Ben
: Ok, it's time. This is the Russ Pope interview of November
2002. The first thing that we'd like to hear about is the background of
your skateboarding career. Let's start with Small Room Skateboards:
What was your affiliation with Small Room Skateboards ? Russ:
I was a team rider and I worked on the different zines and black and white copy
machine artwork that we did for logos and t-shirts and boards and stuff.
I contributed artistically and with the team B: So
you did some of the graphics for Small Room, hand-drawn stuff obviously, but you
used the copy machine to distort things and stuff like that? R:
Ya, it was total zine-style. It was mostly copy machine art. The guy
who ran the company, Louis, did a lot of different copy machine graphics.
Some of it was drawn. It took different elements, either drawn, or found
elements from books/photographs, or whatever. And then, wrecking them on
the copy machine, turning them into black line art and then cutting rubies for
the other layers to go underneath it. B: Oh,
that's cool. The next company that you were involved with after Small Room was
that SMA on the timeline? 
R:
Ya. B: What was your involvement there? R:
For SMA, I was the team manager. While I was still riding for Small Room,
I moved to Santa Cruz with my girlfriend, who is now my wife and I started working
at NHS. I did sales for a year. Then I started running the team,
you know, team manager stuff, doing the ads and art direction. It was when
skateboarding was really taking a crap and everything was shrinking. NHS
downsized quite a bit so everyone had to wear a lot of hats. Like, the team
manager was also a brand manager. We did team promotions, art direction,
ad design, even photography and video production. B:
Wow, that's a lot of hats to wear. So was it from that point that
Creature started? R: Well, sort of.
That went on for a while. We worked on a bunch of other projects during
that time. We started a clothing brand for NHS while I was there.
And after that is when I started Creature. There were a couple of people
who rode for SMA, like Jason Adams, who wanted to do something new. I wanted
to go do something new and we talked to a few people about doing a new company
called Creature. But, I talked to Novak and he was up for starting a new
project. So I went for it. I wanted to create something new instead
of running something that already had a set image. I wanted to set the tone
for its graphic imagery. B: That's great.
Who all rode for Creature? R: Barker Barrett,
Jason Adams, Dorian Tucker, Darren Navarette, Ronnie Marshall. At the end,
I think, Crazy Eddy did. But that would be it. It was pretty
small. A tight knit bunch of guys. B: So,
you were basically the mastermind, you could say, behind Creature? R:
We took Creature in a completely different direction away from the way they typically
did business at NHS. We set up all new foreign and domestic distribution
for Creature. I basically barricaded myself up in this office; butcher papered
the windows so no one could see in, and worked in my Creature cave. I didn't
really talk to anyone there about what I was doing. I tried to keep it as
separate as possible with it still being there, which was difficult. It
was a new market for them. I tried to just make it as separate as possible
while still being under the same roof. In the long run, it turned
out to be hard to do that. It was a real important thing to me then.
But now, in retrospect, it probably wasn't all that big of a deal. But it
seemed like it was really what needed to happen at the time. B:
So, because you felt you needed to keep Creature separate from everything
else that was going on at NHS, is that what sort of gave way to the beginning
of another company called, Scarecrow? 
R:
Uh huh. B: And you were completely the person
behind Scarecrow as well, just like Creature, right? R:
Ya, but the difference was that I moved back to San Luis Obispo and went into
business with a friend of mine, a partner in CCS, Mike Adamski. And we funded
it ourselves. Whereas before it was NHS's money, with Scarecrow it came
from us. So it was truly our company. With Creature, it was our company,
but when push came to shove, I didn't own the name. That's when I started
Scarecrow. It was basically a continuation of Creature. It was like
round two, I guess. We took everybody from Creature over there and added
a few new people, Joe Nemeth, Ben Horton and a whole new wheel team. B:
Besides the location and the fact that it was your money with Scarecrow,
would you say there were any other differences between Scarecrow and Creature?
R: Ya, definitely. Graphically it was
similar, with spooky graveyard art. But it was completely different.
