to sleep-stand there was in the pipe tobacco aisle because it smelled real good.

Thanks, Kin Ship! And good luck to you readers out there!

Ok Great had the pleasure of chatting with David Baldwin of Baldwin& this week to discuss their latest ad campaign ‘Find Your Inner Burt’ for Burts Bees. We posted on the project a couple of weeks ago, but we thought it would be fun to get a more in depth explanation of the project straight from it’s creators.

Full interview after the jump!

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I recently had the pleasure of attending the Blackarm Bespoke launch party held at the Labour Love Gallery in Durham. Blackarm Bespoke, if you remember, is the custom footwear brand started by good friend of OK Great, Kieran Ionescu. The party also featured a presentation from the good people of Raleigh Denim, Victor & Sarah. Raleigh Denim had been a strong supporter of Kieran from the outset, so it was nice to see everyone together celebrating the launch. John Pelphrey, owner of Labour Love, spent all day prior to the party building a custom presentation wall for his guests. Super-friggin-nice-guy.

See more pictures from the launch & read about Raleigh Denim + Blackarm Bespoke after the jump.

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You asked, he answered! We’ve got Eduardo Recife‘s answers to some of your questions after the jump.

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We are so excited to announce that we will be featuring an in depth interview with one of most talented illustrators/designers working today – Eduardo Recife from Misprinted Type. What’s even better? It won’t be us asking the questions, it’s going to be you! So… what do you want to know about Mr. Recife??

Leave your questions in the comments below or send us a reply on Twitter (@okaygreat). We’ll select 8-10 of your best questions for Eduardo to answer. Oh. And let’s keep this PG-13, eh? Now get crackin!

Beautiful isn’t it? Doesn’t it just soothe your soul? Doesn’t it make you want to skin a dove? What?

I’m sure most of you by now have seen Tiffany Bozic’s work. She’s quite popular (at least) in the art/design blogging world, and rightfully so. She is constantly working to explore the medium, but has consistently remained true to her unique aesthetic. A large portion of her exhibited work focuses on ‘the intricacies of nature’ and ‘dives deeply into the imaginary and darker aspects of the natural world.’

Which makes sense when considering this: Tiffany Bozic is a bird skinner…  How-awesome-is-that!?! I recently had the pleasure of asking Tiffany a few questions about her job and it’s influences on her work. Check it out after the jump!

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A short while ago we had the pleasure of interviewing our good friend Armando Bellmas while enjoying some frozen treats. Armando is a commercial photographer based in Charlotte, NC who thrives on working with & photographing people. He’s a hell of a guy and he’s always welcome in our studio.

(I recommend using headphones while watching the video… it was too windy for our super expensive, high-end camera equipment)

Do you know LA-Based artist Hannah Stouffer?  How about GrandArray?  Well, if you’re reading this blog, chances are, you do.  But if you think you don’t, think again.  Look around.  Check your bookmarks.  Look under the bed.

When I stumbled on Hannah’s site via Twitter a few weeks back, I became instantly enamored with her work.  And the first thing I thought?  ”Why haven’t I seen this before?”  Well…I had seen it before.  Sitting on a side table in my living room was an issue of XLR8R with a big fat Hannah Stouffer interview (that I’d already read).

So my point is, Hannah’s paintings and illustrations are hard to miss — they’re incredible.  Her work is often contrary within itself as she masterfully pits themes and elements against each other for amazing results: femininity and hard darkness, the natural world and monster trucks, massively congested canvases and simple, natural forms, dreamy color palettes and predatory animals.  If you’re into that sorta thing (the incredible sorta thing), you probably already know her work.  And if you don’t, seriously, you actually might.  She’s done work for some pretty high-profile clients.  From Levi’s to American Express, Nike to Ludacris, and on and on.  She has her own clothing line, GrandArray,  and she’s constantly showing in galleries.

Hannah was kind enough to take a few minutes out of her demanding schedule to answer a few questions for OK Great.  What follows is one of the weirder interviews we’ve done….Enjoy!   

