"The Hard Questions by Vajunnie with Ilja Karilampi"
by Vajunnie
The Hard Questions by Vajunnie with Ilja Karilampi
1. What's the story behind your new collection?
I went to London for an inspiration trip, promised myself to stay unhinged in my art. Brought a couple of roadside signs with me home on the flight, hung it in my apartment, like a poster from church almost. I'm really drawn to like unorthodox graphic design as a source of inspiration for my work, so I collect a bit, but mostly screenshots. After curator Tom Mouna got in touch, I imagined a very London-centric series of artworks, drawing from the musical context and site of the HOUSE OF JOY sign, digitalizing it, and then bring it back to life as a relic in the form of a mirror
2. Who is your biggest artistic influence right now?
NTS Radio
3. What's one artwork that changed how you think?
Maybe Tobias Rehbergers film “On Otto” at Fondazione Prada? He was my professor at Städelschule, didn’t like his aesthetics at all but really respected the conceptual approach of making work, sticking with an idea and taking it further than usual. With “On Otto” the artist deconstructed the filmmaking process by producing a work of art in reverse, starting with the movie poster and ending with the script. Rehberger’s aim was not to produce a finished film program, but a walk-through museum installation
4. Describe your art in 3 words.
Inspired, Monumental, Exquisite
5. What was the first NFT you ever minted?
@MutagenNFT haha, this 2021 collection I was part of together with Tommy Ca$h, Katja Novitskova, & Nik Kosmas, produced by Olga Temnikova & @edgar_eth
6. What artist in web3 deserves more visibility?
Quadrillions? Does great stuff from a graphic design point of view. It’s still my iCloud pfp so ppl get that when we text. Shoutout to all the lost collections on the blockchain that someone made on their own too, that no one ever heard about. It’s hard approaching this space without collaborating in some way, but could be a fun technical challenge. Much as with any art it really benefits from an audience, if only three really good people. And context, context helps, having time to think really conceptually ahead of visuals has helped me a lot, and it’s fun. I have to shoutout artist & dev Miles Peyton also who instead of giving me a couple 3D clips, gifted me with a Python script for Blender with which I could finish the whole of HOUSE OF JOY
7. What's your current obsession outside of art?
Listening to music, trying out weird lunch places. Reading the weekly The New Yorker issues. Really there’s music in everything around us, let it carry you like a higher spirit
HOUSE OF JOY by @akontown