SPOOKY TREES
- monika
INÉS ESTRADA
Inés is an artist from Mexico who keeps her work fun, strange and
trippy. She has a library full of colorful zines and
hand made trinkets that are just really, really cute.
Hey Inés! Describe your artwork in 3 words:
psychotic fruit punch !!!!!!!!
When did you first start creating zines?
i’ve always liked drawing and making stuff. i remember when i was around 6 i made activity books for my friends. i grabbed empty notebooks, numbered the pages and filled each of them with letter soups, join the dots, and all kinds of drawings and other stupid things to do.
What is your favorite thing about living in Mexico?
the beautiful weather of non-existent seasons and the delicious food. also the illegality of law, but that’s kind of a double edge sword.
Tell us about the project, Café con Leche, that you started with your boyfriend:
we’re always fooling around, like 5 yr olds with paint and glue. we make up a million joke projects and sometimes actually end up doing them.
In spring of last year, we made up this big plan: sigur rós was coming to méxico and we were going to buy an LSD blotter for re-selling, so we could afford our tickets AND eat acid at the show………but things twisted up and we ended up spending that money on a lot of textiles and pretty buttons to make plushies.
…and since then, we’ve been doing bastardines (that’s how we called them). Roi (my boyfriend) thinks we’ve done over 200 already!
What are you currently working on/ any plans for the future?
I’m looking for a job. I want to travel. I’m also working on this comix anthology with my canadian friend Ginette Lapalme, featuring comics from the american continent. We hope it’ll be printing in January 2010.
NO AGE
WORDS: MONIKA MOGI
I met and interviewed NO AGE at Daikanyama Unit in Tokyo before their show awhile ago..
Randy Randall and Dean Spunt make up NO AGE. Interviewing people from L.A. was refreshing since I grew up in Huntington Beach and overall they were really nice guys. Talked about California, smoking weed, tofu and 90’s jams.
Hey guys, are you liking Tokyo so far?
Dean: I like the food.
Anything specific?
Randy: FRESHNESS BURGER
D: So good, they have a tofu burger. We’re both vegan so eatings a little difficult but yeah Freshness Burger is awesome, we went there today.
What do you think about the Japanese audience? Most bands think that the crowd here is usually quiet, like when you pause inbetween songs..
R: But we don’t really pause inbetween songs much..
D: It’s a little more quiet than most American audiences
R: I don’t know, last night they were grabbing my guitar. They were cool.
D: I think if anything its just the cultural difference, like maybe they’re more polite with the shouting?
What’s your favorite song to play live?
D: Hmmm, that’s a good question…
R: Well we have two new songs on the set so it’s more fun. The rest we’ve played quite a bit.
We have a new one called Fever Dreaming, it’s fun.
D: I like playing ‘Teen Creeps’.
I think thats my favorite. I also like your instrumental You is My Hot Rabbit, what is that about anyway?
R: That’s the myspace jam! I got the name from a translation into french. My girlfriend at the time wrote me a letter all in french and I had to go to google translator, cut and paste it because I didn’t know how to read it.
That’s super romantic..
D: Awww
R: At the end of the letter it said You is my Hot Rabbit, I don’t know what that meant… I’m not sure what she actually meant to say in french but I thought that was the best phrase ever, so I named the song after that. We actually only played that live once.
What’s your favorite song in general than?
R: Ahh man probably “Wild Combination” by Arthur Russell. He’s amazing. Electronic cellist from New York in the 70s. It’s very hauntingly beautiful.
D: Ace of Base.
D+R: Allllll that she wants is another baby, she’s gone tomorrow..
I know you guys support all age bands and gigs. Did you ever have any fake IDs when you couldn’t get into venues?
R: I had a fake one. I worked at a movie theater in Hollywood and somebody had dropped their ID. It belonged to some 35 year old guy from Florida. So, I was 19 with this guy’s ID..
D: It’s hard memorizing the birthday
R: Yeah, they sometimes ask ‘Are you a Scorpio or a Capricorn?
D: Or your height!
How were you guys like when you were teenagers? Dorky… gangster..
D: Hmm, GANGSTA. No, I was kinda cool? I was a music dork and skateboarded alot. But when I was like 12, I was a little bit of a gangster..
Me too! Like listening to Biggie, Eminem, A Tribe Called Quest…
D: YEAH!
And than I got into the Smiths, Joy Division..
D: Aw man, thats a big thing when you hear The Smiths for the first time.
R: 16, clumsy and shy..
I went to London and…
One word to describe NO AGE is…
R: ROCK!
What? Pick a cooler one..
R: Ballsagna.
D: No, breathtakinglyloud.
Three things you can’t live without are..
D: tofu
R: guitar strings
D: and good shoes
What’s your favorite kind of shoe than?
D: I’m reaaaally into Zig Zags.
How many pairs do you own?
D: Umm probably about 20.
What was the craziest thing to happen on tour?
D: This is gonna take a while..
Pick something out there, something psychedelic..
R: I know. Smoking weed with Kevin Shields from My Bloody Valentine.
D: Or smoking weed with GZA from Wu-Tang Clan.
I’m jealous. What makes the perfect party?
D: 90’s jams and Boone’s Farm, the wine that comes in a box!
Any last words or advice?
R: Start your own band and fuck shit up
D: If you play music, keep playing music and don’t let anyone tell you not to.
JANE & JEREMY
One Girl. One Boy. Together, Jane and Jeremy create various art projects that
are so lovely they make you feel all warm inside. Cutest couple ever.
How did Jane & Jeremy start?