I mean, NHS was huge, with a more corporate atmosphere. There were a bunch
of really cool guys there, but at that time, for me, it wasn't that appealing.
With Scarecrow, it was just you and I in that old, spooky, haunted house looking
place. We ended up calling it Haunted House Distribution. It was just
two guys running around like crazy trying to make things happen. We were
constantly answering phones, trying to sell skateboards, cut rubies, receive stuff,
pack boxes, ship it out. We did a lot of things NHS,
or larger companies couldn't do, like answering every phone call, making sure
every box went out, if it missed UPS, we'd drive it to UPS to make sure it went
out. And we were able to create sales, where we normally probably wouldn't
have been able to have them, just because we took good care of our people.
And it was fun doing that because we were totally immersed in it. At least
that's how I felt. B: Ya, definitely.
I can say that everyone who got involved with Scarecrow got immersed in it.
During that time of Scarecrow, or even as far back as Creature, were there many
other companies using the horror-style graphics or even skulls then? R:
No. People had used skulls. Powell had used skulls. In the early
eighties, everybody had their stereotypical gooey, skully graphic. But nobody
else was doing the graveyard thing, the spooky graphics. Skateboarding was
really in the hip hop world then. It was pretty Yo. So what
we were doing was not perceived as cool by the general population. I'm sure
you remember going to trade shows; we stuck out like a sore thumb. That
worked for us. We were supplying stuff to a niche of people who didn't want
to be doing what everybody else was doing. At the same time, it prevented
us from getting all that big, which was cool. It was fun. But it wasn't
the way it is now that punk rock skulls and spooky stuff are cool. We definitely
got some strange looks from people. B: So,
you could say, in a way, it was pretty innovative. Not so much in the skull
region, but in the horror and slash and terror-style of graphics. R:
It was pretty innovative. I think the only other person I knew who had done
anything like that was Gavin O'Brien. He used Nosferatu and some bat stuff
for Strange Notes and for some Santa Cruz stuff, like Ross Goodman had some gravedigger
stuff. But those were all one-time deals. That wasn't the company's
general theme. So, ya, I guess so. B: Those
were great graphics. Speaking of all the graphics today, what do you think
about the resurrection of the dead-style graphics that we see so much of now? R:
For the people, who are truly into it, I think it's super cool. I
love to look at that stuff, Famous Monsters of Filmland and old black and white
movies. I still love all that imagery. But most of it now is not based around
that. I don't mean this as a jab; most of it is just being done because
people think that's what they need to make in order to appeal to the kids of today.
I guess they are just watching the trends. B:
What role does all of this, the companies you have worked for, the kind
of imagery you like to see on skateboards and that you have created for skateboards
and the lifestyle of being a skateboarder, what role does this play in your painting?
Or does it play a role at all? R: The stuff
that I paint and draw is really not horror film imagery at all. My painting
and drawing stuff, I really just do for me. I don't have the desire to do
art for skateboards, really. I have done them, but
I don't have the desire to subject myself to the scrutiny of a manufacturer or
company judging my art by how well a skateboard sells. I just want to make
my art for myself and if someone winds up digging it, cool. If not, that's
cool too. B: You recently had an art show in
Portland, Oregon. R: So did you. B:
How do you feel about hanging your paintings on the walls in the gallery
for people to see? R: It's cool.
I don't show with the idea of "man, I hope I sell a lot of paintings."
I show with the idea that this is going to be fun, having people come and react
to my stuff, positively or negatively. I get what I get out of that and
someone else will get something else out of it. But the commerce side of
it is not a concern. I sell some stuff and other stuff doesn't sell.
That's fine, it doesn't really matter. B: When
I was there, I noticed some of the images, roosters, etc. were recurring in your
paintings. Would you say this is a subconscious or conscious inclusion of
these images? R: I would say it's both.
