Mark Mothersbaugh is best known as one of the founding members of the seminal weird band, Devo. But nowadays hes settled down and is still doing some weird shit. Along with music for dozens of movies and television he has many new pieces of artwork opening at the Fuse Gallery in Manhattan. Its called Beautiful Mutants" and will run from July to September 4, 2004.
Check out Mothersbaughs official website for more info on where to see his new works.
Daniel Robert Epstein: Hey Mark this is Daniel Epstein from SuicideGirls.
Mark Mothersbaugh: How can you be a SuicideGirl? You dont sound like a SuicideGirl.
DRE: Im special.
MM: Man you must be. You would have to be.
DRE: Youre not a SuicideGirl either.
MM: I dont think so. I dont think I would rate.
DRE: I wouldnt know because Ive never seen you with your clothes off.
MM: Yeah, well take a guess. You would probably be right.
DRE: Where does your postcard artwork fit into your life?
MM: It definitely rates higher than therapy. Its kind of how I process information. Its right up there with masturbation but it doesnt replace sex. I would probably give up working out if I had a choice between the two.
DRE: Is it as personal as your music?
MM: Its easily more personal. The postcard art is kind of embarrassing for me now. I would look at it and go Holy Toledo! I should never show that to anybody. It became part of my life as a compliment to Devo because I had started doing the postcards around the same time in the early 70s. Im calling them postcards because for 15 years I mostly drew on the back of postcards because I mailed them to people and exchanged them with other artists. When they became weirder and more personal then I mostly kept them as a diary. I would put them into these binders that held a hundred postcard sized drawings or sketches. If we were in Scotland and I found a label I liked I might glue it onto an ugly motel postcard.
Devo was definitely a group project because it wasnt centered on one person who was the brains. It was a cooperative with two sets of brothers and whatever drummer happened to be around. I would often times start drawing without knowing what it was going to be or it was something from a dream. It was kind of automatic so sometimes I would look it and not believe that I did it. Then I would be glad that it came out, kind of popping a mental boil. It was work that was not meant for the public and usually I would only show them to the other guys in the band because we would be sitting in an airport or backstage waiting to go on so I would draw to fill in the time. It was the opposite of Devo but complimentary because it allowed me to keep the attic clean or something.
DRE: Do the postcards come from all over the place?
MM: Yeah, it made me become an avid stationary supply store freak. When I would go on tour I would bring an empty suitcase with me which would get filled with stationary supplies by the time I got home.
DRE: What art is going to be at the Fuse Galley in New York City?
MM: About five or six years ago I took my inspiration from talking about symmetry and the asymmetry of humans. I became interested in the human as a Rorschach print. Taking humans, slicing them in half then flipping the other half and matching it up so they are truly symmetrical instead of faux symmetrical as humans are. We have two ears but they dont resemble each other. Its the same with eyes and ears. One of the things that tweaked my interest in Rorschach art was Bruce Connors and his little mini Rorschach prints he was making where he would take thumbnail size Rorschach prints, he would make with ink on some sort of watercolor paper then iron it all out. It would look like these really intricate Space Invader characters that were very delicate and very complex looking.
I had played around before with symmetry in humans using cameras and mirrors but it was laborious. I used the mirrors to make the photographs perfectly symmetric. Then I found out I could do things in Photoshop quicker and more efficiently so that got worked into my process. These pictures are mostly portraits of humans. Humans tend to have their dark half and a light half in the sense that on the same child or adult one half of their face looks innocent and beautiful. Even with people that are plain looking can sometimes have an innocent half of a face and even beautiful people can have one half of their face look monstrous, malevolent and dark. Its interesting to see just how the slight shift from two ears that are shaped different to two halves heads of hair being combed the same changed the person to being totally unrecognizable. These are photos of that experiment.
DRE: When did you start doing the symmetry photos?
MM: About six years ago. I brought the computer into it in 1998 or 99. I was originally using funhouse mirrors, which I had in my house, to do the pictures but it was so hard to get the lighting and the color balance just right. If you look at the older pieces at the show you can tell which ones I used mirrors for and when I switched to Photoshop. I think the Photoshop ones are more effective.
DRE: What do you find fascinating about symmetry?
MM: That it brings out information in a human that is there but you dont see it when you look at an asymmetric body. Information is revealed about the human form.
DRE: Are you symmetrical?
