Interviewer: Anthony Andujar Jr
Interviewee: Byron (Last Grasp/Abdushakur)
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| The first one: Unknown Model, Sketchbook c. 2007 courtesy of Byron (Last Grasp) |
Hello and welcome to the Artist Ant Interviews People Summer Series! Welcome to another edition to my latest talks with local and global creatives that are alive, hustling and thriving in their respective crafts! Today I have a special guest as I always tend to have, right? This individual is someone that I met through English Professor Stafford Gregoire, who I collaborated with for a project for the Archives project at Laguardia Community College. As with most interactions within the digital age, we interacted face to digital face on Instagram and spoke about art, our influences, why we truly do the art that we do, what fuels us, why it fuels us, and how we keep that fire alive amongst an overly saturated landscape that is overrun by the gatekeepers of art. Through these discussions, it was a no brainer to ask this individual if he wanted to be interviewed. He has different brands such as Last Grasp, Shattered Impressions, The Book Of Patience, Street Punx NYC among a few. Ladies and Cyborgs of cyberspace, please welcome Byron of Last Grasp!
Q0. Who are your inspirations?
B: When I was a kid, Merry Melodies, Looney Toons, Popeye, Tom and Jerry, and other obscure early and mid 1900’s animation. Robert Crumb [and Sophie Crumb] was probably my main source of inspiration when I was in my teens and early 20’s. In my mid 20’s I worked with and was definitely influenced by underground cartoonist Adam Air Williams. Very prolific. He’s basically the underground comic’s Jack Kirby. When I was 26 though, I became Muslim and I dropped all of this stuff and began doing abstract art as a Muslim artist, the main inspiration coming exclusively from the Qur’an. Since then, I haven’t really look at artwork by other artists, and when I do, I’m extremely selective. So it’s hard for me to find something that really impresses me.
The one thing that remained influential though is underground hip-hop. Not so much the music but the aggressive nature and egotistical self-glorification in the lyrics (the instrumentals definitely lend to the aggression). Guys like Immortal Technique, Diabolic (Triple Optix, Skeme Team, Foul Play, Rebel Arms, Strong Hold), Ill Bill (Non-Phixion, La Coka Nostra), D. Valentine (Vendetta Kingz), June Marx, Nems Murdafest aka Gorilla Nems (Fuck Ya Lyfe), Brooklyn Academy, Goretex (Non-Phixion), Vinnie Paz (Jedi Mind Tricks, Army of the Phroahs)... a relatively short playlist that stays on loop when I use it. I’m also really in to battle rap. I’ve been following it since Grind Time came onto the scene, so I’d have to say that the essence of battle rap and underground hip-hop has and continues to play a major role in what inspires me to keep going. I keep all of this separate from my Islamic identity. The abstract work I do is all based on everything I’ve learned about Islam. So basically Tawheed (Monotheism) and the Qur’an are the sole inspiration for that work. It is exclusively Islamic with no external influences. It’s kind of difficult to properly explain the way I compartmentalize myself as an artist.
Q1. How did you get into art, most notably branding and advertising?
B: I was born and raised here, in Corona, Queens. I went to P.S. 13. When I was in kindergarten, I remember sitting outside during recess on one of the lunch tables they had outside. I was drawing a picture of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles dismembering Shredder (or it was the other way around, I don’t remember), but, I do remember saying to myself, “this (drawing) is what I’m going to do for the rest of my life.” So, I focused on that to the exclusion of everything else. My main interest in art was traditional illustration or, fine art illustration and cartoons for most of my childhood. I would just draw. I’d sit in my room, usually around 8 hours a day (obviously when I had no classes), and work on my drawings. My mother would yell at me and tell me to go out with my friends, but I had no time for frivolities at that age.
