The Blaaahg and Henry had the chance recently to sit down with Britt Sebastian of Hollywood Cemetery to ask him a few questions about how he got to where he is now and where he’s going…
Fill us in on a bit of your past, the vitals, and how you got where you are today.
I’m an advertising major, 21 and with any luck I’ll be done with school in another year. I grew up in Chester,Va. It’s suburbia just like everywhere else, and it sucked as much as any other cookie cutter neighborhood. My friends and I always drove to Richmond to hang out. The culture’s always been cool here. After high school if felt natural to move to the city so it was a pretty easy call.
Sewing came to me in an internship with Raleigh Denim. They’re a small jeans manufacturing company in Raleigh, North Carolina. My brother, who’s a textile major at NC State, got the internship and called me up in Richmond sayin’ that they need some help with marketing. I packed up my shit and left the next day.
The company was literally the couple who owned it, Victor and Sarah Lytvinenko, and my brother and I. Once the orders became overwhelming for the three of them, I started doing simple tasks like hammering rivets and sewing easy seams. By the end of the summer I could make my own jeans from start to finish.
How did your work and training at Raleigh Denim prepare you for Richmond?
The design and manufacturing process in the apparel industry is something that you have to experience before you can really get a feel for doing it yourself. After sewing eight hours a day for two and a half months, I got pretty good at it. I wasn’t getting paid, but all the shit I learned there was worth more than a summer’s loot anyways.
One of the really important things I learned that summer was being a cheapskate, although it’s completely unrelated. My boss, Victor, could find amazing deals on machines because he looked everywhere, and always sought out the opportunities. We used to go to the North Carolina drug seizures and old state equipment auctions to scour the place for machines. Sometimes we could find thousand dollar machines for 50 bucks. I put that skill into use when I started searching for my machines. Last year I was looking around for a nice industrial single needle machine. I found a guy in North Carolina that shipped large equipment for a business. He told me he had a couple extra machines around that were overstock from a factory that moved to Mexico. I looked up the machines online and they were worth about $1,500 a piece. I asked him how much he wanted and he was like, “uhhh, I don’t know, $400?” I left for N.C. that day.
How did you come to start this line and where are you now with it?
Over the last couple years I’ve been learning by trial and error how to make all of these other garments, like jackets, hoodies, shorts, and duffle bags. Once I got a good feel for their construction, I thought that naturally the next step would be to make a bunch of garments that I’m proud of and get them out into the public eye. All of the garments for this current show have been a culmination of the last few months of work. This is my first show, so the designs are not as congruent with one another as they will be in the future, but there is still a strong underlying theme of Richmond culture and global culture. I like to think that my style is the clash of these two entities.
What are your thoughts on the current state of the fashion industry, especially in terms of denim?
I have two major thoughts on the fashion industry. It’s always been over saturated with women’s apparel, and men’s can feel like a drought in comparison. I’m pretty sure it’s always been this way, and it may always be this way, but I’m fighting the good fight. My other main concern with the industry is the push for one-time-wear apparel. H & M, Forever 21, and Zara are perfect examples. These stores, like many, many other unmentionables, are emphasizing price and finding clever ways to hide their lack of quality in both design and fabric. I can’t speak for women, but when a man buys a garment, it should last him his lifetime. The quality, craftsmanship and style shouldn’t fade over the ages. As far as the jeans industry goes, I believe we have found ourselves in an interesting position. Many companies, like Levi’s for instance, stand by the simple five pocket jean design. There is no variation in pattern, fabric and generally the overall look. Then you have companies like Orisue that are pushing the envelope, but receiving a lot of criticism for ruining the look of the jean. Personally I want to sail the coast of that classic design, but not venture into the open seas of obscure but apathetically poor design, as many of these companies have.
You have a firm stance on quality made, American products from raw materials to production. Elaborate a bit more on that…
Well I touched on this idea a bit earlier, but yes I am all about American made, quality goods. The company I envision has global influences, in fabric and culture, but I think there is a lot to an American manufactured brand that most of us overlook these days. Take whatever you’re wearing right now for instance. Peep the tag for a second. Does it say “Made in U.S.A?” My guess is probably not. We all wonder why they say America is a service economy now, but did you check the tag before you bought what you bought to see where it was made? With my goods, I want you to.