MM: [laughs] Are you kidding? Everyone you know is asymmetrical. Were closer to potatoes than we are to snowflakes. Other species are much more symmetrical than humans like fish, fowl and most other mammals. Were one of the more potato-like mammals, though probably not the most potato-like animal on the planet.
DRE: What about potatoes?
MM: Theyre asymmetrical. They have eyes all over the place. As a matter of fact in the early days of Devo, Gerry, the Bobs and I were trying to figure out who we were and how we fit into the world of humans. Wed read the newspaper and think of people like Jackie Kennedy or Brooke Shields as being asparagus people and we were more like proletariat potato working class people. If you were to map out the vegetable kingdom over top of the human kingdom.
DRE: I suppose thats more prevalent today.
MM: Well people devolve towards potatoism. They dont devolve towards asparagusism as they get older. They tend to fall apart and break down. Abiding by the second law of thermodynamics life on planet Earth does tend to devolve.
DRE: Are you excited when you meet younger people that know of Devo and only been introduced to your work in the past few years?
MM: Oh yeah. Sometimes they are very surprised that the guy who writes music for Rugrats used to be in rock band 20 years ago. Some of them dont even know about Rugrats they only like Crash Bandicoot. They can hum every level of Jak & Daxter or Interstate 82.
DRE: How about those people who think they are so cool because they know every single thing about you? You must meet a lot of them.
MM: Its impressive how much time people have to investigate pop culture on the internet. Thats all I can say about that. If youre interested in trivia the internet will help you find it all. There are people out there who find things that I dont remember [laughs].
DRE: You dont remember it because its too long ago I suppose.
MM: Because there was practical use to keep it in the memory banks. So what if there were some weird concerts back then.
DRE: Have you finished your work on Wes Andersons new film, The Life Aquatic?
MM: Getting close to it. Ive got just a couple more days of recording instruments. All the big orchestra sessions are over. Today were recording harpsichord, piano and oboe. Tomorrow there is some cleanup work with drums, a few other solo instruments and then next week we mix it.
DRE: I didnt realize you had worked on all of Wes films. Who brought you onto Bottle Rocket [released in 1996]?
MM: A woman named Pam Lillig at Sony. They were looking for a composer, realized that Wes wasnt your typical director because he had a lot of opinions and a lot of say with what happened on his movies. Wes demanded final cut and there was a short list of people that he was willing to meet with. I went to see the film at a screening in Santa Monica for a focus group so they could have the average viewer give them feedback on the film so they could give suggestions to the director. But it was mostly gangbangers that they had recruited for the screening so they were pissed there wasnt any nudity and a bunch of them walked out. It wasnt a good screening. I watched the movie and I thought that Wes has an interesting voice for our time that others arent addressing. It made me curious to meet him and then we hit if off from the beginning. It was a weird experience for [producer] Jim Brooks because he was expecting something different from the movie. He thought it was going to be more like Tom Hanks in Big. Musically he wanted me to write something like that, some bad new wave light jazz score. Every time he came over to my studio to listen to the music later that day his office would messenger another copy of the VHS of Big with a note saying Jim wants you to listen to the soundtrack of this movie. He sent it to me like three times. Wes just said Dont pay attention to it. You dont have to even address it. Well just let him think were addressing his concerns but really theyre irrelevant.
DRE: Youre website is really cool. Did you design it?
MM: No Ive had different techno geniuses who have done it for me. Through working in animation and different art projects Ive run into all these techno webmasters that are really great. I dont take credit for being web savvy because Im really not. You have to pick and choose your areas to be well rounded in.
DRE: Is Devo touring again?
MM: Yeah were doing some shows for Nike. We did one already in Los Angeles at the Coliseum. It was fun because it was at nine in the morning in front of 20,000 runners and their friends. They had blue shirts on so it looked like we were playing in front of communist China. They had just won a race so they were pumped up and wed never played at nine am before so we were pumped too. I think were doing about a half dozen more shows this summer.
DRE: Will there ever be any new Devo material?
MM: It could happen. I write stuff for Devo and every now and then we will record a song. I know Gerry is working on something that might be a solo project or a Devo project. Hes going to be rerecording old Devo songs from the early days. Not all of it made it into our repertoire when we played places like CBGBs, Maxs Kansas City and The Whiskey A GoGo. They were songs that were slower and more ponderous but there were a lot of dirty blues licks in them. He just got tired of waiting for us to make time to work together. He came over and borrowed some amplifiers from me. So thats exciting.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
Check out Mothersbaughs official website for more info on where to see his new works.
