Interviews with Radical Growers + Makers - CJ from Black Lodge Press
Interviews with Radical Growers + Makers.
This new part of my blog is an excuse for me to reach out to people I admire and ask the personal burning questions I have, which wouldn’t necessarily be appropriate under any other setting.
To start with a bang im featuring the brilliant CJ from Black Lodge Press. When I first came across CJ’s beautiful political prints and posters I had a real heart beating, mind racing moment, I was immediately in love with his bold brilliant imagery and hungry to see more of it. it felt like the visual stimulus id been hunting for, each image more inspiring than the next. Im pretty sure you’ll feel the same.
Can you tell me a little bit about yourself as an artist and how you started out?
Oof, it feels like a lifetime ago but I started as a zine maker. I've been heavily into DIY punk and radical politics since I was about 14 and zines, self publishing, political art are all a massive part of that culture. I was also into graffiti art for quite a while, and for years I stickered and wheatpasted big illustrations of punk bears around Newcastle. I didn't go to art school or learn art in a formal capacity after high school so it's all been a bit of a process! A few years ago I started Black Lodge Press, which originally was a means of publishing zines and comics by myself and friends. It's since morphed into a more personal project of political posters and artwork, centred around common themes of anarchy and anti-fascsism.
What drew you to print in particular as a medium?
I think print is the most egalitarian medium. Whether you screen print, lino print or use a photocopier; you can create as many as you like, and its affordable! I also love the different processes to it - I learnt how to screen print at the Star and Shadow (a radical social centre) in Newcastle as part of a DIY festival, and it feels a bit like magic when you blast the screen after exposing it and then your design is just there and ready to print!
What inspires your designs and how has your politics influenced your work?
Radical left politics are an inspiration behind lots of my designs; the voices of marginalised groups, the history of different social movements and the power of direct action. Alongside Black Lodge Press I also work 3 days a week for an LGBTQ HIV charity. The project I work on is based on providing sexual health services to marginalised groups such as sex workers, men who have sex with men, trans people, Gypsy and Traveller women and refugees and asylum seekers. This work is a big influence on my art too - when you work on the frontline with people facing immense discrimination and hate, and you see the systematic way in which Tory governments continue to make their lives harder, then it makes you angry and you want to make art that says something.
Can you give me a little insight into your process? How do you go about designing your prints?
Design by chaos! I start with the text, and then fit images around it which I feel fit the theme and tone of the message. I use a combination of drawn abstract images, found images from old books and postcards, and textures. I use a very old and very slow macbook which I bought 2nd hand in 2009! The images are edited and constructed in Pixelmator - a free programme you can download - and then they're either screen printed or riso printed. I bought a new latop a few years ago and downloaded the new version of Pixelmator, but I can't figure out how to use it, and don't even get me started on Photoshop.....So I continue to use the achingly slow old version on a dying laptop. I'm not sure what I'll do when it finally dies! I don't have the space (or time) at the moment for sorting my own printing, and so use the services of some great people - Footprint Workers Coop in Leeds, Vino Sangre in Norwich and Not Now Studio in Bristol.
Can you describe the space/studio where you create your work?
My current working space is my front room. I live in a 2 up 2 down terrace house, and so my front room has been turned into my art space housing drawers full of prints, t-shirts, zines etc. It's a little chaotic and a little stressful. But, I'm really excited to be moving house soon - I'm leaving the city and moving back to the country, and hope to spend all my time making art, growing a garden and hanging out with my little daughter. The new house has a big workshop in the garden which will be a proper working space for me and my partner (who is an amazing carpenter/joiner) - I can't wait!
What are your favourite artists, musicians/ sources of inspiration?
I'm a huge fan of Gee Vaucher, who created most of the artwork for the anarchist punk band Crass. Her designs are incredible - in your face, pointed, shocking but also hugely intelligent. Barbara Kruger is another big influence, as is Winston Smith who created artwork for the band Dead Kennedys throughout the 1980's. I also love the work of Cleon Petersen, who creates bold, graphic paintings on huge scales - often very dark thematically but all of them hugely political. Musically, Arthur Russell is my all time favourite artist - I created a zine of illustrations inspired by his work - and often listen to his albums when sat at my desk.
What is the main message your trying to get out there into the world?
I think the main message I try and put out is that radical political change is possible through action. Not by signing online petitions but by tangible action, whether that's committing direct action, protest, sabotage or graffiti or by starting community gardens, engaging in local activist groups, prison letter writing solidarity, whatever really! Off our computers and into the streets!
