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Artist Spotlight: ESM-Artificial

As an independent curator, I always look for artwork that socks me in the gut. I want strong reactions and am attracted to work that has a dynamic narrative, interesting use of medium, or both. Vancouver-based artist ESM-Artificial's (also known as Kenn Sakurai) silk-screened Sensitive Series struck a resounding nostalgic chord with me. I became an immediate fan: his gentle palette, quivery line drawings, and sardonic sense of humor plucked at my heartstrings. As I explored through more of his work, I laughed out loud at his playful use of text juxtaposed with images from 80s pop culture on posters, postcards, stickers, t-shirts, and skateboards. ESM-Artificial's hilarious and unforgiving appropriation of pop culture icons really speaks to my generation; his work cleverly points out truths about youth subculture, love, and consumerism that are so obvious we may not see them until he puts them down on paper.

Kenn Sakurai created the pseudonym "ESM-Artificial" when he was studying printmaking at Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design in the late 1990s. Back then he focused on creating more graphical work while gaining a better understanding of color theory, copy-camera, and darkroom work under this other name. Later he started using the computer towards silk-screening, which he continues to do today. Over the years, his work has grown so popular that he's worked with Colette in Paris, 55DSL, and even COMME des GARÇONS—his Hello Kissy sticker packs for the Japanese label sold out within minutes of their release and were then sold on Yahoo Auctions Japan to fan boys for more than $80. He's shown all over the globe and has been published in numerous art and pop culture magazines. I had a chance to sit down with the jet-setting artist to ask him about his work, his loves, and what he's up to next.

What is your favorite medium? How does that medium help you get your message across?
Probably a nice medium-rare kobe beef steak.

My favorite medium is probably silk-screening because of its sharp, chubby colors and the instant-ness of laying colors and imagery down onto paper. I'm not sure if I have any sort of a message to get across, but it certainly helps in producing work very efficiently and fairly quickly.

With your art, you've been able to travel the world. If you could live in any city you've visited, which one would it be and why?
Let's see...I'd have to say Tokyo, for sure. The sheer nuttiness of the culture and people just make the whole place alive all day and night. I can't say for certain what it would be like to work there as I've only gone there for exhibitions or for visits with the family. I just can't get enough of the food, music, art, old-world culture, cleanliness, and overall hustle of the place—I miss it all the time.

What was it like working for fashion mavericks COMME des GARÇONS? What did you produce for them?
It was a project that was first set up by the folks from Colette in Paris, and then I sort of got passed onto the COMME des GARÇONS people. They were collaborating on a guerilla shop in Tokyo and wanted me to make a few things for the new boutique. They were both super easy to work with and a lot of fun. I ended up producing some skateboards and stickers for them.

What direction do you see urban/street fashion moving in the next four years? Well right now the urban fashion thing looks a bit messy. It's casual Fridays all over the place: blazers and sneakers, un-tucked shirts and hoodies that look like they were decorated by the colorblind and covered in Skittles. The interesting thing is the push for some of these companies to target the babies and kids of all these new, young hipster couples to try and dress them up. I thought that Hysteric Glamour's "Joey Hysteric" stuff was pricey, but kinda cool.

I'm not sure what direction fashion is going in. Some days I think that it's inching closer to that leather "8-ball jacket" phase again—people might start wearing Body Glove spring wetsuits and start dressing like Dwayne Wayne [from TV sitcom A Different World] meets Screech Powers [from TV sitcom Saved By the Bell] meets Gwen Stefani.

What about art?
I think that it's a pretty exciting time for art because of the crossover potential with fashion, commercial advertising, animation, automobiles, food—well, almost anything. Art is seeping into the mainstream without relying on galleries and museums. The negative aspect of all of this is the advertising companies and retailers (who have no clue about art) that try to jump on the bandwagon by hiring kids out of art or design school to emulate the work of the artist and designers they want copied.

Whose work inspires what you are doing today? Who continues to inspire you?
I'm more inspired by music, so the work of bands like Spoons, talk talk, Images in Vogue, Depeche Mode, Aphex Twin, 4th Floor, ebtg, Japan, Mick Karn, Yellow Magic Orchestra, DAF, Air, The Colourfield, a certain ratio, Phoenix, Duran Duran, The Ocean Blue, A Flock of Seagulls, Can, Kings of Convenience, Trashcan Sinatras, DFA 1979, and Aztec Camera inspire me daily.

