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THE PAST
NHQ recently produced a live event – WITHOUT WAX: 14 Years of Derek Erdman in Chicago.
Many people attended, and it was quite a success. Thanks!

THE PRESENT
Events are very much at the core of our company. Live experiences of the cultural kind are exactly what led us to starting an Internet company. Many of the challenges that producers and promoters of events face are known to us as well. Many of them will be mediated by the Internet. Many already are. Using the Internet the right way saves production money–on promotion and marketing, especially. This is no secret.

For most of 2010, we here at NHQ have been working on two major projects, sort of behind the scenes: One is very related to events, websites, and social promotion for producer organizations. The other is an Internet video which we hope will take the medium to a new level, by incorporating some edgy tech…

THE SOFTWARE
Depending what you know about the Internet, you may or not understand the role of software in the making of it all. If you do, you know we are in an early age of something… If you don’t care about software, but care about how the Internet can help you and your company promote shows and events, well then we’ve got what you need (coming soon). We’re developing software designed to turn the challenges of the Internet into benefits, for the types of people who already use the web socially, but don’t want to spend valuable creative and productive time tending to a website. This software is being built with the help of a grant from the Arts Work Fund. The flagship users of the software will be the recipients of that award: 500 CLOWN, a Chicago based, inter/national performance group (and friends of NHQ).

MAN V. CANDY MACHINE in-progress. Click to view fullscreen (it’s prettier that way)!

THE VIDEO
The video is a 15 minute narrative duel between a man and machine. It’s more than a video, friends. It will also be that which is come to be known as an “app”-lication. It will be doing more than your average video. But like all elements of an event–lights, sounds, design–it’s best for the audience if their attention is not overdrawn by any one effect. We are working on a seamless design which incorporates entertainment and interactivity, without the activity becoming too game-like. It’s easier than it sounds, because we are not making a game. We just want to allow the viewer some exploration, without sending them off the course. Speaking of course: it’s still the story. You’ll have to watch the video for that.

THE FUTURE
Our company is undergoing a metamorphosis. We will emerge soon with the products of the year, a new website, new business. All of the incredibly skilled people who have worked or are currently working with us on our current projects will be named and credited in due time. They know who they are, and we are humbled they agreed to collaborate with us.

We have parted ways with a couple of associates, for now. We wish the best of luck to Gretta and Julia, both of whom persevere their respective crafts. We hope to exploit and promote their good work again in future NHQ productions. Thanks for everything, ladies!

We would like to wish a good voyage to Derek Erdman. West Coast be on the look out. Thanks to all the following for helping make WITHOUT WAX possible:

High Concept Laboratories
Printers’ Row Wine Shop
Odd Obsession DJs
Julia Miller
Sarah Miller
Matt Gawryk
Aaron Brown
Christian Doll
Griffin Sharps
Aaron Wickenden

STAY TUNED…

Derek tells a lot of stories. Nobody knows which are the jokes, which are the lies, and which are true. It’s the same with his many paintings: who is to say if one is funny or ugly or beautiful? Therein lies the reality: nobody knows for sure. And this is why Derek and his paintings (and his raps, and his blog, and his fortune-telling hotline, and his mail-order hamburgers, and his comics, and his Facebook posts, and his eBay items, and his Craigslist ads) are so appealing to so many different people. Each one is like an inside joke. Or lie. Or revelation.

But Derek is not concerned with our interpretation. He’s too busy pumping out paintings, packing and shipping eBay items, illustrating record and magazine covers, grooming his websites, documenting his work, processing invoices, and accounting receipts. For Derek, being an artist isn’t just about making art.

WITHOUT WAX installation. Front room. Photo © NATIONAL HEADQUARTERS, 2010.

“I’d be just as happy making sweaters as I am making paintings.”

This is Derek at his most effacing. But so what if Derek traces pictures of Nell Carter topless and sells them on the cheap? His entire oeuvre is comprised of quickly and cheaply yet thoughtfully composed products, each one bearing Derek’s trademark sense of humor and empathy. He mastered the craft of a simple style, one that is recyclable and sustainable. Yet there is another layer to his work, one which many artists would dismiss as necessarily compromising, unless that artist is a rapper (and so he is).

“I’ve always been very financially responsible, even as a youngster.”

OK… Rappers aren’t known for financial responsibility.

Maybe Jay-Z put it best: I’m not a businessman / I’m a business, MAN.

WITHOUT WAX opening night. Front room. Photo © NATIONAL HEADQUARTERS, 2010.

“I grew up in poverty. My mother was a drug addict. I had to save up enough money to pay the electric bill every month. I’ve always been good with money. I like to have stability. I was a real weirdo as a teenager, Gragz.”

