Digging into the archives, I found this interview that was headed for a print magazine back in 2007 but didn’t get published for one reason or another. The Mustachio ran it back when the internet starting giving print a run for their money. Well today it gets to see the light of day again, and the internet gets to know the shred and artist known as Joe Polillo.
Joe Polillo Interview July 5, 2007. Government Camp, Oregon.
One thing I like about Joe Polillo is that it seems like he always has something going on. If it’s not a new painting, he’s got a jump built somewhere, or plans to poach some hit or rock. He’s not one to categorize himself as an artist or a snowboarder, but he’s doing both in his own way.
BW: You’re back for another summer in Hood. Tell me about it.
JP: Hood is like, when you’re in Tahoe, you’re waiting to get to Hood. And when you’re in Hood, you’re waiting to get back to Tahoe. It’s like the best of both worlds for me. It’s like never stop snowboarding, kickin’ it with good friends up here, nothing but good people and everyone we work with. Some of the raddest people I’ve ever met in my life. It’s Hood.
BW: So you like working at the camp?
JP: Yeah, definitely. I lucked out so much getting that job and it’s worked out so good. Johnny Ingersol just took me in and made me part of the crew. It’s a pretty cool thing to be a part of at High Cascade.
BW: What is art to you?
JP: That’s the hardest question to answer, I think. Art can be anything. Like, you can be a dancer or a musician. What isn’t art? So many people categorize art in certain ways. But I think art is a way to live your life and the choices you make and the way you express yourself.
BW: At the moment, it’s really trendy to “be an artist”. To you, who is an artist?
JP: I dunno. I kinda consider myself a painter not an artist. An artist is someone who’s a master. I just paint. To be a master means you basically do everything. You can sculpt, you paint, everything. So I consider myself a painter, I’m not an artist.
BW: A lot of people paint on canvas. But for you, a lot of your pieces aren’t on canvas. You paint on all sorts of stuff.
JP: A lot of the time it has to do with how much money I got in my pocket. Or like I really wanna paint, but I don’t have a canvas to paint on, so I’ll just go find something to paint on like a piece of wood or whatever.
BW: Or on top of another painting. Sort of like the “Bombin’ on Bob Ross” piece. I think that one’s pretty clever.
JP: Yeah, that was funny. My jeep broke down in front of an old lady’s house in Carmichael and I was just sitting there trying to think what am I gonna do. And I look to my right and there’s this pile of garbage just sitting on the side of the road. There was like a weight lifting bench, some shoes, and this Bob Ross-looking piece someone painted. I swooped the painting, put it in the back of my truck, and started walking back towards my mom’s house. Later on, I painted on top of the Bob Ross piece and now it’s Bombin’ on Bob Ross. That’s the story.
BW: Where do you get your ideas for your pieces?
JP: From whatever. I look at a lot of art, and I just have my basic style I’ve been working with for a long time now. And whenever I’m in a good mood, or just feeling like I wanna paint I just let it go. I never have a thought out plan, really. When I start painting, I just start doing it. Sometimes it turns out really great and other times I end up throwing it away or painting over it ten times.
BW: Who in the art world are you stoked on right now? Whose work are you liking?
JP: That one kid named Justin Lovato. I kinda came up with him. Twist, Bernie McGee, always. Ever since I started with graffiti and art, his stuff has been a huge influence. Dave Kensidy, he has a real street style that real raw and original and he’s huge on the come up. Everything I see, graffiti art you see on the freeways and on trains. A lot of music that I hear maybe puts ideas into my art. Quotes that I might have read in books. I don’t really read that much, though. You might catch me reading the back of a book.
BW: You’ve done board art for a couple snowboard companies. Is it cool to see someone shred on one of your boards?
JP: Yeah, that was the first year it really hit me. I knew my boards would be coming out and I knew I’d be seeing them on the hill. But it didn’t really hit me until I’ve actually seen it. My friends would come at me like ‘I seen your board on the hill’. It’s a good feeling. It’s cool to get your friends to notice you. It’s just really cool to have the backing and support of people that’ll take you in and let you work with their company, not just for them.
