Art: 'Twisted' Skinny Gaviar : Earz Magazine

Art: ‘Twisted’ Skinny Gaviar

February 29, 2008 · Words: Martin S ·

Imprisoned, by Skinny Gaviar

“Run away Timmy, they’re coming for us”

The characters found in the artwork of Russian-born illustrator Skinny Gaviar resemble the demented protaganists from some little-known 1960’s B-movie, or the weird hairy figures on an old Funkadelic record sleeve that scared the crap out of you as a kid. A nightmarish juxtaposition of real people and disorientating colour– but what do you expect from someone who has illustrated work for the likes of Hunter S. Thompson and Jack Kerouac? I soon discovered that the roots of Skinny’s work can be traced back to his upbringing in a Russian factory town of only ten buildings, that produced chemical weapons:

It’s called Novocheboksarsk. Now it’s a much bigger town with a population of about 130,000 people. At first it was just a plant and some houses for its employees, but as the plant’s turnover grew - the number of buildings around it began to increase. Then people working there began to fall in love with each other and marry each other and give birth to children. So it was necessary to build schools, stores, stadiums and blah-blah-blah… In the early 90’s some European anti-chemical weapons committee banned the plant’s production (as a part of a global disarmament campaign). So… nowadays the plant’s “major” is stuff like paints, washing detergents, perfumes and other “peaceful” chemicals. But to be honest the town is still a shithole. Fun-wise there’s not much happening there, so people have to make up imaginary friends to avoid dying of boredom. No. Just kidding. Not about boredom but about imaginary friends.

Differing outlets, illustrating for Hunter

But for Gaviar, finding outlets for his expression comes far easier than finding commercial outlets for his artwork: “My career as a commercial illustrator is pretty much doomed. They say my stuff is too creepy, dark and sick to be commercial. But who knows.” Aside from publishing a wealth of art on his website, he spends his time drawing “zillions of illustrations for magazines all around the world,” and his most proud artistic accolades include illustrating stories by Jack Kerouac and Hunter S. Thompson- I asked Skinny how he scored the gig illustrating for the late king of gonzo journalism:

Well, there’s a cool art/music/culture magazine in NY called “Verbicide“. They publish stories of great writers in every issue. I got in touch with Nate Pollard, their editor weeks before the gig and he told me that he might have an assignment for me. Then he sent me an email like “Do you feel like illustrating a Hunter S. Thompson’s piece?” Damn! Sure I felt like this! HST is my number 2 all-time favourite writer! So I did it. The piece is called “Last Dance In Dumb Town”.

Skinny Gaviar on “What contributes to the freakishness of your art nowadays?”

Everything. More or less. It’s hard to determine the origins. I just live my life, meet people, love good music, read books. So maybe that’s the influence that makes my stuff look the way it looks. But honestly, speaking about the things that can contribute to my style - I think it’s a combination of Frank Zappa, plus Monty Pythons, plus weird nightmares, plus LSD… No. Kidding again. I don’t take LSD. I like chocolates.

Dancefloor Hero, by Skinny Gaviar Bad Day in Vegas, by Skinny Gaviar
An artist for three years, it was the persuasion of friends to take it beyond a bedroom hobby that lifted his career: “it was accidentally unveiled to the sight of several fellows who henceforth kept on telling me that I should show it to the rest of the world.” And when it comes to his illustration Skinny is still pretty humble: “I’ve been doing my artwork for about 3 years now without even considering myself an artist. It has always been (and still is) nothing but self-amusement. Never willing to show off my stuff”

What materials do you use for your work? Is graphic design involved?

It’s different every single time. Some of my works are based on photos. I have a small camera that I carry around in my pocket and take hundreds of pictures every day. Sometimes I just do a sketch on a piece of paper with a pen and then copy it in Photoshop. Art-wise I’m pretty much illiterate… So I have a blurry idea of what a graphic design is… But something tells me that I should answer “Yes!” to your question!

cosmically numb, by Skinny Gaviar

Where can people check out your work / would you like to point readers towards anything else?

They can see it in various magazines, and also I post some new works on Myspace blog. I also fancy doing a solo show sometime somewhere. But don’t know how. My stuff is digital and people have a prejudice about it, but still a solo show would definetely rock! I’d like to point readers towards the art of Andy Ewen. He’s also a musician and has a MySpace page. I believe there are some ink drawings there. He also does cartoonish drawings in Adobe Illustrator. They’re good! But the ink stuff is the realest deal ever! Andy, if you’re reading this, and I know you are (because I always email you my interviews) - upload more ink drawings to your MySpace (I know you have zillions of those), ok? Done! Oh wait! I’d also like to point readers towards Ake Gaviar! My namesake. He’s a novelist from Russia and will soon become big and have many fans. If you’ll ever see his name printed on some book or magazine - buy it! Now I’m done!

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