Derek told me a couple weeks ago, over spicy marinated rib eye at San Soo Gab San.

“I like to see it as a big game. Some people might call me an Entrepreneur, you [Angeline] might call me a Hustler, but I like to think of myself as just…knowing how to play the game. I like to have fun.”

I continued to listen intently, as Derek does not make a habit of talking seriously about anything.

“I’ve got to take this to the next level, Gragz. I’ve got to work harder. When I get to Seattle, I’m going to lay low for two years, do good work, and then get noticed.”

WITHOUT WAX opening night. Main room. Photo © NATIONAL HEADQUARTERS, 2010.

In a “game” where so many fail to make a name, let alone a profit, the mass reception to a successful artist/entrepreneur might otherwise be feigned disinterest, or jealous disregard, and often petty disgust. But in the age of D-I-Y, Derek’s attitude is irresistible.

Before Derek became a purveyor of paintings, raps, advice, and all the rest, he bought a failing record store in Hyde Park. In what must have been early proof of his creativity and market cunning, he gave it a makeover, curated a better selection, and two years later sold it for a substantial profit. This was not only the impetus for becoming a professional painter, it was the fiscal foundation. Doing what you want is always a risk. It never hurts to be prepared.

It wasn’t “dreaming about becoming an artist”. It was a much simpler: how to stay independent. How to make money.

Most artists would cringe at the thought of “making art for money.” There is an expression for this type of ideological compromise, it is called:

“Selling Out.”

But if you go to Derek’s Facebook profile, you’ll read four little words in the box below his avatar:

“Just give me money.”

You might, if you like, think that’s a joke.

WITHOUT WAX installation. Front room. Photo © NATIONAL HEADQUARTERS, 2010.

Although he’s primarily known for his paintings, it’s not the medium that matters: each of Derek’s creations is a little piece of the thing which normally he keeps off display: himself. It’s his wit, his ideas, his take on the state of affairs. And you can have your piece, for as little as $5.00, if you ask Rap Master Maurice.

His success is self-made, just like his website: www.derekerdman.com. In the business of art, Derek’s work ethic gives him a decidedly competitive edge. In the art of business, hard work has never been a secret.

So if he’s so successful, why is he clearing out, and leaving Chicago? Rest assured, it’s not a matter of giving up on art, painting, or anything else.

“I was getting too comfortable, Gragz. I wasn’t as productive as I was when I first started painting. It was becoming too easy.”

Just when you think he’s all business… come words spoken like a true artist.

Derek Erdman at WITHOUT WAX. Photo © NATIONAL HEADQUARTERS, 2010.

Derek Erdman is moving to Seattle to continue to refine his style, to cultivate new ideas, to write, to host a radio show, to withdraw from society a little bit and to do without some of the comforts he’s been able to enjoy as an established artist in Chicago. Eventually, he wants to buy a house. “I’m a nest-er, Gragz.”

New risks = new rewards, for Derek and his fans. But he’s not as capricious as his art would make you believe. He won’t be discontinuing his most popular products. He’s still gotta think about that bottom line.

“If some chubby white guy from the suburbs wants a painting of Ice Cube in an Orioles Cap, that’s great! I’m more than happy to make it for him.”

WITHOUT WAX: 14 Years of Derek Erdman in Chicago took place Saturday, August 14, 2010. Nearly all of the 238 paintings on display were sold on opening night. More photos on Flickr. Visit derekerdman.com to keep abreast of All Things Erdman (ATE). Friend him on Facebook. Follow him on Twitter.

WITHOUT WAX, Mr. Erdman’s final Chicago showcase, opens Saturday, August 14th, 2010. RSVP by emailing derek@nationalheadquarters.org, or RSVP to the Facebook Event.

Jason Foumberg: Where are you moving to, and will you be an artist there also?
Derek Erdman: I’m moving to Seattle, WA. I’m going for the grunge and Frasier. I’m going to start Grunge 2 when I get there. It’s going to be like the first grunge, but moodier with mind control. I reckon I’ll be an “artist” when I get there, and the same variety of artist. I have no idea what I’ll be doing there exactly. A lot of napping, I suppose. That weather is conducive to naps and weight gain. There are so many pho restaurants, that’s all I’m going to eat. Soups and naps.

J: The same type of artist?
D: Yes, painting ducks and stuff, sure. I’ll probably make more geographically fitting paintings, like of those people that throw the fish at that market. Coffee cups, Shannon Kringen, dudes in REI outfits. Man, I can’t wait. Seattle here I come.

J: Did you accomplish what you came to do?
D: In Chicago? I came here to work at a record store and own a table top video game. I did that within the first two years of living here. This town is easy, everybody is nice and it’s so cheap. But the winters are just awful. I didn’t even leave the house from September to March last winter. It was just awful.

