20 Questions Fahamu Pecou

Nicole J. Caruth: How did The Shit series begin and when?

Fahamu Pecou: Fahamu Pecou Is The Shit started around 2002. I had an epiphany in my struggle to get in some galleries, get a review or any type of recognition as an artist. Why not use the tricks-of-the-trade from my life as a graphic designer? At the time, I was designing a lot of the promotional collateral for hip hop artists, and clubs, etc. I created a branding campaign that would ultimately lead people back to my art.

NC: Is it appropriate to refer to this body of work as a “series”? That is, do you see yourself shifting gears in the future?

FP: It is in fact a series, and however the gears shift, in the future, I think you will always see touches of this body of work, mixed in somehow. The ideas I am addressing here pre-date this current body, so I don’t think I will ever truly abandon them.NC: How do you decide which magazine cover(s) to render? Does your decision have anything to do with the actual content of the zine at the time you begin the piece?

FP: I am an avid magazine collector. But as I’ve begun this series, I seek out art and culture magazines that you don’t necessarily see in the checkout lines at the grocery store. Once I have them, the choice of which to use becomes more of a ‘what am I feeling this time’ rather than a specific pairing between the photo and cover.

NC: The number of magazines in the world seems infinite, but zines of the art and design sort are, to some degree, limited. As you continue, do you think that multiples will become part of your practice?

FP: Magazines are a crazy business. There are more than I can keep up with. Any doubles I do would be reflective of a magazine’s changing of its masthead.

NC: Describe your working process.

FC: It’s kind of random. It depends on where my mind is. If I am really in love with the piece or feeling the pressure of a looming deadline it can be anywhere from a couple hours to a couple of days. For the most part I paint pretty fast, but lately I’ve forced myself to work slower, savor the details.

NC: How long do you typically spend conceptualizing and completing a ‘cover shoot’ vs. the painting?

FP: As far as the concepts go, I keep a journal and I just jot down concepts as they hit me. If I’m driving, I’ll type it in my blackberry (don’t tell GA Dept of Transportation). But I read somewhere a while back about how Andre 3000 keeps a little book in which he writes down random words, sayings, phrases etc and then refers back to it when he is writing his verses. I borrowed that idea and I refer to my notebooks as I’m working.

NC: What becomes of the photograph, computer renderings, and other remains of your process? Do (or will) you sell them?

FP: I have not sold any of them. I do have plans to one day do a show of the digital images.

NC: You directly refer to boxing in many of your paintings. Is this meant to suggest a similar egotism between the sport and the “fine art” arena?

FP: Well the sport, but more directly, Muhammed Ali and Jack Johnson as celebrities who owned the spotlight, not the other way around. Ali and Johnson were both revolutionaries in the way they handled the platform that celebrity gave them. They maintained their own individual politics, regardless of what the media and society at large wanted of them. So, it’s a nod to those warriors (on much more than a physical plane), my battle stance against the okey-doke… my visual rope-a-dope.

NC: There are obvious references to Basquiat in your work too: crowns, barcodes, smeared prose, etc. Are there other painters or artists that have influenced you?

FP: I really like Basquiat, and again like Ali and Johnson, as a symbol of my position within the world of art. I also am a fan of William H. Johnson, John Biggers, Chuck Close, Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, Duchamp, David Hammons, Ernie Barnes, and many, many others.

NC: Can you speak more about the barcode symbol and how this emblem otherwise resonates in your work?

FP: The barcode is a funny place to visit as I paint the covers. We are programmed by them to think about sales. As artists, our worth is often determined by how that barcode scans. Often I leave it blank, paint over it or insert affirmations reminding me to not get locked behind those bars.

NC: Some of the areas in your work are left unpainted, which seems to suggest a ‘work-in-progress’?

FP: It is more about pulling back the curtain on fame and celebrity, suggesting that there is more behind the scenes. Mostly, I like the look, the aesthetic quality of the raw canvas next to a painted area. I am most attracted to paintings that have a lot of contrast in the materials as well as texture and content.

NC: What other forms of material and visual culture are significant for you?

