beScene is here to bring you an exclusive interview with one of Miami's freshest new graphic artists & entrepreneurs, Joey Funk!
Check Out His Website here! JoeyFunk.com
Check Out this poster he made for our new website coming soon.
Model: Aban Sonia Photography: Eddy Angel
Producer: Amliv Sotomayor
Vector Art: Joey Funk
Here is an Interview with Joey Funk brought to you by Kristina Rodriguez.
1.What makes you different from all the other artists in the Miami scene?
It's mostly the style, in recent years, graphic artists have been leaning towards that abstract grungy look, I've been trying to not fall into that hole by using precision with my lines for a cleaner, tighter look. It's easy for grunge artists to get away with more because of the messy nature of the grunge art. Also, there aren't many Cuban Americans that delve into psychedelic art. I grew up around that funky beauty salon 80's art with clean lines and white skin, you know the kind you can see in nearly every old school beauty salon in Miami, I always thought It was a great style because It was so iconic during that time, women hitting up the salons, transforming themselves for the weekend wars.
2. What artist can you most relate to?
Well, my modern heroes are all comic book artists, Joe Maduerira, the late Michael Turner, Jim Lee, J. Scott Campbell, they really know how do flesh out some serious art, but that's not the kind of art I make.
I watched Yellow Submarine the other night for the first time when I noticed what the animators were doing with the use of white space and colors... I was totally blown away that the animators of Yellow Submarine used the same white balance techniques that I use to make colors more vibrant . I couldn't believe that I had done this naturally over the years while the animators of Yellow Submarine did it decades ago. I can relate more to the hippies who worked on the great concert posters of the 60's more than my favorite modern comic book illustrators.
3. What message are you trying to send through your art work?
Each piece I work on is always different, there's never really a set message, its really up to you for interpretation. I've really been into the psychedelic overtone of repeating patterns lately, I think it's just a natural evolution of the way I see the [F]Artwork moving forward. Every piece I make gets more detailed and complicated, It's just me trying to outdo myself so the public always gets something that is progressive.
4. What fuels your creativity while your a work? bands? music type? etc.
Music is a huge influence on what I do, it helps 'lube' the creative flow. In my first artist themed piece "The Haunt Of Roulette Dares" I jammed to The Mars Volta for hours, letting the music flow through my consciousness as I worked. Hours go by and I didn't even care that I had two tracks on repeat, trying to capture the images in my mind's eye through sonic mayhem of "Roulette Dares" and "Eria Tarka." Same for the Thom Yorke/Eraser piece and the other artists themed [F]Artwork, just jamming and making it happen. For the beScene exclusive, I jammed to Does It Offend You, Yeah?
5. What do you find to be most challenging when your creating pieces of art?
Choosing the colors! Lately I've been making 'Variants' of all new [F]Artwork, I'm never happy with the final colors so I make the variants to cure my never ending appetite to see different color possibilities... and they look really trippy when you mess with the more rad color combos.
6. Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
Honestly, I would love to have my own design studio with 3 or 4 other graphic designers working on smaller design projects while I handle the promo/marketing/advertising for the studio itself. I'd love to have a space at Art Basel as well, I'm really bad at keeping on top of registering for it, im always late due to running on Cuban time. I want to hit up San Fransisco for a few years to check out the west coast, then maybe Spain. During the Bush administration, I wanted to leave the states for good, I didn't have much faith in the States anymore. The situation has been getting better since talks of decriminalization and the legalization of medical marijuana have been floating around the country... I'd stick around for that.
7. What scares you most about the "creative community"? as in... any artists you disagree with on views, artistic abilities etc.
The thing about the creative community is that everyone always thinks they are the best at what they do, and no one will admit that. The thing is, when an artist works on something with their heart, they don't want to hear it when someone criticizes their work. I believe that egos should not have anything to do with artwork, if artists in the community collaborated more than they tried outdoing each other, we'd have some crazy awesome shit for everyone to enjoy.
I got my first piece of hate mail the other day, it was from a local Cuban artist and gallery owner from my parent's generation, which will remain nameless; It was in reference to a series of Cuban Postage Stamps designed to look like LSD Blotter art I had posted on Facebook. The woman was very heated about the "Che"
postage stamp, she went on about how ignorant I was, painting such a monster and glorifying evil for no reason. What she failed to understand was that the Cuban Postage series was more of a window to a world gone by, old Cuban postage stamps no longer in circulation, these were objects everyday people in Cuba touched and used to communicate with others. I had turned that into something more by making them appear as if they were infused with LSD, which helps free your mind of restrictions which normally bind us to reality.
I never heard from her again, which is sad because I would of loved to have read what she would of replied with.
8. Do you have an advise for anyone who wants to pursue a career in graphic design?
Yeah, stop asking me for free classes. lol but really, stick to it, don't give up! If you want to follow a career in art, do it! I told my parents in high school that I wanted to make art for a living, my aunts were pissed because they wanted a lawyer. I didn't care, I wanted to be happy with what I did... everyday. When you do what you love, you won't ever work a day in your life.