J: How many artworks in farewell show? Will they be for sale/priced to sell? Are you taking them all to you new home?
D: I am taking none of my own things to Seattle, all of it will be sold or I will put it in the garbage. My friend Lacey, with whom I’m moving, will probably want some of it. I’ll make her pay for it though, I’ll deduct it from rent. There should be 1,000 paintings and drawings at this event. Everything will be cheap. There will be a number of paintings for $6 & hot dogs and gummi bears.

J: How many cover illustrations have you done for Newcity?
D: Absolutely none.

J: On the $15 portrait project website you ask that no one send in pics of pets, but the preview pics of your farewell show has features tons of animals. So do you like animals or don’t you?
D: I don’t like animals. I certainly don’t think people should have pets. It’s obviously a form of slavery. Can you imagine how many plastic bags full of #2 are floating in the ocean as we speak? It’s mind boggling and totally gross. Dogs don’t want to wait until 6pm to go on walks. They don’t want to be primers for children. The neighborhood I live in has new couples. First they get the dog, then the get the baby. Sometimes there is overlap, the dog & the baby. You can tell the dog is miserable. Cats? They make me sneeze. Drawing people’s pets is like having to look at baby photos, oh brother. But I’ll paint a duck, no doubt. People don’t have ducks as pets. Ducks are free.

J: What will you miss most about Chicago? Least?
D: I will miss my friends and hangin’ on the stoop. It’s easy to talk to people here, I love to talk to strangers. I assume I’ll be able to do that in Seattle as well, I dunno. The only thing I won’t miss is the snow in the winter. I hate snow when it’s old and black and melted slush chunks. Everything else about this city is wonderful. I can’t think of a single thing otherwise that I don’t like. Everything is wonderful!

WITHOUT WAX: 14 Years of Derek Erdman in Chicago opens this Saturday, August 14 at High Concept Laboratories, featuring Music by Odd Obsession DJs and Beer + Wine from Printer’s Row Wine Shop. Click here, there, here, and here for more info. RSVP to derek(at)nationalheadquarters.org or call (312) 834-4290. Exhibition on display through August 22, gallery hours by appointment.

On display will be every item in the artist’s possession that can possibly be sold, including but not limited to: paintings (canvas, glass, wood), drawings, sculptures, CDs, DVDs, records, posters, prints, books, clothing, furniture, and more. Most items will be made by the artist, but many will be from his own personal collection–the value of which is not to be underestimated, as Erdman himself is a notoriously obsessive collector of rare and/or useful memorabilia. Items in the exhibition catalogue, which may be purchased online at the event, will amount in the hundreds with prices ranging from $0.01 to $1000. Opening Night will feature a special presentation of Erdman’s collected video works (Rap Master Maurice, Juggalo Documentary Series), collected audio works (Kathy Mcginty & other prank CDs, excerpts from his Advice Masters & Free Psychic Hotline telephone conversations), live DJ sets by Odd Obsession, and hamburgers for everyone. WITHOUT WAX will be a fun, fond farewell to Chicago’s most prolific artist of all time.

This exhibition is curated by Angeline Gragasin in collaboration with Derek Erdman.

Derek Erdman paintings c. 2007. Screengrab at www.derekerdman.com © Derek Erdman 2010

ABOUT THE ARTIST
Derek Erdman (b. 1973 Cleveland, Ohio) is regularly called a Pop Artist, and this is understandable given that his tactics appear to intensify the preoccupations of the Factory tradition. Over the last decade Erdman has developed an increasingly efficient method for producing batches of art that he can make quickly, duplicate easily, and sell cheaply. According to this method his energy is concentrated in the plan (selecting source materials from which he will ‘borrow’ imagery), and the execution of each piece becomes semi-automatic, a series of choreographed tasks that he can carry out much like an assembly liner or a tap dancer might perform his job. The subjects of his paintings (second-tier celebrities, flash-in-the-pan current events, obsolete advertisements) are almost always borrowed from the moving spotlight of popular attention, and so the pieces themselves take on the form of commercial debris, relics of the recent surface-past. Occasionally they even turn up in thrift stores. In displaying and distributing his work (paintings, but also magazines, CDs, and pranks of all kinds), Erdman has demonstrated an unwavering preference for the banal and the widespread, favoring newsstands, restaurants, building sides, and balloons over galleries. And he has become an expert at harnessing the special hype-magic of the Internet (along with the party and various other spectacle-events that will circulate later in other people’s stories), which he uses not only as a mass-marketplace, but also to cultivate his own semi-celebrity, which carries his work, infusing it with everyday myth.

