Thank you Innocnts for brining this awesome post to my attention via Them Thangs
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NO VALS:: THEM THANGS
Mike Giant X VCJ
It was a union I will never forget. Two legendary artists that work in black and white ink finally meeting. Two of my favorite friends. I was lucky enough to have received a very nice visit from artist Mike Giant. I was able to hook him up with a factory tour at our skateboard manufacturing facility here in Santa Barbara thanks to my buddy Rob Washburn. I am so happy about this photo, words cannot express! Glad to unite two VERY talented artists!!!!
Presenting Mike Giant and Vernon Courtlandt Johnson AKA VCJ
Check out more photos from Mike's trip to Cali and the Skate One factory on the Rebel8 Blog
Caligiuri X Johnson :: '92 Til Infinity
A couple of weeks ago I received a very special gift from my dear friend, the magical VCJ. I was sitting at my desk at work when Court walked into the office for the usual Thursday Design Review and handed me a present. My gift was enclosed in the yellow manila envelope pictured below with over forty drawings he and I had done from the years of 1992- 1994. They are all very well presereved to say the least and I am so happy to share them with you today.
The story goes:
When I was 6 years old, my family and I moved out of our house on Bath St in down town Santa Barbara and relocated to my grandmother's house on Curly Ave and Figuroua St. There, I met the neighbor, known as VCJ, or to me and my family, just simply, Court. Court worked at Powell-Peralta during that time and I set out in my bratty ways to spend as much time as I could at Court's house doing art. It was there I recieved my first mentorship in terms of fine art and drawing and I moved on to get a scholorship from the Ridley Tree (sponsored by the SB Museum of Art) in the 3rd grade at Roosevelt Elementary School. Here are some of my best sessions with Court.
My drawing of a mermaid princess. How is the crab shack?
Court's versions of his mermaids.
It is funny to think that I am still into these very same things. I love horses. Take a moment to look at my flowers, cloud, and horsey and then compare it to Court's. Pretty good !
Court's version of a horse.
I love this one with the date and my shadow the flowers are making.
I love this one with the date and my shadow the flowers are making.
Court's flowers and shadow.
Court's fun drawings
I guess I knew what the good life was even back then!
My first drawing of a dolphin.
I would also like to add that Court was drawing left handed. Just for fun!
Not too shabby for a 7 year old huh?
This article/ interview just went online and it is the first interiew with Court in a long time... I really enjoyed reading this, I hope you will too.
Vernon Courtland Johnson, or VCJ, is one of today’s most influential artists working in a commercial medium. His iconic designs for Powell Peralta have inspired thousands of other artists worldwide, and he routinely gets namechecked by street-art superstars like D*Face and Shepard Fairey. VCJ didn’t invent the idea of skateboard art, but he both defined it and set a standard that others have yet to match. VCJ is unique in today’s art scene, as his work is admired by an incredibly wide range of fans and other artists. Fine artists delight in his skill in freehand drawing, especially skulls. Street artists love the way he makes images iconic, and designs into globally recognizable characters. Commercial artists marvel at the precision and deceptive amount of detail he is able to work into every design. And those of us who are fans adore the power, humor, beauty, and intensity of his art– millions of us saved up our allowances to be able to buy a Powell Peralta deck with a VCJ design. TACO recently got the rare chance to ask Vernon a few questions… stay tuned after the interview for a mini gallery of high-res VC Johnson Powell-Peralta decks.
TACO: How did you get your start as an artist? When did you hook up with Powell Peralta?
VCJ: Born as a human with large brain and opposing digits, I learned to amuse myself with material found along the road on Campus Earth. Mud, rocks, sticks, water, paint, paper, metals, fire. I had an aptitude for art and other fixations from an early age. They let me play. George Powell married an older sister of mine and took interest in me as a late teenager looking for direction. When I was thirty, he noticed that I was floating along as a hippy who could work, so he hired me to help outfit a factory for mass production of skateboards. I was jazzed to have many creative projects every day and to master a production line towards market success.
TACO: Do you have a favorite of all the characters you’ve created? A favorite deck?
