I Like Characters.com by Steve Rack

New York street artist Abe Lincoln JR is best known for his iconic, witty and thought provoking street stickers. Most of you will recognise his iconic pooping bird (below) that made him famous.

But it doesn’t just stop at a pooping bird; Abe has exhibited work in galleries all over the USA and the world! His work has featured on designer toys, skate decks, jewelery, clothing and the list could go on!

Lucky for us, Abe has taken time out to answer some questions for us. Plus, one lucky person will win a one-off pair of custom Converse shoes by Abe Lincoln JR! Read on. At the very bottom is the contest link.

Steve Rack (SR):
Who is Abe Lincoln JR and why does he draw a pooping bird?

Abe:
I am Abe Lincoln Jr. I live in Brooklyn NY and I make the arts and stuff. Char was my first character, I started putting up in the street in 2003. Char is an homage to a restaurant called the Menu Tree from when I was a kid. IT was a Space-Age Batchelor Pad food court that was decked out in a mid-century aviary motif. The place was filled with giant paper mache birds that were behind wrought iron cages. Char is my take on those early memories.

SR:
So, you’ve had work shown in galleries across America and around the world. Your work can be seen in books, on skatedecks, on shoes, on vinyl toys – the list could go on.

When did you first realize your creative streak, and why did you turn to the streets of Downtown New York with your art?

Abe:
I started drawing when I was 3 up until I was in my 20′s. Then I flew into an artistic hissy fit full of the appropriate amount of self loathing that is required of a young person living in a gnarly neighborhood in order to distance themselves from their suburban upbringing. I quit art for about 10 years. Char (the pooping bird) was my “comeback”. I took up street art because i identified with it in a way I don’t identify with say… the Tate Modern. There’s a lot of bullshittery going on in the fancy art world I don’t like. I grew up in the early days of the Hardcore Scene in the Bay Area where stickering stenciling and wheatpasting were a part and parcel of what we did so I immediately identified with that when I saw Wooster Collective for the first time in 2003. It just seemed to have been “cleaned up” since the punk rock days and was far more inclusive, which I think is what made it interesting at the time.

SR:
What was it like turning into a household name within the designer toy community after the shock release of your much anticipated Dunny design for Kid Robot, which is, as you put it, ‘…a dead abe lincoln’?

Abe:
I dunno, a lot of what I do is delivered electronically through the magic of the internet and the discussion of my Dunny I heard took place on message boards or whatever. I am glad that it provoked some conversation when it came out though. Some people were all, “I’m horrified by such poor taste!”, and others took it in the spirit that it was intended and love it. Kid Robot liked it enough to put it into their exhibition at the Cooper Hewitt in 2006, so that blew me away, but I didn’t hear about it until the exhibition almost closed (laughs).

SR:
What’s with all the postal sticker characters that are suddenly taking over your blog?

Abe:
I took a hiatus from Street Art around 2005 as it got saturated and to be honest a lot of it wasn’t very good, so the things I liked about it weren’t there for me. I’ve been working on lots of projects that have been taking a long time to get off the ground. I did a few platform type toys. I’ve been shopping around, and my project Fugue State Records is hobbling along to it’s first release. So to be able to draw these stickers on the train to work and put them up at lunch is a lot of fun and its been getting me back to my fighting weight as well as stretching my character design muscles again.

SR:
When we last spoke you mentioned a new show in Brooklyn, ‘Weeky Special’. When is it? Where is it? What’s it about? Tell me more!

Abe:
Weekly Specials is a new art show that is opening Oct. 22nd at Last Exit bar on Atlantic Ave. in Brooklyn NY. Ive been collecting these giant weekly special posters at my local grocery store for the past few months. I’ve amassed quite a few of them and I’m giving them out to a bunch of my artist friends and were going to collaborate on them. Should be fun and interesting to say the least! DJ McBoing Boing is going to be spinning too so it should be a great time.

SR:
One lucky person is going to win a cool pair of converse shoes that you designed during a marathon drawing session at the Buy Chucks Get Art program at the JC Penney in Manhattan Mall. What was that like? It sounded like it was pretty mad.

Abe:
I had a blast at the Buy Chucks Get Art program. I had a table in the shoe section and a ton of paint pens and markers and drew on Chuck Taylors for 9 hours solid. My appearance was only supposed to be for 5 hours but there were kids waiting in line for 4 hours to get their shoes customized so I certainly couldn’t let them down. It was a great experience because it was mostly back to school kids and they were looking for someone to execute their ideas for them. Kids art is the best so it was an awesome experience all in all.

SR:
Everyone has there own creative outlet. So it turns out that yours was (is) the streets. What advice would you give to any budding artists out there?

Abe:
Do what thou will shall be the whole of the law. – Alestair Crowley

SR:
The whole street art scene is overflowing with fresh stuff. Who is your favourite artist at the moment?

Abe:
Its tied right now: My Street Art Collective, the Endless Love Crew, always is killing it. Royce Bannon, Celso, Infinity and Anera are on the team. As far as non team mates – Cabashm, Overconsume, Kosbe, Dark Clouds and Matt Siren rule it.

SR:
What’s in the future for Abe Lincoln Jr?

Abe:
I suppose I’ll get older and eventually die…

OK. For a less maudlin and a closer view of whats coming up art wise: I always have my hustle on – I’ve been doing a lot of designs for various companies. A series of toys I created is closer to getting made, but it’s too early to talk about it. I got on Artsprojeckt so I’m going to be releasing some skate decks through them. And as always I’m going to be participating in tons of Art shows.  You can check my site -  www.girlsbike.com – for updates.

SR:
What do you think makes a great character design?

Abe:
I guess it depends on what the creator is going for. I think capturing emotion in some way is really important. Char for instance actually has that “blank” Sanrio style expression and I think that void look is an expression in itself.

SR:
And finally, what do you want for Christmas?

Abe:
I’d like Santa to bring me lots of design work that pays handsomely and lets me take my work to the next level!

Contest: Win a pair of custom converse by Abe Lincoln JR! 100% genuine, rare, collectible, sick, ‘this will make your friends jealous’ awesomeness! Press HERE to go to the contest page!

Related links:
www.girlsbike.com (Abe’s main site)
Abe’s Flickr
Abe’s Blog
Abe’s Shop