Unlike his Pop predecessors, Erdman’s paintings are not meditations on the shiny coldness of market interactions, nor are they clever declarations about the end of art. Instead, they are exercises in turning commercial surfaces back into a folk tradition, a truly popular lexicon, which we can playfully control. If his paintings are flat and bright—and they are incredibly, stubbornly so—it is because they are the coins in this constant exchange, the tokens of an unfolding common language of serious puns and half-jokes being shot back and forth between Erdman and his fans. The fan is the single constant, the only truly necessary piece in Erdman’s game, and to play it, the artist himself becomes a super-fan of the constantly shifting popular landscape, faithfully reproducing how it delights and disgusts. What results is a collapsing of the personal and the public in Erdman’s work, and in his life—a collapse that Erdman has embraced perhaps more than any other artist. Just as he re-frames the seemingly impersonal stuff of mass-publicity (celebrities, news events, commercials) as the shared familiars in our common biography, so too do the workings of Erdman’s private life become his material for public entertainment. No detail, no matter how mundane or potentially damaging to himself or his audience, is spared from consideration (the examples are endless, but see for instance the fallout of his recent appearance at Pecha Kucha in Chicago). All this may seem quite megalomaniacal. It is. But in the end it is also the opposite. In a way Warhol would never have tolerated, Erdman perpetually offers his fans absolute artistic control of his fate (gleefully handing over his Myspace password, for instance, so that anybody might tinker with his brand). In doing so he illuminates his own celebrity, like all the others, as the people’s creation.

- Hannah Woodroofe
February 2009 Ohio

WITHOUT WAX: 14 Years of Derek Erdman in Chicago
Saturday, August 14, 2010
6pm – 11pm
Location: High Concept Laboratories – Chicago, IL
RSVP derek(at)nationalheadquarters.org for address

Media Release (online)

Read more HERE.

Gretta is devising the piece in collaboration with Julia Miller, and in it, they explore themes of creation, destruction, recreation, and nurturing. The scenic design is somewhere between an old widow’s cabin in the woods and a teenage girl’s bedroom. The sole character (played by Gretta) is a sort of garden-dwelling creature, a “sluggy cocooned lady,” content with solitude and the companionship of her plants.  She surrounds herself with collages of humans made to look like plants and plants that take on human characteristics. Her way of life is far removed from yet still connected to everyday hyperstimuli with which we normally surround ourselves. Check out the images below and feast your eyes on what promises to be a truly odd and unique new video from NATIONAL HEADQUARTERS. More to come!

Character Sketch for GARDEN APARTMENT by Gretta Johnson.

Character Sketch for GARDEN APARTMENT by Gretta Johnson.

Slug Lady taking shape… Beet-and-Legs Collage by Gretta Johnson. Costume and Wig by Gretta Johnson and Julia Miller. Photos by Julia Miller. Collage by Angeline Gragasin.

I would’ve liked to spend more time with her last week when I was in Kansas City, but we’re both so busy that the best we could do was a couple cheerful hugs at Succotash, a cozy indie brunch house over which an enormous, larger-than-life sized painting of Jaimie dribbling tomato soup down her chin presides, as if to say “All Hail Queen Jaimie. Queen of Kansas City. Queen of the World!” So I conducted this interview over email, but have every intention of following up with more behind-the-scenes content (if there is such a thing as “behind the scenes with Jaimie Warren”) the next time we cross paths, fingers crossed!

Whoop Dee Doo. Photo © Megan Mantia, 2010.

Angeline: Why Kansas City? What is your relationship to the city, and to the Midwest?
Jaimie: Born and raised in Wisconsin, daughter to the owners of a biker bar in the Milwaukee suburbs, I came to Kansas City for my first day of college, and I had never been prior. I have come to absolutely love it here, mostly because I think my friends are so incredibly talented and helpful. Also, living in a smaller city makes you form this very DIY, “make your own fun” sort of lifestyle and aesthetic. Everyone here helps one another with their projects, because we are all trying to see the city succeed and be seen as an emerging arts center. So it’s an awesome way to work! We all want each other to be successful, and we have tons of fun doing it!! I am always collaborating with bands like the Ssion and Carnal Torpor or fashion designers like Peggy Noland and Ari Fish.

Video by Cody Critcheloe

A: How did Whoop Dee Doo get its start?
J: Whoop Dee Doo started as a gallery exhibition of Kansas City artists that we exhibited at Rocket Projects in Miami. By the night of the opening, 14 Kansas-Citians had flown themselves out to do random, amazing performances for the event. It made me realize how much awesome performance stuff was going on, and how I really wanted to highlight that somehow. At the same time, I was insanely inspired by Chic-a-go-go, a public access tv show in Chicago, and I had traveled to Chicago to be on it several times. Plus, since KC has such a small arts community, we often branch out to other mini-communities. So you’ll go to a party and there will be punk kids, drag queens, Mexican bikers, moms, etc. Super weird and awesome. It’s a mix of all of these elements that made the show what it is today.

