Please enter login info.
Not a member? Register now! Forgot Password? Lookup!

 + Art of Skateboarding Articles

MD= Matt DeAngelis    VCJ= Vernon Courtlandt Johnson  (  1  2  3  4  5  6 )
MD: So how did skateboard graphics fit into a journey of self exploration?
VCJ: They answered to the needs of the soul that chose the body. The soul that inherited, that grabbed the baton in my early 30s had a very different mandate and how it affected the life is fascinating. I can see this in other souls who’ve come to profound turning points in their lives and I’ve shared notes with those souls who have experienced a transformation at the core of being.
  I come back to the company interested in a different order and what I see going on now is literally like another lifetime with completely different values.
MD: So this is a new life?
VCJ: This feels like a very different…. a new life. All the old values have changed. New values don’t represent the old values.
Reunited and it feels soooo good....VCJ and George Powell
MD: Before I go into the past, I’d like to maybe deal with the now. What made you decide to come back to Powell Peralta and do graphics again?
VCJ: Public mandate.
MD: The demand?
VCJ: I felt that George Powell and a lot of other people were calling me to function in some way in their lives and upon considering their sincere requests and gestures I said "there’s nothing in my personal life that measures up to a public mandate like this". I’ve been living a very private life playing the second to my wife, playing background to my wife who’s in the midst of her career …and very private life.
  But George has been very sincere and open with me in his invitation to participate in a corporation …I see the company now is a massive end. Before I used to see it as people. PERSONALITIES! Differences! Now I see it as a significant massive end to be involved with.
MD: You did do some graphics with Pocket Pistols...
VCJ: I did.
MD: How was that?
VCJ: It was a karmic thing. I felt like I’d known these souls before and that I needed to pass some time with them and share some things with them. The result was that the company didn’t really get off its feet with my work but I didn’t really care. I had my wife’s blessings to draw and to keep drawing alive on the basis that I work for that company.
  The think-tank here determines how designing goes and the direction that designs go. I was on a very long leash when I was with Pocket Pistols and I was allowed to determine a lot more about the thing before it went to print all by myself without a lot of people’s input. But I like think-tanks a lot and this is a most promising think-tank in my life.
MD: So you appreciate the feedback?
VCJ: Yeah. I’ve had my "ya-yas" in terms of manifesting my personal work. EXPRESSING what I need to express…. And there is not that much that I need to express for myself in black and white anymore. I’ve published written works too and that really satisfies the soul ….that I’ve published my instantaneous intelligence in the mojo filter which is a form of … it gives the practitioner a way of knowing themselves in a very elegant fashion.
MD: When you look back at how you use to do graphics and how you do graphics now; Is there a difference or is it all the same process for you?
VCJ: It’s a completely different experience. I used to be tortured. Court Johnson was a tortured soul for his first 33 years. And fate has seen to its transformation. The muse has seen to his transformation. And his wife has seen to supporting him in a way that has really brought out the best. I speak of myself in the 3rd person but I don’t identify with my early life anymore.
MD: Hmmm. So if we can look back at that life. When you look at the works that you’ve created. The longevity. People have literally tattooed themselves with your work. What is that like for you? To still have that impact!
VCJ: Well this body should have died by about 50 years of age. I’ve taken measures to see that this body in insured for the next 40 years. This is a completely new body because of self purification. A 15 year process of self purification and restoration of the instrument.
  In another forty years I will look at a completely new set of designs and product. I like to surprise myself. My drawing hand has really warmed up and I’m really interested in what is going to emerge as a consequence of engaging the people at this company and the think-tank that I enjoy out here.
Previous Next
@ Got Info?
Think you have some information of interest to the Art of Skateboarding members and visitors? Know some obscure fact related to skateboard collecting that you would like to share with the common folks? Well, drop us a line and let us hear about it!