Artist Interview: Joe Saksa
Introduction by Brian “Briz” Barnhart
Questions by Briz, Ben Morgan, and Aimee Gerst
Joe is one of those guys that makes you think about how much you love your friends and how you can’t wait for the next time you get to hang out with them. He is an amazing person that I genuinely enjoy being around. Whether it’s riding bikes, exploring, partying, or just sitting around doing nothing, it’s almost guaranteed to be a great time.
Briz: Name, age, and where do you hail from? Joe Saksa, 27, Wilkesbarre, PA.
Ben: How many girls have you railed in the last year, Sexy Joe Sexton? 2
Ben: Why so little, you’re a hot commodity? I had a girlfriend.
Ben: How’d you feel about that gap to rail today? I can’t believe that happened.
Briz: Does bike riding inspire your painting, or vice versa? People I ride with inspire my painting.
Ben: Will you paint me naked? I’m not good at the human form, but I will try.
Ben: What was it like hanging with all those guys in Kutztown… Trevel, Malony, Ian, and Random Mike (Axelrad crew)? Um, they were bad influences, but I would not trade it for a second. That’s when I discovered I have no conscience.
Briz: Do you consider your self an artist? No. I hate the entire connotation that goes along with that word.
Aimee: What do you consider yourself? A graphic interpreter. I interpret things my friends say, especially Janis, he fucking crazy. Two words, meth bones.
Ben: Were you intimidated the first time you met Barnhart? No, he’s a very likeable guy. Yeah, yeah, personable.
Briz: You paint houses and other stuff for a living, does that inspire to do create other paintings? I get a lot of my ideas about colors. It also gives me a lot of time to think about a painting that I am working on.
Aimee: What do you want people to take away from your paintings? A good laugh. And a little confusion.
Ben: How did you feel when I walked into your house and there was picture of me on your wall and we didn’t even know each other? It was crazy picture (Ben doing a rail from RideBMX) and we used it cover the bullet holes in the wall.
Ben: Did you ever look in the mirror and do the tuck AKA the mangina? I’d fuck me.
Briz: What’s your involvement with Axelrad? I do the news now, and I do some t-shirt designs.
Briz: Are you excited for the art opening at the hub? Is this your first time having your art displayed in a gallery? Yeah I am really excited. Its going to be strange because there is going to lots of different people seeing it and I think it might offend a lot of people and they will probably think I am a drug addict. This is my first personal showing. I’m really nervous.
Joe asked himself: Any other inspirations? Food, appliances, and a few people I hate.
Aimee: How do people you hate inspire you? When I worked on TV commercial sets, the production assistants drove me crazy. This dude David Jaindl putting up so many housing developments and destroying the farms. Those people needed to have paintings made about them.
Joe asked himself: How did you start painting and how long have you been doing it for? I was dating this girl who made paintings and I started painting with her so we could hang out. Two years since I started.
Aimee: You never realized you were talented? I wouldn’t use the word talented. I thought about painting before but I would psych my self out before I picked up a brush.
Aimee: What do you consider yourself? Um, lucky that my friends think I am talented.
Briz: Any words to end by? I’d like to thank vicodin for making me so happy when I paint.
Ben: What you’re not going to thank us, we just made this whole thing possible? I don’t like you Ben.
Briz: Any other shout outs? All my friends for inspiring me, oh, that sounds horrible… for giving me crazy ideas to make things; 1970s wall paper; Everybody who gave me windows to paint on; Mr. Barnhart for wanting to put my stuff out there; Unemployment; Um, 50% off coupons from AC Moore; Trevel for saying my crow looks flat.
Questions by Briz, Ben Morgan, and Aimee Gerst
Joe is one of those guys that makes you think about how much you love your friends and how you can’t wait for the next time you get to hang out with them. He is an amazing person that I genuinely enjoy being around. Whether it’s riding bikes, exploring, partying, or just sitting around doing nothing, it’s almost guaranteed to be a great time.
Briz: Name, age, and where do you hail from? Joe Saksa, 27, Wilkesbarre, PA.
Ben: How many girls have you railed in the last year, Sexy Joe Sexton? 2
Ben: Why so little, you’re a hot commodity? I had a girlfriend.
Ben: How’d you feel about that gap to rail today? I can’t believe that happened.
Briz: Does bike riding inspire your painting, or vice versa? People I ride with inspire my painting.
Ben: Will you paint me naked? I’m not good at the human form, but I will try.
Ben: What was it like hanging with all those guys in Kutztown… Trevel, Malony, Ian, and Random Mike (Axelrad crew)? Um, they were bad influences, but I would not trade it for a second. That’s when I discovered I have no conscience.
Briz: Do you consider your self an artist? No. I hate the entire connotation that goes along with that word.
Aimee: What do you consider yourself? A graphic interpreter. I interpret things my friends say, especially Janis, he fucking crazy. Two words, meth bones.
Ben: Were you intimidated the first time you met Barnhart? No, he’s a very likeable guy. Yeah, yeah, personable.
Briz: You paint houses and other stuff for a living, does that inspire to do create other paintings? I get a lot of my ideas about colors. It also gives me a lot of time to think about a painting that I am working on.
Aimee: What do you want people to take away from your paintings? A good laugh. And a little confusion.
Ben: How did you feel when I walked into your house and there was picture of me on your wall and we didn’t even know each other? It was crazy picture (Ben doing a rail from RideBMX) and we used it cover the bullet holes in the wall.
Ben: Did you ever look in the mirror and do the tuck AKA the mangina? I’d fuck me.
Briz: What’s your involvement with Axelrad? I do the news now, and I do some t-shirt designs.
Briz: Are you excited for the art opening at the hub? Is this your first time having your art displayed in a gallery? Yeah I am really excited. Its going to be strange because there is going to lots of different people seeing it and I think it might offend a lot of people and they will probably think I am a drug addict. This is my first personal showing. I’m really nervous.
Joe asked himself: Any other inspirations? Food, appliances, and a few people I hate.
Aimee: How do people you hate inspire you? When I worked on TV commercial sets, the production assistants drove me crazy. This dude David Jaindl putting up so many housing developments and destroying the farms. Those people needed to have paintings made about them.
Joe asked himself: How did you start painting and how long have you been doing it for? I was dating this girl who made paintings and I started painting with her so we could hang out. Two years since I started.
Aimee: You never realized you were talented? I wouldn’t use the word talented. I thought about painting before but I would psych my self out before I picked up a brush.
Aimee: What do you consider yourself? Um, lucky that my friends think I am talented.
Briz: Any words to end by? I’d like to thank vicodin for making me so happy when I paint.
Ben: What you’re not going to thank us, we just made this whole thing possible? I don’t like you Ben.
Briz: Any other shout outs? All my friends for inspiring me, oh, that sounds horrible… for giving me crazy ideas to make things; 1970s wall paper; Everybody who gave me windows to paint on; Mr. Barnhart for wanting to put my stuff out there; Unemployment; Um, 50% off coupons from AC Moore; Trevel for saying my crow looks flat.
posted by Jessie Jay at
4:47 PM