In a small room, in a small blue house in South London, after another long day
at work, it was probably raining outside and it was then we decided we wanted
to do something nice, for ourselves and our friends! We were always working
on our own projects before we met and we just felt like it could all work together well
as we both liked each others work. We did it for our own sanity! Why not?
at work, it was probably raining outside and it was then we decided we wanted
to do something nice, for ourselves and our friends! We were always working
on our own projects before we met and we just felt like it could all work together well
as we both liked each others work. We did it for our own sanity! Why not?
Where are you from and what is the relationship between you two?
Jeremy is from Australia and Jane is from England….we met on a dance floor in
London…I guess that was where the Jane and Jeremy adventure began! We are
still in London and we are together.
London…I guess that was where the Jane and Jeremy adventure began! We are
still in London and we are together.
What inspires you?
That can come from anywhere, you just never know. We like our traveling, photographic
books, Ed Ruscha’s in particular, Gerhard Richter, Richard Prince, August Sander,
friends, conversations, music, finding nice things at markets and charity shops,
like booklets, old photographs, or ephemera.
One of Janes favourites at the moment is Fine little day blog and Jeremy still
thinks the talk by Damon Murray of FUEL Design goes down
as one of his most inspiring.
books, Ed Ruscha’s in particular, Gerhard Richter, Richard Prince, August Sander,
friends, conversations, music, finding nice things at markets and charity shops,
like booklets, old photographs, or ephemera.
One of Janes favourites at the moment is Fine little day blog and Jeremy still
thinks the talk by Damon Murray of FUEL Design goes down
as one of his most inspiring.
The Envelopes Book is brilliance. How did the idea start? How long did it take for you to collect all these envelopes?
Jane was doing work experience at ‘THE FACE’ Magazine many moons ago…..
“I got to do some good jobs, one of them was opening the post!! I liked all the
different envelopes they used to get from big fashion houses and creative people…
nice paper and designs, and handwriting. Instead of putting them in the bin I
put them in my bag and then decided to make a little sketch book from them.
Years later Jeremy found it and thought it was great, so we decided to make more
for our website….he’s the entrepreneur!”
Now we ask all our friends to save their envelopes for us!
“I got to do some good jobs, one of them was opening the post!! I liked all the
different envelopes they used to get from big fashion houses and creative people…
nice paper and designs, and handwriting. Instead of putting them in the bin I
put them in my bag and then decided to make a little sketch book from them.
Years later Jeremy found it and thought it was great, so we decided to make more
for our website….he’s the entrepreneur!”
Now we ask all our friends to save their envelopes for us!
Are you currently working on any new projects?
Yes, just about to release Palm Springs, a new book which is by our friend
photographer Noel Mclaughlin. We’re also working on two new books, with our
own imagery….one will be images of surfing inspired by the surfing film Litmus
and the other will be another photographic series.
photographer Noel Mclaughlin. We’re also working on two new books, with our
own imagery….one will be images of surfing inspired by the surfing film Litmus
and the other will be another photographic series.
Any advice to young artists?
Just work hard and get your work out for people to see it….working with friends
is great for that! And always have fun!
is great for that! And always have fun!
MAGGIE LEE
ZINES ZINES ZINES. Maggie Lee is a lovely Brooklyn-based artist who creates
and collects zines. Her work was recently featured at the Vice Photo Exhibition and
her ‘Frenching’ issues are filled with personal stories, photos and collections
of her favorite things. What’s better than the art of self-publishing? Uh, nothing.
Where do you live and what inspires you?
I live in Brooklyn, NY and moved here for school in 2005.
New York fall weather, New York wind really makes me want to make anything/ everything. The summer is lazy and the air is heavy, and I find it difficult making any worthy work. The city in general really inspires me. It sounds cliche, I know, but there are new things happening constantly. Slow pace laziness really dulls me down, like being home in New Jersey.
How old were you when you made your first zine?
I was in the 8th grade. My first zine was called Smash Maggiezine and the first issue was called “no parents”. I wish I had it, but I probably burned it when I realized it sucked.
Are you currently working on any new ones?
I’m working on creating a new body of work, i’m not really sure where its going but I’m trying to go in a conceptual direction. The next zine I want to make will have color photos and black and white photocopy manipulation.
How did Zine Creamers start?
My friends were all making really great zines and I wanted to talk about them and have it for everyone to see. It’s really exciting, people from other countries send me zines. i love reading them, i keep them all. I havent done a zine creamers in a while, i’m going to do that right now actually.
Do you think that zines have a special sense about them because they usually come in limited quantities?
Zines are meant to be made in small editions, passed around, shared, displayed, and only for those who would really cherish it. Magazines are what’s mass produced and for everyone to see and read. Theres just really something special about the process of an artist or personal zine, its a work of art in a way, but i guess it really depends how its rendered, there are a lot of bad zines. But there are also great zines that come in large editions, i like those too but you dont see a lot of them. Its also difficult to make a lot of zines since the costs of production most of the time outweighs the actual worth. also, most of the time they are given away to friends.
Where is your favorite place in New York?
Its so hard to decide, either on my bedroom floor working on projects,
pho at Thai Son on Baxer and Walker in china town, or wandering the MoMA, PS1, or New Museum.
pho at Thai Son on Baxer and Walker in china town, or wandering the MoMA, PS1, or New Museum.
Three things you can’t live without are…
1. good people
2. mac computer
3. delicious treats
Any advice to young artists?
Always keep yourself aware of whats up and around. Keep on making work even if its terrible.
Frenching zine
2003-2005