Now we have about 22 volunteers. Matt Roche and I are the Co-Directors, and other big bosses are Leone Anne Reeves, Natalie Myers, Megan Mantia, Flannery Cashill, Chris Beer, Roger Link, Peggy Noland, Stuart Smith, Lee Heinemann, and others. Our crew is totally amazing.

Whoop Dee Doo. Photo © Megan Mantia, 2010.

Whoop Dee Doo. Photo © Megan Mantia, 2010.

A: How has your experience curating and producing Whoop Dee Doo informed your work as a photographer, and vice-versa?
J: It’s weird, I know they totally inform each other, because both bodies of works revolve around how unique my community is, and finding a strange way to express it, but to this day I wont allow myself to photograph the show in my own style. It’s like I force myself to keep them separate for some reason. But anyway, I’ve always been a performer myself, only in a super-awful-and-awkward sort of way, so everything meshes really well.

Just like I was saying, in the same way our community is so random and mish-mash and amazing and awkward: so is the show. So you’ll have Celtic Bagpipers and Dads and kids and drag queens and drill teams and Swedish Dancers and scientists all dancing in one room together. So amazing!

A: Who/what are your influences?
J: Roseanne Barr is my #1 inspiration, and yes, mostly because of who she was on the show “Roseanne,” AND HER INFAMOUS SINGING OF THE NATIONAL ANTHEM at the San Diego Padres game in 1990!! And my dream would be to be famous enough one day so that people followed my weight loss and gain like they do with Roseanne and Oprah Winfrey.

But also—John Waters (DUH!), Diet Dr. Pepper, Halloween pranks, all the VH1 reality shows (in particular- Rock of Love and Rock of Love Bus, Flavor of Love, and I Love New York), Stevie Wonder, Dolly Parton’s book: My Life and Other Unfinished Business, Roseanne Barr’s book: My Life as a Woman, and the Nightmare on Elm Street movies (I have the 8 disc series WITH the original 3D glasses).

“Still Punk” video featuring Jaimie Warren by Cody Critcheloe

A: What is your training, how has formal arts education impacted your career?
J: I have a BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute. I think my education came mostly from my peers. I was totally blessed to have an amazing crew around me that worked all night, every night; we were good at constructive criticism and we all pushed each other very hard. Also, I had a radical teacher, Adrian Herman. She was the bomb. I still work with a lot of the same people I did in school, even those who have moved away.

Jaimie Warren as Madonna in Ssion’s BULLSHIT video, by Cody Critcheloe

A: Can you talk about the title of your book, Don’t You Feel Better?
J: Weeeeeellllll, that’s sort of a weird and awkward story, as the title of the book (and my website) used to be the title of a totally different project that got put on the backburner many years ago, but who cares! I think it’s funny because when someone says that phrase, I picture someone taking a big dump and feeling better after it happened. Don’t you? Heehee but seriously: I think it plays well with the self portraits. It reminds me of playing dress-up as a little kid, which I’m still able to get away with as an adult. Which is funny and kind of pathetic at the same time.

A: When you take self-portraits, do you usually have someone else to give the camera to while you pose, or do you take them yourself?
J: I always hand it off to a friend. I tell them what I’m generally looking for, and it almost always works out pretty good.

Photo © Jaimie Warren, 2010.

Photo © Jaimie Warren, 2010.

Photo © Jaimie Warren, 2010.

A: You’ve managed to create images and events that are highly theatrical yet feel very candid and personal. How do you balance improvisation with pre-production? When does the work demand precariousness and when does it need to be precious and purposefully composed?
J: Well, if you are seeing anything precious it’s just an illusion. Everything is usually planned somewhere between 30 seconds and 5 minutes before the shot is taken. It’s pretty improvisational. I think that’s why some people like it, because it has that very “I could do that” or “I’ve done that” look to it. Everything is done on an extremely low budget, and when I am emulating someone, it might almost seem like an insult because it’s so half-assed it seems comical or ridiculous, or even awful.

Photo © Jaimie Warren, 2010.

A: How has the Internet influenced your idea of documentation?
J: The Internet is so amazing for someone who lives in the Midwest. Especially for Whoop Dee Doo, when we are researching acts to have on our show when we travel to other cities or countries. I don’t know if there is a term for it, but you know when you hit link after link after link, and you’ve suddenly been on this totally weird downward spiral on the Internet? That is when we find our best stuff, like when we got the Christian Mimes who paint white face and have floor length silver sparkly outfits, or the Civil War re-enactors who amputated a foot on stage for us. As for my photography, I cant tell if it’s influenced my personal work, but I know it makes it easier to research other peoples’ photos.

