Never in a million years did I think I would ever get to meet some of the people that I am writing about in this blog… 660 Studios, Sean Lugo, the Big Hair Girls and now Dylan Egon. Dylan is not only a talented artist , he is also a collector of toys, comic books,  motorcycles, motorcycle helmets , jackets, vintage furniture, art, fashion…. I am definitely leaving something out. Point being, you do not get to meet people like Dylan everyday. The fact that he lives a block a way is mind boggling…. meeting him, visiting his studio and residence will forever be engraved in my mind.

How did you start? “Both my parents are painters. The last thing I wanted to do was paint and although they are relatively successful artists it looked like a rough life ….There was also the rebellious factor, you never want to do what your parents do…so I wanted to be an athlete, I played a bunch of different sports but then I refined it to Tennis and played till college… I basically focused on playing music with my band “Paint” and sports.

I ended up leaving school went to Miami and played shows… Stayed there for a while… then came back to NY and went to film school. I got a job in the summer to be a production assistant at EUE Screen Gems (they did Guiding light and a lot of commercials). I art directed Alanis Morissettes video for “Isn’t it Ironic” , Public enemy 911, commercials and then someone asked me if I wanted to prop style for Donna Karen on a still shoot.

I went into fashion and became a prop stylist for fashion….Did that for about 6 years. Worked with Peter Lindberg,  Patrick Demarchelier, Peter Arnell… That was 8 years ago… and I haven’t done anything else since….Because I prop styled that gave me the ability to make more art”

Did you do any art for the band? “When I was with the band I was doing wheat pasting….Did all the art , collage work for the flyers so I was really into that and then when the band disbanded in 2003 I continued to make artwork for the house”

Then what happened? “Orlando Reyes is the curator and founder of the 58 Gallery and he came over here one day and he liked my artwork and asked me to show it at the 58 gallery when they first opened. I did that show, and

while the show was up all I was thinking was when can I bring the artwork back to my house?”

When the 58 gallery closed I approached Jonathan Levine and he wanted me to join his gallery….The last show of the 58 gallery was in 2010 and and then 2011 I showed my artwork in Chelsea and I’ve been with them ever since. The last show was in April and it did well”

Can you tell us what you use for your artwork? “I use a lot of collage, assemblage and wood … I do use recycled objects. I do these brass pieces that have become very popular but they are very hard to use …. I use a lot of vintage/broken objects. I am always asking people for ripped maps or posters. I cut them up! I bid on ebay for old illustration books that are damaged . I am such an antique collector that when something is pristine I don’t want to damage it…. I think its sinful”

What’s the idea behind Mickey Mouse? and why is he a target? “Mickey Target is a combination of two pieces: The first piece I ever did was called School Daze which was a Mickey Piece. …. School Daze is from 2005 which was a comment about kids bringing guns into schools and they had to go through metal detectors…This piece sold and a lot of people asked me about the it so there was a demand for it …

For this show I decided to do another version of Mickey’s School daze…. Its based on the 1920’s: one of the first targets that was made by the FBI was a silhouette of a man and had all the kill numbers on it for training the original FBI agents so it became a dark sinister compliment to the light Mickey Mouse.

Which is my work. It’s always about a positive and a negative, a yin and a yang, a dark and a light”

Mickey target actually goes into a bigger piece which is called American Holy Relics which I have a postcard for since I sold it.

A gun and a ball, which where considered the first relics by the saints who where collecting bones of dead saints.

Let me show you this piece here which is called Ajax’s ball… my dog Ajax passed away so I kept his last ball and this was the first piece I did with a gun and with a crow… I won’t sell this one.

So is that what you do? Pop art? I am definitely a pop artist. Pop art a lot of times has a bad reputation because there is so much fluff but pop art is supposed to be something that grabs you and makes you think.

That is why I did Quanah the Indian with the machine gun and put them all over the city. A lot of people like them and a lot of people where disturbed by him. They don’t know why they are disturbed by him , or liked him.. and thats why it was designed that way.

What is the idea behind him? It’s very obvious and it isn’t, that is the whole point of it .

Its like a Beatles song, you think you know what it means but you don’t really know what it means…”

The idea behind him: There was a statement on Obama being half black and half white yet he is considered black with a lot of black targeting against him. Quanah was a similar character, he was half white and half indian.. he was the last indian chief to come to the indian reservation and fought to the end of the indian wars agains the American government.