9. In the future, how do you want your art to be used for the greater good?
Greater good? I would love to help with a campaign to legalize marijuana, that's the greater good in my opinion. This lame 'war on drugs' has gone far enough, I know a lot of good people in trouble for marijuana related offenses that, honestly, do not deserve to be prosecuted because the government won't own up to another failed war.
roc on,
:://funk.out_
Check out Joey more of Joey Funk's art!!
1.What makes you different from all the other artists in the Miami scene?
It's mostly the style, in recent years, graphic artists have been leaning towards that abstract grungy look, I've been trying to not fall into that hole by using precision with my lines for a cleaner, tighter look. It's easy for grunge artists to get away with more because of the messy nature of the grunge art. Also, there aren't many Cuban Americans that delve into psychedelic art. I grew up around that funky beauty salon 80's art with clean lines and white skin, you know the kind you can see in nearly every old school beauty salon in Miami, I always thought It was a great style because It was so iconic during that time, women hitting up the salons, transforming themselves for the weekend wars.
2. What artist can you most relate to?
Well, my modern heroes are all comic book artists, Joe Maduerira, the late Michael Turner, Jim Lee, J. Scott Campbell, they really know how do flesh out some serious art, but that's not the kind of art I make.
I watched Yellow Submarine the other night for the first time when I noticed what the animators were doing with the use of white space and colors... I was totally blown away that the animators of Yellow Submarine used the same white balance techniques that I use to make colors more vibrant . I couldn't believe that I had done this naturally over the years while the animators of Yellow Submarine did it decades ago. I can relate more to the hippies who worked on the great concert posters of the 60's more than my favorite modern comic book illustrators.
3. What message are you trying to send through your art work?
Each piece I work on is always different, there's never really a set message, its really up to you for interpretation. I've really been into the psychedelic overtone of repeating patterns lately, I think it's just a natural evolution of the way I see the [F]Artwork moving forward. Every piece I make gets more detailed and complicated, It's just me trying to outdo myself so the public always gets something that is progressive.
4. What fuels your creativity while your a work? bands? music type? etc.
Music is a huge influence on what I do, it helps 'lube' the creative flow. In my first artist themed piece "The Haunt Of Roulette Dares" I jammed to The Mars Volta for hours, letting the music flow through my consciousness as I worked. Hours go by and I didn't even care that I had two tracks on repeat, trying to capture the images in my mind's eye through sonic mayhem of "Roulette Dares" and "Eria Tarka." Same for the Thom Yorke/Eraser piece and the other artists themed [F]Artwork, just jamming and making it happen. For the beScene exclusive, I jammed to Does It Offend You, Yeah?
5. What do you find to be most challenging when your creating pieces of art?
Choosing the colors! Lately I've been making 'Variants' of all new [F]Artwork, I'm never happy with the final colors so I make the variants to cure my never ending appetite to see different color possibilities... and they look really trippy when you mess with the more rad color combos.
6. Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
Honestly, I would love to have my own design studio with 3 or 4 other graphic designers working on smaller design projects while I handle the promo/marketing/advertising for the studio itself. I'd love to have a space at Art Basel as well, I'm really bad at keeping on top of registering for it, im always late due to running on Cuban time. I want to hit up San Fransisco for a few years to check out the west coast, then maybe Spain. During the Bush administration, I wanted to leave the states for good, I didn't have much faith in the States anymore. The situation has been getting better since talks of decriminalization and the legalization of medical marijuana have been floating around the country... I'd stick around for that.
7. What scares you most about the "creative community"? as in... any artists you disagree with on views, artistic abilities etc.
The thing about the creative community is that everyone always thinks they are the best at what they do, and no one will admit that. The thing is, when an artist works on something with their heart, they don't want to hear it when someone criticizes their work. I believe that egos should not have anything to do with artwork, if artists in the community collaborated more than they tried outdoing each other, we'd have some crazy awesome shit for everyone to enjoy.
I got my first piece of hate mail the other day, it was from a local Cuban artist and gallery owner from my parent's generation, which will remain nameless; It was in reference to a series of Cuban Postage Stamps designed to look like LSD Blotter art I had posted on Facebook. The woman was very heated about the "Che"
postage stamp, she went on about how ignorant I was, painting such a monster and glorifying evil for no reason. What she failed to understand was that the Cuban Postage series was more of a window to a world gone by, old Cuban postage stamps no longer in circulation, these were objects everyday people in Cuba touched and used to communicate with others. I had turned that into something more by making them appear as if they were infused with LSD, which helps free your mind of restrictions which normally bind us to reality.
I never heard from her again, which is sad because I would of loved to have read what she would of replied with.
8. Do you have an advise for anyone who wants to pursue a career in graphic design?
Yeah, stop asking me for free classes. lol but really, stick to it, don't give up! If you want to follow a career in art, do it! I told my parents in high school that I wanted to make art for a living, my aunts were pissed because they wanted a lawyer. I didn't care, I wanted to be happy with what I did... everyday. When you do what you love, you won't ever work a day in your life.
9. In the future, how do you want your art to be used for the greater good?
Greater good? I would love to help with a campaign to legalize marijuana, that's the greater good in my opinion. This lame 'war on drugs' has gone far enough, I know a lot of good people in trouble for marijuana related offenses that, honestly, do not deserve to be prosecuted because the government won't own up to another failed war.
roc on,
:://funk.out_
Check out Joey more of Joey Funk's art!!
