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.

2009 Rewind

It was set off in April of this year. As my family got older I realized that I could return to a big love of mine. That love is skating. At that time another love had come into my life, that love was photography. It hit me one day at the park...lets merge these loves! Done. Here is the year in review for me. If you peep this blog, thanks for visiting. I'm looking forward to another year of skating and shooting. Shutter snaps and board cracks!

Christian

The end is near

Ok so the end of the year is approaching and on that note I'm going to put together a small "best of" shot gallery. The year has been killer. Thanks to all the folks who have made my transition into skating photography possible. People like ...ok this list will be long.., Jonathen Perez, Dookie Collins, Steezy, Noah Scott, Joe, Oc, D, Kevin, Josh Sanchez, Alex, Nick, Ron Allen, Trent, Paz, and my boy Buddah. There are so many fools who helped to make up this blog and I want to thank all of you, if it wasn't for you it wouldn't be possible. Bottom line much love to all the skating community in the East Bay and beyond. Special thanks goes out to Mike and the SPINWRENCH crew. These guys helped to get me hooked up with the scene.

Christian

Hand In Hand

A slight detour from the normal post...but not totally off track. Over this past weekend photo ops presented them selves in the shape of S.O.T.Y. and a reunion show at Coda both in San Francisco. For those that don't know the previous acronym is for Skater Of The Year, put on mostly by Thrasher magazine and a host of other sponsors. This is a big shindig held to honor the public's choice for who to give the title to. This year Chris Cole took the title and deserves it, in my opinion. The gig was loud and there were many stars in the industry to be seen. I was lucky enough to roll with the Add-A-Trick crew, Ron, Jason, Mustafa and this cool cat Damian. It was a brief visit cuz the next gig came a callin at about 10:00 p.m. We made our way across town to a club in the Mission dist. Coda was a nice place where Ron Allen was gonna hook up with a group he spent sometime on the mic with. Cannon Ball is a kickass jazz band that involves some hip- hop attributes, Dj spinnin' and an mc spittin' game on the mic. The sound was killer and seeing Ron up on stage was a trip. He tore it up! Chilled there till the a.m. then a 1:30 taco run and home to bed. So all in all a skate and music oriented eve...just like the title says "hand in hand" and to me that's how skating and music go.

Christian

Spot Quest

I don't know if folks are familiar with a spot called Sneath Lane in Daily City. This is a spot I have seen in alot of shots and it looks super sweet. Its kind of a diy tranny up a chest high wall in a large drainage ditch. Most memorable shot for me is Dan Drehobl working a hurricane on this bad boy. Anyway I recently got the skinny on how to get out to this place. This wall is gnarly!! I rolled with Noah and some other cats with the idea of skating and shooting this spot but bricks had been fixed all over the ground and to be honest none of us had the skills to throw down any thing shot worthy. My curiosity had been satisfied and now I know how to get over there if we wanna go back and give it another go. Yadda yadda we did some skating kind of all over the city that day as well and I managed to grab a few cool shots. Happy holidays to all out there, be safe and I will try and sneek a few more posts before the year is out.

Christian

That City Across The Bay

I normally am not a fan of going to SF. I know its crazy but its so busy and I feel like Oakland offers similar terrain but is closer to home. Well I think yesterday was a turning point for me and the "City". Picked up Josh and decided to give Noah a call and see if he was down to come with, and he was. We stopped by DLX and got Noah some new thane then headed to some blocks under the overpass. We proceeded to a few other spots. Civic Center, a rail off Mission, and some ledges near a Best Buy off Mission. Got the boot at almost all the spots pretty quick but on the whole it was a successful trip. Two funny bits to share...at Civic Center a hobo sleeping in the park took a swipe at Noah cuz we were making too much noise skating the gap. Also as a security guard was booting us from the rail spot I asked if there was a place to get coffee near by and he said" Nah I'm good I just had some". Bro...you are kicking us out and you think I'm offering to get you coffee? Those crazy city folks.

Christian