An Interview with Joey Potts

By Lauri Apple in Arts & Entertainment on Oct 15, 2008 5:30PM

Chicago painter and graphic artist Joey Potts started drawing cartoons when he was a youngster, deriving inspiration from sources ranging from cartoons and stuffed animals to his father's drawings. His work features bold colors, fantastical and strange-looking characters, and confident lines. He is currently working on pieces for upcoming shows taking place on three different continents.

On Friday, October 18, 32nd&urban: gallery/space (3201 S. Halsted St.) hosts the opening reception for Quest for the Cyclops Pyramid, Potts' first-ever solo exhibition, from 7-11 p.m.

Chicagoist: What does Quest for the Cyclops Pyramid mean?

Joey Potts: It is, above all, an enigmatic statement. I, of course, have my own interpretation of the mystery of the 'Quest', but do not want to steer the viewer into a certain interpretation of the pieces through my explanations. It is my hope that the viewer will be able to walk away with their own interpretation of the statement. For some, it may just be a bunch of strange characters and geometric shapes. For others, it may a story of underlying struggles, or an inside view of a world unknown to them.

C: How are these paintings different from your earlier work?

JP: I don't know that they are. They are a culmination of all the work I have done so far. If you were to hold a single piece I had done one, two, three, or four years ago, it would look different. If you were able to line up, chronologically, the 100-plus (I've lost count!) pieces I have done over the last few years, I believe you would see a natural progression that at the moment is culminating in Quest for the Cyclops Pyramid.

With each piece I do, I learn and grow, and take what I have learned and apply it to the next piece. I think the only difference in these works is the addition of geometric shapes to the highly detailed, organic characters that are prevalent in my pieces.

C: You base your characters on people you encounter in life. Who are they? Where are they from/how did you meet them?

JP: It is hard to pin-point one person to one character. My characters are a conglomerate of people and situations I experience first-hand or vicariously. I may see a man in a suit on the bus, and ten hours later see him again at the local dive bar completely wasted. And in between those 10 hours I have seen and encountered hundreds or thousands of other people going about their daily lives. In this bombardment of faces, situations, and chance encounters, you start to see similarities in people. It’s in these similarities, and in my own attempt to sort and make sense of them, that my characters are created. Granted, my characters are not very 'human'-like, but they all embody a sort of human aspect -- a recognition that we are all different, but the same.

C: How do you decide which colors to use in creating your characters? Do you associate certain meanings with different colors, or is it more of a spontaneous, gut-feeling thing?

JP: It is more of a gut feeling. I do quite a bit of drawing of my characters before I begin painting them, which gives me a much more personal connection to them. I feel this connection -- this comfort with the characters -- helps in the decision of what color they become.

C: You curated a group show last year. Tell us about that, and what you learned from the experience.

JP: The group show I curated, along with Revise CMW, was titled '(Im)Paired Visions'. We had 18 artists come together and collaborate on canvases and skateboards. It was a lot of work, but my God -- the pieces produced for that show were absolutely amazing. It was great seeing what one artist would do to another artist’s work -- and above all, the respect each artist gave to one another. It was one of those few group collaborative shows where no egos were shown; it was just artists doing great work and having fun doing it.

C: What is the Cartel, and how did you get involved?

JP: The Cartel is a collective of 12, soon to be 13 artists, all but one of whom are based in Chicago. The one not based in Chicago, Peabe, only recently moved out to San Francisco. It’s a collective of artists who are all friends and who all have the utmost personal and artistic respect for each other. We had all worked together, shown together, and drunk together, and we decided to start the collective as an umbrella under which we could stand both alone and as a group. Sometimes it’s hard to remember 13 names, but if you can remember the 'Cartel', then you can find us.

C: Tell us about Formula Werks. How did it begin, and how has it grown/changed?

JP: It’s a Chicago-based clothing and design collective. I can't tell you the complete background story behind it, as I did not start it -- it was started about five years ago by Ryan Waxenberg. He started making his own t-shirts, and people started noticing. Never being one to slack, Ryan went headstrong into turning Formula Werks into a now internationally-known and respected company. With that background, I came into Formula about 3 or 4 years ago, just after moving to Chicago. I had done a lot of t-shirt design right out of college, and was told by a mutual friend about Ryan. After a lot of emails and IM's, he decided to have me try my hand at a shirt for Formula. I guess he liked it and we've been working together ever since.