GREATEST: Jacob Rochester
The Los Angeles-based multidisciplinary artist and Brooklyn-based designer Pat Peltier of Bandulu
discuss craft and creativity. Rochester is photographed by visual artist and Jordan Brand collaborator,
Blue the Great.
“Soul samples and sans-serifs.” Just two facets of Jacob Rochester’s creative utility skill set as he describes them. The Connecticut-raised and Los Angeles-based artist practices and studies different mediums of art and design—illustration, typography, beatmaking and more, all embodying an artist’s artist. Rochester’s work finds inspiration in everyday life and is the vehicle that sparks his organic workflow, creating a throughline through each medium. Whether it’s discovering a drum break for his beats or applying Dutch Golden Age still life painting to a current interest on canvas, Rochester brings his self-expressions very much to life.
Here, Rochester and Brooklyn-based designer Pat Peltier of Bandulu jump straight into a discussion on their respective crafts, inspiration, processes, collaborations and what makes a good sneaker design.
We talked about this in your art, but I like how you find references in real life. You really take the human figure and form and bring this baroque skillset to [the] imagery that feels like it’s out of a Japanese magazine. I’ve always admired that about your work. Do you go to museums much and get inspiration from, say, a Dutch figure painting?
It’s funny you mention [the] Dutch because I’ve been reading and studying from Dutch Golden Age still lifes. It goes to the same thing you were saying where you reference something but what I try to do often is bring it to a different place. So, if I’m referencing a Dutch painting or still life, I’ll try to make it make sense for my subject matter or my interests. It’s always inspiring to see other people’s stuff from the 1800s and see how they were doing it. Also, really unique color palettes exist everywhere. I've always loved seeing the different shades in a color that happen when a graffiti piece gets buffed and the new paint doesn't exactly match the old. That always makes for an interesting palette.
Are there any other skill sets that you’d like to expand on?
I’m always trying to look at different ways to attack a project; always thinking of the next medium or technique on how to expand the art. Right now, I’ve been using oils a lot and experimenting with it on different canvases.
I think it's best to try to make an idea better, which ends up being subjective and also easier said than done. But I think there is also a grey area in this answer depending on the idea. For example, my [Dennis] Rodman painting stems from an idea I've seen before, which is the hair charts that are at every barbershop. And I've seen another iteration after, where someone painted the Rodman heads with skulls and sold them on shirts. To that artist, maybe that is “better” and maybe “better” is the wrong word. It's all how you look at it, I guess.
I'm trying to still find the answer myself. I think striving for being as close to original as possible will get you further, even though originality doesn't necessarily exist in most contexts either.
How the paint will sit on the piece?
[Yes], and there are ways you can make the paint dry quicker or different methods to thicken it if you want to add some texture to the canvas. Stuff like that to kind of change your perspective on how you’re going to finish a piece or even start one.
With design, it’s best to deviate as much from a reference point as possible. It’s great to take inspiration and cues from past works but it’s easy to fall into the trap of directly copying.
JACOB ROCHESTER
Makes sense, because if you’re looking for good design there’s something in the history that you can at least use as a jump-off. As much as we both try to stay original and true to our own form, we’re not the first to stitch or watercolor an original design of something. There’s so much stuff [now] that you’ll copy someone without even knowing it.
100%. And that’s especially true with graphic design. It’s funny how trends will come back, whether it’s in typography or how images are treated—there’s always something from like the ‘70s or even just going through record covers. No matter what, if you think you’re the first [one] doing it, it’s like ‘Nah, [it’s] been done.’
A lot, if not most of my work uses references from another source. I'm constantly collecting images and tangible things as visual aids for my artwork and design projects. I've always found it not only important but necessary when pulling and using references, to not only bring them to an entirely new place but also understand them at a deeper level and why you gravitate to them—why the original artist/designer made these choices in the first place.
It's a tricky case with my art because a lot of times, I use references as direct studies, but even then I try to bring in a different context for the composition. With design, it's best to deviate as much from a reference point as possible. It's great to take inspiration and cues from past works but it's easy to fall into the trap of directly copying. Doing research and figuring out why a certain print technique, typeface or photo manipulation was used to better understand its context, is what's most important when referencing.
I think Hassan Rahim's interview with New Reader sums it up more eloquently than I ever could. He mentions, "Without a real understanding of where something started, or the context in which it exists, I find the point of inspiration to be quite shallow.”
What do you think makes a good sneaker design?
That’s a hard one, but I always reference the Y-3 Qasa. I feel like the Qasa was almost groundbreaking in terms of bringing those references to a different place than what it was, but still making it very modern. I always appreciate risk-taking with design, especially in footwear.
Has the quarantine affected how and where you work?
I don’t really need too much, just a small space because a lot of my work—at least now—is smaller, like paper works. I’ve been trying to extend it to larger canvases. My operation is pretty small; if I do have a canvas that’s large, I just throw it on the wall and work off of it that way. But since the quarantine happened I wouldn’t say too much has changed for me luckily, because a lot of times I [was] just at the crib working already.
So what’s your quarantine ‘fits looking like?
Quarantine ‘fits, bruh? I’m keepin’ the durag on because my hair’s been looking crazy these days. Just a hoodie and some sweats, man... and some slides, cycling through that. That’s really it for the most part, bummin’ it.
[Laughs] I’m pretty much the same, I got the bandana on most days; rockin’ Birkenstocks. Every once in a while I’ll put on jeans just to feel normal, and then I’m in my house ready to go nowhere. I’ll literally switch them out for sweatpants an hour after.
[Laughs] Super cozy is needed for sure. What’s your top three albums you got on repeat while staying at home?
Nothing fancy. I don’t keep up with new music and stay with it as much as I used to. I’ve just been listening to a lot of Amy Winehouse and Fleetwood Mac, and some old “Da Art of Storytellin’” [by] OutKast has been my last-week kind of flow. I can put them on and even if it shuffles into something similar it’s like, ‘Okay. That’s what I’m feeling like.’
So are you the type when, if you have a playlist going and something’s completely left field from what you’re listening to, do you switch it or do you just stick with it, keeping that vibe going?
Nah, I’m pretty straight with keeping the vibe going. Hopefully, if work is going well you don’t notice it. If some country bumpkin jam that I hate came on I’d have to switch it, but if it made a sharp turn from like Lauryn Hill to 2Pac, hard shit, I dunno, I think I would be like, ‘Yeah, we’re going!’ Now it’s like the playlist is trying to tell me something, so I try not to switch it up because I’ve noticed in my past, if you’re fiddling with the music you’re not focused or working.
True, that’s a good point. I’m the same way. I have this ongoing playlist of random stuff that I like and I’ve realized that I don’t really need a playlist for specific sounds or vibes. So it could go from MF DOOM to out of nowhere Lil B, and I’d be completely fine with it. I guess the most consistent thing I’ve been playing is the new Thundercat album, which is super tight. And then the beat tape I just dropped has been playing on repeat as well. But yeah, man, just trying to keep the vibes good over here.
CONVERSATION: PAT PELTIER
PHOTOGRAPHY: BLUE THE GREAT
CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHY: CHIN ROCHESTER