I first met Jim in 2003 when he came over to the house I lived at on Park Ave. He had a backpack full of tees that had just been printed for a local band. He said they wanted a skeleton hand holding a nintendo cartridge, and well, that’s exactly what they got in his signature style. They looked sick, and from then on I would see his work pop up everywhere, from flyers and stickers, to t-shirts, art shows and everything in between. Here’s a few things Jim had to say about skateboarding, his art and his upcoming show Total Drag.
BRYAN: What was your first introduction to skateboarding?
JIM: I think it was seeing my older brother ride around on some generic department store set-up. Of course I wanted to do everything he did, but was still too intimidated for years after that to make any real effort. Like a lot of people, I wish I could go back in time and hand an 11 year-old version of myself a board and say, “ride this all day, every day, you dumb little twerp.”
BRYAN: Were you always into drawing, and did skateboarding influence the direction you went with your art?
JIM: Yeah, definitely. Some of my earliest non-baby (but probably still dumped-in-drawers) memories are of being hunched over a crayon or magic marker drawing. When I started being exposed to it, skateboarding had a pretty major impact on the way I looked at art and illustration. It really opened me up to the idea the artwork could be of anything. It didn’t have to relate in anyway. It could, but didn’t have to. There was so much weird and subversive imagery. The possibilities were endless.
BRYAN: What were some of your favorite skateboard companies/graphics growing up?
JIM: Man, I went through middle school and high school in the nineties, so I was into all that dumb shit like aliens smoking weed, and corny brand parody, and all the other awful stuff that was out then. But I loved all of it. All of it! It was new to me, and I was just blown away by all the nutty, weird things people were printing on decks and shirts. Fortunately the really amazing stuff from early skateboarding was so good that it had staying power through that era and even into today. People like Jim Phillips, Pusshead, and Vernon Courtland Johnson influenced me in ways I wasn’t even aware of until years later.
BRYAN: You have a very distinct style, was this something that was developed over time, or was it naturally there?
JIM: Thanks! Well, for a long time, I just tried to look competent and disguise the fact that I was talking through my hat. Then I got to a point where I decided that I was going to just try and blow people’s minds and cram as much nonsense and detail into every square inch that I could. The detail is easy to cram in, anybody can do that, but getting people’s attention with content and message, that’s unbelievably tough. We’re all a bunch of desensitized cattle (I’m including myself in that) who think we’ve seen it all. Even if you do get lucky and do something that stands out, it gets co-opted, ripped off, and watered down faster than you can say “2003 Neon Pink”. Damn, that’s a really jaded answer to a flattering question….scratch all that. My answer is “it developed over time.”
I first met Jim in 2003 when he came over to the house I lived at on Park Ave. He had a backpack full of tees that had just been printed for a local band. He said they wanted a skeleton hand holding a nintendo cartridge, and well, that’s exactly what they got in his signature style. They looked sick, and from then on I would see his work pop up everywhere, from flyers and stickers, to t-shirts, art shows and everything in between. Here’s a few things Jim had to say about skateboarding, his art and his upcoming show Total Drag.
BRYAN: What was your first introduction to skateboarding?
JIM: I think it was seeing my older brother ride around on some generic department store set-up. Of course I wanted to do everything he did, but was still too intimidated for years after that to make any real effort. Like a lot of people, I wish I could go back in time and hand an 11 year-old version of myself a board and say, “ride this all day, every day, you dumb little twerp.”
BRYAN: Were you always into drawing, and did skateboarding influence the direction you went with your art?
JIM: Yeah, definitely. Some of my earliest non-baby (but probably still dumped-in-drawers) memories are of being hunched over a crayon or magic marker drawing. When I started being exposed to it, skateboarding had a pretty major impact on the way I looked at art and illustration. It really opened me up to the idea the artwork could be of anything. It didn’t have to relate in anyway. It could, but didn’t have to. There was so much weird and subversive imagery. The possibilities were endless.
BRYAN: What were some of your favorite skateboard companies/graphics growing up?
JIM: Man, I went through middle school and high school in the nineties, so I was into all that dumb shit like aliens smoking weed, and corny brand parody, and all the other awful stuff that was out then. But I loved all of it. All of it! It was new to me, and I was just blown away by all the nutty, weird things people were printing on decks and shirts. Fortunately the really amazing stuff from early skateboarding was so good that it had staying power through that era and even into today. People like Jim Phillips, Pusshead, and Vernon Courtland Johnson influenced me in ways I wasn’t even aware of until years later.
BRYAN: You have a very distinct style, was this something that was developed over time, or was it naturally there?
JIM: Thanks! Well, for a long time, I just tried to look competent and disguise the fact that I was talking through my hat. Then I got to a point where I decided that I was going to just try and blow people’s minds and cram as much nonsense and detail into every square inch that I could. The detail is easy to cram in, anybody can do that, but getting people’s attention with content and message, that’s unbelievably tough. We’re all a bunch of desensitized cattle (I’m including myself in that) who think we’ve seen it all. Even if you do get lucky and do something that stands out, it gets co-opted, ripped off, and watered down faster than you can say “2003 Neon Pink”. Damn, that’s a really jaded answer to a flattering question….scratch all that. My answer is “it developed over time.”
BRYAN: Your zine Born Ugly had a good year, any new plans for the mag in 2011?
JIM: More art, more building weird garbage to skate, more road trips, and more shit talking form our ivory pedestals (aka our lowly gutters). We’ve been talking to the dudes from FBM bikes about joining forces on something ridiculous. Hopefully something like that will happen.
BRYAN: What kind of stuff can we expect from your upcoming show Total Drag? Aside from new pieces, will you show any of your commissioned work for different companies?
JIM: It’ll actually just be me dressed as Edith Bunker from “All In the Family”, walking around doing an impression of her for 5 hours. Should be pretty rad. Oh wait, no, that’s not right. I’m also putting up art too. I almost forgot about that. Yeah, some new paintings and drawings. Some originals, and some prints. I’ll have a few recently printed decks from various locals around the globe. All in all, it should be a shocking and tragic display.
BRYAN: Anything else you want to say about the show?
JIM: Come early, come often, and brace yourself for extreme disappointment. The show will be up for all of January 2011.
WHO: Jim Callahan
WHAT: Barf Comics Presents Total Drag
WHEN: Friday, January 7th 2011, 6PM-11PM
WHERE: Books, Bikes & Beyond Thrift Store, 7 W. Broad St, Richmond, VA