BW: You have another board graphic coming out on Automaton. Tell us about that graphic.
JP: it was cool ‘cause it was random. I met Brenton at Mammoth.
BW: Didn’t we meet at Boreal? Singer introduced us.
JP: Oh, yeah, at that contest. But you didn’t know I was an artist until Mammoth. And you were throwing ideas at me. There was the Trust Me board, and we were talking about pirate ships and, um, what was the question again? Sorry, I think I was thinking too hard.
BW: Just tell me about the Trust Me board and stuff.
JP: It has a dual-sided graphic. It’s been a while. I painted that one a while ago.
BW: It seems like you’re hurting for money a lot, but you snowboard all the time. How do you make it happen?
JP: Um, dollar by dollar. Slowly. Sometimes it gets stressful. At the end of Tahoe this year, I was so lucky to have so many friends that were backing me for a bit. I mean it’s so hard. You really wanna make it happen but you don’t have the money or the funds, to make it happen. And you wanna go out to all these spots and hit all these jumps. And you wanna promote your art and you wanna paint all the time. And you don’t always have the funds to do it. But your friends are basically your family and they look out for you. I try to look out for my friends the best I can. It’s crazy. It’s like a lifestyle. It’s a great thing to be a part of. You don’t necessarily have to have money to pursue something like this. You just have to want it that bad. And you can go and get it is how I look at it. Just make it happen.
BW: How many people have you knocked out this year?
JP: Some people just push me the wrong way sometimes I guess. I could be the nicest guy in the world but I’m not gonna take shit from no one. If you’re pushing me the wrong way, I’m just gonna knock you out. Don’t talk shit to me. Don’t think you’re a tough guy. I might be small but I’m fast.
BW: Didn’t you get into a fight at one of your own art openings?
JP: Yeah, it was Automaton’s Carnivore show at Squaw. I was just there having a good time with my friends and showing the art with Justin, Shawn Carney. Joe Singer was showing a piece, and Liz Davis was showing a piece. We were just hanging out and this guy was heckling me all night just asking for cocaine and I don’t do cocaine. Never have. And all night I’m telling him, “no, man, leave me alone”. And he keeps bothering me about it. Until I get fed up with him and I grabbed him by the back of the neck and kinda threw him away from me and said “dude, I’m about to fight you if you don’t leave me alone.” The bouncer sees that go down and asks if there’s any problems. Anyway, I leave and in the parking lot the same dude comes back up to me and is all ‘dude, why you harshing me? What’s the deal, bro?’ blah blah blah. And he keeps getting in my face and putting his arm around me and STILL asking me for cocaine. So then I just straight up knocked him in the dome. Just sent him home. Then it escalated into a fight ‘cause he hit me a couple times.
BW: One of my favorite quotes of yours is “chicks are kooks”. Explain that one.
JP: I mean, you meet a lot of girls living in Tahoe, and you hang out with a lot of girls, but it’s crazy, none of them know what they want. So chicks are kooks. They come and they go, and they go more than they come. I mean, I got a ton of respect for ladies, but they’re kooks. It speaks for itself.
BW: Living in Tahoe and Hood, you’re around the whole shred scene a lot. What’s your take on it?
JP: I definitely like more than what I don’t like about it. Snowboarding is snowboarding. It’s not a popularity contest. So many kids are just about lapping the park all day and just hitting the same down rail doing the same trick. The way I see snowboarding is like painting. I mean, go hike for 8 hours a day and find what you wanna do. There’s so much you can do on your snowboard.
BW: A lot of kids seem to only work on stock tricks. And they shred like they have something to prove.