With it being 2010, I think you could safely say that most current and previous styles have either been seen before or largely influenced by previous ones, especially older, classic looks. Where do you pull influence from and how do you set yourself apart rather than just tweaking a previously explored style?
I think it’s all about mixing and meddling with other styles to generate an aesthetic that people will recognize as yours. You may not be able to look at one of my goods and say that it’s definitely Hollywood Cemetery, but you won’t be able to say it looks like blase bla’s brand either.
How many hours a day do you spend on your sewing machine?
It really depends on the day, but once I get my podcasts goin I can sit behind it all day long. I usually don’t watch the clock when I don’t have other things to do that day.
In the pieces on display currently at Henry, we see a wide array of fabrics. From denim to patent leather, to wool, what direction are you headed in?
To me there’s a constant battle going on between synthetic and natural fabrics. I like and use both, but most of my designs tend to be natural fabrics on the bottom (jeans and shorts) and synthetics on the top (jackets). The natural fabrics tend to feel better on the skin, but the synthetics usually have more pop to them.
Where do you see yourself in 3 years? 15 years?
In three years I see this business up and running. I want to create small production runs of every garment, and then discontinue the production of it and move on to something new, regardless of the demand. This way, the quantities will always be limited, and people will feel like they have something special when they’re wearing something of mine. If I have faith in my ability to design quality goods, I don’t need to ride on the success of a single garment. In 15 years, my real goal is to expand the company vertically. The more processes I have control over, the better the final good will turn out. I’m not really sure where the company will be then, but if I’m importing huge runs of cheap goods from Malaysia, I’ll probably fall on a sword.
If you were to go back in time and do what you’re doing now, what era would you choose?
Colonial. The long jackets with 50 vertical buttons and oversized napoleon hats looked badass then, and to me they’re still badass now.
Now that you’re going public with your whole operation, when is this stuff going to be available for purchase?
My jeans and shorts patterns are solidified, so very soon on those. As for the other stuff, I want to make some samples from the strongest garments in this line and they’ll be out kinda soon too. I want to be in stores before 2011.
New York resident Sue Kwon has enprinted a heavy footprint upon the photography world, giving us a slew of both commercial and documentary photography that influences one to record their own lives through photos. Shooting legends like Biggie and the Beastie Boys, she photograped a transitional period in our lives that gave us a look into the epic tranformation of Hip Hop, while also allowing us to see the dwindling remains of what many remember as old New York. With a recent show being completed over at Clic Gallery, and the newly released Street Level, compiling a 20 year collection of her work, we had a few questions of what such experiences and wisdom this could bring.
Thanks so much for doin this interview, its a huge honor. Let’s see where should we start….
Let’s start with the weather. It’s getting chilly outside Winter’s right around the corner, excited or not so much?
Sure, love the change of seasons;i just hope it really blizzards this year, the snow days are far and few in between.
You do anything epic over the summer ? Cruise? Roadtrip? Kite Flying?
Hmmmm, my summer was pretty much spent in a toxic, smelly black/white darkroom printing for the show i had in september and not sleeping much. is that epic or just plain dull?
Mmm darkroom fumes. epic.
You’ve been a huge influence to a lot of aspiring photographers, when did you first get bit by the shutterbug? What caused it?
While a self-absorbed teenager,i stumbled upon a Sebastiao Salgado (whom i had never heard of) show in paris;his images made me stop and consider others, rather than just the little world of Sue Kwon. That was the moment i saw “photography” from a completely different perspective. To be cheesy, the imagery haunted and moved me.
How long was it before you first gallery show?
12 years
When did you have your official “i’ve made it” moment?
Sorry, dont really know if ive actually had that exact “i’ve made it” revelation, yet. However…. the moment christopher walken asked, “sue, would you like some tea?” was quite an epic moment for me…
HA! Lucky!
With the internet there is an abundance of photography both known AND unknown out there circulating and inspiring. What have you stumbled across lately that has caught your eye or inspired you?
Of lately, i love checking out: lostnewyorkcity, Forgotten-NY, Shorpy…they all focus on the limbs of ny that are either very old, holding their last stand amongst franchise giants or sadly closed and gone…love shorpy’s; they have amazing photos that are mostly at least 100 yrs old. look:
So, you just published a book, tell us about that eh?
