Jaimie Nadel: What’s the title of the collage on the cover?
Patrick Semple: I haven’t thought about. I guess it’s “Dharma Punxx.”
JN: Untitled is a popular title. I wonder who first used that as a title.
PS: A genius. What class are you taking next quarter? Untitled.
JN: That’s such an Evergreen program title.
JN: How did you come to make “Dharma Punxx?”
PS: I was doing research on David Bowie, and his character Ziggy Stardust, and read about how he first came to NYC from cold grey London, and had the opportunity to meet all of his idols. I felt like I really identified with that experience this winter when I went with my class to the city.
The piece itself is about having a spiritual awakening in a foreign city where you’re free to do and be whoever you want anonymously, to publicly and surrealistically play out your inner fantasies.
JN: It looks like you took the subway, got lost, and visited the Met.
PS: I did, and it is heavily influenced by getting lost on the train, and getting lost in the city, but at the same time feeling a belonging.
JN: What are your thoughts on using collage?
PS: I’m a big fan of Herbert Bayer of the Bauhaus school who made collage in the ‘30s. I was just trying my hand at it for the first time. The result is one of chaos fueled by the chiseled architecture of New York.
JN: Cool!
PS: Yeah. Actually, in Aspen, the town in which I grew up, he designed an entire landscape of hills dug into the ground that I played on, that I biked on as a child for years without knowing who the artist responsible was.
So, it’s a totally awesome coincidence that I stumbled upon his work by randomly pulling books off the shelf in the library one evening. And I saw this picture of my hometown and it dawned on me; such a spooky and synchronized experience. I guess shit happens for a reason sometimes.
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