Artists that I like are: Kaws, Barry McGee, Kinsey, Yoshitomo Nara, Warhol, Pierre Bonnard, Bob Ross, Shep Fairey, Reas, Espo, Joseph Beuys,Yoko Ono, Yoyoi Kusama, Robert Frank, Chris Ware, Gary Lee-Nova, Futura, NYC Lase, Sister Mary Corita Kent, Mike Mills, Kevin Lyons, Alexander Girard, and Margaret Kilgallen.

Murakami sees Hello Kitty as a sort of speechless, defenseless icon born out of Japan's defeat after World War II. Do you agree with him?
I'm not sure if I do. I guess she is speechless, but the power of Sanrio is probably not too defenseless. The character was developed almost 30 years after the war so I imagine that there might have been more characters before her.

What does Hello Kitty symbolize to you? How have you appropriated her image?
She symbolizes my youth and my heritage. It's a bit of a sissy thing for a guy to like, but the icon reminded me of all my relatives that lived in Japan while I was growing up here in Canada. Hello Kitty was and is a lot more interesting to me than Mickey Mouse or Casper. Don't get me wrong--I wasn't out there wearing a Hello Kitty shirt and slippers, but I had a bunch of pens and erasers with the image on it.

I've appropriated the image in my earlier days by combining it with a band that I loved since I was a kid—KISS. KISS were some of the first records that I ever bought, and I thought combining these two things might work on a graphic level and bring a bit of macho-ness to the Hello Kitty thing.

What's the most frustrating thing about being an artist in the modern world?
Probably all the biting and ripping off of work that goes on. Nowadays you also have to be super prepared to defend your work—so many people take things the wrong way and use the Internet to vent or misconstrue your art.

Another frustrating thing is that sometimes you think you might have come up with a pretty good idea for a project until you look it up online to make sure no one has done something like it before and find that many of the times someone has. I imagine that long before computers, you just made art and didn't worry that someone may have come up with the same thing you did.

Tell me a little bit about your sticker tagging habit. Is it a big part of what you do as an artist? And why is sticker tagging relevant in the art world?
Personally, I've loved good quality stickers since I was a kid and hoped that someday I would have the opportunity to be able to create a few of my own. I think it's a way that sticker artists and designers can leave a mark on places they travel to or even their own hood without vandalizing too much. It's kind of like having your own trading card that you can trade with other people who work in the same sticker medium.

I suppose it's relevant because it's interesting to see other artist's work during travel and to be able to add a little something of my own. It's always cool when someone sends a snapshot of a sticker of mine that they've come across when they've been out of town somewhere.

You've also worked with indie favorite Colette in Paris. What was the best part about that? Any future plans with them?
The best part of Colette is that they are just such a cool shop; not so much a brand as a group of people who want to get nice things out into the public and keep them up to date on all that is interesting. They are just very professional and nice, and you don't have to deal with 50 people to get anything done. I have no future plans with them now other than participating in a group exhibition showing there currently called "play.record.watch.stop" (http://www.aniceset.com/blog/12/).

For more information, visit www.esm-artificial.com.

-Chako Suzuki

Unearthed: Mens' Jewelry from Black Sheep and Prodigal Sons

When I was a little girl, I used to sneak in episodes of Friday the 13th: The Series. I imagined my mom's antique jade jewelry carrying decades old curses and that my dad's ancient Samurai armor guarding our front door would one day rip my head off in the night. Ah, kids and their imagination. It wasn't until I was introduced to Black Sheep and Prodigal Sons jewelry line that these memories of unholy jewelry and wicked relics bubbled up in my brain.

Reminiscent of something out of an HP Lovecraft novel, each unique piece created by Black Sheep and Prodigal Son's designer, Derrick Cruz, is carefully laid in a dusty, hollowed-out bible. You can almost smell the sea or the forest on them. Cruz's jewelry has weight and narrative; his pieces feel like they were exhumed from watery depths or passed down from weathered palm to weathered palm. The real question about these little treasures is—do they come from good or evil? I posed this and other questions to Mr. Cruz.

I consider your work romantic goth. I noticed that you don't like the obvious goth connection — so how would you describe your aesthetic?
While goth is fine and good, I tend to associate that with seeking a sense of identity and community. This work is not about that. It's more about contemplating individual experiences and how they collide to make something new. I'd call it Bitter Sweet.

