Joe O’Donnell – Issue 26 Interview

We upload Joe O’Donnell’s Vague, Issue 26 interview by Guy Jones to the web for your bank holiday enjoyment! Have a read in full below. If you haven’t seen already, we collaborated with Joe on some new Vague merch available here! We ship worldwide and all orders come with free stickers.

Introduction & Interview by Guy Jones

Photography by Jacob Johnson & Joel Peck

You know when you visit another city and the main high street of the typical horrors are screaming at you? A H&M lacking any flavour, a glitter explosion nightmare, the list goes on. You walk further and the streets start to seem more interesting, but essentially lack personality, a place for people who think they enjoy it but haven’t experienced anything better yet. Essentially it’s the equivalent of someone who talks over you with a diluted story of one you were half way through. Then you find a smaller street just out of the way, the buildings are timeless, it’s known to those who know but will never try to draw attention to itself. It doesn’t need to. This long winded analogy is a roundabout way of trying to show our appreciation for Joe O’Donnell, as mentioned several times in this publication. Those who don’t need to shout often have more to give and Joe’s modesty and output makes us feel all the more privileged to have his beautiful work across these pages. Thank you so much Joe.

Yes Joe! Thank you so much for doing this, this interview’s actually been in the works since the magazine’s inception. Could you tell us a bit about some of your early influences in art and skateboarding?

Hello! Yeah it has been in the works for a while now. My early influences are THPS2 and grffiti in Milton Keynes.

Did you originally move to Manchester to pursue illustration? Would you recommend the higher education route and did it act as a catalyst to get to your current output, as I know your journey through mediums has evolved significantly?

I moved to Manchester mainly to skate and finish filming for Jim Craven’s ‘Seven’ video. I had just finished studying Film Production in Preston and spent most of the time wishing I was studying Fine Art or Illustration. A few of my friends that I would visit in London were studying Illustration and it looked like a lot of fun, they really helped demystify illustration and made me believe it was something worth pursuing. When I would visit those guys and see them all making stuff I would get really keen to try and make my own art, in between working in NOTE and going skateboarding.

You’ve chosen to go more analogue with your craft recently, which I imagine has its negatives and benefits. I suppose the main one is having something physical which means more emotionally, as well as being less likely to have shit sponsored adverts walk into your living room. Could you please explain why you chose this path and has it induced more serenity?

I wanted my work to look a bit more like a human made it. I get a lot of enjoyment out of the physical processes of making my work and I take pride in having a physical outcome at the end. What used to be the finish line for my digital work is now only the beginning of the process, it makes the computer just a tool in the process rather than the be-all and end-all of my whole practice. Something about that makes me feel good.

Could you talk us through the process in balancing the cyber to physical, and what direction you feel like you’re heading? For example, are you planning to do more moving animation in future or will that depend on the brief? You’ve worked more with wood recently right? How is that?

Pretty much all my work starts out digitally and then I’ll paint it or make it into a wood cut or whatever else it may end up becoming. This is really handy because I can see almost exactly what the work is going to look like before putting the hours in to physically making it. I think my style of working is quite versatile so I want to keep myself open to as many dfferent ways of utilising it as possible, be that animation, painting, 3D work etc. The wood stuff is really fun, I love the extra dimension it gives the work and it’s another step removed from it being a vector on a computer screen.

Your style (as much as I hate this phrase) on and off the skateboard is timeless and always gets me hyped. What first appealed to you about dressing like River Phoenix in Stand By Me (which I fucking love), and do the plain white t-shirts ever become a nuisance when scranning a delicious This & That curry?

Haha, that’s not a connection I’ve ever made. I think Bobby Puleo in Static 2 is the main person to hold accountable for my choice of t-shirt for the last decade or so. I copped the Kirkland multipack and haven’t looked back since.

In typical skate journalism style, we’ve tried to draw parallels between your shreddery and artistic output. Obviously both take something which everyone can see but you always look further; be it skating a spot differently, or doing an animal portrait which nobody else could replicate, but I guess the main connection would be patience. Do you feel both activities have made you a more patient being, or is the secret that you spend four hours a day in a Radox bath?

I think enjoying the process is the most important thing. Once the brainwork of designing the piece is done, it really becomes more about the labour of making it, especially if I’m making a wood cut. I’m usually so relieved that the mentally taxing part is done that I can actually enjoy the physically taxing part and be excited to see how it turns out.