It’s called “Street Level” published by testify books/Dana Albarella James. I didn’t want it to be “celebrity-centric”. Rather, a tribute to the various nooks and crannies of this crazy, amazing city, with a sprinkling of some of the “celebs” i have been fortunate to shoot over the years. We will be having a book release/signing party sometime in November 09. hope you can make it.
I’m there!
Ok here some randoms…Who’s coffee table would you love to see your book on?
barack obama
true.
Whats you favorie camera ever?
rolleiflex TLR
What’s your favorite Ben & Jerry’s flavor?
Vanilla Heath Bar Crunk
Favorite board game?
ugh. bored games.
To be or not to be?
THAT is the question!
Hello or Goodbye?
Hello AND goodbye. people need space.
Feel that.. Ok thanks!
No thank YOU!
Scoop up your copy of Sue Kwon’s “Street Level” HERE
words and Interview by Mauricio Vargas
Sterling Hundley is not only a fantastic and classically trained illustrator/painter, but he was also a big inspiration for me and a lot of my colleagues in college. I was never one to buddy buddy with the teachers, but the respect and admiration was still there from afar. Well, after running this blog for some time now, and doing a couple of other artist interviews, I knew that I wanted to get in touch with Sterling, so I finally did, and at a conveniently oppurtune moment as well. Sterling recently opened his debut solo show at Ghostprint Gallery in Richmond, Va, and is turning some heads with his new approach to a medium he had already mastered and made his own. BLAAAHg decided to pick his brain a bit and see how life has been during these tough times and where this new inspiration comes from.
What inspires you these days?
I am so much more open minded today, than I was yesterday. I see inspiration everywhere.
You have a blog dedicated to giving advice to your fans / students. How do you go about helping a hopeless student fresh out of college in such tough economic times? Has this helped you through times of struggle?
As a Professor, I fight this moral battle constantly. It isn’t isolated to this time, or this economy, although I know a number of people who are at the top of the game who are struggling through it. No one could have dissuaded me from this as a profession, no matter what they said. I want to provide students with the best, most up to date, current information possible. I was given a lot of disinformation in school, and I’ve vowed to be an open book for anyone who seeks that information.
You have a show coming up at the Ghostprint Studios. The approach you’re taking this time around has changed stylistically, taking your art in a more abstract direction. What was different in your approach to this show compared to your last show? What inspired such a change?
The show at Ghostprint Gallery is actually my first Solo Show. I had a very small one man show of my illustration work years ago, but that wasn’t work created for a show. This is. I’m burned out answering to Editors, and I’ve decided that it’s time to edit my own work. The process allows me to explore much bigger ideas over a body of work vs. having to tie up a concept in a single illustration. I’m turning much of what I know about image making completely around, and I’m trying to govern chaos in the process from the very beginning. As the author of my own content, it is up to me to determine my own constraints, and solve my own problems.
I read on your blog you had a graphic novel in the works? Whats that all about?
Just another direction for my work. It is a personal project that I hope to be able to commit more time to some day. I grew up on comics, and I love to write. I’m dedicating this decade to gallery pursuits- next decade writing, and somewhere in between, a graphic novel. Some of the work is fleshed out- story line, characters, setting, etc., but like most projects that I want to pursue from here on, it is expansive, multi-layered, and must find it’s own time.
What do you listen to while working? What’s in your jukebox these days?
My friend/apprentice/ Jeff Love has been kind enough to leave his CD’s. I grab them at random. He has an amazing collection. There was a period where I listened to Cake for months. My mind is totally focused on the paintings when I’m working, and I forget to eat, listen to music, etc. Another friend, Leslie Herman, has been helping me out, as well. There are a number of Radiohead albums that I can’t live without.
If you were supposed to live in another time period, which do you think would be most appropriate for you?
I believe that I have an honesty and the mannerisms relating to the 50’s, but the openess of someone from the 60’s. That makes me about perfect for this time and place.
If you were a Star Wars character, who would you be?
Hun, Solo (great timing)
Whats your favorite animal?
my two cats- but I’m crazy about all nature- except for the flies swarming me in my garage/studio. They are the size of house flies, but they bite. I’ve declared an all out war. I love the anatomy of horses, and other animals where the musculature is very apparent. Big cats, bears, deer, hell, all wildlife.
Chocolate or rainbow sprinkles?
Vanilla, just plain old vanilla, or oreo.
um….. ok i’m spent. THANKS STERLING!
