We got chatting with creative director, designer, illustrator, typographer and close friend of The Pancake Epidemic, Kevin Lyons, during his recent visit to TPE.
This is what he had to say about coffee, his beard and current show, while making custom “MONSTER” pancakes for all…
Tea of Coffee? How do you drink it?
I am all tea. Earl Grey with lots of cream. Very London.
Define “MONSTER” pancakes..
My pancakes are always adorned with faces of some sort. So inherently they ARE Monster pancakes. A stack of pancakes is great as a sculpture or image. Pancake as totem.
James Bond or Kevin Lyons… who has the best beard?
I think I am in a dead heat with James Bond’s beard. We are literally neck and neck in any sort or personal one on one beard challenge. The important thing though is that together we remain beards ahead of the rest of the world. Remember we are protecting the next generation of great beards…….eventually we will sit atop the bearded art and design world along with the likes of Ginsberg and Lawrence Weiner and Jim Henson…..We are a crucial part of the art history continuum…..
How do you pronounce Kyle Ng’s last name?
When I can actually get a word in edge-wise, I prounouce Kyle’s last name as simply the letters N and G. Kyle N-G.
Please explain your creative process…
Well, I have many different creative processes, but the common element is always the element of content and research. I am by nature, a creative director, so I need a “client” as it were. This “client” can really be anything as long as I am passionate about it. It can be an idea, a person, a genre, music, lyrics……..I then study that thing and start to see it as an opportunity that leads to a question that has solutions…..
Tell us about your current exhibition “Shits and Giggles” at HVW8?
SHITS & GIGGLES is a show of inside jokes, verbal puns, and visual puns celebrating the early nineties and Hip-Hop in the Los Angeles area during that time. It is a bit of a cultural study and has layers of symbolism and representation reflecting that moment. Mainly though, it is just a lot of fun. There are prints and silkscreens, three dimensional objects, a ginormous mural……It is a lot of stuff, and I would love to have everyone go see it…….so I will leave it at that!
KEVIN LYONS
SHITS & GIGGLES
HVW8 Gallery
Oct. 17th to Nov. 10th, 2013