Again, being a musician I learned a lot about the Beatles composition of songs and put it into my artwork. The reason I gave Quanah a machine gun was to empower him… the rebellious spirit in a true american archtype to try and make him a present force and to keep the rebellious spirit alive.

What do you have now that is up in Jersey City? “Petey is up, the Saint America….. I am not sure because a lot have been taken down…..”

Tell me about Petey…. “Petey was the first piece of my show which was called Arsenal and Animal which the premise was doing something that people perceived was a positive thing. Animals are always a positive subject and guns are a negative subject. I did all kinds of animals with guns…. people focused on the guns and ignored the animal. Petey was the first of that genre…. Quanah was the next one, he was the first human type character that I used with the gun…

How do you go about choosing where to put up your street art? I do it on building that are either empty, boarded up…. I try not to put it on actual structure. I only work in wheat paste which is sugar, water, flour and newspaper so if someone really doesn’t like it they can easily remove it”

What made you move to Jersey city? I lived in the West Village with my band , we lived in a house on Perry street and Martha Stewart bought the building so we had to leave and we looked in Williamsburg in 1992… We needed a big space and looked here in JC in 92 and we really liked this spot better than anything we saw in Williamsburg… this part of JC is beautiful…. brownstones , tree lined streets…”

Do you have a favorite JC spot? I am like a hermit….But I like Marco & Pepe because its good and it was also the first. When it moved in there, there was nothing but bodegas and real estate. There where no other restaurants… Ralph and Bev the owners they took a big chance and pioneered it . Once they succeeded other people where able to come in and now there are tons of restaurants. I also I eat at the Taqueria or Bubby’s burritos because its very close to me and I like Mexican food. Both very good and very different,

Can you explain your personal style? this is a fashion blog after all! I am always concerned with having original edge, my heroes have always been original types. I tend to like the more rebellious types, Steve McQueen, Evil Knievel, Elvis Presley, John Lennon, Johnny Depp, and Brad pitt… Brad Pitt actually collects the same kind of stuff I do and we battle in auctions over items like famous motorcycle items and stuff like that…

Its important to try and build upon the shoulders of your idols, rather than copying your idols …. have your own originality. Which is the most important being an artist.

Tell us about your motorcycle jacket collection? I have way too many, if you went into that room you would see. I collect motorcycle jackets , helmets and motorcycles.

Is this your work space? When a show goes on this whole area becomes my studio. Before Sandy I had a studio in the back…

Did you get flooded? Outside I drew the waterline of when Sandy hit. I got a lot of damage…. two of my bikes are in the shop in pieces. I lost a lot of my toy collection, comic book collection…. The place has never been the same since.

Where did you get all your furniture? “I am a collector, I love flee markets, I love garage sales…. although its not prevalent… I am an ebay freak too”

Tell me about your clothing collection “I am a big fan of Levi’s jeans,  Vintage T-shirts are my favorite, although I have Prada , Hermes and that kind of stuff…I always tend to wear T-shirts

You have so much shit but its all so organized! I am like an organized hoarder…

What is this trunk? “This is a trunk that was hand built based on a 1920s Louis Vuitton trunk that I build and took apart to see how they built it… this was done before 12/12/2012 when people predicted it would be the end of the world so I wanted to make this as a survival kit based on my style of artwork….That mask was a US Navy Seal mask that was hard to get.

And what is this I see…. (pulls out a Hermes Bag) OH, wow I need to hold this…. “That’s the Kelly bag and I have a Birkin underneath it…”

OH GOSH… what are you going to do with those? “I am trying to do a show in Tokyo at the Louis Vuitton Gallery”

If people are interested in purchasing or viewing your artwork how would they be able to do that?” Jonathan Levine gallery represents me and you can see their stuff through the web, you can make an appointment with them and look at the pieces. Online I have some stuff on my website which is dylanegon.us”

Whats next for you? “Next, I have get ready for Art Basel Miami, work on some new pieces and hopefully do a big mural down there for the show. I will be doing some commercial art….and a lot of wheat pasting this summer”

What inspires you? “It’s not getting angry per se, but making a comment…. be it pop culture or something that culture has forgotten….Sometimes trying to derail or embrace what is trendy…”

 

Someone please pinch me!!

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