Everyone’s a multihyphenate these days, or so it seems. And what has made designing business cards damn near impossible has also made for a much richer and more dynamic industry. No longer are we restricted to our expected avenues of communication.
Take José G. Gonzalez. He’s a social justice activist, environmental advocate, educator, and the founder of Latino Outdoors, but his self-assigned title is simply “Green Chicano.” And while most people meet José as an activist, they can’t get to know him without discovering José, the artist.
We collaborated with José on a series of illustrations in the forthcoming RANGE Magazine Issue 10. In anticipation of our “Work in Progress” release, we sat down with the contributing artist to learn more about the work he creates at the intersection of culture and conservation (and sometimes comic books).
People meet you through your social and environmental justice work, but it’s been such a fun surprise getting to know your art, too. How do you weave those passions together?
The connection and intersection of art, culture, and conservation have always been important to me. Art is, of course, a form of creative expression but I also think of it as something more, as another model of how we understand and perceive reality. It’s a way we construct understanding of experiences in the same way we do with other models like philosophy, math, and biology.
Are you self taught?
Mostly, yes. I tried to pursue it as a major in school but a series of fortunate and unfortunate events led me continue it on my own.
It seems like you have a lot of cross-cultural inspiration in some of your work (we love the Chibi Chicano series).
My style has been ever-evolving. In high school, I was deep into comic books and I drew many superheroes and was into cartooning. In college, I dove deep into Manga and then studied the Chicano movement aesthetic. I also was fascinated by artists like Klimt and Mucha. I have loved Japanese art and design aesthetic, as well as Mesoamerican codices. So many of those pieces find their way into my work at different times.
I once heard environmental work described as “managing depression.” The work can certainly feel bleak at times. Does art provide an outlet for you to balance the heaviness of some of your other work?
Definitely! Again, art is expression and it can be very personal or meant for an audience. I recall the phrase “the art of reading completes the written work.” It made me think how that applied to visual art, how we create to get our visions onto the “canvas.” Our demons, ramblings, incomplete thoughts, feelings, or worries, all organized into some visual scheme…even though we craft it from within, we can still have a desire for it to be seen by others and connect.
What has been your favorite series to work on?
Ah, all of them! When I was working on my Chibi Chicano series I really wanted to complete the alphabet. I managed a poster, but I still want to complete each one for a children’s book.
We love the illustrations you created for RANGE Mag Issue 10. How do you start a project like that?
The inspiration came from this idea of having our ancestors with us, and what would it look like if we could see our ancestors’ armor or blessings as we went about our modern day, like an energy or spiritual layer on us. The process is straightforward in that I take the photo and use a basic sketchbook program on my touchscreen laptop and draw directly on the photo. There’s not a lot of room for error because it’s also kind of like drawing with an ink pen. I do some planning in terms of thinking about the lighting of the photo and contrast, and what research to consider for design. But otherwise to I also like to develop it as I go.
I love that you use Crayola watercolors. What’s your philosophy on using simple tools like that?
That was actually a very intentional choice. I was playing around with different paints and I really wanted some that popped. I had some fancy Prismacolor sets and a few others and then finally tried a Crayola set and loved the result. So I stuck with it, no regrets. It helps to affirm that we don’t always need the most expensive of tools — we can create with many options.
In the interest of spreading the love — what artists are you vibing lately?
Well, I have a love for the classics like Kahlo and Klimt. But, if you’re on Instagram, there are so many! Vienna Rye (@vrye) Melanie Cervantes (@melaniecervantes) Alicia Maria Siu Bernal (@aliciamariasiubernal) Ruben Guadalupe Marquez (@broobs.psd) and Joshua Barkman (@falseknees).
Okay, whether it’s a museum staple or little-known comic book, what’s your favorite piece of art?
So hard! I can certainly say Klimt’s The Kiss, but I adore almost any piece done by Leo & Diane Dillon, which are mostly for children’s books. Also, Paul Pope’s work — he mostly does comic books but his other design work as well.
Images by José G. Gonzalez. See more of Jose’s work at josegagonzalez.com, and peep his illustrations for RANGE Magazine Issue 10 by pre-ordering your copy here. You can also find a copy at select retail partners and at Outdoor Retailer at the RANGER Station.
XX Johnie Gall
