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Hrvojoe Bubić: JIM BLANCHARD INTERVIEW
Hrvoje Bubić
Jim Blanchard je američki ilustrator, iz Seattlea. Za SolinLive govori o svome radu, o svome stilu i suradnji s bendovima scene Seattlea
To begin with, can you introduce yourself to us and tell us something about yourself?
Born 1965 in Houston, Texas— 6’ 2”, 210 lbs.—Married for 20 years, no kids except Smooth Fox Terrier named Henry— Spent formative years in Alaska, Ohio, Northern California, New Mexico, Oklahoma, & Norway— Bachelor of Fine Arts degree University of Oklahoma, 1986. Moved to Seattle, Washington in 1987 worked a number of jobs including: copy shop geek, negative retoucher at print shop, publisher, rock poster artist, cover artist for books & CDs & records, editorial illustrator for magazines & newspapers, technical illustrator, comic book artist, logo designer & art director at Fantagraphics Books, painter of fancy large scale paintings for Roq La Rue Gallery. Since 2004, mostly dedicated to commissioned portraits in a variety of mediums.
You have been painting for a long time. Please tell us more about your work?
I used to be a dedicated Underground Cartoonist, but there was no money in it, so I gravitated to doing commissioned portraits in ink and acrylic for magazines and individuals to pay the bills— My painting style is self-taught and not traditional— Usually photo-realistic, matte, and posterized for ultra high-contrast— I also did a series of paintings using adhesive stickers and acrylic, my so-called “stickerpaintings”—
You have collaborated with various bands of the Seattle scene. How did the collaboration actually come about and who did you enjoy working with?
My Seattle album cover work was initiated by Daniel House from the band Skin Yard and the record label C/Z— Daniel contacted me in Oklahoma in the mid-1980s before I moved to Seattle to advertise in my punk zine BLATCH— When I arrived in Seattle, I did 2 covers for Coffin Break, who were on Daniel’s label C/Z— Later I did several covers for Skin Yard, and several for non-NW bands— I suppose I most enjoy working with Jack Endino, who always has solid ideas of what he wants— I’ve worked with him on 3 of his solo albums and few for Skin Yard— Always a pleasure—
You have published a book with all your works, called Visual Abuse. Please tell us something about that book, as well a comic book series.
Published by Fantagraphics Books in 2016, Visual Abuse collects my graphic art from 1982-2002: flyers, posters, album covers, psychedelic art, comics, portraits, weird “girlie art,” etc.— It doesn’t really reflect what I’m doing NOW, but does a good job of encapsulating a fertile 20-year period when I was doing some of my best work— Another anthology book covering the same era is Meat Warp, also published by Fantagraphics— That one focuses on my twisted, sometimes pornographic collaborations with artist Chris Kegel— Both books are still in print—
As far as a comic book series, the most notable one I worked on was Peter Bagge’s popular Hate comic— I inked Peter’s penciled art for issues 15-30, and learned a lot in the process—
In addition to painting, is there anything else you do besides painting?
As far as art, I continue to work in a variety of mediums— Aside from the acrylic paintings, I also work with pen & ink, graphite, and collage, depending on the job— I collect and enjoy vintage exploitation films from the 1960s-70s— I also collect old records with cool or strange cover art (over 2000, so far), and post them on Flickr— Those can be seen here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jimedblanchard/
Lastly, what would you like to recommend to our readers?
I’d like to remind your readers to ROCK ON— I’d also like to recommend that they visit my Big Cartel online store and spend lots of money (inquire for foreign shipping costs!): jimblanchard.bigcartel.com/ Samples of my artwork can be seen on my main website: http://jimblanchard.com/ My Facebook page is here: facebook.com/jim.blanchard.75 My Instagram is here: instagram.com/jimedblanchard/ Cheers!
HRVATSKI PRIJEVOD
Za početak, možeš li nam se predstaviti i reći nešto o sebi?
