Growing Up In Such Violent Times: A Photo Set By Lucas Anderson

By Stephen X Welch

"New York has a trip-hammer vitality which drives you insane with restlessness, if you have no inner stabilizer." - Henry Miller

The problem with a city that never sleeps is that there's never any rest. You keep going and going, long fuses and short fuses meeting together at the same limit because they all burn down eventually. In Barcelona, siesta. In London, tea. In New York, the match ignites and goes until it's snuffed and another is struck immediately. 

The work of Lucas Anderson finds a sense of calm amidst the urgency, not unlike arriving to the scene of a fist fight a few minutes too late. It's a surprising contrast to the city and her inhabitants that work so often as a subject, a love for him. The cut of a neon sign through the night like the sheen of a stud on leather. The soft haze of 35mm film against a vibrant, thrumming city. Strongly inspired and focused on a lifelong love of punk rock and the city that raised him, he manages to carve out chunks of contemplation where too often no silence is found. It's a detective's eye for detail and a hunger for simple narratives in a complex world that make his work so refreshing in a world built on never slowing down. 

We asked Lucas to share a few pieces of his work with us and you. Take a few moments to relax. 

More about Lucas Anderson:
Instagram
Tumblr

Bustin' Out Dead Or Alive: An Interview with Perry Shall

By Stephen X Welch

There's a thin line of visionaries that walk the line between humorous and horrific. They live in the spaces where the absurdity of life is embraced. They caricature until it's distant enough to be mocked, but at any moment could twist a hard left and drop you into a nightmarish scenario. Perry Shall walks proudly through these liminal spaces of the Id and Ego, plopping fascinating artifacts into our laps. 

Photo+Aug+01,+5+50+33+PM.jpg

When I first became aware of Perry's work, I was struck by how much it reminded me, visually, of the work of Ralph Steadman or Don Martin. Stark pen and ink pieces with tense lines, collages built out of startling juxtapositions. As I dug a bit more, it took on a more sinister quality in many pieces. It's not unlike, in my experience, like watching Gene Wilder's portrayal of Willy Wonka. We're all laughing along until we're hurtling down a dark tunnel and uncertain of what's going to be flashed in our faces next, whether it will make us laugh or cringe from a vision too close to what we once dreamed in a fever. 

I sent Perry some questions recently to suss out whether he was more Alfred Neuman or Alfred Hitchcock. Like most things in life, it's a fine distinction. 

1) For the folks at home who don't know Perry Shall, who are you? Where are you from? What do you do?

I'm a Philly born and raised artist/musician/show promoter/construction worker/record store worker/food eater/collector/neurotic person.

2) how important is making your visual art to you? Do you ever compare it to your music, or prioritize one over the other?

Creating art has always been a priority for me. Definitely what keeps me going. When I was a kid, my notebooks in school were about 85% drawings and 15% actual school work. I honestly don't ever remember studying or doing homework for most of my life. I just wanted to draw all the time and it's still like that. Music is important to me too and I spend a lot of time with that but I think I'm better at drawing. It just seems to take priority whether I want it to or not.

3) do you consider art more of an inspiration or a craft? Is it something you have to carve out time for or does it just come to you fully formed?

For me, it's always been something I have to be inspired to do in order to churn out things I love. Some people like things I do that I don't love and vice versa. Sometimes it just happens, and sometimes it takes time. I'm not one of those people that can only churn out brilliant shit every single time their pen hits the paper, but sometimes I surprise myself.

4) I'm a huge fan of your collage pieces. Do the idea spring up at first or are they more suggested by the materials on hand?

A lot of times I'll be in a Thrift Store looking through books for ideas and well, I made a deal with myself that if I see one single photo in the book that hits me in any creative sense, I need to buy the book. Even if it's only for one image. I rarely know how I'm going to use it but it comes to me more naturally that way. Collage is interesting because no matter what, you can never really plan out 100% how you're going to make something until you have it all laid out in front of you. You can't think, I want a sun that's red and 3" round. You MIGHT find one but it doesn't really work like that. I like that about collage. You have to work with what you have, like for real.

5) you're known for being an avid collector: shirts, pins, toys, etc. do you draw a connection between the input of work that you collect and the output of your art? How do your collections inform what you're working on at the moment and how you approach your craft overall? Does any collection influence you more than another?

All of the things I collect and my artwork all kind of revolve around each other for sure. I collect a lot of things that I couldn't get when I was a kid and I am a super nostalgic person. T-shirts of bands I like, toys, pins, movies, records, whatever. I like a lot of weird toys from anywhere between the 50s and the 90s pretty much. Ed Roth and Gary Panter probably are the two artists that really stick out for me. Their artwork and toys molded me from when I was a baby and still very much continue to now. Sometimes I'll just draw toys I own and change them to get ideas going. If I'm inspired by old things and nostalgia that still holds up for me today, I like to think that my art will do the same for someone else now and in years from now. I just see things I like and try to see how to do it my own way.

6) you get to design a shirt for Elvis Costello, but you've only got 5 minutes to do it. What do you come up with?

Probably something simple by using type in an interesting way and maybe a simple drawing of his face. Stick with what I'm good at! Or at least what people say I'm good at.

7) you've got a strong sense of humor in your work, whether it be visual puns or interesting juxtapositions between content. What's funny to you? What built that sensibility? How important is it to have a sense of humor?

Humor is very very important to me. I have to constantly poke fun at myself to get things done. I still get shit from people because I hate calling myself an "artist". A lot of it is self deprecating and seems silly to people but I take it very seriously in a way. Not sure if that makes sense. I guess in order for me to feel like I'm creating great work, I have to hate myself enough to love it. It's like being your own harshest critic. I'll draw sometimes and sit alone laughing at how bad it is until I can make it good. A lot of my humor comes from being a neurotic, jewish, anxiety ridden crazy person who obsesses over things whether they are funny, morbid, or sad. All that influence probably comes from growing up watching Pee Wee's Playhouse, Bullwinkle, The Simpsons, The Muppets, Ren & Stimpy, Beavis & Butt-head, and other shows where there is obviously a strong comedy aspect, mixed with some art form like animation, puppetry, or sculpture. It's all very clever, and witty but very original and creative. I loved them all as a kid and still enjoy them the same or more as an "adult". I don't like that stuff in an ironic way at all. I find them all to be very genius in so many ways and would 100% be a different person if they never existed.

8) who's creating right now, in any medium, that you people should be paying attention to?

Zachary Hobbs is and has been one of my favorites from the past few years. Very influential to me as a peer. His output is outrageous and I truly believe he should be huge. He is actually very tall, 6'8" but I mean huge like popular. Look him up on all forms of social media. Please follow him now for your sake. I could actually go on about his work for hours. There should be lectures on him. I love him. BUT, I also like Dilek Baykara, Jennifer Calandra, Steak MTN, Horsebites, Burrito Breath, Michael Finn Conway, Chris Kline (i can't stress that one enough), Adrianne Paerels, Erin Riley, Tuesday Bassen, Penelope Gazin, and a bunch of others. They're all on the internet. Follow em whatever. 

9) it's five years from now. Where are you, with who, doing what?

I'm still in Philly, busting my buns trying to pay rent, probably alone in my room drawing, listening to old episodes of The Best Show, buying t-shirts on ebay. Okay, I guess hopefully I'll be making a little more money by then. I would ideally like to be doing art full time and have a lot more shit for sale in my webstore which is at www.perryshall.com but the rest is probably true.

Check out Perry's Tumblr HERE
Check out Perry's Instagram HERE