A: What are you currently working on, what should we be on the lookout for in the next couple months?
J: Peggy Noland and I are working on a project in Brazil next year! Also, we plan to have a live animal birth (cow or pig?) on Whoop Dee Doo when we travel to a small farm town to do a new show in November. Also, Whoop Dee Doo will be in featured in a new book through Deitch Projects called “WILD FILE” which will have a USB stick with videos by radical artists like Cory Arcangel, Ryan Trecartin, Takeshi Murata and more. I’m also in a recent Rizolli book called SHOOT: Photography of the Moment, with 26 photographers including Wolfgang Tillmans and Juergen Teller (OMG!!). The book was released at the New Museum and is traveling internationally with an accompanying photo show of works from the book – it’s going to Ireland next. The project is curated by Ken Miller, who used to be an editor for Tokion for many years, and he is super cool and smart.

What else? I have a fake goth band called “Y-Not” where I scream the word “Why” at the top of my lungs until everyone leaves the room, which usually takes about 45 minutes to an hour. And me and my best girlfriends have a rad DJ performance night called “Booby Trap” that we’ve been touring, so you should bring that to your town, too; it’s really weird. And when I was in India in January I was working on a potential Whoop Dee Doo BOLLYWOOD edition! (Oh please dear God I hope it happens.) Lastly, I am currently working on a new book with Higher Pictures so keep your peepers peeled!

Jaimie Warren is a photographer, performance artist, and Creator/Co-Director of the faux public access television show “Whoop Dee Doo.” She is represented by Higher Pictures (New York, NY), she has had her first solo artist monograph published by Aperture (New York, NY) in 2008, recently closed her first solo museum exhibition at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art. Warren has exhibited at White Flag Projects, St. Louis; Smith-Stewart, New York; David Castillo, Miami; Max Wigram, London; Getsumin, Osaka; Beida University, Beijing; Rocket Projects, Miami; Colette, Paris, among other venues. Her photography has been published in dozens of national and international publications. Warren is a recipient of the Lighton International Artist Exchange Program grant, and a 2009 Charlotte Street Fund grant.

Warren’s non-profit community arts program and faux public access television show “Whoop Dee Doo” has exhibited at various galleries and museums including the Smart Museum at the University of Chicago, Deitch Projects (New York), The Bemis Center for Contemporary Art (Omaha, NE), and LOYAL gallery (Malmo, Sweden).

dontyoufeelbetter.com

Circuit bending, hacking and prototyping is spreading almost as fast as the moving electrons that inspired its genesis. A growing community built around the re-purposing of consumer electronics can in part be attributed to some cornerstone books: “Handmade Electronic Music: The Art of Hardware Hacking” by Chicago circuit-bending professor Nicholas Collins and Reed Ghazala‘s “Circuit-Bending: Build your own alien instruments.” Citing Collins as reference for his creations, Yoshi Akai applies his talent, imagination, and bronzed and bejeweled aesthetic sensibility to the creation of nervous nano-scale soundscapes and analog acid-sonic washes.

On a cultural level, the allied fields of bending and hacking have merged into a medium for teaching that is literally the sharing of knowledge from experimentation. Articles to come will explore this transformation of hackerspaces to making spaces, but for now little imagination is required to think of Akai’s pieces as products of an airship guild, the fruits of hours of toiling and attention to detail that comes from rigorous apprenticeship. Yoshi talks about the beginnings of and inspirations for work that has not gone unnoticed, and that arguably ushers in a new breed of Steampunk.

Alex: Tell me a little bit about your background and what led to building these instruments?
Yoshi: My background is art and design. I have been researching interaction design. What led to building these instruments is simply curiosity. I always desire to visualize my idea.

A: Your designs strike a balance between utility and turn-of-the-century charm. How do aesthetics affect the you way make instruments?
Y: I always believe that high quality or expensive instruments are not only about quality of sound. They are also about delicate craftsmanship.

A: There is a wonderful playfulness in your inventions, from using a LEGO as a conductor to your crispbread record player. Is that an important aspect of your art?
Y: The concept of the LEGO Sequencer was started as an interaction design project. The concept is to make a 3D tangible user interface. To make a device for a computer, LEGO has limited possibility, however for simple instruments, LEGO is a nice material. Because almost people have played with LEGOs, it invites the user to have fun. I usually get ideas and questions from something surrounding me. Knäckebröd (Crispbread) Turntable is a conceptual art piece, so the Swedish bread has a meaning on this work. When I saw the crispbread in Sweden I thought that could be almost same size as a record; it is only a little bit bigger than vinyl.