JP: I just love going out and finding spots in natural terrain. But even at the resort, taking laps in the park and hitting a couple features how I wouldn’t normally hit it. Jump the whole feature, or tap the end of it. Or jump a jump and land on the side tranny. Or do a switch back 5 and do a weird grab. Or every time you do something, just change it up a bit. Just keep trying new stuff and feed off your friend’s tricks. I love it. There’s nothing I don’t like about snowboarding, it’s just that a lot of people take it differently. Which is rad. Everybody should do it their own way. It’s just love for it, so I can’t say I don’t like any aspect of snowboarding. I love it all.
BW: What’s your deal with ASI? You’re out there all the time.
JP: Half the reason is that I don’t own a sled. The other half of the reason, I dunno. It seems like a good safe spot. If something bad were to happen you wouldn’t have to hike miles out. It’s a great spot. It’s a Tahoe legend spot. It’s never gonna go away. So many different things you can do out there, and many of the same things get built every year so you know that a jump is built if you only have an hour to ride. It’s just a backcountry spot where there’s always something to do. So if you don’t have a whole day to shred, you can just go back in ASI and hit a jump. Brush off the lip and session it. Who cares if the landing’s bombed out? You can session a resort and hit bombed out landings all day or hit a bombed out powder landing is how I look at it. I love ASI.
BW: Is there anything that bums you out about today’s art scene?
JP: Just me, myself, basically. And I don’t have too much love for wheat pasting advertisements. Just crying about stuff and not even knowing half the reason why they’re crying. It’s like, dude, be happy. You’re an American, you live in a free country. It could be worse. I guess that’s the only down part of the skateboard open art scene. All these wheat paste artists that think they’re doing something. I mean pick up a spray can and go bomb or something.
BW: But isn’t wheat pasting kinda in the same category as stenciling?
JP: Yeah. Anyone can cut out a stencil. Anyone can make a stencil. It’s like yesterday’s news, I guess. I’m not down with it. I mean, why not just go down to the arts and crafts store and make a stamp?
BW: Tell me about car accidents.
JP: I got into a couple of those this year. Kinda cool, though, ‘cause the one that really mattered ended up paying all my outstanding tickets and unpaid fines. So, thanks to the guy that ran into the back of my truck. I really appreciated that. There’s just an ugly dent there now. Car accidents can be a good thing.
BW: How was growing up in Folsom?
JP: It was horrible. Well not horrible, there’s just not much for a person to do besides falling into writing graffiti a lot to have fun. At least I wasn’t doing drugs which is positive. I mean I guess I was out destroying people’s property, but it was a positive thing for me and my friends to go out and do. We could have been out partying, drinking, and driving, killing innocent people. Growing up in Folsom, there’s a lot of fine women. They breed them there. They’re everywhere. I dunno, I didn’t really like Folsom. It was cool, ‘cause it was close to the mountain. Towards senior year, me and my buddy Shane would ditch school and just pack all our snowboard stuff into his truck the night before and skip out after first period for the rest of the day and go shred Boreal and make it home before school was out so my mom would think I was at school. But no, I was snowboarding. I was pretty good in school. I never failed, graduated on time, which I was pretty stoked about ‘cause I didn’t think I would graduate.
BW: In the shred world, there’s limited chicks so there’s so much swooping going on. How do you deal with it?
JP: I’m not into swooping. I swoop beer not bitches. I was at this party and was talking to this girl. And it was cool, she was tall and hot and into writing graffiti. But I found out she was a buddy’s girlfriend. I couldn’t swoop.
BW: Is there anyone you’d like to thank?
JP: Yeah, I wanna thank Automaton snowboards, Justin Lovato for being basically my art partner. We always feed off each other’s stuff. Phig, the Lowdown magazine. My mom for being supportive of me getting into trouble. All snowboarders and everyone I work with at HCSC. Mizzle, Tizzle, Kevin Westenbarger. Matty Mo, the whole crew. Brian Reardon and the 120 Productions crew.
BW: Has your step dad ever let you drive one of his drag racers?
JP: No.