words: Jay Riggio photo: Stefan Simikich
While some artists waste their time dick-swinging at gallery openings and attempting to scurry up the pretension-riddled art scene ladder, illustrator Jay Howell would much rather use his quick-witted persona and sarcastic sketches to communicate with the world at large. His calligraphy ink drawings are adolescent, untamed and full of a surreal, comical life that can only come from the peculiar, complex psyche of Mr. Howell. Just peep Jay’s recent collaboration zine with girlfriend Audrey Erickson titled, Let Me Tell You Where To Stick It, Let Me Tell You Where Not To Stick It. The illustrated book is a humorous tutorial on where and where not to stick one’s dick. “Stick it in a bag of newly born bunnies” and “Don’t stick it in a Chinese finger trap,” are examples of the absurd genius littered throughout. “If someone goes to an art show and their beer squirts out their nose–that’s perfect,” he says, laughing. “I want people to think [my] shit is funny. I just want people to be happy and that’s what I base my life on. I try to have a good time.”
The 32-year-old Massachusetts native spent his childhood living up and down the West Coast, before settling in San Francisco’s Mission neighborhood a year and a half ago. “I used to come out to San Francisco a lot because there was nothing happening where I was living. I just felt like if I moved out here, shit would kind of pop off,” recalls Jay. “I knew a lot of people here and there was community that I really liked and got along with, so I just wanted to be a part of that.” Linked to the infamous Fecal Face crew, the exclusive band of SF artists, Jay’s work has gained exposure through the frequent group shows the collective puts on. “I just met some really good people in SF and it’s really helped me along. They really took to what I was doing.”
Jay works part-time as a barista at a minimum of 20 hours a week, just so he can receive the gig’s health benefits. He spends his abundance of off-time producing stacks of sketches, making his zine, Punks Git Cut, DJing around the city, running and designing covers and packages for his record label, Mount Saint Mountain, and drinking beers with his homies. Jay’s hard work and consistency has paid off, as he’s recently been receiving mounds of attention from art collectors to jobs eliciting his services. Howell’s life is quickly taking shape. “Now I gotta work after work, drawing stuff, like I gotta pull a full day. I don’t go to the bar until last call now because I’m working through the night,” he says, psyched on the future. “Before it was like, I can do some paintings and have a show in a year from now. Now it’s like, I got three shows and I gotta make this money somehow. It’s still worth it. This is what I want to do with my life.”
At the moment, Jay’s focusing on producing larger-sized work for his upcoming solo show a year from now at the 111 Minna Gallery in SF and readying the release of his illustrated deck series for Anti-Hero Skateboards. “I hope to quit my job and do art full-time by this time next year,” Howell says. “But who knows, maybe people will think I’m lame in six months.”