When I was in junior high school going into high school, I started to question what I was doing because all I was doing was drawing with no real purpose, it was just something I had to do. When I was in high school, I began to really focus on what I was going to do with my art work. That was around the time I got into Crumb’s work. When I was 14, on a day in a week of that year, I was going to blow my brains out (grew up in a broken home since I was about 7, and there was a lot of turmoil in the family) in my room with my dad's rifle. My mom called me out for something, and I went and sat down and turned the TV on. I put on IFC (I don’t know if that channel still exists), and I caught Crumb (the documentary about Crumb) as it was starting. The melancholy, ragtime piano, the statue of the girl with the big butt and the bizarre art hooked me in. Then Crumb says, “If I don’t draw for a while, I get really crazy. I start feeling really depressed and suicidal if I don’t get to draw. But, sometimes while I’m drawing I feel suicidal too
so-”
From that moment, Crumb became my teacher, so-to-speak. I didn’t look at any other work. No one came close to him as an artist. I focused on his work exclusively. I didn’t care for Marvel or DC Comics, or any of the other superhero style comics. They never really resonated with me. Crumb’s art was on an entirely different level. When I was 18, I decided that I needed to leave home. I had dropped out of high school, packed my bags and left around 9pm. I didn’t have a plan or a place to go. All I knew was that I had to leave. Partially because of the situation that was going on at home but mainly because I needed to get away from what I perceived at the time to be comfort. Comfort kills the creative processes. I went to St. Marx because I was in the punk scene and that’s where I knew people. I was sitting on the steps of Search & Destroy drawing in my sketchbook.
There was this guy sitting behind me watching me draw, he started asking me questions and we got into a conversation, small talk and whatnot. He asked me what kind of music I liked, and in my response I mentioned that I liked Blues and Ragtime, and he told me that his room-mates dad had one of the largest collections of 78RPM’s in the world. “Is your room-mates dad Robert Crumb?” and he was like, “Yea, how’d you know? Wanna meet her?” Of course, I began to hang out with Miguel and Sophie that whole time, working on art, getting drunk as fuck. Going to punk shows, art shows, making comics and zines and living that life. Me and Miguel, who is also a pretty well known artist in the Bay Area (Roberto Miguel, or Miguel from Oakland), became good friends and we would just go to shows and chill...I was a lot crazier back then, almost always drunk and angry and would jump into circle pits to punch people in the face.
It was a glorious time (HAH!) Sophie put out a comic called T.P. and we were all in it, including Adam Air. Then we ended up living in this squat in the Bronx called Casa Del Sol. That place was crazy during 2004 with the RNC in the city, the political climate and whatnot. We’d go from Casa to C-Squat and break into abandoned building in the city and chill on the rooftops. Then Crumb came to visit Sophie and she invited me to dinner. I finally met Crumb in The Time Square Grill. Got to talk to him and see his sketchbook and all that, it was sick. I even left with an original place mat drawing. Then another dinner about a year later, and that was that. I asked him to critique my work and he said, “I don’t know what to tell you, keep going. You already got it.”
Then I moved to West Oakland, lived with Miguel for a while, then I moved to Dead Rat Beach and it just so happened Adam Air was living there at the time, so we began to work. All we did was work on our art and get high, and I’d get drunk on top of that... Dead Rat Beach...shit. Too much to say about all of this, but it’s all relevant. Moved to San Francisco (the sidewalk), and started contributing to Madhappys Comix Newspaper with Adam.
At that time, I also happen to run into one of my best friends from Bowne, John Paul, who happened to be living in the Tenderloin District at the time while attending A.I. The art school world was way different than the world of art I was involved in but, the A.I. students that JP was hanging out with were cool and they thought my life was interesting so it worked out. A bunch of other stuff happened, until the time of this interview (the above leaves off in 2006).
I’m going back to what I’ve written so far, and it’s already a lot and it’s a brief recap too...damn-
To skip a shit load of history, branding and advertising is just a means to an end. It’s the only way to really get where you want to be as an artist or in any field. It’s competitive and aggressive, and if you’re good, your work reaches far beyond the art galleries.
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Rabia - Zona De Guerra cover, c. 2007 courtesy of Byron (Last Grasp)
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Q2. When did you take art seriously?
B: When I was 5 years old. It’s do or die.
Q2.1. As someone who dabbles in branding and advertising, who have you worked with?
B: In that specific field, nobody. It’s just a personal endeavor.
Q2.2. What is your goal as an advertiser? And how do you hope to influence the world of advertising and branding through your art?
