BASK, is a walking sponge. Since immigrating to the United States from communist Czechoslovakia in the 80s, the Florida-based urban artist known as BASK (an acronym for “Because Art Should Kill”) has absorbed and retained all things iconographic. BASK uses his rugged yet refined painting and wood-working techniques to expose the underlying capitalist intent that most imagery has in our lives, whether it be something as transient and common place like a logo found on everyday objects or the passive slogan insisting a product– or person– is something you should add to your life. Ahead of his upcoming solo exhibition, “Tight Around the Trigger,” First Amendment Gallery asked BASK to provide a glimpse into those images that he has in his arsenal of references, dissecting how our internalized responses to these images seeps out of us when it’s least expected or, at times, warranted.

Interview by L. Herrada-Rios

Q & A has been edited for clarity.

Your work strongly references advertisements as a form of propaganda. Are there any recent/newer icons or ads in pop culture that have especially grabbed your attention recently or that you have noticed people gravitate towards?

Advertising/propaganda in all forms saturates every moment of our lives now more than ever given how connected the world is. Some of it is nefarious in nature, while others just want to introduce us to a product they hope we need or want.

That said, I’m always absorbing everything that comes at me but in most cases not as the source intended. What I mean by that is that whenever a brand logo, or corporate slogan, makes their way into my work, it’s almost always completely out of its original context and, aside from it’s possible recognizability, has nothing to do with the source of origin. In fact, it’s familiarity is usually the only reason I use it but in my work it takes on an entirely different meaning and transcends from representing a specific product or corporation to a metaphor. For example, in [“Tight Around the Trigger”], I incorporated the American Greetings logo and slogan “Says It Best” to address the aggressive immigration and refugee crisis at our border.

I’m constantly taking pictures of half torn headlines or pieces of trash with some logo or image that happens to cross my path, like a man-made garbage tumbleweed. In that moment, I may not have any idea when or why I will want to recreate/incorporate those items into a painting but it’s there if I need it. The way I approach my work is not unlike the way DJ’s dig into crates looking for the diamonds in the rough; only where DJ’s have crates and shelves full of records in their collection, I have dozens of drawers and file cabinets filled with various ephemera.

You are one of very few artists that I know of that is both radical in beliefs as well as in their studio practice. The abrasive yet familiar imagery and content in your work commands attention, while the usage of salvaged and repurposed materials is a decision that acknowledges the amount of waste people even with the best intentions create. Is it a conscious choice to use wood and upcycled materials? Do you think using these materials adds to the message or the emotion of your body of work?

Absolutely. The same part of me that is attracted to various bits of printed advertising of days past is the same part that seeks out discarded materials to work on. I like the idea of turning something, someone no longer wanted or it has run out of its usefulness and breathing a new life into it. Not only that but used, weathered wood, or dismantled sections of old furniture has so much character. I had to start getting more selective in my “collection” process however. For a while, my studio, which is a house in a residential area, began to look not unlike Fred Sanford’s (from the TV show, Sanford & Son) house as I kept dragging some new piece of whatever I got from God-knows-where… But even with my more careful editing, it can still get kind of wild. Thankfully, my OCD tendencies are a helpful asset in this case and I keep my collection of “one man's trash, another man's treasure” pretty well organized. There are parts of my studio that look like shelves and shelves of books in a library but at closer inspection, it’s various panels cut down, painted and stored away.

I will add that this thinking extends to most of who I am. I can’t subscribe to the “throw-away culture” that many people choose to participate in. When I need to buy anything, I always look for a permanent solution to my need/want, and not a temporary fix.

For “Tight Around the Trigger,” you expand on your signature usage of pop culture icons to comment on the growing inability for the public at large to carry honest discourse about subversive yet important subject matters, essentially triggering or provoking the worst in a person. To further hone in on this theme, you use a variety of visual metaphors including the image of comic book icon Bruce Banner and his more recognizable alter-ego, The Incredible Hulk. Can you expand on the metaphoric imagery you used for this exhibition? Do you think it is important to be open-minded when your beliefs are challenged? Also, is the Hulk your favorite anti-hero?

The Hulk never interested me as a form of entertainment. And as much as I grew up and love comic books, I never gravitated to the storylines he was put in. The one major exception to this is the Incredible Hulk TV series that aired in the late Seventies and early Eighties. The fundamental framework around it was one of loneliness, alienation, isolation, and overall tragedy. It captures perfectly through exaggeration the struggle of being a socially adjusted individual who can turn into the worst version of themselves when angered, or triggered. Every episode ends with David Banner (as he was called on the TV show) needing to relocate, lonely and isolated with outstanding warrants simply because someone came at him sideways, flipped his switch and he lost control. This otherwise brilliant, mild-mannered individual turned into a raging, destructive monster. We all have this potential inside of us and in recent years, it’s become clear that some of the ugliest versions of who we think we are or strive to be as a society have begun to cutloose. One obvious but notable difference between the fictional character, Hulk, and real life is the fact that in real life, nothing operates in a vacuum. Any Hulk-like loss of control on one side of a social political issue has the likely potential for an equally ignorant and volatile Hulk-ness to emerge from the opposing side.

When the limbic system of our brain gets turned all the way down and we begin to react/respond/operate with only our most reductive sensors/lizard brain, the solution to problems [that arise] in this state are not nuanced and certainly don’t consist of empathy; it’s fight or flight all day and I’m dug in for fight. This is the mindset of too many people today and, if history could teach [us] anything, it is that nothing golden comes from navigating problems, relationships, or even enemies this way.

When I decided on using this baseline for my show, it wasn’t long before I started to look at that Hulk TV series as an appropriate metaphor and/or mascot [for “Tight Around the Trigger”]. The Hulk image in some form or another only appears in a few paintings but represents the philosophical anchor of the show as a whole. (Fun fact, the launch of the tv pilot for the Incredible Hulk coincidentally happened the same year that I was born.)

I recently discovered that some of your art was used in Iron Man 3 predominantly during the scenes where Ben Kingsly’s villain, the Mandarin, is in his lair making terrorist videos. While I was unaware that you were the artist behind the villain’s backdrop, I do remember that the work was powerful and even threatening within the context of the movie. Your work in general does have a darker implication of the dangers of propaganda and even offers comedic relief with the usage of superheroes and other popular slogans and characters that audiences can relate to. As you are a working artist, do you ever find it hard to balance out your personal beliefs with the goals of your clients?

I was lucky in that I got to work with the same creative department in both Iron Man 3 and Fate of the Furious. I say “lucky” because I know how controlled and specific the look and feel these giant blockbusters have. Yet, somehow they let me in the door and, with only a few notes of general context, they let me do whatever I wanted with no inference. Not everything I did for both these films is visible in the final edit but I’m proud to say that what is seen is 100% without compromise.

And yes, most of my work has a dark undertone with a comedic wink. I intentionally like the balance of these seemingly opposite platforms and try to operate/create on the thin line of demarcation that separates tragedy from comedy.

Thanks to BASK for providing a personal insight into his influences and thought processes for his upcoming solo exhibition. “Tight Around the Trigger” opens Friday, March 6th from 7pm–10pm at First Amendment Gallery, 1000 Howard St. in San Francisco’s SoMA district. For more information on this show, available works, or commissions, please contact us at info@1amsf.com.

Blog

Q & A with BASK