He’s got it

San Diego artist, musician, skater and general whizkid Julian Klincewicz tells us about his latest project – and an upcoming wearable one
By Tempe Nakiska | Art | 19 February 2015
Above:

Julian Klincewicz

Above: Julian Klincewicz. Photo Kenneth Mitchell

Artist, musician, skater, film and zine maker, fashion designer, transcendental meditator… You name it, Julian Klincewicz does it. The San Diego native’s second solo exhibition opens in his hometown tomorrow, also launching the release of a book, zine and 7-inch, the whole thing set to trip to Tokyo in May. Oh, and he’s only 19 years old.

Last time we caught up with Julian he made us a Girls and Big Mac infused playlist, following up on his feature reaping bands Christy and LUBE in HERO 10 and his debut art show featuring his illustrative, sculptural and photographic work.

Fast-forward twelve months and we catch Julian on the back of his first trip to Europe – hinged on a video collaboration with Gosha Rubchinskiy for the Russian designer’s FW15 Paris show. Speaking from San Diego, Julian filled us in on it all…

Tempe Nakiska: So Julian! What have you been up to over the past year?
Julian Klincewicz: Two friends and I recorded six songs to release as an EP as Lube, we’re just waiting to get it mastered now. We’ve also started a new band called Bloom, we’re just figuring out the live act at the moment. I’ve been working on a clothing label, too…

TN: Yeah, last time you were talking about wanting to get into design, so that’s cool. What’s the line all about?
JK: I want the brand to be very androgynous. Some of the clothing will be slightly effeminate and some masculine. I’m starting off with a couple of basic t-shirts, silk screen prints, and they will hopefully give me enough money to put a couple of cut and sew pieces into production. I’m working with this waffle material which is fun, and a pant. Something between a dress pant and a chino. I’m also right now working on a collaboration sock with this San Diego sock company!

Julian Klincewicz still from ‘Snake’ 2015

TN: Amazing. How will you launch it all?
JK: I was thinking of having a runway show. I think there’s actually a San Diego fashion week but it’s gotta be the biggest joke ever! I may put something on at the gallery I had my first exhibition at and where my new one is being held – Gym Standard. I want it to be kind of cheesy, get a champagne sponsor on board, make it a bit nineties.

TN: You had a recent fashion week experience, right? In Paris for fashion week at Gosha Rubchinskiy’s FW15 show?
JK: Yeah! So I sent Gosha an Instagram direct message being like, “Hey, I really like your work and appreciate what you’re doing”. I wasn’t expecting anything back, but he got back to me and asked me what I do, I explained about my video work and we chatted. We’re working with Vans for the US release of the book, zine and 7-inch and I know he’s also been collaborating with them for the past few seasons. I told him what we were doing with Vans and suggested maybe we could shoot a video together. He said that would be super cool and asked if I was going to Paris. I had no plans to go there but totally faked it! I was like, “Oh yeah, I’m just figuring it out you know?” and in his next message he was like “If you get there you’ve gotta shoot my runway show.” So obviously I had to go to Paris!

TN: What was it like?
JK: It was great. I was expecting this whole ‘fashion’ thing, San Diego isn’t at all like that so I have this preconceived idea of what a catwalk show would be like. I thought it may be really serious but I showed up and the first thing he did was gave me a big hug and told me just to let him know whatever I needed in rehearsing the show. It was great to have contact with such a smart and interesting guy.

TN: Sounds like fun. So Your new exhibition opens today, can you tell us about it?
JK: The whole thing is split into three components. There’s a book, which is the literary component, a film which is the visual one and we cut a 7-inch kind of Dixieland record to make a limited, specific object, which is the auditory component. It’s supposed to all come together as an atmospheric piece. Within each there are themes: the book is split into three sections which are Turtle Neck, True Blue and Snake. The first is a fun kind of influence, True Blue is exploring the different forms and connotations of love and snake is the seedier sex section, exploring the cultural associations of sex and how that relates to objects.

Julian Klincewicz ‘Yum’ 2015

Julian Klincewicz ‘Yum’ 2015

TN: And you’ve made a zine, which incorporates a lot of collage. What’s the story of the photographs you’ve used in it?
JK: Two years ago I found this box of old photos of this Philippino family who has immigrated to the US through the navy. Their son became a child prodigy piano player. Anyway, so I had this box of like 500 photos and started sorting them all to figure out what their story was. But I decided in the end to use the photos in a collage style to trace what I’d been able to gather about their lives. The zine tells their story.

TN: Have you ever been to the Philippines?
JK: No I haven’t, but the guy who owns the store where I bought the photographs is from there and he actually came to the US through the navy as well. I think they have a house there and said I can go there whenever I want which is nice…

Julian Klincewicz ‘Yum’ 2015

TN: So are you selling the things you’ve created, in parallel running of the exhibition?
JK: Yeah. The whole thing is sold as a package, we did a run of a hundred books and a hundred zines and 50 of the seven-inches. Each one is collaged with the photos and other inspiration sources that prompted the whole project. It’s supposed to create a really personal association when you buy it. With the release tomorrow, there are only going to be 50 for sale as a set.

TN: Will you sell it online?
JK: Probably not, because the whole idea is to create something that’s a precious object. Something you can grow close to and hold close. The whole thing’s supposed to be very personal. I want to know why people are choosing particular sets, open up a conversation.

TN: What’s up after this?
JK: We’re actually taking the whole thing to Tokyo, setting up the exhibition at a gallery space called Rocket. We’ll get more of the records pressed and do a smaller Japan release.

Julian Klincewicz’s second solo exhibition Turtle Neck, True Blue, and Snake opens with support from Vans tomorrow, Friday 20th February and runs to … at Gym Standard, 2903 El Cajon Boulevard, San Diego, CA


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