JakeyPedro

Getting To Know SITG’s Artist In

Residence: Intro

Words by Sam Hetherington

The iconic work of SITG’s 2023 Artist in Residence Jakey Pedro is centre stage for all to see and enjoy. From the socials lineup announcement to the Splendour bespoke font type, the artist’s candid, offbeat style has no doubt already cropped up across your phone screen, and in the wild on posters and in magazines. Now, experience it in full force in the festival entrance tunnel (aka gateway to paradise). Sunshine and surf culture are key influences for Jakey, as is his life centered in his studio which doubles as his apartment right on the beach at Bondi. His loose approach to neo-expressionist painting sees his work traverse alternate outdoor universes where cowboys roam the horizon and collide with vibrant colours and contrasting patterns. We were lucky enough to be invited into Jakey Pedro’s home a couple of weeks back, where there is unsurposingly art, surfboards and knick knacks everywhere. Jakey is a straight-A chiller. He’s calculated but humble, and the kind of human that makes for an easy conversation.

First up, where did you grow up?

I grew up in Pomona (west of Noosa Heads) above an ambulance station. Moved around that area most of my upbringing, for Dad’s work as an officer in charge. Now I live in Bondi. This is a typical question, but what inspires you?

I’m inspired by a lifestyle on the beach. Surfing and swimming in the ocean and travel. Fatherhood has also been a huge inspiration for my work.

Does having all your studio double as your home get crazy? Well, I used to have a studio near you guys actually in Waterloo but I just found it felt like going to an office job and I wasn’t really going in. Having it here I am just fully immersive in it, and I get it done. Waking up and seeing what I have to do as the first thing really inspires me to do it but yeah I mean I can see how one day it might get old.

Yeah I used to have my desk in my room in lockdown and it felt like all I did was work, I couldn’t really separate the two. Yeah I’m lucky that hasn’t happened yet I’m just excited to be doing art everyday.

I was actually talking to Hollywood on the way here about how/ why some artists ‘make it’ and some don’t – why do you think that is? Yeah it is strange to think about. I have plenty of artist friends who haven’t been able to pursue art full time and their work is spectacular. I think it just comes down to timing. I got lucky with the timing. Interiors had a pastel moment and I was starting to put my stuff out there at just the right time. I have been a gyprocker my whole life but I sold all of my tools and fully committed to doing art. I stopped partying. That and surrounding myself with the right people. If you’re constantly in the same circles it’s hard to get noticed by people on the outside. So yeah just being around people who I look up to and aspire to be like. I’ve wanted to do this my whole life. To be an artist. I really put everything that I had into it. I committed to it 100%. That’s not to say other artists don’t but I really didn’t give myself a fallback plan and it paid off. And the whole beach cowboy has been well received obviously. Yeah I mean I think a lot of people can relate to it. That whole riding the rodeo of life. Getting back up after falling down. The rider being pursued by the horse or bull is in comparison to life. Sometimes being in control or totally out of control of a situation or feeling. I have one where the cowboy is holding a bunch of flowers, being flung back and they’re falling out of its hand which represents falling in and out of love. A symbol of romance. And then the pastels that are synonymous with coastal life – being in the ocean. You created the identity for this year’s SITG. How did that come about and how did you develop the concept for this year’s look and feel?

Splendour reached out to me a few days before I was travelling to Mexico on holidays and I thought yeah I would love to be a part of that. It seemed like it would be a cool alignment. I whipped up something in the studio with a few silk screens that I had made up and subjects that I’ve used in the past – some of the rodeo subjects. I put a flower in his hand and then a couple of different colours, mocked up this poster and they really loved it. That was the one that kind of won them over. That’s where it started. It’s been a long process since but it’s been a great experience.

And what’s on the cards for the future of Jakey Pedro, is the commercial art world or the fine art world calling your name? Yeah just the balance between commercial and fine art is something that I suppose I’m trying to navigate. I think the commercial thing has been cool lately in terms of the exposure and opportunities. I was never, you know, explicitly looking for it, most of them just fell in my lap and it felt right to do them. I’m a big yes man so it’s hard to say no to stuff. I mean if I think it’s going to help me in the future or aligns with what I’m doing at the time then I will say yes so it’s not completely off the cards at all but just for right now I just want to not take on everything. There is a gallery in New York interested in my work and that’s what feels right to pursue at the moment so that’s what I’m going to do.

If you are reading this, you are very likely in Australia, at Splendour in the Grass, our favourite music festival, and are therefore very likely about to see RVG, one of our favourite music makers. RVG, the Melbourne-based rock and roll band consisting of Romy Vager, Reuben Bloxham, Isabele Wallace, and Marc Nolte, is one of our favourites because we are writers and we love acronyms. Acronyms take long phrases and make them smaller, and therefore, easier to type. This is particularly valuable to us because we are lazy and greedy, and while we do make this paper to educate you, we also make it so that we can get free Splendour tickets and talk to our favourite bands, which we are, like RVG, for example. We like RVG because they are an acronym which stands for ‘Really Vengeful Guilt’. Just kidding, no it doesn’t. It actually stands for, ‘Romy Vager Go!’ Or does it? You’ll never know, and we forgot to ask in this very thoughtful and earnest and surprisingly candid interview about their new album, Brain Worms.

Words by Naz Kawakami