Daniel Robert Epstein: Hey Mark this is Daniel Epstein from SuicideGirls.
Mark Mothersbaugh: How can you be a SuicideGirl? You dont sound like a SuicideGirl.
DRE: Im special.
MM: Man you must be. You would have to be.
DRE: Youre not a SuicideGirl either.
MM: I dont think so. I dont think I would rate.
DRE: I wouldnt know because Ive never seen you with your clothes off.
MM: Yeah, well take a guess. You would probably be right.
DRE: Where does your postcard artwork fit into your life?
MM: It definitely rates higher than therapy. Its kind of how I process information. Its right up there with masturbation but it doesnt replace sex. I would probably give up working out if I had a choice between the two.
DRE: Is it as personal as your music?
MM: Its easily more personal. The postcard art is kind of embarrassing for me now. I would look at it and go Holy Toledo! I should never show that to anybody. It became part of my life as a compliment to Devo because I had started doing the postcards around the same time in the early 70s. Im calling them postcards because for 15 years I mostly drew on the back of postcards because I mailed them to people and exchanged them with other artists. When they became weirder and more personal then I mostly kept them as a diary. I would put them into these binders that held a hundred postcard sized drawings or sketches. If we were in Scotland and I found a label I liked I might glue it onto an ugly motel postcard.
Devo was definitely a group project because it wasnt centered on one person who was the brains. It was a cooperative with two sets of brothers and whatever drummer happened to be around. I would often times start drawing without knowing what it was going to be or it was something from a dream. It was kind of automatic so sometimes I would look it and not believe that I did it. Then I would be glad that it came out, kind of popping a mental boil. It was work that was not meant for the public and usually I would only show them to the other guys in the band because we would be sitting in an airport or backstage waiting to go on so I would draw to fill in the time. It was the opposite of Devo but complimentary because it allowed me to keep the attic clean or something.
DRE: Do the postcards come from all over the place?
MM: Yeah, it made me become an avid stationary supply store freak. When I would go on tour I would bring an empty suitcase with me which would get filled with stationary supplies by the time I got home.
DRE: What art is going to be at the Fuse Galley in New York City?
MM: About five or six years ago I took my inspiration from talking about symmetry and the asymmetry of humans. I became interested in the human as a Rorschach print. Taking humans, slicing them in half then flipping the other half and matching it up so they are truly symmetrical instead of faux symmetrical as humans are. We have two ears but they dont resemble each other. Its the same with eyes and ears. One of the things that tweaked my interest in Rorschach art was Bruce Connors and his little mini Rorschach prints he was making where he would take thumbnail size Rorschach prints, he would make with ink on some sort of watercolor paper then iron it all out. It would look like these really intricate Space Invader characters that were very delicate and very complex looking.
I had played around before with symmetry in humans using cameras and mirrors but it was laborious. I used the mirrors to make the photographs perfectly symmetric. Then I found out I could do things in Photoshop quicker and more efficiently so that got worked into my process. These pictures are mostly portraits of humans. Humans tend to have their dark half and a light half in the sense that on the same child or adult one half of their face looks innocent and beautiful. Even with people that are plain looking can sometimes have an innocent half of a face and even beautiful people can have one half of their face look monstrous, malevolent and dark. Its interesting to see just how the slight shift from two ears that are shaped different to two halves heads of hair being combed the same changed the person to being totally unrecognizable. These are photos of that experiment.
DRE: When did you start doing the symmetry photos?
MM: About six years ago. I brought the computer into it in 1998 or 99. I was originally using funhouse mirrors, which I had in my house, to do the pictures but it was so hard to get the lighting and the color balance just right. If you look at the older pieces at the show you can tell which ones I used mirrors for and when I switched to Photoshop. I think the Photoshop ones are more effective.
DRE: What do you find fascinating about symmetry?
MM: That it brings out information in a human that is there but you dont see it when you look at an asymmetric body. Information is revealed about the human form.
DRE: Are you symmetrical?
MM: [laughs] Are you kidding? Everyone you know is asymmetrical. Were closer to potatoes than we are to snowflakes. Other species are much more symmetrical than humans like fish, fowl and most other mammals. Were one of the more potato-like mammals, though probably not the most potato-like animal on the planet.