B: I don’t know. The only reason I’m going in this direction is because I have a natural propensity towards the idea of branding. I like the creative release that comes with having to be unique and standing out in a brand infested world. The goal is to make money on the side and to ultimately use this to further my own art career. If I can use it to collaborate with others and help them get ahead as well, then I’m down. I like to help creative people with good ideas flourish.
Q2.3. What are the challenges of advertising and branding?
B: I don’t think there are any, really...a coma. Death. Aside from that, creative thinking is second nature to me, and coming up with ideas is easy...whether it’s in my personal art or branding. I think my first branding gig was creating several fictitious company identities for a drug dealer. He would use these fake companies and labels in order to mail drugs And so no one would ask questions. That was like 14 years ago though. Got paid pretty good, that’s all I can really say.
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| Excerpt from The Book of Patience (work in progress) courtesy of Byron (Last Grasp) 2019 |
Q2.4. What do you look for when creating your brand?
B: I don’t know how to explain the process.
Q2.5. What do you hope to do with your advertising background and how does that impact your work as an artist?
B: I don’t know. I just do what I like to do because I have to do it. Branding and whatnot isn’t separate from my art. It’s a part of it. Another facet, another style.
Q2.6. As an artist what has changed for you since you began this journey into branding and advertising?
B: Nothing except maybe having to focus more on the tools I’m using.
Q2.7. What can artists and creatives benefit from your knowledge and profession?
B: People tell me that my passion is contagious. I take art seriously. Also, many artists are just not that good at marketing or branding and this is bad. They think that the way they’re going is sufficient, and it’s not. This isn’t a game, either you learn how to make yourself known or get trampled by the millions of people all hoping to “make it.” It isn’t 1800, it’s 2019, the nature of the game has changed.
Q2.8. what are the pros and cons of your profession and how do stay grounded to your roots as a person and as an artist?
B: Pros and cons? So far, there haven’t been any. I don’t put myself in situations where I will compromise myself, and if something pops up that puts me in that situation, I drop it and go about my way. I’m not in this for money, I have no qualms about reading a situation on the spot. I have more important things to focus on.
Q2.9 What projects that are currently in development should your readers keep an eye out for ?
B: The Book of Patience.
Q3. What drives you in your daily life?
B: My faith and art work.
Q4. What made you the person that you are today?
B: Pain and suffering.
Q5. If you could speak to any living creator or inspiration, who would it be, why, and what would talk to them about?
B: I honestly don’t know. I talk to myself a lot.
Q6. If there were any deceased creators , actors, singers, writers, etc that you would want to speak to, who would it be, and why?
B: Again, I don’t know. I really have no one I can think of, living or dead, at this point in time I have any interest in meeting.
Q7. If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?
B: Mecca.
Q8. What is one thing that you fear?
B: Going to hell.
Q 9. If you had a superpower what would it be and why?
B: Flight. My life has been nothing but moving from place to place, so flying would make it easier.
Q10. What catches your attention when you meet people?
B: Character and intellect.
Q11. What is one word of advice that you would impart to your younger self?
B: When you get on a bicycle, keep your eyes on the road.
Q12. What are three books that you always remember or return to, and why? How did they shape you?
B: The Qur’an. It’s the only book in all of my research into anything I was curious about, that provided answers to the questions I had growing up and until today. The collection of Hadeeth, Saheeh Al-Bukhaari, Saheeh Muslim et al. It provides contextual explanations and details for the Qur’an and the rules. It’s also considered scripture. And subsequent authentic books from scholars of the religion. They provide knowledgeable insight and deeper elaborations on the aforementioned. Too bad most people, including many Muslims, don’t read these books...
Q13. If you could continue or remake a movie, or franchise, what would be your film of choice ?
B: I don’t watch movies like that.
Q14. If you were to make a film, novel, or comic book based on an album, what album or artist would you pick?
B: Diabolic – Liar and A Thief
Q15. Who In this life, has motivated you to stay true to what makes you who are?
B: My mother.
Q16. Where do you hope to see yourself in five years?
B: Hopefully, alive.
Q17. What are three albums or songs currently, that you listen to on repeat? And why?