FP: I’m inspired by the E! Channel. It’s funny we live in a world where we have a network dedicated to being star-struck. I am also inspired by the fact that the success of the E! Channel has shifted the perspectives, missions, manifestos and content of previously legitimate and respected networks to follow suit.

NC: Was Instant Celebrity): Rise of an Urban Legend that recently showed at Lyons Weiner Gallery your first work with video?

FP: Yes, this piece was the brainchild of me and a good friend and filmmaker Johnalynn Holland.

NC: In Instant Celeb there’s this amusing bit about Marla Gibbs being your mom. Do you have an actual relationship with Gibbs or a particular tie to The Jeffersons? Or perhaps that period of black representation in popular culture?

FP: There is no relationship. When filming Instant Celebrity, everyone we interviewed was just told it was a mockumentary about my rise to fame, [and usually just] at the time of the taping. So when the camera came on, they just said whatever came to mind. Rex Ray, a fantastic artist out of San Francisco, told the Marla Gibbs story. He made up this story about how we met and Marla Gibbs being my mother. His interview alone should be a piece. He’s hilarious. Rex was the first person we ever interviewed and it completely changed our vision for the piece. Afterwards when we interviewed other people we sometimes referred to Rex’s story to give them an idea of what was expected.

I grew up on late 70’s and early 80’s tv. Particularly shows like Good Times and Diff’rent Strokes. In fact, my first attraction to being an artist was the character J.J. Evans. Though they were the paintings of Ernie Barnes, I grew up as a child artist trying to draw like J.J. I think those shows, that era of television in general is very instrumental in our society’s current psyche. Most of the kids and teens of the 70s and 80s are now top-level execs and professionals in their fields. In the 70s and 80s television was really just becoming a fixture in American homes. There was a boom in development of major networks so people had a lot more programming choices. We also see a shift in how media and advertising messages get disseminated. A lot of what people do today is designed to look good on TV. Many of us live our lives based on opinions formed of the world through our relationship with television. TV plays a big part in this idea of “Neopop.” It’s not just images of pop culture in print that I am reacting to, but also how it plays out in moving images and sound.

NC: Did Diamond Creative Lounge [your design business] begin prior to your career in painting?

FP: I started Diamond Lounge pretty much right out of college. I figured I would need a job to pay for paints and I found that I couldn’t really work for anyone. I was always fantasizing about what else I could be doing. As a child, I always planned to own my own business. Design was a tool I picked up looking over my friends shoulders that majored in design and illustration.

NC: Do you think of your work as collaborative?

FP: Most definitely. I have a really dope crew of creatives who, whether I want to hear or not, share their opinions with me.

NC: The end of your artist statement reads, “PAID FOR BY THE COMMITTEE TO MAKE FAHAMU PECOU OFFICIALLY THE SHIT.” Is this committee fictional or does it consist of real people?

FP: The committee is really my friends and family who are always at my side. I have friends who help me push my concepts, crack the whip on my painting skills, ride in a truck yelling encouraging words to me through a bullhorn as I train. Though they don’t have a downtown headquarters, they do exist and are very active in what I do.

NC: Your Wikipedia entry seems very thorough. Did you have something to do with that?

FP: Actually, I was surprised to know I had a Wikipedia entry; it was written by the author of an article about me earlier this year.

NC: So what role does the Web, and more specifically social networking sites like Wikipedia and MySpace, play for you as an artist working today?

FP: [The Web] has become a digital canvas for me. I have several characters and personas floating around cyberspace. I see my work as sort of scientific experiments. One control is the gallery world/fine art scene. Another is MySpace and YouTube. In all of these places I’m able to seed ideas and run tests of people’s reactions to my work. Which I’m sure will ultimately manifest in my physical works.

NC: What’s next for you? Any more performative work?

FP: Yes, I am currently working with another friend on some guerrilla street art performances; they will be more theatrical. I’m working on a digital music project using a different persona of mine. I [also] have a new art movement called FAHAMENON—folks should check my site for details!

More Pecou @:

Fahamu Pecou

Diamond Creative Lounge

Wikipedia

MySpace

YouTube

Lyons Weiner Gallery