VCJ: No favorites stand out for me in my work. My skate poster series truly satisfied my appetite for mastery of composition, components and chiaroscuro.
TACO: You’re an icon in many circles, but it seems that many street artists mention you as one of their primary influences. What do you think of street art and the way people re-use your iconic characters in their works?
VCJ: I am glad to be an inspiration to others in my time. I’ve been inspired by many artists and I’m sorry that I haven’t told them so. Some of them, like Escher, Eichenberg, and Rick Griffin, have passed on and I could have written to them, but I didn’t. I hope to do better with my praise of the living examples in the days to come. Street art looks to make the world a better place and to notify others of ones existence. I have such an interest myself and have placed sculptures in the ocean for the dolphins and divers to enjoy.
TACO: During the time when you were away from designing skateboard images, did you mainly focus on your sculpture? What can you tell us about your approach to sculpture and what you’re working on?
I took 20 years off in order to recover my health, to know myself and to develop an effective inner dialectic. The results have been very effective and assure me of long life. I spent time at the beach, in the ocean, and flew to Florida often , to swim with dolphins.
I developed my skill with applied kinesiology and mastered the ability to read the body’s systems, which I have used now for 20 years. I am used by many for my ability to scan systems for origins of disturbance and for restorative measures. My wife also reads systems with muscle testing, which facilitates her professional work with clients. We have published a workbook for those who take our course in Instantaneous Intelligence & The Mojo Philter. After setting this major piece of true-life-work in print and sealing it into a time capsule, I began to engage ferro-cement as a convenient sculptural medium. Layers of expanded metal are cut, manipulated into layered forms that will hold cement that gets pressed into the layers, finished and cured, then to be painted. Cheap, fast, durable, ferro-cement. I’m working on a Phoenix that rises up from a stand to 8′, to honor a community here that burned in the last big fire.
TACO: One of your decks is now in the Smithsonian, have you been to visit it? Where do you see your place in history?
VCJ: So, my work is represented in the Smithsonian now… I guess I can die happy. I heard that a wine label got into the Library of Congress a few years back. I’m warned about pride but feel the tingle. After all is said and done and we’re laid to rest, it’s funny what we get remembered for. You should read my “Lymerics for the Mystic Minded”, not out yet, but some of my best work in black and white.
TACO: What’s your favorite taco?
My favorite taco place is “Pinchy Tacos” in Watts. They don’t sell to the public, only to pinchy dudes like me who like the best. Don’t tell Hector and Lupe that I told you anything more specific, ‘cuz they’d 86 me.
Do you have a lucky number?
I’ve answered 7 questions … One for each chakra. I trust I’ve hit all bases. One last question and response. My favorite number. After a brief pause to consider, I shall offer “7″ and/or “6″….. “7-6″ This represents my enthusiasm for soul. To all Souls now extant on the physical plane I say, ” I wish for you all, the highest fulfillment.
Manifest Essence, V.C. Johnson
In case you don't recongnize Court's art from our little drawings. Here is something you might recongnize.
VCJ is Back...
Long before I even knew what skateboarding was, I knew this artist guy who lived next store to my grandmother on Fig Street in down town SB by the name of Court Johnson. I was about 6 years old and for about 4 years, my mother couldn't get me to come home because I was always doing art with our neighbor Court. Court has this amazing technique that just boggled my little 7 year old brain where he would make scratch marks (like MC Escher) into a black foam board then fill some with ink and white paint... His most famous and timeless piece of art that will forever be a staple in the history of skateboarding graphics called "The Ripper" is illustrated here:
You know the one? I hope so! I must say... and I say this with great passion and enthusiasm... but VCJ really was the first artist to come into my life whose work and persona has inspired me beyond words to express and create art work. So Thank you to Court.
We here at Skate One Corporation are very excited to announce that Vernon Courtlandt Johnson is back!
George Powell and VCJ
VCJ showing some of his art at the design review meeting with our art department
Can't wait to see what his first graphic is going to look like!
You may have already seen this, but Court also inspired this entire art show called "Rip The Ripper"... he even has Shepard Ferry paying homage to him..... RAD!
Stay tuned.