Keep The Trade Alive: Artist Series - BPMC X RGT

A couple of months ago I received an email from Brian asking me if he could stop by the studio to check out some RKs.  So as he’s trying on jeans we get to talking.  We find out that we’re essentially neighbors (he’s an Atwater Village local too), and I find out that he’s an artist.  After he left (with RKs in hand) I checked out his work and immediately thought that he’d be perfect to work with on the next installment of our “Keep The Trade Alive: Artist Series”. 

To make a long story short, he was down, we knocked about a bunch of ideas, and at the end of it we came up with what I think are some really cool and unique limited edition handkerchiefs.  As the project was taking shape I sat down with Brian to find out a little more about him and how he came to be the artist he is today.

-Name

Brian McMenamin

-Where did you do your growing up and where are you living now? 

I grew up in Napa and now live in Atwater Village.

-What were you doing in your youth? What were you hobbies, interests, fixations etc.

I drew a lot as a kid.   I got into skateboarding around 12 or 13.   I remember the Rob Roskopp board series for Santa Cruz is what got me excited about skating and art.   My friends and I would skate everywhere, mainly to my buddy’s quarter pipe or to the skate park.  When I got my license my friends and I bought surfboards.   Every Saturday we’d go to Stinson Beach or Bolinas in Marin and surf all day.   The skating and surfing culture were probably my biggest fixations as a kid.

-How have you cultivated your creative side throughout the years?

I like to look at magazines like Juxtapoz or Surfer’s Journal to get ideas and see what other artists that I love are doing.   Barry McGee and Margaret Kilgallen are big influences.    I love their shapes & patterns and use of color.  

-Is your art your primary source of income?  If not, what are you doing to pay the bills?

My art isn’t my primary source of income yet.   Right now, I have a 9-5 that pays the bills. I’m in the film industry, that’s where I make my money to support my art.

-What’s your creative process like? How does an idea become a work of art for you?

It’s usually something that catches my eye, a certain wave, a pattern, a color.   I like the idea of creating something that looks printed, almost machine like.   The color/pattern scheme is usually sketched out first then I start with solid blocks of color on canvas and layer stencils on top of stencils, finishing with pens to add detail and outline my work.

-Why shoes?  What made you start painting and drawing on them?

I love vans, I grew up wearing them.   It started as an experiment on my own pair, I got tired of checkered vans and wanted my own custom colors and patterns.    I got some comments here and there and start designing them for my friends and word of mouth has me busy making them.   I like that it’s functional and it’s not just something that’s hung on a wall.

-Where can we find more of your stuff?

You can find my paintings and order custom shoes on my website: bmacink.com.  

-Besides RT’s Keep The Trade Alive Artist Series what other projects are you working on at the moment?  

Right now I’m working on custom shoe and painting orders.    That’s what keeps me busy but I’m also looking to do collaborations with like-minded people.

A customer of ours just sent us some evo shots of RK ISCs V.1, what’s really cool is that a lot of the wear you see on these RKs has come from the work he and his brother have been doing on a traditional log cabin they are building up in Alaska.  It looks amazing and we’re glad that we could be apart of that experience in some small way :) thanks for sharing Dustin! RK ISC V.2 Pre-Order is open now.