So, you mentioned in one of our emails that for your new show (Animal Sex) your mom gave you a box full of bird pelts and your dad gave you claws and jowls.  Why do your parents have so many animal remains on hand?

My father is Wild America.  All of it.  He is an avid naturalist and wildlife cinematographer, and my moms is kind of a moder-day hippy.  I was just at home with them in Colorado and inherited this box full of gorgeous feathers, pheasant pelts and leather tools that she used to make accessories from.  My childhood home is a cross between a taxidermy museum and all imagery that goes along with drinking fireside champagne in a log cabin in Aspen.

The snakes that appear in so many of your pieces are insanely intricate.  Do you count toothpicks when you’re not drawing?

Yes.  I do count the toothpicks.  I’m constantly shredding them to bits of splinters with my teeth, then I count the splinters.  I love getting lost in the obsessive repetition of snakeskin- and it has this funny childhood nostalgia to me, along with the majority of the animal kingdom.  Snakes also tie into my consistent attraction to notions of lust and gore-which I am continuously drawn to.  

You’re a West Coaster to the core and I think sometimes that shows through in your paintings.  That being said, even the art set needs it’s Biggie & Tupac.  So, is there an East Coast artist that you want to call out?  We can get this popping.

Aaaaaaaaaaw Daaaaaaanggggg!!! Bopbop bop!! Click-clack click clack!!! Brrrrrrraaaat Brrrrrrraaaaaaat!! Bombaclot Bombaclot-Hollllllllllla!!!  Shoooot….I love all my east siders-fo life.

To finish up, I’m going to ask a series of short questions.  Please answer them in song lyrics.

Are you sure you’re ready for that?  

What inspires you to draw and paint?

When there’s lightning / You know it always brings me down / Cause it’s free and I see that it’s me / Who’s lost and never found / I cry out for magic / I feel it dancing in the light / It was cold, lost my hold / To the shadows of the night / No sign of the morning coming / You’ve been left on your own / Like a Rainbow in the dark / A rainbow in the dark. 

How has living in Los Angeles affected your work?

To live and die in LA / where everyday we try to fatten our pockets / us hustlas hustle for the cash so it’s hard to knock it / everybody got they own thang, currency chasin’ / world wide through the hard times warrior faces / shed tears as we bury bustas close to the heart / what was a friend now a ghost in the dark / cold hearted ’bout it, busta got smoked by a fiend / tryin’ to floss on him / blind to a broken man’s dream.

What’s your typical day like?

Everyday I’m, every I’m, everyday I’m hustlin’ / Ev-ev-ev-everyday I’m hustlin’ / now I’m lookin’ through my CD collection / the last time it was right behind Confessions / I’m looking for the right cover, the names in red letters / can’t wait to pop it in my base and put our bodies together / I’m fitna stunt like my daddy up in here / girl you got my lips hangin’ off your ear / clean the CD, check for scratches / get up on my mattress / now we doin’ it, to Kelly’s 12 play /The Dream Kelly’s 12 play.  

Did you always want to become an artist?

Welcome to my nightmare, I think you’re gonna like it, I think you’re gonna feel you belong / a nocturnal vacation, unnecessary sedation, you want to feel at home cause you belong / welcome to my nightmare whoa, ho ho ho / welcome to my breakdown / I hope I didn’t scare you / that’s just the way we are when we come down / we sweat and laugh and scream here / cause life is just a dream here / you know inside you feel right at home, here / yeah, welcome to my nightmare, yeah, hey, hey, hey…. 

If you could do something else, what would you do?

This is my song for real, no doubt / said the DJ’s making me feel thugged out / As I walk you to the dance floor / we begin to dance slow / put your arms around me / I’m feelin’ on your booty.

I hope y’all enjoyed the interview and if you like what you see, be sure to check back tomorrow for a Hannah Stouffer/GrandArray Giveaway!  We’ll have multiple winners and a bunch of goodies from Hannah!