DRE: What about potatoes?
MM: Theyre asymmetrical. They have eyes all over the place. As a matter of fact in the early days of Devo, Gerry, the Bobs and I were trying to figure out who we were and how we fit into the world of humans. Wed read the newspaper and think of people like Jackie Kennedy or Brooke Shields as being asparagus people and we were more like proletariat potato working class people. If you were to map out the vegetable kingdom over top of the human kingdom.
DRE: I suppose thats more prevalent today.
MM: Well people devolve towards potatoism. They dont devolve towards asparagusism as they get older. They tend to fall apart and break down. Abiding by the second law of thermodynamics life on planet Earth does tend to devolve.
DRE: Are you excited when you meet younger people that know of Devo and only been introduced to your work in the past few years?
MM: Oh yeah. Sometimes they are very surprised that the guy who writes music for Rugrats used to be in rock band 20 years ago. Some of them dont even know about Rugrats they only like Crash Bandicoot. They can hum every level of Jak & Daxter or Interstate 82.
DRE: How about those people who think they are so cool because they know every single thing about you? You must meet a lot of them.
MM: Its impressive how much time people have to investigate pop culture on the internet. Thats all I can say about that. If youre interested in trivia the internet will help you find it all. There are people out there who find things that I dont remember [laughs].
DRE: You dont remember it because its too long ago I suppose.
MM: Because there was practical use to keep it in the memory banks. So what if there were some weird concerts back then.
DRE: Have you finished your work on Wes Andersons new film, The Life Aquatic?
MM: Getting close to it. Ive got just a couple more days of recording instruments. All the big orchestra sessions are over. Today were recording harpsichord, piano and oboe. Tomorrow there is some cleanup work with drums, a few other solo instruments and then next week we mix it.
DRE: I didnt realize you had worked on all of Wes films. Who brought you onto Bottle Rocket [released in 1996]?
MM: A woman named Pam Lillig at Sony. They were looking for a composer, realized that Wes wasnt your typical director because he had a lot of opinions and a lot of say with what happened on his movies. Wes demanded final cut and there was a short list of people that he was willing to meet with. I went to see the film at a screening in Santa Monica for a focus group so they could have the average viewer give them feedback on the film so they could give suggestions to the director. But it was mostly gangbangers that they had recruited for the screening so they were pissed there wasnt any nudity and a bunch of them walked out. It wasnt a good screening. I watched the movie and I thought that Wes has an interesting voice for our time that others arent addressing. It made me curious to meet him and then we hit if off from the beginning. It was a weird experience for [producer] Jim Brooks because he was expecting something different from the movie. He thought it was going to be more like Tom Hanks in Big. Musically he wanted me to write something like that, some bad new wave light jazz score. Every time he came over to my studio to listen to the music later that day his office would messenger another copy of the VHS of Big with a note saying Jim wants you to listen to the soundtrack of this movie. He sent it to me like three times. Wes just said Dont pay attention to it. You dont have to even address it. Well just let him think were addressing his concerns but really theyre irrelevant.
DRE: Youre website is really cool. Did you design it?
MM: No Ive had different techno geniuses who have done it for me. Through working in animation and different art projects Ive run into all these techno webmasters that are really great. I dont take credit for being web savvy because Im really not. You have to pick and choose your areas to be well rounded in.
DRE: Is Devo touring again?
MM: Yeah were doing some shows for Nike. We did one already in Los Angeles at the Coliseum. It was fun because it was at nine in the morning in front of 20,000 runners and their friends. They had blue shirts on so it looked like we were playing in front of communist China. They had just won a race so they were pumped up and wed never played at nine am before so we were pumped too. I think were doing about a half dozen more shows this summer.
DRE: Will there ever be any new Devo material?
MM: It could happen. I write stuff for Devo and every now and then we will record a song. I know Gerry is working on something that might be a solo project or a Devo project. Hes going to be rerecording old Devo songs from the early days. Not all of it made it into our repertoire when we played places like CBGBs, Maxs Kansas City and The Whiskey A GoGo. They were songs that were slower and more ponderous but there were a lot of dirty blues licks in them. He just got tired of waiting for us to make time to work together. He came over and borrowed some amplifiers from me. So thats exciting.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
VIEW 8 of 8 COMMENTS
Devo in chicago! anybody else going?