Jason C Arnold Interview

Can't say where I first came across Jason's work. It was one of two places, King Shit, or maybe Fecal Face. Actually now that I'm writing this I feel pretty sure it was King Shit. Bottom line I was stoked on the work. As most folks know, Stick It was originally launched with the idea of photography as the main drive but the blog has evolved to cover all kinds of skating related material. Jason is gonna break the cherry on what will hopefully be a long standing representation of skate related art. Lets see Jason's "o" face as I grill him and display a small gallery of his work.

Christian


C: Name, age, location, and profession.
J: Jason Arnold, 33, San Francisco California. Layout/graphic design.


C: Some of your work is heavily skate influenced. How long ago did these arts collide?
J: The last 8 months I've pretty much been working on this skate series….It just makes sense because I love skating and I love painting so I thought it would be cool to combine the 2. I also like the fact that you have to skate, or know about skating to get most of these paintings. But on the flip side it seems harder to get art shows, but fuck it. My overall goal by the end of summer is to have a huge portrait collection of all the OG legend skaters like Tom Penny, Gonz, ect…


C: How do you come up with concepts like the Anti pope, Gandhi, Ollie lama series?
J: Just from books/photos….I'll come across an interesting photo and then try and figure out how to incorporate skating into it.


C: Are you contracted by any companies or individuals to generate your work?
J: Naw, I just do it all on my own for fun. I’ve done a few commission paintings for some people but that’s about it. I really don’t like doing commission paintings because I'd rather just paint what ever I want without being stressed out about it. It sort of takes the fun out of painting. But that’s the good part about also having a full time job, it lets me just keep painting as a hobby.


C: What is your favorite medium?
J: Oil paint….its harder to figure out, but once you have it figured out its easier to use…if that makes any sense. The shitty part is that its really expensive…..painting keeps me poor as shit but its worth it.


C: I saw on your blog that you can belt some stuff out. What is the average pace at which you work?
J: It depends on the size…..the portraits usually take 2 to 3 days. The first day is the drawing…inking…under painting…second day is the next layer…then the 3rd day is detail. Highlights and darks. The bigger paintings take about a week.


C: Could you talk to me a bit about your training. School, apprenticeships, or just busting your ass?
J: Yeah I never went to art school….I just figured it out on my own. I figure it’s like skating…there is no skate school, but people still figure it out. You just have to be motivated to want to figure it out on your own. It takes time but its worth it in the end.


C: When you aren't painting what else are you up to?
J: Skating the Potrero park or skating San Jose with the homies. Drinking…. And I also have a full time job. But my all time favorite thing to do is to watch skate videos with a few tall cans with the homies.


C: Do you have any opinion on gallery shows?
J: I used to be really into them and would try to go to them a lot (that’s one of the reasons I originally moved to San Francisco)….but now I'm just sort of over the whole art scene here is SF. But there is a good gallery here called White Walls and their shows are usually pretty good. And you can drink 40’s in there while looking at art. And there is always hot art chicks in there.


C: Hey Jason I just want to say thanks a ton for fielding my questions. Is there anything we should be on the look out for from you in the near future?
J: Yeah I just shot a photo for that “canvas” section in Thrasher that should be out in April/May….other than that just trying to finish this skate series. Right now I'm at 22 paintings, but I'm sure when the weather gets nice I'll slow down.