Before we get into it, I need to know the significance of your name!
The phrase Black Sheep & Prodigal Sons jumped out at me while reading Kafka was the Rage by Anatole Broyard. I sympathize with this story.

When I left Brooklyn to live in the Village, I felt as if I had acquired a new set of relative...uncles I had never met before...men who lived in odd places...who had shunned family life and been shunned in turn, who were somewhere between black sheep and prodigal sons of a paradoxical kind. An aura of scandal, or at least of ambiguity, hovered over these uncles...there was a flaw in their past, some kind of unhealthiness, even a hint of insanity...my favorite writers...i felt them waiting, almost calling out to me...they were all the family I had now, all the family I wanted. With them I could lead a hypothetical life, unencumbered by memory, loyalties, or resentments.

Tell me a little about your packaging—why the bibles? It seems you set up a narrative for each piece and follow it through with obsessive detail—the impact of your jewelry lies in both its physical beauty and the story that you have poured into it. Where do you come up with the history behind each piece or do you leave that up to the wearer?
I have some heartfelt reasons for it all, but it would be awful to rob people of a personal connection with the objects by saying too much. It's like a stage with a few good props—add your story.

What is your artistic process?
Jotting down thoughts, talking over coffee, careful people watching, reading, sketching, obsessing over details, hours staring at the ceiling—that's most of my process. It then turns personal, and after that synchronicity takes over. I start to see ideas connecting. Strange things begin to happen that are too coincidental. Later, I'll sit down and just start making things.

Tell us a little about your fascination with animals and the importance of symbolic imagery?
The animals I chose or invented are stoic and sensitive, yet physically powerful. They are strong by themselves, and some are archetypes of outcasts seeking redemption. If they were people, they'd have to tread kindly to avoid being manipulative.

Where did you learn scrimshaw?
I'm a painter by training, but taught myself to scrim. I've always admired the eloquence of hand etched lines and grittiness of the craft. A scratch on ivory is like a chisel to a stone.

Do contemporary art/movies/music interest you? Or are you attracted more to things from the past?
New work is nothing without the old. It's one thing to me. My favorite new art is art that seems relevant. Though I take my cues from the past, the way I work is a reaction to my distaste for the lack of sensuousness of computerized design. I think people crave the connectedness that comes from seeing the artist's hand in the things they buy. Perhaps that makes it relevant.

What kind of man/woman are you targeting (if you target anyone at all)?
I'd like it if you wore one. I'd love it if your mother did.

Person (alive or dead) you'd love to see wearing your jewelry and why is he/she the perfect fit?
There is this really amazing Puerto Rican musician, Robi Draco Rosa (I'm Puerto Rican, born in Brooklyn, raised in PR). I emailed him and offered to send him something. I don't know anyone else in NYC who likes his music, but he's both darkness and light. I painted for a year listening to one of his albums. When I was about to start working on BSPS, I put on the live CD I got while visiting my grandma. I got a lot of work done. Man, there is something there that really gets me.

I could have just said something hip like Joseph Gordon-Levitt or Ryan Gosling. I like those guys too. I did give one to Crispin Glover at one of his film screenings.

How did you become a jewelry maker? What was the turning point for you to pick jewelry as your form of artistic expression?
I do lots of other things, but jewelry making is really liberating. I could sculpt anything and make it jewelry. At the same time, its decorative function takes it off the pedestal or gallery wall and lets an individual ponder it over time. I love that.

Why are men more apt to wear jewelry today than a few years ago? What's changed?
A recent exhibit on men's fashion at the Bryant Park Library puts things into perspective. Men were more daring with fashion in the past. It takes boldness and confidence to go back there and pull out something useful. Today we are free to use modernist and Victorian language all in the same visual sentence. Men are taking all that and redefining the male aesthetic to their advantage. I think it's about rediscovering that decoration is a legitimate and flexible form of expression.

Lastly, is goth still alive?
Black is great; mourn, but walk away with a smile.

