joe lucchese volume 2, 2006, #027

joe lucchese, also known as dopepope, is a new york city artist specialising in bizarre character design and his own brand of illustrative graphics he calls 'experimental aesthetics'. an illustrator since childhood, he swerved his talents into the world of digital photo-retouching and effects, as well as graphic design. dopepope lends his fantastic imagery to magazines, record companies, collaborations, and gallery shows as often as possible.

1. how would you explain 'art' - in 19 words or less? art is as indescribable as love. it's different things to different people.

2. what is the first work of art you ever loved? i found the genre of japanese giant monster movies to be very artistic. though at an early age i was just in awe of it, there was a definite love there.

3. how important is theory to your art? being that i'm not entirely sure how to answer this question, i can't imagine it being very important to me.

4. describe your ideal art workspace. something large, cozy, with multiple light sources, and surrounded by inspiration and reference materials. a super-fast / powerful mac, and an open area to be able to draw and paint traditionally.

5. describe your current art workspace. it's pretty much similar to my 'ideal' workspace, though not quite as large as i'd like. but good enough.

6. if you could be placed in suspended animation and safely reanimated at some time in the future with the sole purpose being to see how history treated you / your art, would you do it?
i'd love to be reanimated about 150 years from now. at the risk of sounding pessimistic, i don't think my artwork will have made that much of an impact as to be studied 150 years from now. i just want to see the technologies invented.

7. who are some of your favourite artists (contemporary or canonical)? i respect and admire an insanely long list of artists. to name a few: james jean, katsuya terada, yasushi nirasawa, and chris cunningham. these are artists that have visions that i either share, and relate to, and aspire to, or do things i never knew i would want to relate to, or aspire to.

8. tell us about a gallery (online or physical space) that you think rocks, and why you think it rocks. i enjoy the irc random picture gallery. the randomness of the images can be so delightfully bizarre, it rocks!

9. would you choose the baked bean jaffle or the caramelised pumpkin and red onion tart with crispy radicchio and hazelnut salad with apple vinaigrette? the thing with the hazelnuts, because it's got hazelnuts.

10. finish this sentence: "the work of art can / cannot be considered separately to the artist because ________." the work of art cannot be considered separately to the artist because it has been, to a degree of detail, spawned in that artist's mind and has flown through that artist's hand (or whatever) to be realised. that artist's essence is now intertwined with that piece.

check out more of joe's work at: http://dopepope.com & grab yourself a copy of his new book 'bioengineered to be the best' at www.dopepope.com/store/

eatr
eatr, 2006

hoppr
hoppr, 2006

MARi
MARi, 2006

smurfian, 2006

trilla
trilla, 2006