Matt Furie interview
HUCK caught up with the esoteric artist based in San Francisco to talk David Attenborough, pizza-eating Muppets and video game art.
More like this...
Looking through Matt Furie's portfolio is like jumping on Falkor the Luckdragon's back and flying through Fantasia to defeat the void of darkness that consumes everything. That is, it's like losing yourself inside The NeverEnding Story or another gem of an 1980s fantasy adventure.
The 31-year-old illustrator based in San Francisco takes inspiration from things like "kids' drawings of monsters, candy boxes and cartoon eyeballs". His work is full of references to old Nintendo video games and creatures like Gremlins and The Muppets – albeit with a dark and often sexual twist. These are cartoonish creations for grown-ups and pay homage to a time when sci-fi and fantasy had more faith in the power of imagination.
HUCK caught up with the prolific artist as he participates in a group show Stella Luminosa at Electric Works, San Francisco.
HUCK: What was it like growing up in Ohio?
Matt Furie: As a kid I lived in a place that had a big field beyond the backyard. Across the field was my elementary school. There was a playground there. I had everything a kid could want: a basement-bedroom complete with a drawing desk and a Nintendo, a great dog that slept at the end of the bed with me, a little brother to play Lego with and a bunch of toys and comics and Supersoakers and stuff like that.
When did you move to San Francisco and how did you find the art scene?
I moved when I was 21 and just finished college. I looked on fecalface.com to find art shows and started going to Upper Playground [the gallery] because my co-worker worked the security there and free booze was available.
How do you find it now? Where’s cool to go and check out?
There are a lot of good alternative spaces in San Francisco that show art. I like Needles and Pens, Giant Robot, Super 7, RVCA, Triple Base, Fecal Face Dot Gallery, 111 Minna, Adobe Books Gallery, and many more. I find places by word of mouth, the internet and just walking around.
What’s with your cheeseburger and pizza obsession?
Those were always the two best options for a meal. Both of the foods are classic and fun but also processed and nutritionally questionable. The more you learn about a cheeseburger, the less you know about life.
There a loads of BMXs in your work. Do you ride? How come there aren't more skateboards?
I don’t skateboard but I do ride a bike. It’s not a BMX - I never rode one of those. I like drawing BMX bikes because they have those pads on them.
I read that you take a lot of inspiration from the natural world. Do you like David Attenborough and why are animals so important to you?
It has to do with maintaining a wonder about the Earth. My drawings mix my interest in the natural world and all of the crazy biodiversity out there with human stuff like fast food, cartoons and horror movies. I do like David Attenborough and I really respect his wisdom and passion for the world outside of human construction. It’s funny because animals seem to be important to kids and then you become an adult and grow out of that fascination with animals. I live in a city and feel disconnected with nature but I do like reading about it and seeing shows like Attenborough’s Life in the Undergrowth. When I do make it outside of the city, it’s great to smell the fresh air and see all of the plants and insects and lift up a rock and see what is going on under there. Sometimes I think of the entire human race as one big blob that is draining the earth like a vampire, but most of the time I think we are all miracles, stardust and one love.
What’s your favourite animal?
Right now my favourite animal is a rat.
Whose art inspires you?
I like kids' art. It’s rare but if you are able to go to a thrift store and find a notebook with some kid’s writing or drawing in it, plus it’s good, that is like gold. Kids just do art to entertain themselves and boys usually draw cool creatures, weapons and monsters. I like art that is weird and doesn’t look perfect. Some examples, which are all named Matt, include Matt Leines, Mat Brinkman and Matt Lock.
Can you tell us a bit about your Boys’ Club series?
It’s a comic series about four Muppets that are in their twenties and live together. They are nerds and don’t leave the apartment much. They don’t have jobs. I made up a new character 'Bird-Dog' for the last issue. He has a job. He is a pizza guy. I’m making it for jokes. It’s garbage.
You also created a tea set in collaboration with London-based collective Jaguar Shoes. Do you like collaborating?
The tea set was their idea and I went along with it. I’m looking forward to seeing it. I haven’t seen it yet. I like collaborating with people and companies sometimes. It’s better that working a shit day job.
What were the challenges of creating artwork for Return Of The Quack video game?
That was pretty smooth. I just did all the drawings: backgrounds, enemies, bosses, power-ups, etc. Then game designer Chevy Ray Johnson made it all into a video game. It was fun. Then we asked the musician Nullsleep to do the music and he said 'yes' so I’m happy about everything.
Do you play video games?
I don’t play them much now but I grew up playing them. I’m from a generation that was raised on Super Mario Bros and games like that. I like old games. I like the look of old games: eight bit and 16 bit. There is something beautiful that happens because of the limitations of the old graphics. It’s a flat, strange and incomplete world. Sometimes I go for a bike ride and pretend I’m in a video game. I’ll have my headphones on and I’ll be listening to AFX. I think I do that because my brain was reprogrammed by video games when I was a kid.
As you get older do you envisage your work changing?
I hope to eventually loosen up. My drawings are getting more and more detailed and I’m becoming a slave to those details.
What keeps your imagination ticking over?
Acid rain, candy boxes, thrift stores, children’s books, volcanoes, wasps, heartbeats, veins, blackness, teeth, fruit, my girlfriend, cartoon eyeballs, horror, the haunted sky, the way smoke fills a room, parasites, industrial music, kids' drawings of monsters, mutants, the Terminator, animals, Freddy [Kruger], dragons, stone walls and rats.
Subscribe to HUCK for six issues
Only £21 (UK) / £44 (EU) / £59 (Rest of the World).
Matt Furie interview (text) by Shelley Jones is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Comments (1)
Please note: Your comment may be held in moderation for approval by an administrator to prevent spamming. This usually doesn't take long, please be patient.