Knäckebröd (Crispbread) Turntable © Yoshi Akai, 2009

A: Pieces like the Wireless Catcher, White Magic and Velvet remind me of Edison and his “invisible” technological breakthroughs. What about the invisible is attractive to you?
Y:I do use the ideal of the invisible for my art and design works. For the design, if technology is the infrastructure, the designer should make the technology invisible. For the art and performance, the invisible is a kind of magic for me.

A: Hacking consumer goods obviously plays a large part in your creations. What was your first hacking/modifying experience?
Y: Actually I cannot remember. I should probably talk a bit about my family first: my great grandfather was a professor of Japanese Tea Ceremony, and my grandfather was a stonemason. They both made their own tools from consumer tools to fit a new purpose, for example making a stone carving tool from a kitchen tool. I have been doing it since when I was kid. I still do not have an exact definition of “hardware hacking,” but for me an Hawaiian Aloha shirt also a type of hacking.

Yoshi Akai in performance

A: What resources would you suggest for people interested in building their own devices?
Y: I always get inspiration from different fields, if I look only in the music field for making the musical instrument, I cannot find a new idea. Also a toy store is full of inspiration. From a technical perspective, “Handmade Electronic Music: The Art of Hardware Hacking” by Nicolas Collins is a great book.

Detail on one of Yoshi’s handmade pieces © Yoshi Akai, 2009

A: What are you currently working on, interested in or listening to?
Y:Right now I’m working on an interface with bionics sensor.

Yoshi Akai’s collection of modded instruments © Yoshi Akai, 2009

A: Can people purchase any of your creations?
Y: Unfortunately, I do not have plans to sell anything at the moment. It’s because I only have one set for my performances. Also, every piece is handmade, so production requires several months. I hope one day to make limited editions for sale.

Yoshi Akai was born in Nagoya, Japan. He obtained a BA in textile design and a MA in design from Tama art University in Tokyo, and a MA in textile art from Southampton University Winchester School of art in UK. After his work as a designer in Japan, he joined programs at Kungliga Konsthögskolan and Chalmers University in Sweden. He has had numerous exhibitions in Japan, UK, The Netherland, Korea, and Sweden. He is currently producing original musical instruments with a unique input system, and is doing performance with those creative gadgets.

You can check more of Yoshi’s pieces at his website or on youtube.

As much as I’d like to, I can’t pretend to know him well. But what little I do know is that Ray is making some of the most iconic and important art to come out of Chicago since Carl Sandburg wrote about a “City of the Big Shoulders.” CRO is currently in Asheville, North Carolina, fundraising for a new street art campaign combating the ignorance and idiocy that is the Tea Party Express. Can you dig it? Read more below and consider participating in The People’s Party, either by donating to the cause or spreading the word by downloading this free poster and putting it up WHERE FREEDOM RINGS.

Blago’s Shoe Shine © CRO 2009

Angeline: Why did you leave Chicago for Asheville? What have you been up to down there?
CRO: Sometimes you feel the world is telling you things. You can either ignore these messages or listen. I felt I needed a bit of a break. The past 3 years really wore me out. For as much beauty as I saw, there were many things that really let me down. Originally, I thought I would come here and write a book about my Obama experience but through the process of thinking about it realized that I actually don’t really care about that.

A: In retrospect, how has your experience working on “Go Tell Mama!” shaped your work today?
C: Oddly enough it’s actually made me more cynical and apathetic. GTM gave me a chance to conduct a bit of a public experiment. I got to see the political inner workings of things. I also got to see how manipulative mainstream media is firsthand. It’s all kind of a joke. Sometimes it’s better to just eat the sausage, metaphorically speaking. Once you see how it’s made and what’s in it, it’s a let down. As Americans we are getting so worked over. Politics is not about having the tough conversations. Sadly, it’s simply about winning.

No Race Creme Series: American Values © CRO 2010

Proposed route of Anti-Teabagger poster campaign (along same route as the Tea Bagger Express).

