That’s it I am jealous. Why when they were handing out names why did I not get one like this? ‘Benjamin R. Stottlemyer’ what a wonderful name, and not one you would forget fast either.

‘Stottlemyer’… sounds like a big game hunter’s name, cut to order for a bearded cad cavorting around the darkest depths of Tanzania bagging elephant heads with a blunderbuss, while chuffing on an oversized pipe.

But alas, it is not 1920, and this animal loving chap gets his adventurous kicks in a more placid and creative manner. We find out why? And if in fact he does have an oversized pipe, and where he keeps it…

Site: Pillowhead

Contact: hellobenjamin@pillowhead.net

FMCS: Benjamin how are you?

Benjamin: Flying so high today… I spent some time on the beach, relaxing over the holiday. I was sitting on the beach drinking Andre champagne watching little ones run around blasting bottle rockets.

FMCS: Benjamin please tell us a little about yourself! Where you came from and why you are where you are now!

Benjamin: Handcrafted in Hawaii and born in Seattle, Washington. Moved around a bit and then found myself in Florida with a mother and no father. From there we moved to Virginia.

I started drawing in my notebook in class due to boredom. My grandparents bought me a computer for school projects, and some how I stumbled on a design community, and discovered that you can make art with your computer, and now here I am at twenty five years of age having my intern type this interview.

FMCS: Are you a pillowhead? What is a pillowhead? Am I a pillowhead?

Benjamin: Everyone is a pillowhead. A pillowhead is a dreamer. Google "dreams", and find out your dream analysis and interpretations. Most of my ideas come from dreams.  I’ll be coming out with a line of my own pillows in the near future, so please look out for that.

FMCS: You have a wonderful unique and detailed style to your work! Always seeming to contain many elements of nature! What’s the philosophy behind this style? Is it carefully calculated or something more of an organic development over time?

Benjamin: Well thank you. My artwork contains nature elements due to an obsession of how rare it is for most of us to be in nature. What animals do you see on a daily basis? We have to turn on the TV just to see them. Humans started out loving nature and being one with it. We would pray before killing a tree, and now we destroy nature for an empty parking lot without even feeling bad.

Humans are getting so far away from nature at this point. I’ve come to the decision that we are a disease on the planet. Look out of your plane window when you are flying into NYC…What we have built looks like cancer on the earth, and this cancer will spread until one day nature will fight back.

I like to dream of trees and plants growing at such a rapid rate that it just swallows commercial buildings and suburbs. A vision, a beautiful chaos and I know this shows in my work.

FMCS: Your most interesting project to date? And why was this your favorite?

Benjamin: The most interesting project is always the one I am working on. The day I look back on my catalog and say "man, I can’t go further from that piece" is the day I call it quits and hang out on an island drinking fruit drinks all day!

I really enjoyed the Richard Ashcroft piece. I remember being sixteen/seventeen and seeing the bitter sweet symphony video on MTV (yes, they used to play music videos). This song impacted me deeply, it was a beautiful thing hearing "you’re a slave to money then you die" coming out of the television speakers. This line really sunk in my brain, and I remember sitting on the couch thinking to myself "man, that’s it. That’s really it!" What a delicate moment that was.

The press took this song and put it everywhere. I haven’t seen or heard a direct song like this hit your average house hold since. It was the Olympics song for Christ sake. The piece I created was a nod to him. I’d love to work with Richard in the future.

FMCS: Perspirations, inspirations and aspirations?

I just want to keep on creating… leave a little bit of me behind when I am dead and gone. I want my work to give hope to people because lord knows we need it.

Music is a big inspiration to me. Love listening to blues, rock & roll, R&B, Motown, garage, pop, psychedelic, and soul. As for visual artist I like Kline, Warhol, Kooning, Mucha, Gorky, Lichtenstien, Dali, Pollock… list goes on and on.

FMCS: With all the hype surrounding the release of the new Superman film, we were debating as to why Superman never bangs Lois Lane? And it’s not as if the opportunity is not there! Why do you think this is?

Sexual tension man! It’s a beautiful thing. When you are spending time with someone that really turns you on, and you always have making love to that person on your mind, and then you get to a certain point where you can wait any longer and you just have it.

It might happen in Superman 37. Who knows? He might be gay. I’m more worried about what’s for dinner.

FMCS: Have you ever worn white trousers?

Yes! A couple of days ago! You have to watch where you sit. Wearing white pants turns out to be more of a job, but they look nice.

FMCS: Any holidays booked this year?

I’ll be doing a little Miami Beach for spring break 2007, and I am not going to leave my hotel room for the whole duration.

FMCS: Any shout outs?

My beautiful mother, Todd Breland, Daniel Dalton, Joe Z, Bobby the Russian, Darkroom, Alison Buckley, anyone who puts up with my antics, you, them, everyone, and people that say thank you to waiters.

FMCS: And lastly ‘the pipe’?

The pipe seems to come out when I visit people’s homes. It’s that ‘entertaining the guest factor’ which makes for some interesting moments.

FMCS: Thanks for the interview Benjamin and all the best!

Cheers!

Site: Pillowhead

Contact: hellobenjamin@pillowhead.net

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