I think I have a handful of characters I revisit on a regular basis. And
then, I like to introduce new ones along with them: black brant ducks, the
rooster or bulls. B: What material do you use
to make your paintings? R: Raw ones. B:
What is the surface? What do you use? R:
Mixed media on canvas. Almost always its acrylics on canvas. Sometimes
I use oil pastels or some collage. Occasionally it's on wood. I did some
bottles for the show in Portland too, and some drawings on paper. B:
For the acrylics, are you using brushes? R:
Ya. B: Always? R:
Almost always. And then, all the paint I use is not art store paint; it's
Home Depot leftovers. It's the mismatched, all the unwanteds. I try
to find the paint store that has the most bad mixes. I don't know if it's
because they have a crappy mixer or if people just don't
know how to pick colors. I buy gallons of bad mixes for real cheap.
Then I can be more frivolous with it. B : What
are you looking for when you are picking out these colors? Are you looking
for bright colors, dull colors, similar colors to what you already have?
R: I have some favorites like a baby blue,
pale olive colors, seafoam green. I try to seek those out. I buy those
and some bright colors for accents. But the bright colors are usually hard
to find. B: So, speaking of these bright colors
and things you like, are there any painters that have influenced you? R:
Neil Blender, Chris Johanson's stuff, Basquiat, Thomas's, Rauschenberg, my son,
Blaize's art and children's art in general, your stuff. B:
Besides painters, are there any people that come up and are influencing
you in the thoughts that you put down on the canvas? R:
Yes, everyone I see. I have sketchbooks all over the place, on my
desk at work, in my backpack. I see stuff out in the world, like a kooky
guy, and I'll come back and draw him. Or I'll pick up on things people say.
You know, I deal with a lot of people, and it's amazing some of the things that
come out of their mouths. I'll make paintings from their quotes. Or
even lines from a song can make me want to make a painting. B:
Like when you are listening while you are painting?
R: Ya, or even when I'm driving I've written
down lines from a song to incorporate into a painting. But, definitely the
music I listen to while I'm painting is influential, especially with the background
stuff. B: Is there anything that you tend to
think about while you are painting? Like the characters you come back
to, consciously or subconsciously. Or is it more of a therapeutic-type process
where you are relaxing and clearing your mind? R:
I guess I come back to music all the time. I'm always thinking of music
because I usually have my headphones on while I'm painting. The brushstrokes
and the backgrounds of what I'm painting or the colors are all motion, music.
You can see the background motions, swipes and different colors that might groove
with that music: Coltrane [UU1] [UU2] , Devo, The Hunns, whatever, they
become strokes. B: How often do you paint? R:
Sometimes it's daily. Right now, I've been on a three-week binger.
I'll get home and do the dinner routine with my family. Then I'll go out
into the garage and be out there until two in the morning. I come out, scrub
down, go to sleep and go to work. I'll do that every day for weeks.
Then, other times, I will just draw in my sketchbook and not touch a paintbrush
for weeks. B: That's pretty amazing to paint
every day for weeks like that. What advice would you give to people reading
this who maybe can't get their thoughts together or find time to really concentrate
and paint and get things done. For some people there is kind of a blockage
there. What would you say? What makes it flow for you? R:
Sometimes I will have a rough night when it's just not working. I will go
out there and everything I'm doing sucks. It used to be that I'd stop.
But now, most of the time, I'll just keep painting. Even if I think what
I'm doing isn't great or I'm not into what I'm doing. I'll just keep rolling
with it and somewhere down the line, I will be feeling it and I'll start having
a great time. And if that is not the case and I go out into the garage the
next morning and think what I've done is awful, I just paint over it. That's
the hot thing about painting. It's your deal; if you aren't into it, just
paint over it. But I really want to lay a line down and leave it.