Rođen 1965. u Houstonu, Teksas— visok 188 cm, težak 95 kg.—U braku 20 godina, bez djece, osim ako računamo glatkodlakoga fox terijera po imenu Henry— Rane godine djetinjstva je proveo na Aljasci, Ohiju, Sjevernoj Kaliforniji, Novom Meksiku, Oklahomi i Norveškoj— Prvostupnik je likovnih umjetnosti na Sveučilištu Oklahoma, 1986. Premješten u Seattle, Washington 1987. bavio se je raznim poslovima, među kojima su: djelatnik u fotokopirnici, retušer negativa u tiskari, izdavač, crtač rock plakata, autor naslovnica za knjige, CD-e i ploče, ilustrator-urednik za časopise i novine, tehnički ilustrator, crtač stripova, dizajner logotipa i umjetnički direktor u Fantagraphics Books, slikar otmjenih slika velikih razmjera za galeriju Roq La Rue. Od 2004. godine, uglavnom posvećen naručenim portretima u raznim medijima.
Dugo se baviš slikanjem. Reci nam više o svom radu?
Nekada sam bio predani underground crtač (umjetnička djelatnost izvan tradicionalnih ili službenih okvira, op.prev.), ali u tome nije bilo novca, pa sam težio ka portretima po narudžbi tintom i akrilom za časopise i pojedince da mogu platiti račune— Moj stil slikanja je samouk i nije tradicionalan— Obično se radi o fotorealizmu, matu i posterizaciji radi ultra visokoga kontrasta— Također sam napravio niz slika koristeći ljepljive naljepnice i akril, svoje takozvane “stickerpaintings”—
Surađivao si s raznim bendovima Seattle scene. Kako je zapravo došlo do suradnje i s kim si uživao raditi?
Moj rad na omotu albuma u Seattleu je započeo Daniel House iz benda Skin Yard i izdavačke kuće C/Z— Daniel me je kontaktirao u Oklahomi sredinom 1980-ih, prije nego što sam se preselio u Seattle kako bih reklamirao u svom punk zinu BLATCH— Kad sam stigao u Seattle, napravio sam 2 obrade za Coffin Break (mjesni bend iz Seattlea,op.prev.), koji su bili na Danielovoj etiketi C/Z— Kasnije sam napravio nekoliko obrada za Skin Yard, i nekoliko za ne-NW bendove— Pretpostavljam da najviše uživam raditi s Jackom Endinom, koji uvijek ima solidnu ideje o tome što želi— S njim sam radio na njegovim trima solo albumima i nekoliko za Skin Yard— S njim je redovito zadovoljstvo raditi.
Objavio si knjigu sa svim svojim djelima pod nazivom Visual Abuse. Reci nam štogod o knjizi, kao i o seriji stripova.
Objavio sam Fantagraphics Books 2016. godine, Visual Abuse obuhvaća moju grafičku umjetnost od 1982. do 2002.: letke, postere, omote albuma, psihodeličnu umjetnost, stripove, portrete, čudnu “djevojačku umjetnost” itd.— To zapravo ne odražava ono što ja radim SADA, ali dobro sažimlje plodno 20-godišnje razdoblje kada sam radio na nekim od svojih najboljih radova— Još jedna antologijska knjiga koja pokriva isto doba je Meat Warp, koju je također objavio Fantagraphics— Ta se fokusira na moje uvrnute, ponekad pornografske suradnje s umjetnikom Chrisom Kegelom— Obje su knjige još uvijek u tisku—
Što se tiče serijala stripova, najzapaženiji na kojem sam radio bio je popularni strip Hate (Mržnja, op.prev.) Petera Baggea—narisao sam ilustracije za Petera olovkom, i to za brojeve 15-30, te sam pritom naučio puno u radu.
Osim slikanja, bavite li se još čime?
Što se umjetnosti tiče, nastavljam raditi u raznim medijima— Osim akrilnih slika, također radim s perom i tušem, grafitom i kolažom, ovisno o poslu— skupljam i uživam u starinskim eksploatacijskim filmovima iz 1960-ih- 70-e— Također skupljam stare ploče s cool ili čudnim naslovnicama (preko 2000, do sada) i postavljam ih na Flickr— One se mogu vidjeti ovdje: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jimedblanchard/
Za kraj, što bi želio preporučiti našim čitateljima?
Želio bih podsjetiti vaše čitatelje da ROKIJAJU – također bih im preporučio da posjete moju internetsku trgovinu Big Cartel i potroše puno novca (raspitajte se za troškove dostave u inozemstvu!): jimblanchard.bigcartel.com/ Primjerci mojih umjetnina se mogu vidjeti na mojoj glavnoj web stranici: http://jimblanchard.com/ Moja Facebook stranica je ovdje: facebook.com/jim.blanchard.75 Moj Instagram je ovdje: instagram.com/jimedblanchard/ Živjeli!
