jon juarez: an illustrated interview
Who is Jon Juarez?
I’m a climber with a pony’s buttocks and a beaver’s arms who wears the type of blue tarpaulin Dad used to wear back in the 70’s.
What’s your main source of inspiration?
I’m not sure about all the ingredients I’ve needed to stew all of that together, but I’ve found most of them through the Internet, books and
films, Tumbler, Facebook, blogs and, of course, Gipi, Kubrick, Orwell, Bradbury, Tarantino, Bakunin... And in recent years Leire Salaberria
has been good fuel for my ideas, ha ha! And then travelling, being in the mountains and going wild have been indispensable.
What’s an illustrator’s contribution to society/life?
Sorry, I’ve gone a bit cosmic. Life’s very violent from the biggest galaxy to the smallest particle. People, those rational animals, and their governments, those idiots who organize all the violence, who legislate it... but the only natural things here are violence and chaos. So all beings have their/our violent character. Er... What was the question? Ah, yes, art! Art is an organ for digesting all of that violence, art is capable of digesting it because it is a member of the violence family. It’s chaotic and wild. Violence bites and art digests.
If you weren’t an illustrator, what would you do?
I’ve been working with wood recently and I’ve really enjoyed it, playing at little houses... it’s something that’s put my way of working in question. I know I’d rather do that than publicity.
What is it you like least about drawing?
What I hate most is doing perspectives. Even if it works out, it’s very tiring work. I don’t like cars much, either, ha ha!
What do you dream about when you wake up? What do you dream about when you’re asleep?
When I’m awake I have a lot of projects in my head, climbing projects, comics, short stories, cartoons... it’s really enlivening and tiring at the same time. And when I’m asleep I fly.
If you had to imagine yourself as an animal, what would you be?
An animal that lived in the balde!
I’m a climber with a pony’s buttocks and a beaver’s arms who wears the type of blue tarpaulin Dad used to wear back in the 70’s.
What’s your main source of inspiration?
I’m not sure about all the ingredients I’ve needed to stew all of that together, but I’ve found most of them through the Internet, books and
films, Tumbler, Facebook, blogs and, of course, Gipi, Kubrick, Orwell, Bradbury, Tarantino, Bakunin... And in recent years Leire Salaberria
has been good fuel for my ideas, ha ha! And then travelling, being in the mountains and going wild have been indispensable.
What’s an illustrator’s contribution to society/life?
Sorry, I’ve gone a bit cosmic. Life’s very violent from the biggest galaxy to the smallest particle. People, those rational animals, and their governments, those idiots who organize all the violence, who legislate it... but the only natural things here are violence and chaos. So all beings have their/our violent character. Er... What was the question? Ah, yes, art! Art is an organ for digesting all of that violence, art is capable of digesting it because it is a member of the violence family. It’s chaotic and wild. Violence bites and art digests.
If you weren’t an illustrator, what would you do?
I’ve been working with wood recently and I’ve really enjoyed it, playing at little houses... it’s something that’s put my way of working in question. I know I’d rather do that than publicity.
What is it you like least about drawing?
What I hate most is doing perspectives. Even if it works out, it’s very tiring work. I don’t like cars much, either, ha ha!
What do you dream about when you wake up? What do you dream about when you’re asleep?
When I’m awake I have a lot of projects in my head, climbing projects, comics, short stories, cartoons... it’s really enlivening and tiring at the same time. And when I’m asleep I fly.
If you had to imagine yourself as an animal, what would you be?
An animal that lived in the balde!