For more, please visit http://www.blacksheepandprodigalsons.com

-Chako Suzuki

Kickin’ It with Royalty

After having a rash of reoccurring dreams about my teeth falling out, it seemed like stringing an iconic Princess Tina tooth (with cavity!) charm around my neck was an ideal remedy. Princess Tina’s very Japanese “Superflat” aesthetic, bold graphics and kitsch factor caught my eye and the eye of every person who spotted my necklace. That first Princess Tina piece was just like a Lays potato chip—I couldn’t have just one! I moved onto a handmade hoodie, another necklace and two pairs of earrings.

Australian freelance designer Beci Orpin started Princess Tina after an exhibition in Sydney where she had to make a product to sell. She created hankies that read “Princess Tina’s Pony Club” on them. By chance, a buyer from Paris’s Colette happened to be at the show and placed an order for them. A few months later, Orpin started a small range of printed tees and totes, and the Princess Tina line grew to include jewelry, baby clothing, stationery and housewares. I e-interviewed Orpin to find out a little more about the woman behind the Princess.

Why “Princess Tina”? Where did the name come from?
Amongst my hoards of junk and collections are some 1960’s annuals from a British magazine called Princess Tina. The Princess Tina annuals always had the most amazing covers of painted girls, so I just took it from there. I have to admit that I didn’t think about it too much!

What is your fascination with teeth? (I often get answered this question while wearing your tooth necklace!)
When Princess Tina was in the beginning stages, I used to walk past this dentist’s office on the way to work—the dentist had this weird tooth-guy logo that really stuck in my head. One day I decided to do my own tooth guy. I didn’t think it was good enough, so I shelved it. When I was putting together my second Princess Tina collection, the tooth was a very last minute addition. Surprisingly, people loved it! I kept running with it and now it is my logo!

Where do your ideas/imagery stem from?
Well, my source of inspiration change all the time! I seem to be mostly influenced by things from my childhood. My parents gave me tons of books and toys from different cultures and those have influenced me tremendously. I have been into folk art for quite some time, which is definitely reflected in my work at the moment. I am also really into vintage French and Russian children’s books and cartoons right now.

What can we expect from Princess Tina in the next two years? Will you be branching out to more paper goods or more clothing and accessories? Do you see the line growing or would you like to keep it small?
I just don’t know! I am not that organized! Princess Tina is growing so fast—every season we have more accounts and need more people to help us. At this stage in the game, I still want to keep it relatively small and special. I’d love to do more housewares and expand the baby range, but it’s all so time consuming, and Princess Tina is only half of what I do so I guess it depends how much sleep I want to get!

Being Australian, what do you think of America?
I love the States! We (Raph, my husband and business partner) were going to move there—we even had an immigration lawyer! We discovered I was pregnant and decided to stay here in Melbourne to be close to our families. We usually visit the US twice a year for business (NY, LA and SF), and are lucky enough to have lots of good friends to hang out with over there.

Your designs and jewelry are mostly 2-D, will Princess Tina ever go 3-D and make toys/figures?
In the collection I just sold (which will hit stores in March 07), I made soft toys that were a huge success! I’ve also been talking to a vinyl toy company about making a figure, which is very exciting—I just have to find the time to do it!

How do you balance your business and making art?
Doing art shows are really important to me, but finding time is really difficult. Most of the art I make is specifically for shows—I never have time to just make art for the sake of making art! It all crosses over though. I had an art show at X-girl in NY last May, and many of the ideas that came off that work were the basis for the next Princess Tina collection.

What other artists out there today influence your work?
I really like textile designer Alexander Girard and the way he used folk-arts in his work. Lizzie Finn from the UK is also amazing. Other fravorites include Misha Hollenbach and Shauna Toohey (from Perks and Mini), Fawn Gehweiler, Ashley Snow-Macomber, Espo, Peter Sutherland, and Josh Petherick. I like a lot of children’s book illustrators too.

Check out these websites for Princess Tina!
www.princesstina.com.au
www.chocosho.com
www.magic-pony.com
www.builtbywendy.com

– Chako Suzuki

HP Love craft NYC

This Holiday season I am going to treat my self with a great pair of shoes by the Indie label HP Love craft. The now shoe designer, Hayley Parker took her initials and the name of science fiction author, Lovecraft, to create the brand for her business. The New York based brand, which was created in the spring of 2004, offers canvas, slip-ons, by Vans, that have been decorated with works of art. Parker, hand draws images on Vans, with unique and one of a kind illustrations. Some shoes are covered with Warhol prints, smiley faces, the face of Michael Jackson, or she can do custom made designs, which usual takes two weeks to make. At first, Parker made the shoes for her self and her friends, until a shoe sales man at Nordstrom, in Utah, took interest and bought a pair. She finally decided to make "a little piece of art that [people] can wear"(HP). Each pair of shoes are unique and no one will be caught having the same pair someone else has; I like to think of it as "foot couture". HP Love craft is available at Patricia Fields, NYC and Colette, Paris or by special order at www.hplovecraftnyc.com.

