Interview: Artist Jack Greer

Photographer: Lele Saveri

Meet Jack Greer. At age 26 he is able to call himself: artist, designer, photographer – and those are just a few titles to mention out of many others. BCD was lucky to catch him and get an interview. Please enjoy!

BCD: Tell us shortly about yourself and what you’re doing and which upcoming projects you are working on right now

Jack: I’m 26 years old – just turned the corner on the first quarter century of my life.  I live in New York City and work out of a studio that I share with some other artist friends called Still House.  Our space is located in Red Hook, Brooklyn – next to the IKEA (which seems to be the largest landmark for people to have a point of reference).  I’m working on several different projects right now – trying to get my work together for a show in Brussels coming up in the middle of June.  The show is with the other Still House artists and will be at Gallery Rodolphe Janssen.  I’m not sure what work of mine will be included but I’m currently experimenting with some stretched paper pieces that incorporate the same spraypainted bush and chain iconography I’ve been using.  I just finished a large book as well – a self published 1 of 1 edition book which is composed of images from the many high speed chases and shootouts between criminals and the LAPD (los angeles police department).  

 BCD: Where do you get your inspiration from? 

Jack: My inspiration comes directly from my experiences as a 26 year old male who grew up in los angeles.  My feelings and relationship with the world come from skateboarding and riding the bus, friendships and crews of people I associated with.  My work is a reaction to my understanding of the environment I grew up in and the associations I make between land, industry, communication, and so on.

 BCD: How would you characterize your style? 

 Jack: I think my style is somewhat indicative of being a ‘losangelino’ – there is a crispiness to my work but it is often comprised of industrial tools and has some dirt worked into it…chains, fences, etc.  

 BCD: And how about your clothing style?

 Jack: My clothing style is pretty ‘losangelino’ as well – city-kid-skateboarder-teenage-half-way-punk.  Dickies and vans and a plain t shirt.

 BCD: What has your biggest experience been so far (regarding your work)?

 Jack: My biggest experience…hmm, this is hard to answer because I can’t isolate a particular event that felt more overwhelming than the rest.  It seems as though the entire situation – starting with moving to New York and attempting to produce work, has been a gradual period of growth and unbelievable uncertainty.  So many things have happened that I wouldn’t have been able to foresee taking place that I’ve become somewhat desensitized to these events.  I would never expect anything to happen and therefore it feels as though anything could…as a result of this, nothing feels particularly substantial.  It’s hard to explain exactly, but a more positive approach to such a feeling is along the lines of accepting everything positive but not dwelling on it so much that it halts the ability to work harder towards something in the future.  I don’t want to be looking back on being ‘the highschool quarterback’ my entire life.

 BCD: What do you think it takes to make it within this field? 

 Jack: I’m not sure what it takes to make it, there’s a bunch of necessary elements mixed in with a bunch of luck along the way.  I don’t think it’s as clear as many other industries in which there is a slightly more visible track to follow in order to be successful in a particular field.  Nonetheless, persistence and hard work can’t hurt your chances.  Being honest with your work as well – I think people are relatively conscious of whether or not an artist believes in what he/she is producing.  You can only fake the funk so much before it becomes apparent that you aren’t invested in your ideas.  

 BCD: What are your goals for the future? 

 Jack: My goals are to continue to make work and hopefully do well enough along the way that I’m able to facilitate the production of larger works.  I have dreams of pieces that are just too big and costly to follow through with at this point – however, I would love to one day be able to allow those ideas to grow into realized works.  I have been thinking about making a piece that involves four different routes to a 2nd floor – this piece is about choices and communication.  I would like to have a dirt hill, a staircase, an escalator, and an elevator – each placed along side one another and all leading to the same space ‘upstairs’.  The gathering of people at the top is a place for casual conversation and such – the route with which you choose to take is completely up to the viewer…however, the viewer has to physically get involved in order to experience the piece.  I don’t really like passive enjoyment – the type of ‘scrolling’ on a website as a form of accessing work.  I think getting people together and involved in the work is a major component, much like The Gates project by Christo and Jeanne-Claude.

 BCD: .. Btw we saw an interesting picture on your instagram with a label saying “Jack Greer in collaboration with Marc by Marc Jacobs” – what is that about?

 Jack: The tag is from a couple garments I did the illustration and design for.  I was asked to create some drawings and graphics that could be rendered as prints and embroideries on some Marc By Marc Jacobs apparel.  The project was a lot of fun because very often freelance work ends up in print as opposed to being a tactile object or apparel piece that translates the original work into something new.

…If you want to see some of the things Jack has made, we have some videos for you right here:

Punk rock jackets

Spray painting