B: Diabolic – “Stand By”
“Store my rhymes cryogenically for an entire century, and even science then’ll be baffled by the chemistry/ The rap is rising energies, analyzed forensically, to fathom why this natural highs trapped inside your memory/ So why do rappers lie, glamorizing weaponry, getting away with murder like the cat who’s driving Kennedy/ I’ll have your lives in jeopardy, receiving intravenous fluids til the thieves I’m crew with pull the plug from your breathing unit/ I peeped the blue print
of your music, every bar and measure, planting demo charges to tear apart the architecture/ My squad marched together, through the arctic weather in the hardest sector and left a mark forever like a scarlet letter/scar a veteran for meddling in our endeavors, so enjoy getting tarred and feathered while your arms are severed/ Ya’ll will never stop this loon out the boonies who spits more jewels out than that dude’s mouth in Goonies/”
Diabolic – “Soldier’s Logic”
“I’ll never taste my pride, I’ll never change, never sayin’ die, like a native tribe despite the small pox they provide/ fuck the game, I’ll take it by storm and break inside, and maybe I’ll flood the streets with crack like it’s ‘85/ rainy skies and clouds will form then crowds will swarm to hear my album songs, kneel down and bow before ‘em/ sound the horns, I arrived in a crown of thorns to power bomb blocks when I (eye) drop like Bausch and Lomb/ now it’s on, took a breath of air, said a prayer, and threw you down a flight of heaven’s stairs into the devil’s lair/ and I’ll continue this genocide with Engineer til they light up our electric chairs like fluorescent flairs/ never cared if what goes around comes back around, and track us down like K-9 units with basset hounds/ these are battle grounds, I watch ‘em unfold and see them turn men to animals like Dr. Moreau, so/ I run into the lion’s den, with a squad of iron men, spittin’ like there’s
viral stem cells in my sinus phlegm/ I’ll die and rise again, then make water wine, cause I ride driving bent and drink all the time/ Don’t wanna sign to a label I’d never need, I’m a genetic breed doin’ more leg work than centipedes/ Best believe I’d bleed to set us free, and I’m blessed to be real that’s why the soldiers here next to me/”
Diabolic – “Loose Cannon”
“My, mic line through Median defies oblivion, ahead of the time I'm living like the prime meridian so/ why sign and get me in a worthless game where, Abel’s gonna murder Cain for his personal gain when I/ can brain storm a hurricane of purple rain til it floods the earths terrain and burst in flames/ the same person remains but my, purpose changed and it’s worth the pain of hearing ya’ll curse my name (fuck you)/” “I never claimed to be a gangsta, but I don’t fire blanks, I’m just known for saying crazier shit than Tyra Banks but/ celebrity stars leave us mentally scarred/ so I came to save the game like a memory card cause/ enemy squads just pretend to be hard, like their mic booth’s surrounded by penitentiary bars and/ whenever they rhyme they get federally charged, they’re the mafia and D’s chill wherever they are/ I don’t believe ‘em (never)/ It simply isn’t feasible, the heat you pull could cease a wolf from turning you little sheep to wool, I’m a/ loose cannon with Duran’s “Hand’s of Stone,” Ali’s swagger, Foreman’s right and the heart to stand alone (damn right).”
Q18. What color speaks to you the most and why?
B: Black. Same color of the ink incarcerated in the pen
Q19: What is your greatest weakness?
B: Women.
Q20. What is your greatest strength?
B: My mentality.
Q21.What's one thing that you're proud of?
B: I haven’t accomplished that yet. It’s in progress.
Q22. What is a mantra that you tell yourself?
B: La ilaha il Allah (there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah, alone)
Q23. What is success to you?
B: Dying as a Muslim, because that isn’t guaranteed until after the fact.
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| Excerpt from The Book of Patience courtesy of Byron (Last Grasp)2019 |
You can follow and support his work on these platforms:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/LastGrasp/
Website: https://www.lastgrasp.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ByronObandoStudios/
Website: https://www.instagram.com/ShatteredImpressions/
Instagram: http://www.shatteredimpressions.com/
Website: https://www.instagram.com/TheBookOfPatience/?hl=en
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