I don't want to toil over it. I want to lay it down and have it work and
leave it there. B: Do you see a movement going
on in skateboarding right now kind of like an art/skateboarding movement of people
who are in the skateboarding industry that are also doing a lot of art and it
kind of getting popular? Or, do you see the creative drive behind skateboarding
and the art that has always been in skateboarding getting more popular because
skateboarding is getting more popular? R:
That's a tough one. I think that the act of skateboarding itself used to
be an artistic thing, and in my opinion, it's much less so now. It
was an artistic thing to be involved with in the old days with paint-penning on
your grip tape or on your shoes, customizing clothing, or making flyers, all that
type of stuff. That's all artistic stuff. There is an artistic side
to skateboarding. It's being creative. Skateboard culture, in general,
has become more popular; there are people who still do this stuff but not the
majority of skateboarders. That's ok, though, things change.
B: You could say that all aspects of
skateboarding have become popular, including the art and the creative side of
it. Let's talk about what you think about while you are painting.
When you go out there, in the garage, throwing the paint on the canvas, what are
you thinking about? R: Typically, by the time
I go out there and start to paint, I know what I'm going to lay down, as far as
all the black line images on top. So that has pretty much already been decided.
I keep a bunch of sketchbooks all over the place and the drawings I wind up liking
enough to make a painting of, I do. But the backgrounds and colors and the
brush strokes and movements and stuff that give the painting life, these happen
because of what I'm thinking of at that moment, which is
typically music. I almost always listen to music when I'm painting.
Whatever I'm listening to definitely influences the colors I'm using and the strokes
I'm laying down. The stuff I lay down on top of that usually comes from
my sketchbook as reference material. B: Where
is Russ Pope now in the world of skateboarding/art? R:
I work at Black Label Skateboards. I get up and go work with Black Label
dudes: Lucero, Tom, Patrick and everyone on the team. That's what I do. B:
Are you involved in the creative process there? R:
Absolutely. John is the creative man behind Black Label, but he's cool,
in that, he will take creative direction and ideas from other people. So,
I definitely get involved with creative direction there. B:
What creative things are you doing currently? R:
I just did a t-shirt for RVCA for the Artist's Network Program. They have
artists do t-shirts for them and then they have the artists chose a charity to
donate a percentage of the proceeds to. They have done t-shirts with Templeton,
Neil (Blender), Barry McGee, Mark Mothersbaugh, Jason Lightle, a whole bunch of
people, anyway I just did one of those and it's coming out in the spring.
RVCA is also organizing an Artist's Network Program art show for spring of next
year, so I'm doing that. I'm working on this interview for Strength and
putting some small stuff together for a small show in London. My friend,
Shon, is building my website, russpope.com (it should be up now). I'm also
working on this small bag side project, it will be distributed by Giant.
Basically just these ghetto, non-technical canvas bags that will be silk-screened
on. Super simple stuff. It's the opposite of what other people are
doing right now. B: You designed these bags? R:
Yes. It is just a couple. Then we may do more. It will either
work or flop. It's a cool creative thing to do for people who don't want
to walk around with a storm-proof, zipper clad, water bottle holding bag. B:
Where will we be able to find these bags? R:
Skateboard shops. Giant will be distributing them. B:
You mentioned you did some graphics in the past, have you done any lately? R:
Ya, I did a series of graphics called the funeral series for Black Label.
It was a Scarecrow or Creature-esque series of graphics. A one shot deal,
John asked me if I would be into it and I was, so we did it. B:
What closing comments do you have? R:
Thank you to all the people who have enabled me to live my life as a skateboarder,
both as a skateboarder and to financially make my living off of skateboarding.
I feel fortunate that I don't have to get up and go to a stereotypical job every
day. I get to go to work with friends and look at artwork and touch and
hold skateboards all day long. I get to do business with people I enjoy
doing business with. Thank you to Denike and Novak for giving a younger
me a chance. Mike Adamski for partnering up with me for Scarecrow. Jim,
CCS, Savier, Lucero, anybody who has been willing to work with me and helped me
stay in skateboarding through the years. I also want to thank my wife, Jennifer,
Ben and all who have supported me artistically whether by buying my art or helping
book a show or supplying subject matter to paint from. Thanks. | 
