Interview with JUSE [The man behind the "I HAVE POP" Project.]
An interview by Young Thawt
Images: I Have POP
www.ihavepop.com
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What is “I HAVE POP”?

I HAVE POP is one of my personal projects that revolves around recreating popular culture and “street art”.

Why and when did I.H.P. begin?

I came up with the name in may of 2003 while in Barcelona. I was associating things like skateboarding, graffiti, street art and such. Over time I created ideas in my head that could fall within that concept and piece by piece things started coming together. I have been doing traditional graffiti since 1994 and deemed it time for something new as I was getting desinterested with the conservative nature of it.

When the artist “confront(s) the unsuspecting audience with his/her message” how can the audience answer back? 

The audience can investigate the meaning. The meaning can come from the object itself, the placement of the object and the interaction between the object and its surroundings. It’s no different from any other art piece, except for the fact that it’s placed in the public space, usually without prior notification.



NORT, NYC


How is your art a conversation with the audience?

Alone, the pieces are single statements, not conversation. When placed in the context, like sneakers in front of a sneaker store, you might wonder about the meaning of both the object and the surroundings. When the scope of the project unfolds, a conversation might evolve as your previous interpretation might be changed by the new information. I’m not sure if it’s ever really a conversation, but I think the increasing amount of statements will lead to a form of communication which can be seen as conversation. It’s up to the audience.



HUF, SAN FRANCISCO


What is your desired response to the shoes?

The desired response was to have people wondering what they were and who was behind them. I wanted to create a sense of want. Just like Nike does with their limited edition shoes. And in that I would like people to question this as well.

What questions do you hope to raise and what story do you wish to tell?

1. What are these? Who made them? Are there any more? Where can I get some?  2. Why are they here? Why were these made? Why concrete? Why, why, why?

Is your choice of cement meant to idolize the shoe in a statuesque fashion?

Concrete and cement are the elements cities are made of. It’s what street is. You could view it in a statuesque manner, which would strengthen part of my initial idea, but it was not meant specifically for the shoes.





The cement element itself is interesting because it is very solid and brittle, unlike the actual shoe which is a supple leather.  However, cement is a bi-product of a creative process that employs the mixture of different elements.  Why cement as opposed to a plastic, metal, paper, etc.? 

In other parts of my project I have used other mediums such as wood and metal, but for this I wanted concrete (not just cement, because it is too slick) because it would blend in with the street and the surroundings better as well as stand out from the original object.



UNDEFEATED, LOS ANGELES


You have slated this project as being in “PHASE1." Is this phase complete? How many phases will follow and what do they entail?

This phase is complete. I don’t know how many phases I need to really get my point across and to establish POP. This might take a little while. I have quite a lot of projects finished or are being finished, but I have some in my sketchbook that I really want to do that will be quite hard to achieve.

You mention NIKE’s original interest waning until there was none.  Why do you think this happened and is their approval or support something you had hoped for originally?

Before I started with this phase of the project I wrote in my sketchbook that I expected Nike to contact me to do something like a show or something marketing related. This is what they do with interesting art concepts, so I figured they would want a piece of this as well. I wanted Nike to follow through so I could prove that I was right. I don’t know why they waned. I guess something else came about and they jumped on that. It’s cool though. I understand that dynamic.




RICHARD KIDD, Vancouver


The dissipation of the relationship with NIKE saw the plans for a gallery show scrapped. Most people feel street art is no longer street once it has been taken out of the context and surroundings of the street itself. Your plans for the gallery show seemed to reconcile this issue, can you describe your thoughts on this point and how you came up with your idea for the show that never was?

I had to find a visual way to tell the story of both the project itself as well as the story behind it. The only way to achieve the same “conversation” was to recreate the scene inside as would have been seen out on the street. I did feel the concept of the project would’ve never held up in a gallery space. Perhaps it’s for the best that it never happened.

Many people have been getting into the street art scene and producing some interesting work.  Do you have any influences in street art, or any other art form, that you draw from?

I try to look at everything and question everything. There are so many people that produce visually stunning work without a clue. I don’t aspire to make any contribution to aesthetics. Progress comes through ideas and concepts. Any project based on that is inspirational, whatever it is.

The street artist is usually not corporately sponsored or even able to sell his/her work as it is public art. How do you finance your work and is there a desire to get inside thegalleries and private collections?

I have no aspirations to get into galleries and private collections. My aim is to get my art inside people’s minds and stay there. All the money I spend on that is only a small sacrifice if I can achieve that.



UNDEFEATED, SANTA MONICA