See more of Sterling Hundley’s work and his Blog.
and make sure to check out his Debut Solo show “EMERGENT” at:
Ghostprint Gallery 220 West Broad Street Richmond, VA 23220 (804)344.1557
Internet art, as some may call it, is nothing new to the world of art. With it’s multi platform approach to appropriated nostalgia, it leaves one thinking, what’s the point? Occasionally political, yet often non sensical, the internet art has created a certain intrigue to a niche crowd of art believers that we may be on the cusp of a sort of transition period regarding what artists have to talk about today. With the recession effecting everyone, from grandma Sue, to your landlord Jew, it only makes sense that something would come out of the art world, such as this depressive technological brainfart. Like the appropriation and reappropriation of art in the 80s, internet art seems to challenge the original meanings of not only past artworks, but past images that may have only existed in a time that the internet was a relevant form of technology. James Shaeffer, a young artist out of Virginia, is one of many on the wave to befriending this artform, so we figured we would have a little chat with him and see if he could shed some light on the situation, or just joke on some old times.
Interview by Sway Benz
Photos by Mauricio Vargas
How did your parents meet?
Oh yea, they were having an affair with each other and my mom got pregnant with me.
So you ruined two marriages before you were even born
Haha yep.
Umm do you know what that Harrison Ford movie is where he’s a robot?
where he’s trying to kill all the robots but in the end realizes he is one?
Bladerunner.
YES. (to walker) dude its bladerunner. that’s the only question I have…that’s
a good movie though
It is a good movie
Is your art serious or are you just fucking with people?
(long pause)
everything is going to be ok 5 by James Shaeffer
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Three things. sometimes its serious. and really thought out and followed through.
Like what?
The milleneals collapse at the automat
What?
It’s a black shelf…. most serious thing I’ve ever done. Sometimes I’m just fucking with people.
Like when?
Well like the pokes…yknow I poked everyone on facebook? Then there’s stuff, that I think would be really pretty to make and its just the process, and that’s what everyone seems to like the rhizome one that got up there. The two things that got into the PPOW. I was just kind of messing around and I had an idea I wanted to do and im just kind of messing around. To me the serious stuff is concept based, and I have something I’m working out from the beginning and you come to a conclusion and instead of dealing with something and coming to a conclusion, or just fucking around. The H8R piece in PPOW is something I really like, but I like the milleneals a lot better. Do you have any more questions?
You used to jerk off on a webcam.
(James nods)
Wanna talk about it? Why did you do it?
When?
Why?
Why is off the record
How old were you?
16. I did it for a girl in England once, I was trying to persuade her to-
Why’d you like it?
I don’t know man, just an anonymous person looking at you jerk off. idk. its just funny too because when you’re doing it its just like you’re watching someone look at you like. (starts making faces)
Yea thats awkward….i think we have some more questions
I like that star wars one because I’ve thought about that. who do you think
you are?
I’d like to think im chewbacca
Ha. you’re not chewbacca.
Really? that’s a shame because I like to think I am. he just
roars all the time.
James Shaeffer, h8r (I’m So Lonely And Miss Believing That I’m Loved) 2008, Wood, Paint, Party Streamer, Ugg Boot, North Face Fleece Jacket, FaceBook Picture Printout, Shopping, 8ft x 4ft x 3ft
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Did you get the streamer for your art piece that’s going to be
in the gallery in Chelsea from party city? or from captain party?
Party city. I’ve never been to captain party, it sounds great. ha captain party..
Would you compare your art to Leonardo dvince or picasso and
if neither who would you compare your art to.
….well not dvince…not early Picasso. not Picasso at all if it had to be either it would be early Picasso, just because he was working in a popular field and alright at it.
You used to paint a lot and you’re a good painter why did you stop?
Well for me painting is just…modernisms dead and you cant really challenge cant really challenge what art is in a painting. like that’s not a painting that’s just a watch. or making it look like advertising is over. were dealing with…its at a strange era right now. challenging what’s good and what’s bad or making it decorative. sculptures in the same sense its frustrating in some sense that when you go to the painting dept what looks good in the painting dept would look good on an album cover yknow? that’s what drove me away from it. sculptures in the same field, except you cant put sculpture on an album cover…the reason I like working with the internet is because right now its in this weird area where everything’s like a one liner on the internet and it doesn’t really say much, but its still kind of a new media so its exciting. Once internet art is ready to say something, other than be its own gimmick and just a one liner, it will be relevant. more relevant than it is now at least. but, that’s just for internet art and not art in general.
