Hi nick how are you today?
I’m feeling very greasy. I just had a few flights from LA and can’t wait to get into the bathtub. There’s going to be a greasy layer of film floating on the top.
 |
| Nick Gazin, post Maggie Simpsons' decapitation |
I’m not going to be asking things that most interviews ask maybe the weirder or lesser asked questions...
How did LA Comic con go?
Wow what a crazy question! It went really well. I got to hang out with my sister and a lot of our favorite artists, designers and cartoonists. I did a painting of Miles Davis for a really cool fan who got it as a birthday present to myself named Oscar. Raw Dog who makes Real Deal and his associate presented me with a handcrafted pimp stick. My mom came by and gave me advice on my painting. It was as great. One of the artists we brought in
 |
| Painting Miles Davis |
So what got you into working with Mishka clothing?
I sent them a message over Myspace and they responded to me.
I’ve seen seen on YouTube you have a cat that you accidentally tread on at times, would you say that your feline friend is a helping hand when it comes to the creation process?
I only stepped on him that one time and somehow it was on video. When I've been at my lowest, my love for my cat has kept me from throwing everything away.
I find his mixture of beauty and brutality inspiring and motivating. He gives me a lot to think about. He also will bite my hands and nibble my drawings to shreds.
If you had to pick one thing over the other what would it be and why, comics or records?
Comics. I love collecting and listening to records but records are just vehicles for the music. They're my favorite way to experience recorded music but they are not music and once you're listening to the songs you don't usually really notice what media format contains them.
Comics are a thing that engage more than just one sense when you read them. You're looking at them but you're also touching them and smelling them. Although I publish a daily online comic on the Vice site, digital images of comics lack the same spectrum of experience that a physical object can deliver. You can have a relationship to an object and when you experience art and media over a phone or computer you're having a relationship with that device. Also, backlit screens strain your eyes and are unpleasant. Paper won't blind you as fast.
Paper is great. Books are great. Music is great. Records are great but are ultimately more of a luxury than a necessity in most cases.
 |
| Nathan Williams' portrait by Nick Gazin (Duh) |
Wavves is my guy. It's a full collaboration. I think we have a lot of similar feelings and ways of working although he's a rock n' roll bad boy who is way more famous than me. I'm really psyched on the latest 7" I designed for him and Beach Fossils.
You’ve described yourself as a workaholic, what’s the longest break you’ve taken?
I don't exactly take breaks as much as I have mental breakdowns where I try to work but it feels like I'm moving in slow motion. I'll go to bed early, wake up on time, and then somehow struggle to get my first task done. It's very frustrating.
I was curious if you had any crazy stories that happened during your first stint with vice if so, shoot!
Nope.
What made you pick using water colors over other mediums?
Before I used watercolors I used gouache which is similar except that it's opaque. I like watercolors because of the stained glass, candy-like qualities of the medium. It's softness feels like recalling memories. They can be very faint, like figures emerging from a fog. My use of off-white, manilla lithography paper instead of watercolor paper which is usually bone white is also to help with this.
They also dry fast and I like the immediacy.
A lot of young people romanticize mental illness when it comes to artists, as a contemporary artist I was curious about your opinion on this matter.
I guess I see some people romanticize mental issues. I've been depressed and thinking about suicide at varying levels of intensity for most of my life.
I didn't go into the arts because I had a lot of options. Trying to make a dollar from creative acts was me taking the long way around because I can't do a lot of things that neuro-typicals can do. Making art is a compulsive, therapeutic, calming and meditative act for me. I don't have to draw any specific thing to feel better, just making marks on paper is satisfying to me.
I think a lot of people have been demonizing people with mental issues or talking about them like they're just like everyone else and this has bugged me. I see a lot of squares who don't understand art or mental illness saying a lot of offensive and ignorant things. We're in an age where everyone can access everything so everyone thinks that their ignorance is as valuable as someone else's knowledge.
For instance, when Pete Davidson was on SNL and told Kanye to just take meds and stuff. I want Kanye to be well and be okay and I like Pete Davidson but Pete is a very lucky amateur trying to give advice to a very important and ambitious artist. Stay in your fucking lane, Pete. Go give mental health advice to the interns at NBC or something.
Kanye does and says things that are confusing or upsetting because he is nuts but he doesn't owe anyone anything because he's not a cop, a politician, a teacher, a minister, etc. People who are nuts will say and do shit that is nuts. He's been this guy for a long time and somehow people just didn't notice it. They laughed at his clownish antics because they thought they were better than him. Remember when everyone was laughing at Amanda Bynes until it became clear she had a real mental problem? People only felt bad when they heard the root cause of her actions but decided to ignore what were obvious symptoms because it was so much fucking fun to watch a young woman be destroyed by her problems I guess. I passionately hate the casual cruelty that humans are capable of. Remember the "Leave Britney alone." guy? He made a good point, he just said it like a crazy guy and then everyone decided it was fun to make fun of him for empathizing with someone in intense pain.
Kanye's not in control. The car's moving but nobody's at the wheel. I would compare mental illness with having the spinner to the board of Twister in your hand. One day that spinner might make you want to make a great record.Another day it might make you produce overpriced dystopian servant clothing. The next day you're banging your fist on the desk of the Oval Office ranting intensely at some piece of shit politician. It upsets me when so-called liberals delight in the downfall of people who are already suffering or aren't forgiving to people who are clearly handicapped by their brain's chemistry. Unless he goes into politics, law, teaching or becomes a minister, leave Kanye alone.
If I can speak to any other crazy or angry people right now who are reading this and relating to the things I'm saying the main message I want to spread to other fuck-ups is this:
Never commit violent acts except in defense of yourself or others. All acts of artistic creation elevate humans above just being an animal. All acts of violence lower us. The moment you use violence to impose your will on another living creature you are invalidating yourself as someone whose opinions, thoughts and feelings have any meaning. Using language can be hard but that's why we have art. If you've committed acts of violence it's never too late to pull back and know peace. Happiness is elusive but being consistent and being able to maintain is good enough. I've personally found that marijuana, drawing, and that early reggae, jazz, ambient and prog rock have really helped me feel human again when I've been feeling like I was in a dark place.
What’s the greatest pin ball machine and why?
Twilight Zone. After the Addams Family pinball machine became the most successful pin of all time the designer, Pat Lawlor, was allowed to design his dream machine and that was Twilight Zone.
For the first fourteen years that I played TZ I was terrible at it and didn't get it. It's a wider pinball machine than most pins, being in the Super-Pin series which also included Indiana Jones, Judge Dredd and ST: TNG. Because of it being larger, it has a different dynamic to how you need to play it. It's more sensitive and tricky.
It also has more cool things that can happen in it than any other pin and once you know how to unlock it's secrets it's a whole new world.
Hitting the ball up the ramps is more satisfying than anything. The sounds and responses are great. There's a magnetized mini-playfield.
 |
| Addams Family |
 |
| Twilight Zone |
From what I’ve seen of your posts on social media, some people confuse Penelope Gazin as your wife, what is most awkward thing that has happened in the terms of that situation?
 |
| Penelope Gazin, Not Nick's wife. |
Later, when I was still on Tinder, we matched and posted about it because we thought it was funny. Then everyone made incest jokes which we thought took it to a grosser place than we had intended.
Well Nick, thank you very much for that. I hope I haven’t offended you with any of the questions and hope you have a nice day!
You too.