A: What and Who is The People’s Party?
C: The People’s Party is you and me. As some of you know, the Supreme Court recently ruled corporations can now dump as much of their money into politics as they please. During the election of 2008 regular people like myself could use the Internet in extraordinary ways–we had a voice like never before. For a time the scales had become balanced. Right now it seems like most folks could care less. But just wait til the next election comes around and your voice is drowned out by the constant onslaught of corporate influenced ads that will saturate your television. If regular people don’t find some way to unite themselves we are in for one hell of a shit future. Most of America believes everything they see on TV. The brainwashing will continue but on a grand scale. The People’s Party is an attempt to unite like minds whether Black, White, Gay, Straight, Woman or Man. As soon as we can stop bickering amongst ourselves and realize we have more in common and who the real enemy is we can actually take steps to make this country more than a shell of itself. Obama talks about calling people out but I still see him beating around the bush. My first goal with the People’s Party is calling out the Tea Bag Express and conveying how ignorant and misinformed they are. How the base of their movement draws upon historically racist fears. If you feel the same please support this mission.

A: What do you think of your peers, specifically those working in graphic design or street art? Are there any contemporary artists you especially admire and support?
C: There are too many to list them all but a few include; Banksy, Mr. Eddie, Scot Lafavor, El Mac, CHOR Boogie, Cody Hudson, Chris Silva, Date Farmers, Maya Hayuk, David Ellis, Juan Chavez, STATIK, and SWOON. I like creative expression in general and can usually gain something from everyone’s voice. With that said, personally, I like work that has just as much, if not more, substance as style. I’m a nerd, I like to use my brain as much as my eyes. I need work that makes me think about it long after I’ve seen it. Like a good movie, do you wanna just sell a bunch of tickets or do you wanna make a lasting impact?

A: What are some of the challenges you encounter in your day-to-day artistic practice?
C: I get the impression there are forces out there who really don’t want to hear what I have to say and have the power to censor me. They would rather I make non-confrontational pretty pictures of kids dancing around a tree. I struggle with trying to figure out ways to have conversations directly with the people and how to cut out the middlemen – who’d like to control the information. Day-to-day I struggle with the same issues most Americans deal with – how to pay bills, how to get clients to pay me on-time and value my work and how to fund my ideas.

A: You’ve got a long-term collaboration going on with Motionographer Rebecca Berdel for Mocro.tv. Tell us about that. What have you learned about the creative process from this relationship?
C: When Rebecca and I are at our best we make some impressive work. When we aren’t, it can get difficult. At times we debate over the direction of the work like the Coen Bros fighting about the direction of a scene in The Big Lebowski. I bring certain things to the table she can’t and in return she does the same. You know, I’ve learned a lot about letting things go. Collaboration can be tough. Ultimately you really have to learn how to respect one another on an equal playing field.

A: Where do you hope to be in a year with your career? What do you hope to accomplish?
C: This is my life. I don’t really have aspirations to work for a corporate agency or some other full-time job. The future is about figuring out how to prosper as an independent participant in the global market. I only want the freedom to produce my ideas and speak truth. That is happiness.

I hope my work is a simple document of time. When I’m not around anymore I hope folks can look back at my work and get a clear understanding of what it felt like to be an American in the 21st century. I like to think I make work about issues we all think about but don’t really like to talk about or simply ignore. I’m not trying to sugar coat anything or pretend this country has evolved somewhere that it hasn’t. After traveling this country coast-to-coast I understand we still have major issues. Sure we may not be talking about burning crosses and fire hoses but we are talking about a culture of subtle, quiet self-segregation. I mean only 5% of Americans attend integrated churches. For me that’s a red flag. I’m giving you the straight dope. I hope we stop lying to ourselves about this post-racial crap and have the conversations we need to have to actually take steps forward.

The DADT Problem © CRO 2010

A: A lot of your work is about identity. How has your understanding of your own identity informed how you choose to portray identity, and how you identify with your audience? 
C: I’d rather not think about identity but I am confronted with it practically everyday. What does it mean to be American? What are the branded messages conscious and unconscious society tells us about ourselves? How is identity defined for many by what we see on TV and how does that differ from reality? Much of my work is about coming to terms with this. Our societal problems have been carefully crafted and orchestrated for years and have developed over generations. I reject many of these notions and my work is an ongoing attempt to redefine or re-brand them. I can empathize with gender and LGBT issues and I hope they can empathize with me.

A: Describe the Internet. In five words.
C: Infinite Access Uncensored Immediate Freedom

CRO by Sarah Hoskins

Ray Noland is an artist and designer working under the alias CRO. He is the creator of “GoTellMama!” – a grassroots Obama art, video and street campaign which toured the country during the election of ’08. He is also the artist behind the now iconic “Run, Blago, Run” street art phenomenon. Noland also independently published the now-defunct online magazine BLACKLIST® (’03-’06). He has a BFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (’95) and has worked professionally as an art director and brand designer. His art & illustrations have been published throughout the US and Europe and are in the collections of the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian. Though Noland’s work has been displayed in galleries in Chicago, Los Angeles, Portland and Atlanta, he is more familiar with renting vacant storefronts and converting them into DIY art spaces.

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