Thank you.
Make sure to check out the James’ artwork at the PPOW Gallery . The opening is today and runs til July 31st. Also check out James’ website to see a collection of his artwork.
Above photos by Lindsay Thorne
With Michelle Lopez’s most recent show A Silent Bear It Away currently on display at the Simon Preston Gallery, we had the chance to meet over coffee and talk about the comings and goings of herself and her art.
What brought you to New York?
Came to go to Barnard up in Colombia University, and studied art history and english, with minor in Art. Just in general though, the energy is just so palpable and i always feel very inspired here, so even after moving away to Berkley to teach, I felt the need to come back. So i got my MFA at SVA and studied sculpture and now teach there.
photo by Lindsay Thorne
Your last solo show was two days after 9/11 at Deitch Projects. Howd that go?
That was intense. It was the reason why I left New York to teach in Berkley. Yea it was just a very different time. My show was supposed to open 9/13 and got pushed to 9/22. I almost wish it hadn’t opened at all. The show was pretty much a wash. I suppose it kinda had to happen that way. In a way that show was neglected and I’m kinda glad that it was because I had to grow as an artist in ways. It forced me to really examine what my position was, in terms of my art, regardless of the art world. In that sense it was really profound. Now with this new show at Simon’s its really about destiny and redemption. I was born in 1970 which is when there was the Dawsonfield Highjacking, which was a situation that was incredibly similar to the 911 attacks that happened in Jordan. Its kinda been this path where it just feels in a way my time has coincided with these events. I think it just helped me address the fact at how artists can get pigeon holed into a specific genre. For me it was being granted as this leather artist because this is one of the main materials I used at onetime. I feel like since I left New York, the one piece that people know me by is this leather car.
What does this show mean compared to the one at Deitch?
With this show ‘The Violent Bear it Away’ is this whole notion that in order to redeem myself I have destroy everything i created, and part of it is this leather car. Also I think it related to the whole political climate right now, in relation to 9/11 the way it was this real symbolic moment, in terms of how our culture was going to deal with it. Now this whole thing with the anime wig is just about being able to parody myself. THeres somehting i really never confronted which is this female asian identity thats never really discussed so I approprated that whole superflat movement thing, all with a subtext of violence. The crashing anime wig, The lynching tree with the phantom limb. Really that phantom limb is a figure of a lynched character to me. 
I‘ve noticed in your work there’s a good balance of this sort of iconic refinement and raw deteriorating aesthetic. How would you say this common strand relates to each other?
I think that word icon is good because i do try to take these cultural moment and kinda turn them on their heads in order to reveal a little bit more where it breaks down. Say with the C-3P0 mask and trying to emasculate it. There’s a lot of religious overtones in the whole star wars iconography, so i just wanted to show in some light that the iconography, at least in our culture, has become fanatical through the star wars subculture. Its just a way of exposing how that culture is problematic.
If you were a star wars character who would you be?
Probably yoda…. who would you be?
Han Solo, he has all the fun.
Use the force, what’s to come in the future of art? What are you excited about?
I have a friend who talks about this radical chic movement that is supposed to appear very clever and really is not that interesting. I’m kinda interested in how things could become political and personal at the same time. I feel like there’s all this political art that was very detached in a lot of ways, very didactic. And theres been a trend for a long time about this. The one thing I remember when I came back to New York from Berkley after doing research on “sculpture,” I hate using that word, was this whole ‘radical chic’ movement. I responded by writing an essay about the responsibility of the artist to be both conceptual and formal. I think you can be both rigorous and grotesque at the same time, so in my essay i was relating it to Georgio Gambins’s book called The Man Without Content, and it talked about transmission of culture. Would culture be transmitted once it was all gone? What if we burnt down the house, what would be interpreted from the ashes? I kinda have this ongoing theme of entropy in my work, so even though things are crumbling politically and socially, its exciting to see what the aesthetic structure turns into.
Finally, its getting warm out, what you looking forward to for the summer?
Going to the beach, we have a two year old who loves tractors.
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Michelle’s show, The Violent Bear It Away, is currently open to the public and runs until Sunday, May 17, 2009 at SIMON PRESTON GALLERY.
