Blog
Interview :: Abe Lincoln Jr.
Posted by jess at February 27, 2011 in Blog
With the Blood Brothers show opening this Friday, March 4th, we wanted to bring you some more information about the artists involved. Abe Lincoln Jr. is first up! He talks about his well-known pooping bird character, his take on street art, and his Fugue State project amongst other things.
W: The internet connects so many artists in this community and collaboration seems to be easier than ever. Has the ability to collaborate without even having met an artist affected your work? If so, how?
Abe: Well, I didn’t start showing my work until 2003. So I started off by doing collabs with people I never met in real life. I think the difference is when you’re collaborating live, you can play off each others themes or characters in a way you cant with remote collabs. Also, there is a shared experience you get working with some one in person that you don’t necessarily get via the web. That said, I love collaborating via the web its allowed me to do work with artists I get stoked on regardless of how far apart we live.
W: In art, especially street art, artists often get recognized for a certain repeated character. How have you worked with this/around this? Does it affect how you make artwork?
Abe: When I began doing street art, I was (and probably still am) known for my pooping bird, Char. I love that guy, he got me started but to be honest working with a logotype for over two years solid, the inspiration slowly drained away. I felt typecast as “the bird guy” even if I showed my hand drawn work and got positive responses. That may have been my own insecurities, though. So slowly but surely I’ve been moving to mostly analog work and having a blast. I’ve never been happier with my output as I have been in these last couple of years. I’m feeling confident and pleased with my work which is something that is rare in the life of a perfectionist.
W: What is the appeal of creating street art for you?
Abe: This is a trick question isnt it? Honestly, I haven’t had a real affinity for “Street Art” for awhile. When I started it it was a relatively small scene and the good stuff far outweighed the bad. That’s changed radically in the past few years. In 2005, there was something of a Gold Rush with everyone and their mom starting to do it and its only gotten bigger. The scales have tipped decidedly to the “god most of this stuff is shit” end of the spectrum.
I took leave of the scene for a few years to focus on other things, like doing toys and getting more into art shows and exploring things like artist multiples. After a couple years of being a hater, I started noticing things on the Street again (once you start seeing it you never really stop). I was seeing work by FAUST and SURE (R.I.P.) Overconsume, KOSBE, all over newspaper boxes in NYC. This reminded me that there still was great work happening in the street and stickers were still a viable way too. There’s something about putting work up for free thats really satisfying, theres no commerce involved which brings up a lot of noise for me in general. Its definitely less stressful than creating work for a deadline or a theme.
W: Where do you draw inspiration from when you are really low on creative energy?
Abe: Lately its been Mid Century Illustration, esp. A&M Provenson and 60’s and 70’s Cartoons and advertising.
W: What other artists’ work are you into at the moment?
Abe: Well of course I love MCA and Evoker’s work we all come from a background of cartooning and stickers, so how could I not? My friends in my Art Collective, The Endless Love Crew. From the “real’ illustration world Akira Ebihara, Ryan Cox are tops. As far as other street types, I’m into Chris RWK‘s paintings, UR New York, NoseGO from Philly is phenomenal, Quel Beast, and Cake are but a few who get me hyped.
W: How do you find creating artwork for a gallery setting vs. creating street art?
Abe: It really depends on the project. For something like Fugue State, its developing a concept and working it through to fruition. Fugue State has been this really long and drawn out process even getting the first release out there. For all my hand drawn work, its pretty much the same as Street Stuff, it just may be in a different medium or format.
W: How do you find the process of creating artwork for vinyl figures to be different than for the canvas?
Abe: Well, one thing I’ve found is that I’ve always been a Character Designer of sorts; I just didnt know there was a name for it. With toys you have to think of the figure in 3D when you’re developing it. For instance, my bird Char hasn’t really held my interest in terms of developing him into a toy because first he was designed as a flat character. I’ve experimented with it before but he loses his iconic look once his profile is blown out to 3D. Also if you’re developing a character for the canvas you don’t have to worry about physics and if hes going to shelf dive and ruin the rest of your toy collection.
W: What figures if any from your childhood still find their way into your artwork?
Abe: Cartoons Toys and Comics from the 60’s and 70’s were the reason I began drawing, my work is heavily influenced by that era of animation. People often see School House Rock or some other old school cartoon in my work. To be honest they are 100% correct those characters really spoke to me and left an indelible mark on how my work evolves.
W: Where do you find your characters originating from?
Abe: I started out working the “Cute/Fucked Up” angle with my work, part of that is my Punk Rock roots, another part of that is just my messed up sense of humor. I’ve been finding now that that particular style while still funny is a little less rewarding than just doing a solid character thats either cute or weird but not snotty for the sake of snottiness.
Tags : Abe Lincoln Jr., Blood Brothers
Comments are closed.