- David Pedroza

Present Perfect with Poketo

Do the upcoming holidays have you in a panic over presents? Look to Poketo for its impressive and unique series of artist-designed wallets, tees, messenger bags and more.

I first met Angie Myung and Ted Vadakan, founders of Poketo, in Tokyo last year at the city’s famous Design Festa. Their line of colorful tees and wallets immediately attracted my aesthetic sensibilities, and the thought of supporting emerging artists by taking home useful, artwork-emblazoned products really appealed to me. Later, I ended up launching a Japanese artists series of wallets with Poketo this past August! Since their humble start in 2003, Poketo has grown an amazing line-up of artists and honed a great eye for design. After nine successful wallet series, Poketo is now expanding their line into housewares, messenger bags and stationery, and has been mentioned in countless magazines such as The New York Times Magazine, ReadyMade, and Bust. And for those fashion-savvy, as mentioned in The New York Times Magazine, “Marc Atlan, a designer who has done work for Comme des Garçon and Yves Saint Laurent, …got in touch [with Poketo] and has a T-shirt and wallet [design] out.” Check Poketo’s website at www.poketo.com to snag one before they’re all gone!

I sat down with Ted and Angie to ask them a few questions about Poketo.

What’s the origin of the name Poketo?
Well, we started out with wallets first so I was playing around with the idea of the pocket. My grandparents (who lived through the Japanese occupation in Korea) always pronounce words in a Japanese manner—they’d pronounce “cup” as “cuppu”, “pocket” as “poketo”, and so on.

People pronounce Poketo in all kinds of ways. Some call it “pocket-to”, most call it “poquito”—we’ve even heard “poke too”, but we don’t mind. We think it’s kind of fun!

How did you get your start?
We first launched our artist wallets in 2003 with a handful of emerging artists, produced in very limited edition. These wallets acted as artist promo pieces to accompany the art show we produced. They were pieces of art that we wanted people to walk away with, keep on them always, and be the catalyst for interesting conversation. The artists designed them exclusively for us and we were able to promote the artists by adding bio and contact info inside of the wallet (something we still do on all Poketo stuff). The key to Poketo is promoting the artist and getting both unknown and established artists out to a wider, global audience. Our first art show and collection of artist wallets were a hit and we continued to release more collections with different artists and slowly branched out into other products, like tees, sketchbooks and housewares.

Why wallets?
A wallet is something that you’re always carrying; it’s always on you. To have a piece of art in your pocket or in a bag seemed like a perfect idea: it’s a little piece of something special that is always with you. It’s goes with our whole motto: art for your everyday thing. How and where do you find artists?
We search for new artists and receive artist submissions regularly. There isn’t one particular type of work or artist that we look for. Artists that are passionate in what they do, clearly reflect their energies and passion in their work, and that really attracts us.

We also team up with other curators in developing Poketo collections. Inviting other curators and artists expands our circle and allows us to connect with people that we would not have on our own.

What’s the Poketo aesthetic? the Poketo goal?
Poketo is eclectic. It’s important for us to combine art and utility in common objects—to truly provide artist-driven products for the everyday. We’d love to have a store someday!

Can you suggest some great gifts for the holidays?
Wallets and tees! For fun we’re offering a secret grab bag where you’ll get a whole bunch of assorted wallets and tees. Also, check out our Mood Bottle Openers, Zigzag Calendar and Dream Books! Any upcoming projects you’d like to mention?
We’re continuing with more series of wallets and tees, more stationery and home goods—we’ve got many exciting projects coming soon!

What does Poketo want for the holidays?
A huge rent-free studio with lots of rooms for artists to stay where we can sell goods, have parties, make art, eat, drink and be merry. Anyone interested in giving us that for Christmas? Oh—and $100,000 to start our own line, an internship at Banana Republic and new Saturn Sky Roadster…sound familiar?

– Chako Suzuki