Features
art & design
Kid Zoom
Distorted Dreaming
"I never really did much in school except draw in my science books. You could never return them at the end of the year because they were full of sketches and doodles!" Kid Zoom
The entrance to Kid Zoom’s studio is symbolic of the perspective in
which he wants his work considered. Like the inconspicuous muted green
door on a busy city street, he tells me that he’d prefer not be
described in physical terms, but was more comfortable with “letting the
art speak for itself”.
How did you get into what you’re doing today?
I started painting when I was 16. It was in high school and guys got into graffiti before me. I think they got me involved in it because I was good at art and they wanted someone to do characters on their productions. For a lot of the time I’d go out with friends and do characters, backgrounds and spot them and learn. Those guys... they were really nice guys and stuff but they were never really into graffiti. They only did it ’cos it was trendy or popular at the time and they slowly sort of got out of it. I think we had more beef than we had productions. It wasn’t really that productive [laughs]. Once I got exposed to graffiti through my friends that got me really addicted and I sort of pushed my art in that direction.
Your pieces feature a lot of characters. Does this stem from a fascination from drawing as a kid?
Well I’ve always been into art and I’ve always been into drawing. I never really did much in school except draw in my science books. You could never return them at the end of the year because they were full of sketches and doodles! [laughs].
As a kid what kind of comics and cartoons were you into?
I was really into comics and tattoo art and old cartoons especially like Astroboy. Actually all the monsters from their form, symbols and colours are mutations of those characters. I like to push these characters the same way graffiti writers push letters.
Your characters don’t fit the typical cookie-cutter cartoon mould of your childhood. Why have you mutated them?
In terms of imagery, it definitely comes from my childhood and nostalgia and the way it’s being re-marketed to people. It kinda pisses me off a lot the way people seem to be reselling my childhood to me. There’s these bastardised versions of my childhood being sold back to me. You can’t buy back your childhood but companies realise they own the copyright to things you had in your childhood, and they’re going to bring it back and milk it. It cheapens everything and it pisses me off. I guess that’s why I wind up painting these nostalgic images but I like to make them ugly and distort them and sell it back to people in an uglier form.
What’s the story behind the Playboy vintage series?
It’s about that age, when you were a teen and you’re into boobs and you’ve also got a wall that’s got pictures of cartoon characters like Ninja Turtles. You’re living through cartoons. You’re very much still a child but at the same time you’re living through Playboy and there’s this strange middle ground where there’s this sexuality and this innocence of cartoons. I sort of mash up these images and destroy them a bit.
Did you ever envisage that you could carve a career from your art?
I always did it to relax. I never thought of it as a career for a long time. It’s always been I have done it ’cos I enjoyed it.
You did a limited edition skateboard series for Australian skateboard company Folklore at the end of 2007. How did that come about and what’s the response been?
It went really well. The guys from Folklore which is a skateboard company turned up and saw a series of distorted Ninja Turtles. They wanted to do artist series works and support up and coming artists and that’s how I got involved with those guys.
At the time of this interview, Kid Zoom was about to embark on a six-month relocation to Sydney. I asked him about his thoughts on moving from his hometown of Perth.
It’s my hometown but it’s very backwards when it comes to approaching this kind of artwork. I do tend to get a lot more resistance even doing normal stuff. And I realise this happens in every city but it’s quite hectic in Perth, like they are tightening up laws. I think that’s the thing about being in Perth. You have to realize as an artist you want as many people to see your work as possible and it’s really hard to get exposure from your work. Most of the success I’ve had and the opportunities I have been handed have been a direct result of sticking myself up on the web and people getting into contact with me. But there are heaps of great artists here like Daek, Sleep, Ryan Boserio and 'The Rad Kids'. It’s only a matter of time before they blow up.
You can see more of the self confessed low-brow dirtbag at kid-zoom.com. You'll also see him here on the reg posting up for us on our own blog so stay tuned.
Back
I started painting when I was 16. It was in high school and guys got into graffiti before me. I think they got me involved in it because I was good at art and they wanted someone to do characters on their productions. For a lot of the time I’d go out with friends and do characters, backgrounds and spot them and learn. Those guys... they were really nice guys and stuff but they were never really into graffiti. They only did it ’cos it was trendy or popular at the time and they slowly sort of got out of it. I think we had more beef than we had productions. It wasn’t really that productive [laughs]. Once I got exposed to graffiti through my friends that got me really addicted and I sort of pushed my art in that direction.
Your pieces feature a lot of characters. Does this stem from a fascination from drawing as a kid?
Well I’ve always been into art and I’ve always been into drawing. I never really did much in school except draw in my science books. You could never return them at the end of the year because they were full of sketches and doodles! [laughs].
As a kid what kind of comics and cartoons were you into?
I was really into comics and tattoo art and old cartoons especially like Astroboy. Actually all the monsters from their form, symbols and colours are mutations of those characters. I like to push these characters the same way graffiti writers push letters.
Your characters don’t fit the typical cookie-cutter cartoon mould of your childhood. Why have you mutated them?
In terms of imagery, it definitely comes from my childhood and nostalgia and the way it’s being re-marketed to people. It kinda pisses me off a lot the way people seem to be reselling my childhood to me. There’s these bastardised versions of my childhood being sold back to me. You can’t buy back your childhood but companies realise they own the copyright to things you had in your childhood, and they’re going to bring it back and milk it. It cheapens everything and it pisses me off. I guess that’s why I wind up painting these nostalgic images but I like to make them ugly and distort them and sell it back to people in an uglier form.
What’s the story behind the Playboy vintage series?
It’s about that age, when you were a teen and you’re into boobs and you’ve also got a wall that’s got pictures of cartoon characters like Ninja Turtles. You’re living through cartoons. You’re very much still a child but at the same time you’re living through Playboy and there’s this strange middle ground where there’s this sexuality and this innocence of cartoons. I sort of mash up these images and destroy them a bit.
Did you ever envisage that you could carve a career from your art?
I always did it to relax. I never thought of it as a career for a long time. It’s always been I have done it ’cos I enjoyed it.
You did a limited edition skateboard series for Australian skateboard company Folklore at the end of 2007. How did that come about and what’s the response been?
It went really well. The guys from Folklore which is a skateboard company turned up and saw a series of distorted Ninja Turtles. They wanted to do artist series works and support up and coming artists and that’s how I got involved with those guys.
At the time of this interview, Kid Zoom was about to embark on a six-month relocation to Sydney. I asked him about his thoughts on moving from his hometown of Perth.
It’s my hometown but it’s very backwards when it comes to approaching this kind of artwork. I do tend to get a lot more resistance even doing normal stuff. And I realise this happens in every city but it’s quite hectic in Perth, like they are tightening up laws. I think that’s the thing about being in Perth. You have to realize as an artist you want as many people to see your work as possible and it’s really hard to get exposure from your work. Most of the success I’ve had and the opportunities I have been handed have been a direct result of sticking myself up on the web and people getting into contact with me. But there are heaps of great artists here like Daek, Sleep, Ryan Boserio and 'The Rad Kids'. It’s only a matter of time before they blow up.
You can see more of the self confessed low-brow dirtbag at kid-zoom.com. You'll also see him here on the reg posting up for us on our own blog so stay tuned.
Back
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