|
The other two priorities haven't disappeared, though. Walking past shelves that must house thousands of records, a box spring he has painted with his signature figures, and the office space he shares with his wife, Isip turns up the stereo and slips into his small studio. He immediately picks up where he left off: ripping strips of newspaper to assemble a large papier mache mask that will be worn by a dancer at a show later this year in Hong Kong. For years, he has made his own masks for Halloween. Then he made larger mask-heads for a children's program at PS1 and photographed the kids wearing the pieces. This time, however, the mask-head will have to fit on a moving dancer. Isip continues his work and describes his creative process to altpick.com.
My masks are fine if you're not moving around. But for this one you'll need peripheral vision. So this is good because I have to think about the thing being more functional. Sometimes the actual use is an afterthought ... So I guess I'm kindof winging it. It's kindof fun when you don't know what you're doing. Is that how you've always approached your work? Well, some people in high school, they knew they wanted to be artists. I didn't know that. I grew up in Queens. And I went to a New York City public high school, so there was no art class. You would just sign in and then sit there. When later I went to RISD (the Rhode Island School of Design), I found out that all these kids had taken all these classes before getting to college -- they studied photography, they made lithographs. I didn't even know what an illustrator was. You have to declare a major the middle of your freshman year. I had taken an animation elective, so I picked animation.
Why?
So I kept thinking about these films -- even though they were sponsored by
the government, they worked on a different level somehow. They were critical
of the government while being supported by them. A simple folk-tale about
farmers in the country could be somehow secretly subversive. I realized that
this relates to illustration, too. That it's like a still from a film. I
also didn't have much money at the time. And animation is an expensive
habit.
Humans. Human conflict. That's what interests me most. What else is there? Cakes, cookies, iced tea? I'm sure it's has a lot to do with where and how I grew up -- listening to punk, hardcore, and hip-hop. People interest me more than things. Most of the stories I get (to illustrate) are from the darker side of human conflict: 'Yeah, we've got this perfect story for you. It's a 12-year-old girl who was gang-raped ...' I also do a lot of war and crime, too. But I also think you can tell that my work is influenced by African art, Southeast Asian art, Oceanic art, Mexican masks. I love the African wing at the Met. I love art from the Philippines. My father's parents are from there, and my mother is from there too though she is German-Filipino. I also get a lot of ethnic assignments, because I think my figures are not from one group but are more symbolic of humanity. The way I draw and paint people, I get a lot of things relating to race. They're not necessarily specific people. I like work when you don't get hit over the head with some point right away. Sometimes clients want it dumbed down, to be more obvious. But I like to bring the reader in, so they can bring their experience, their memory, their culture into what they're seeing. Like in poetry, who is it, Robert Frost? It's not just a poem about walking down some snowy road. It's a metaphor and it's a more interesting way to say 'I'm getting old and I'm nearing the end of my life' than to just say it outright. For me, it's a visual language. What I like about illustration is that it's seen by everybody. Art in a museum is only seen by people who like art. My stuff is seen by housewives, mechanics, lawyers, businessmen, everybody. I like that everybody sees it.
In art school, they are obsessed with coming up with a 'style.' I say just work. You can tell when people are aping something or whether it's a true expression of the way that person sees the world. That's what makes good work stand out, because we're all different people. We can't teach people to formulate a style based on other styles. What I try to teach students is to be themselves, to trust their instincts. If it hasn't been done before, that's good. Break the rules, make up your own symbols. It's fun to push your boundaries without knowing you have any boundaries. That's why I like punk and hardcore, being able to express yourself without having these major skills. Look at kids' art. Art of the insane. You don't have to be a master. If you have something to say than you can find a way to express it, in your verncaular. Sometimes someone can play amazing guitar, technically speaking, but they would rather just play sloppy, dirty punk rock. There is power in raw emotion. It doesn't have to be complex to be compelling. That all influences my work. I find noise, litter, graffiti beautiful. Torn pieces of poster, loud, fast music, layered hip-hop, rap collages, sketches, loose concept. It's all there. Jordin Isip is illustrating several skateboards for a show at the upcoming X Games in Philadelphia. - Contributed by Kelly McEvers >> See more work from Jordin Isip >> See other member spotlights on the member spotlight index >> Find out more on how to become an altpick.com member |