This again could be compared with balance, as it’s no secret you have one of the strongest nose mannys out there. Could you tell us how to have a better balance with outputs in our lives, and what your technique is to stay motivated?

I’m motivated by the enjoyment I get from working, that goes for skateboarding and making art. They are both quite addictive processes so I think I’m stuck in a loop of chasing the next thing.

On the subject of not being replicated, your work is very distinctive (which we obviously love), but is also so refreshing compared to the constant mimicking of styles in art, and skating for that matter. Could you please tell us your journey to your current output if you’d be so kind?

Thank you! I used to struggle to make work that I was happy with, and I felt like most of the artists whose work I admired had a consistency to it where you could instantly tell that they made it – whether that was a painting or a commercial project. When I was making digital illustrations I started to make rules for myself and set limitations on colours and shapes to hone in on a style where each individual piece looks like it belongs in the same universe as the ones that came before it. The rules have changed a little bit from my earlier stuff, but I think there are still elements that are the same.

Furthering this, are there any mediums or scales you want to experiment with further? I’d love to see fuck o massive pieces from you in public spaces or some surreal set design!

Those are both great ideas, I’d love to do both of them!

Do you enjoy exhibitions and shows and are there any that particularly stand out, or any we have the joy to look forward to?

I don’t get to as many as I would like to, but one that does stick out in my mind was the Keith Haring exhibition at the Tate in Liverpool. There were some videos of him painting on the floor in his studio that were great, he worked so quickly and with such confidence – I really admire that.

Through previous interviews with yourself, your art has been described as Teletext-esque. Do you think that the weather on Ceefax was the most accurate and what were your favourite things to load slowly on the tele?

I think I was a bit young for Ceefax, it would always look like someone was hacking into the Matrix when I used to see it as a kid.

I tried to also draw comparisons between your geographical location to your output and the closest I got is the right angles of Milton Keynes street furniture and circular roundabouts and again the right angles of Manchester’s block street system. Do your immediate surroundings influence your work?

I don’t think they do on a conscious level. I mostly make pictures of animals and nature these days, I want to make work that makes people smile.

Again on this subject your colour palette is gaaaawjus, is this inspired by again the grey surroundings of MK and Manny? If not what inspired these choices?

Haha, thank you! I think my colour choices come more from necessity; with all the limitations I set on myself for making the shapes of my pieces the colour is the thing that differentiates one shape from another. I like my colours to be as bold and generic as possible; the sun has to be yellow, the grass has to be green etc. I think it also comes back to my need for each piece to feel like it belongs with my other ones.

You’ve recently quit working in NOTE to do art full time, how is this going? Do you miss the interaction with members of the public who despite being 45 don’t know their shoe size? How beneficial do you feel it is to have worked jobs such as retail prior to doing art full time? Obviously no diss to those who waltz right into things through nepotism.

Yes, I decided to try going full time at the end of last year. It’s early days yet but I’m enjoying it and learning as I go. I count myself very lucky to have had the opportunity to work at NOTE. I moved to Manchester with no idea what I was going to do for work, I think Jim Craven put a good word in for me and Splodge hooked me up straight away. Those were really fun times and I’ll always be grateful for them so of course there is part of me that does miss it. Manchester is a big city with a big skate scene and a council that seemingly wants to do everything it can to stop it, so the shop is a real hub for skateboarders and I’m proud to have been a part of that.

Are there any commissions you have particularly enjoyed? I love the dog portrait numbers and I bet the recipients are so hyped on the finished piece.

The pet portraits are really fun. I kind of fell into doing them by accident, I painted a dog and suddenly people started asking me to paint more. It’s always exciting when a stranger in another country appears in my inbox with pictures of their pet, and seeing the final piece next to its subject is always a heartwarming experience.

In typical mag fashion could you please recommend some things; music/film, a day to day activity if you’d be so kind?

I would recommend listening to Do!! You!!! radio from Monday to Friday and going to This & That on Saturday and Sunday.

What have you got in the pipeline Joe and are there any parting words you’d like to finish this interview.

I’m not sure at the moment, I just want to keep working, learning and enjoying what I’m doing. Hopefully there will be more dogs and unexpected projects along the way. Thanks for having me! 🙂

Cop some of Joe’s amazing artwork in the form of clothing here (or by clicking the image below) and finally look as good as you should feel!