Stick It With Don Pulmon

Negeri sombrero Meksiko seakan tidak habis-habisnya mengirimkan sumber daya seniman gambar tempel mereka untuk kami wawancarai. Adalah Don Pulmon, seorang teman lama yang aktif berkorespondensi dengan kami yang dimunculkan dalam fitur Stick With ini. Karakter stikernya yang khas membuat kami terkesan sehingga ia merupakan salah satu incaran pertama kami untuk tampil bercerita. Macan, sambutlah ia, Don Pulmon!

Please introduce yourself.

The name given to me in the streets is Don Pulmon (Don Lung), which actually is the name of the character that appears in my stickers which give the meaning of “Man of Pulque”.

What’s the story behind your street art name?

Pulque is a drink of my country, which is the ferment extracted from the heart of a plant called Maguey, which has been tested has a high vitamin and protein content nectar, but its character constant ferment at room temperature without external agents, it tends to be an intoxicating hallucinogen.

How is the sticker scene in your city or country?

The scene sticker is varied throughout the country with its peculiarities for each city. The style in designs of stickers in different states of my country respond to the  diversity of interests that draw attention of the exponents who inhabit them and this is highly varied taking into account the great disparity in ages between these exponents, ages can range from 10 years up to even 30 or 35 years – older to these. To this must be added the socio economic conditions of each, their level of education and generally any context. It is therefore important to note that the designs can be influenced by a caricature, comic or manga current one side; by an event or historical figure; current social event or by knowledge acquired by professional studies. I find it important to highlight the personal experiences – the socio economic context – of everyday life, as from this is that I consider proposals are generated in urban art stickers decanted mainly, but also in other forms of Street Art.

Throughout Mexico stickers have different characteristics, in some areas you can find simply design to a single color, while in other areas, mainly south of the country have original designs with very similar characteristics to children cartoons but many colors. This is very important to mention that in Mexico 95% approximately of stickers do we make them using the screen printing technique, which makes highlight the work of those who make your stickers more than two colors even more, which we could consider a sticker made four colors as something very elaborate, but it’s just a pattern that creates a scenario where you can find silkscreen stickers made up to 20 different colors.

From my experience close, talk to little about the scene in my city, Mexico City, where you can find a variety of designs and loaded influenced not only by the likes particulars of each of the exponents which can range from musicians, artists, film genres, literature; but also because of the influence they have had on them exponents with more experience in the scene graffiti or street art, whether local, national or international. This can vary by educational and economic level.  Finally Mexico City is one of the cities with greater height at the scene of the stickers, with a greater variety of designs and exponents.

 

  

How you make your artworks, using what kind of technique?

As I mentioned earlier, here (Mexico) most do stickers using screen printing technique, because we have a history of deep-rooted pattern, which includes the technique of etching and lithography, here a few exponents use these techniques make your material. With personal use screen printing technique to make my stickers, but I’m not fought sometimes make some stickers digital printing, as I dedicate myself to take pictures and in some cases use some photos of urban characters to make stickers. I also apply stencils to live on the streets or to make posters, signs – sometimes I also hand paint and brushes.

How did you play with your stickers on the streets, did you quite often make a collaboration?

Here we leave the stickers where we can, mainly in the public real estate as well as signs of road signs of the city, on the facades of houses, industrial buildings, trucks, public transport, which is, well it is our understanding that a sticker does not have a fixed term, especially in the street art scene is completely ephemeral, so we took every place and we believe it is best to place a sticker, a poster or a stencil. and to make each space in the best way is by stickers of different sizes.

This happens a lot that do collaborations with other exponents and generate proposals that draw attention to passers to find them on the street, because finally I think that’s one of the main objectives that people see. I particularly made few contributions, but always with other exponents very close to me, whom I consider good friends and with whom I have come to stick in my city or in other parts of the country. with some especially until we made a collective dedicated to street art called “Collective Culture” currently consists of seven members from 4 different cities.

What’s the most important, quantity or quality?

I think both are important and complementary, in my case I started with a design along the four and a half years that I doing this, it has been taking its amendments seeking to always preserve the characteristics of the original design and now numbering little more 60 different variations of my first design, but this in order that the design stand out and look attractive, attention-grabbing, which is of good quality in design, in print, in the material used, so that they can see it everywhere. This is where the question of how much comes in, to be seen in all parts – at least in my city – must be everywhere and it must be printed in large quantities.

Can you share us your opinion about sticker art?

It is very important that there is, it is the result of a social demand for artistic expression, is the explosion of a group that just wants to scream and share their creativity, their ability, their need to do, to express themselves. and then it becomes a challenge, it always starts with the closest, community, our neighborhood, and then always you want to go further; our city, other cities, other countries, why not? The goal, I think, always the same, create and share. the streets have become the most important for some galleries.

I believe that at the end of the day is a very demanding activity and which must be fully committed, time is spent, long time to design, in my case, I’m not designer and I do what I can and as I can to get my designs, to print, to exit a paste; money is invested to do all this, but ultimately it is something you do with pleasure. I think that here in Mexico, many of my acquaintances and I say that, we do this because we like, but the fact that you also like someone else when walking around the city, going to their jobs, to school, to their homes, or other exponents of the scene sticker. Wow, it’s great, I think, that’s a great reward.

Sekian dari Don Pulmon. Bukan main, tidak hanya berbicara mengenai stiker, ia mempunyai pandangan yang luas mengenai social ekonomi. Ini adalah salah satu bentuk kepedulian seniman terhadap fenomena masyarakat yang menyertai perkembangan sebuah kota. Kami meyakini ia memiliki awareness yang cukup untuk melihat street art sebagai sebuah pergerakan yang dapat mengubah citra kota. Terima kasih amigos! Muchas gracias kawan!

Foto: Arsip pribadi Don Pulmon.