_Can you tell us wich was your project, your main aim composing Deformer? It has chandeg during the eleven years of production?

The idea was to explore the environment a person lives in to see how it affects the way they are. In this case I wanted to explore the suburbs I lived in and see how it shaped me as a person. I started thinking about this in 1995, and thinking it would be a book. That same year is when filmmaker Mike Mills came to make a documentary short film about almost the same subject, so we called the film Deformer. It has changed completely since the beginning! But the core has always been the same. It was going to be a pure artists’ book, with paintings and everything, but I grew up a bit and narrowed it down as I went. In retrospect, the last 5 years was a great learning experience about making books.


_Do you have any anecdote about Deformer back stage? Why eleven years to complete it?

Well, I say 11 years, really 13, because I started thinking about it in 1995, and actually started collecting things for it and coming up with layouts back then. I just had no place to publish it! Then in 2003 I got the book offer, so from 2003 and on, was when it really kicked into gear. It was 11 years because I had been carrying around the idea and some of the materials for that long. Only one of the original ideas for the book stayed, my mothers notes from bible radio. That was one of the first ideas I had, and it was going to be her portrait that I had painted across from them, but in time, I wanted it to be a photography book, so I took out the painted portrait and put in a photograph of her.


_What has you "deformed" until combine art, photography and skateboarding in your life? It's just a postmodern habits or it's an unrepeateble alchemy?

There is a certain alchemy, each person grows from their surroundings, influences, and choices of things to learn about. It matters what inputs you have, because those things you put into yourself are going to affect what comes out. Skateboarding has been my passion since I was 12 and my job since I was 18 years old. That is what gave me the time and money to pursue painting and photography. They go hand in hand to me.


_Orange County is changed from your childhood? What's the situation at the moment for the young american people?

Where I live is an extreme example of childhood in America. We are in the shadow of Hollywood and image and fame are very important. American kids are deluged with media through TV, music, movies, magazines, and it is all meticulously catered to create consumers out of them. That is why we are in this crisis in the financial markets. We created a consumer society that wants everything without paying for it.


_What can do the art and the skateboarding to change the contemporary world situation? Do you believe in a better future?

I don’t believe in a better future if we continue down this path we are on in America. Artists can do a little, they can keep people aware through their work, and make work that comments on out society. But nobody wants that art. Art is a rich mans game it seems. I do have optimism for the future, things will get better, but I wonder how long it will take to figure it out.


_Wich is your candidate for the White House?

I will be voting for Barack Obama. The war, Abortion rights, Stem Cells, Reason, and hopefully, accountability.

edited by D. Canzoniero

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