Gather & Fold
Landland
Hi Landland! Who are you, and what are you doing at here at SXSW?
We are Jessica Seamans and Dan Black, we're from Minneapolis, and we're at SXSW to escape our winter. Hoping to trade our hoodies for sleeveless t-shirts.
What is the Flatstock experience like, from the inside?
Flatstock is amazing. It can be overwhelming if you have eyeballs. We're occasionally thankful that we are confined to a booth, so our brains don't collapse from looking at 'all of the everything that's all over the place all the time'. It's days and days of high-fiving and rolling up posters and telling people about our funny and ridiculous job.
As with Nick and Nadine at Sonnenzimmer, Landland have a unique style - and an approach quite distinctively devoid of trends common in contemporary poster art. Can you tell us about your process, how you produce, and what influences this style? Is traditional American folk art, textiles and craft an influence?
We look at all sorts of stuff all the time, and are drawing constantly. Our process is rooted in constant learning. Jes and I both work all the time... it's actually problematic for having any sort of 'non-Landland' life. Aesthetically, we just like surrounding ourselves with things we like to look atÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂâÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂæ Jes is definitely inspired by textiles and patterns, she has a really amazing knack for building these scenes full of implied narrative that I can't ever get enough of. Bizarre glimpses into moments of other worlds.
Yes - and the subject matter appears quite personal, although personal moments in someone else's life, rather than yours. It feels intimate, conscious, but not whimsical - like visual humanism. Can you tell us about the subjects, or narratives, you explore in your work?
I kinda lean toward images that suggest evidence of the past, or remnants of plans people once had, whether it's old advertising or factories or just a bunch of abandoned things that perhaps someone thought they were leaving there temporarily, but never came back... Someone just told us the other day that everything we make appears lonely and desolate - I hadn't really thought about it like that, but sure - why not? When I was little, I lived in this weird tiny town in southern Utah, this total bump-in-the-road place completely separated from the entire world, where I spent an inappropriate amount of time convinced that the world was ending, and there was nothing there to prove otherwise. Jes grew up in rural Northern Minnesota. So I guess we might be naturally inclined towards weird desolation.
Who, at SXSW, should we speak to next?
As far as Flatstock people go, I keep meaning to ask Dan MacAdam of Crosshair questions that are along the same lines of this interview, so maybe I'll suggest him. If you're talking about SXSW in general, I hear my buddies in the Insane Clown Posse are planning on showing up. Maybe fire some questions at them for a little bit. They're like, you know, real misunderstood and stuff.
Photography property of Landland
Archive
The referrals began with Leah Jackson who referred Stephanie Downey who referred Chris Hill who referred Jonathan Wallace who referred Dominic Hofstede, who referred Paul Fuog, who referred Ben Edwards and Juliet Moore, who referred Ryan Russel and Byron George, who referred Dianna Snape, who finished the stream with Jessica Brent. We also introduced Matt Hinkley who referred Warren Taylor who referred Yanni Florence, who referred Liv Barrett, who referred Fayen d'Evie, who referred Masato Takasaka, who referred Madeline Kidd, who referred Meredith Turnbull, who referred Nella Themelios.
In May 2012, we began a new Melbourne stream with Oslo Davis. He then referred Alexander Stitt, who referred Mimmo Cozzolino, who referred Fysh Rutherford, who referred Simon and Jenna Hipgrave.
In March 2012, we went to Austin for SXSW, where the daily referrals began with Sonnenzimmer who referred Landland and Hometapes who referred Zorch, who referred Brian Maclaskey, who referred Bobby Dixon, who referred Brian Phillips, who, through some auspicious coincidence, turned the SXSW referral interview project into a perfect circle, by referring us back to Sonnenzimmer. Then there was a giveaway to celebrate.