From their Facebook : "Sticky Fingers Art Prints Cambodia is a spin-off from The Cambodian Space Project but is quickly taking a life of it's own and providing training and work for a super cool team of young Cambodian print makers.". As you surely already know, here at Crewkoos', we are looking for poster artists from all around the world, so you can easily imagine how happy I have been when Julien answered my mail. I would like to thanks him, first, and to remind you, dear reader, that anywhere you may be on the planet, if you are drawing, silkscreening (or not) around rock events, you are very welcomed to contact me !
Hello, of course as every Crewk interview, first question: what are we listening to when we come to visit you?
Well, we’re always listening the best amazing, psychedelic rock’n’roll from pre-war Cambodia. Sticky Fingers is based in Phnom Penh and grew out of doing design work for my band The Cambodian Space Project so we’re playing tracks by the great singers of Cambodia’s Golden Era – Sin Sisamuth, Pan Ron, Ros Sereysothea to name a few. Right now, we’re also in the middle of a Soul Explosion, CSP’s vocalist Srey Channthy and the Sticky Fingers crew have just discover Stax and Motown classics and that’s what’s spinning today.
Can you tell us more
about yourself, who are you, where are you from, what do you do?
I’m Julien Poulson, originally from Tasmania, Australia but
now living and working in Cambodia. I work across art forms, music,
photography, design and illustration. I’ve been juggling this mix for a long
time. I remember my first screen pint job clearly, I was about 10 years old and
I printed 2 colour Tea Towels with a cartoon image of Australian Prime Minister
Malcolm Fraser who had come to power amid controversy, I added a quote from
Fraser “Life wasn’t meant to be easy” and the finished Tea Towels sold like hot
cakes. Many years later I met Malcolm Fraser and today have a great deal of
respect for him – he is Australia’s most reformed right wing political figure.
Today, we’re doing the same kind of things with Sticky Finger’s Fist of
Defiance Agitprop T-shirt series – images of free speech champions, Julian Assange,
Ai Wei Wei and Pussy Riot – next I’m cautiously producing a tribute image of a
local activist.
When did you start
drawing? Did you follow any course or did you improve by drawing in the margins
of your schoolbooks?
I was drawing and doodling for as long as I can remember. As
a kid, I once encouraged my younger brother to take a felt-tipped marker pen and
scribble all over the white walls of our parents’ house. With great enthusiasm
my brother and I produced these magnificent doodles all over the freshly
painted walls. All hell broke loose when the folks finally returned home, my
younger brother somehow took the rap thus ending his own short-lived career as
an illustrator. I’ve carried on and have sometimes worked as a political
cartoonist, an editorial illustrator and artist. I like drawing with brush and
ink but I’m out of practice, for me, drawing is something that requires a lot
of practice, it’s not something that comes naturally.
Today are you living
from your art, or do you do something else for a living ? Are you collaborating
with magazines/fanzines, regularly?
I guess I’m living from but probably better to say ‘for’ my
art and music, I don’t really do anything else and it occupies all my time.
However, I set up Sticky Fingers really to contribute skills and teaching to
young people here in Cambodia We really don’t make a profit but do this because
it’s something I consider valuable to share and a lot of fun to do. Right now
my main focus is working as a musician, producing and touring with The Cambodian
Space Project. For the past 2 years CSP has been on the road almost
continuously.
Where does your
influence come from? Is there any artists/graphists you particularly like, what
are your influences?
Well, I love Pop Art, Warhol, Hockney, Lichtenstein, as well
as the Dada concept of re-using borrowed or discarded things. I like all the
cutup art from the Punk era, Russian Agitprop posters, eighties graphic
designer Neville Brody, I’m into stealing images and ideas, re-appropriating,
then twisting them into some sort of parody that responds in a humorous or
provocative way to whatever situation has motivated me to ‘put pen to paper’ in
the first place. Right now I really like a lot of the graphic art and agitprop
art coming out of Indonesia. I travel a lot with the band and see cool, street
art everywhere.
What are the
principal steps in your work ? Do you do everything by hand or on computer? How
long does it take you to do a poster?
It doesn’t take long, maybe half a day to draft up the
concept, usually on computer for convenience of speed, sometimes by hand. Takes
another day or so of running around to make up screens of the colour
separations then my printer Visal at Sticky Fingers takes over and makes some
test prints. We limit our editions to 1/50 or 1/100 and it takes a day or two
to produce 100 finished prints.
You have a very
distinctive style, are you doing only what you feel like or if tomorrow
somebody asks you an oil painting with horses running out of water with a
sunset backdrop, is it a problem or are you up for it ?
At Sticky Fingers we’re doing only what we feel like.
Different day, different ideas. We’ve got a backlog ideas and techniques to try
and we’re really just beginning. No-one has come along to commission something
specific and I’m sure we’d give it a go if they did, however, they’d have to be
prepared for it to come out our way coz that’s all we can do. BTW there’s a
whole street of painting shops here in Phnom Penh, full of those oil paintings
you mentioned. Very kitsch! I like ‘em.
Sticky Fingers was set up because we were designing and
printing a lot of stuff for The Cambodian Space Project – the subject of many
of our prints. However, we’re starting to do work for other Cambodian artists,
tribute stuff for Pan Ron, Ros Sereysothea as well as a design of living legend
Master Kong Nay. There’s a thriving music scene in PP and we’ll start doing
some design and print for other local bands that, like CSP, mix Cambodian and
Western cultures.
A bit of self-promotion, take advantage of it, it's free, where can we see your work, on the web or in real life? The best praise you received lately? What can we wish you for the future? Thanks for answering my questions and see you soon on the website !!
We’ll get around to making a website soon but for now, just
check our facebook page and photo galleries. https://www.facebook.com/
We’re getting a lot of great feedback and really appreciate
your interest too. Hopefully we’ll keep on our mission – squeegee monkey for
social change and good times! – So yeah, this means working on teaching and
training a local crew as well as creating cosmic and evocative artworks and add
something to the flourishing art scene here and abroad. Later I’d like to host
guest artists, provide accom and the workshop for them to come and share their
talent and skills with our team here in Phnom Penh.
Oh and the most exciting thing that’s happened lately is starting
up a nice little shop and small gallery in a cheap-assed, low-rent part of
town, Sticky Fingers Art Prints Cambodia is at Shop 29 Golden Sorya Mall, Phnom
Penh (not far from infamous Heart of Darkness).
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