Words: Jay Riggio
Photo: Angela Boatwright
I’m a firm believer in the “either you got it or you don’t” theory. Sure, some things can be learned, like ringside sleeper holds or Lamaze-like breathing techniques designed for lengthy bouts of tantric sex. But at the end of the day, true talent and vision are ultimately some things that are inherent in certain individuals–ones who can then nurture and build upon their ability with the addition of life’s endless experiences. Morning Breath, the Brooklyn-based art and design powerhouse comprised of Jason Noto, 35, and Doug Cunningham, 36, have “got it,” and from the looks of where they’ve been and where they’re going, I’m willing to call bullshit on my initial theory and state for the record—sure these two got it, but they might just have a little bit extra as well.
Morning Breath was founded in 2002 as an independent think tank for conceptual creativity on both commercial and personal levels. Throughout the years, the company has upwardly floated towards success, primarily because of their extensive and impressive work on CD packages for artists like Eminem, Ludacris, Kanye West and Fat Joe. Earning vast recognition from design heads and giant music labels alike, Morning Breath has even externalized their chops in the form of a Grammy nomination for their eye shattering AFI album package that resembles more of a high end Goth-art coffee table book than an actual vessel for the band’s music. Running the company all by their lonesome and receiving most of their projects via word-of-mouth, the duo continues to be rapidly sought out and hired, landing them in the driver’s seat on jobs for practically every commercial genre you can think of. In the four short years that the company has existed, the Morning Breath imprint has come to represent the crème de la crème, if you will.
But what sets Morning Breath apart from the rest of the pretentious, bullshit-throwing land of design firms, is their individual and collective styles, their ridiculously dedicated work ethic and ultimately, their refusal to compromise on any level. “We’re both from working class families, so we both look at ourselves more as craftsmen,” explains Jason. “We want to do things correctly and do it right and have a pride associated with it more than just some kind of art guy.” It is the working class mentality that has fueled their style and shaped every project’s hands-on approach. This fact becomes apparent while visiting Morning Breath’s large studio in the DUMBO neighborhood of Brooklyn. With walls engulfed in the two’s original art collaborations, old posters, various collected vinyl toys and a fully hooked up silk screening area, the place looks more like the bowels of an auto mechanic shop than a place of commercial production. It’s red-checkered flannels, paint stained faces, muddled drawing tables, harmful chemical fumes and bloody, callused hands for these dudes.
As a teen, New Jersey native Jason Noto was fully immersed in the punk and hardcore scene. Through flyer art, skateboarding, Xeroxed zines, album design and a general fuck you, DIY mentality, he was widely exposed to a freethinking sensibility. Out of high school, Jason worked construction and did personal artwork on his own time. His interest in art led to a short stint studying graphic design at Pratt in ’92. Over NYC and unwilling to foot the bill for the ridiculous tuition, he split to SF, sight unseen after two years in school. One day while being tattooed, he learned that the one etching permanent ink into his skin was also a roommate of the Think Skateboards owner. Jason compiled a makeshift portfolio and within two days he was hired alongside a catalog of now world famous artists. “During that time I worked with the most talented people I know: Mike Giant, Cycle, Rob Abeyta, Jeremy Fish and of course, Doug,” muses Jason.
Meanwhile Doug Cunningham was hard at lurk in his hometown of Daly City, located just outside of San Francisco. Already a compulsive drawer, 1984 marked Doug’s introduction into graffiti. Before long, he established himself as DUG-ONE TMF, one of the Bay Area’s most prolific and creative writers. With extra crispy, more traditional straight letters and insane color schemes, he incorporated characters and imagery into his pieces that surpassed the norms of the era. His “Free South Africa” piece (with Slim) was the second spread in the legendary graf book, Spray Can Art [Thames & Hudson, ’87]. A growing reputation hooked him up with gigs illustrating an array of local mixtape covers. Dropping out of high school in his sophomore year, Doug went on to work random jobs ranging from airbrushing out of a rented storefront—and eventually slinging markers, crack pipes and vitacut for dealers to cut their cocaine—to bouncing at a sketchy strip club. During this time, he finished up at a community college before transferring to The San Francisco Academy of Art. After graduating, Doug’s friend Mike Giant got him in the door at Think, his first real job out of school. He soon found himself working alongside Jason in the company’s art department despite his reputation as a bit of a handful. Shit, after his first day at Think, later that night Doug was arrested for graffiti.
While under the same employment roof, the two instantly clicked, collaborating almost exclusively on each assigned deck graphic and logo. “It was one of those things where we vibed on everything,” describes Jason. “We’d like the same color palettes, the same humor, the same aesthetic. We had the same backgrounds but in different forms—it kind of merged in a way that was just right.” Coming from an illustration background, Doug goes on about bouncing ideas off Jason. “I didn’t know shit about design,” says Doug. “It’s one of those things where he would point things out to me that I wouldn’t have seen otherwise.” Together, the two created hundreds of board graphics for the company with the focus of a pit fighting tag team.
Though their time at Think wasn’t permanent, the seed was planted for bigger things. Noto bounced to New York to work for famed album designer Cey Adams’ company, The Drawing Board. Doug stayed in SF, freelancing a bit, before getting hired to work on the surreal classic underground hip hop film, Wave Twisters, as the art director and illustrator. While both Jason and Doug’s lives seemingly took on opposing paths, they continued to collaborate. For a good two years, Jason would constantly hit up Doug for illustration additions to album package designs and concepts for The Drawing Board.
After Def Jam bought out The Drawing Board, Jason took off to work on his own. Doug finished his work on the film and became a father. “I really had to get my shit together,” says Doug. “I started talking to Jason about getting something together and to stop fucking around.” In 2002 after endless late-night, long distance conversations about the intricacies of their non-existent company, the two decided to stop shitfoot’n around and do it to it.
Doug gathered up his family and headed to Jason’s studio in DUMBO. Using a track title of their friend’s band, Sweet Diesel as a name, Morning Breath was born. “We started just busting moves in the matter of a week, went to the bank, got a joint bank account,” laughs Doug. “Yeah, we basically got married,” Jason adds. With tons of work stemming from Noto’s busy freelance schedule, Morning Breath immediately picked up where their days at Think Skateboards left off.
While juggling high profile projects for multi-million dollar clients and hanging with their respective wives and kids, miraculously Doug and Jason still manage to make time for their personal art. Regularly, after months of steady commercial work, the two will take weeks off to work exclusively on their own shit. Collaborating predominately on rich, collage-like silk-screened panels, they utilize vintage imagery, a mix of rare fonts and gritty, hand drawn illustration. It’s a process that the two describe as being “done loosely.” With Jason’s heavy design background and sharp-as-hell eye for elemental aesthetics, he uses old magazine images and typography from the ’60s and ’70s in their work, replicating in many ways, his favorite look of how he saw Time Square growing up. “When I see something that inspires me on the street, or anywhere for that matter, I want to run to the studio and I want to do something. My mind’s always racing in that sense,” explains Jason. While Jason lays out the initial, inspired layers and fragments of imagery, Doug will look for open spaces to lay in his distinct illustrations. The two silk-screen each of their designs and the Morning Breath artistic imprint becomes a wrap.
Their work stems from a child-like nostalgia that plagues even the youngest of souls. “It’s like an adult world from a kid’s point of view,” says Doug about his work’s imagery. Each piece is one-of-a-kind, as they rarely screen the same image twice. “With most people doing silk screen stuff, you figure they’re doing multiple runs of things, they’re not doing one-offs. For us there’s no other way that we’re gonna get that look that clean,” exclaims Doug.
While using their commercial work to pay rent and keep their kids fed and clothed, they use their own art as a means to refill any lingering creative void. “We might work on a package for a big artist, but at the end of the day, we’re still just a smaller credit. We’ll never be as big as that artist,” explains Doug. “But when it comes to having control of putting something out that’s a little more personal, we kind of become the headline band.” Recently, Upper Playground released Morning Breath’s first book entitled The Early Bird, featuring a large body of their personal work throughout the years.
Unable to sit still, Morning Breath ventures on as their future glows like a burning target. They’ve been hit up by a shitload of companies to design backpacks, chairs, skateboard wheels and trucks—and all while continuing to make their explosive dent in the arena of music packaging. With expansion forever in mind, Morning Breath is in the process of starting a company called Subjects with original Think Skateboards owner Greg Carroll. Under the label they plan to produce books, prints, socks and anything else they damn well feel like. For Morning Breath, life’s often mediocre taste just happens to be at the moment, buttermilk biscuit sweet. Whatever MB’s got, it’s good…real good.
