Issue One - Cover Artists
Ricky Watts
 Ricky Watts has been an artist his whole life, but it wasn’t until his early teens that he found his true passion. Through peers at school he was introduced to graffiti, which would later mark the essence of his desired art form. Later he went on to graduate from the Art Institute of California in San Diego. Since this, he has completed numerous pieces, in multiple mediums, and has had his work displayed in many shows.
When Ricky isn’t making masterpieces or coordinating shows, he’s working a 9-5. During the day he does graphic design and pre-press for a local print shop. But, after work with any and all free time he is drawing or painting. “I have a lot of influences these days. Not just people though. Places I go, things I see or grew up around- life in general,” Ricky said. “Burning Man really opened my eyes to a lot of things this year.”
Open eyes he has and an open mind as well; Mr. Ricky Watts has many definitions of the word “canvas.” You and I would think of a white, blank space; while he might see it as a car, a skateboard deck, a US Postage label- sky’s the limit and the ideas always fresh. One of his most incredible works on a very unusual surface, “Pieces of Me,” is made up of 100 consecutive drawings, each on their own USPS Priority Mail label. The entire work was completed free-style with a Sharpie. When put all together, the piece is 45 feet long.
Painting cars seems like it would be a trying task and a strange assignment, but not if you’re R.Watts. “That one fell into my lap like most ideas. I was approached by some friends of mine to re-paint their truck after some people had vandalized it. I had posted photos of it online and sure enough, a few months later I get approached to paint a delivery van. I've done a few of them now and they've been great publicity for me,” he said.
He makes it look so easy, but is it? Is he ever at a loss for ideas or creatively stifled? “All the time - some days worse than others. I always try to do something else for a little while and take my mind off what I'm working on. Go for a walk, stretch, play online poker for a little while. This usually helps but not always. I've got unfinished paintings that have been sitting around months,” he said.
 In addition to his job and his career, Ricky offers a wide variety of freelance services: Graphic design, pre-press and printing, custom art, illustrations, event flyers and posters- just to name a few.
With his favorite medium, spray paint, 14 years experience and endless other creative skills, Richard Watts is an artist you should surely check out. So where will it all go? I asked Ricky what his thoughts were. With Mr. Watts we shouldn’t worry too much. There is no doubt in my mind where ambition like this ends up- there’s no place for it to go but up. “Sure I dream of making it big with shows in Paris and London and then over to New York City for a book signing but honestly, if I make a living doing MY art for the rest of my life, I'd be happy. The wealth and fame are certainly desirable but they're not necessary for me to be happy,” he said.
(interview by: Adrienne Smith, azydoesit.blogspot.com)
Ricky Watts' Website
Ricky Watts' Blog
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Chris Jehly
 Chris' myspace "about me" description pretty much sums him up.
"About me:
Mixed media drawing... ...Riding a dead Life Boat thumb wrestling lobsters... ...battling repetious days with a bread stick.... losing bets with deep sea fish... backhanding hampsters... stung by a swarm of jelly-fish... high fructose corn-jehly... ...this is all brought to you by the number "31"... "
Chris is a twenty-something college graduate, letting his life take him wherever his art decides. Currently living in Oakland, California Jehly spends a majority of his time dedicated to developing his own unique style of art.
Below is a interview Chris had with a friend about himself and future art endeavours.
Castles and Catastrophes: Your last couple or art shows have been filled with bugs and fish. What's your fascination with these creatures?
Chris Jehly: Having collected insects for a long time, I saw how they operate, grow, and reproduce. Every little thing about them seeped into my art completely. The fishes, well, I grew up in a family of fishermen so I always used to go fishing and the best bait was always the caddisfly. You always caught the biggest fish with a caddisfly.
C.C: Where has your art taken you, imaginatively?
C.J: I think it’s gotten a lot more psychological. Before it was just making the meanest thing- with the biggest teeth and the most saliva, and eyes bugging out. It was about creating the craziest. Now it’s definitely more about the images and the symbol. Its becoming more and more about meaning, vocabulary and all the things influenced by life- like the jesus fish on the back of somebody’s car, a giant flock of birds, or having some sort of dream and waking up thinking I was having a heart attack you know, its definitely more personal and its getting more forensic.
C.C: What's your inspiration?
C.J: I think the human experience is what really drives me. The human experience is composed of dreams, situations that have happened, your interactions with people- whether it be artistic or sexual, or just conversations. It's a whole bunch of things, parents, teachers, friends, things you have battled, whether it be yourself or other people. Graffiti was an influence, printmaking was an influence, my friends, being drunk, eating too much cake before bed- a whole lot of things, and just deconstructing all of that.
C.C: Who's your favourite local artist?
C.J: That's a really tough one...When I think of favourites I think of people I relate to, or someone I'm swimming in the same pool of water with. It would definitely be either Ricky (Watts), or Alex Pardee.
C.C: What do you think of the Sonoma County Art Scene?
C.J: I think it needs to get out of this whole "Wine Country " theme. I think younger artists need to be featured because there's alot of talented people out there. It's too bad that you get clumped into this whole thing where if your art isn't Sonoma County vineyard, chicken coop, mustard field, imposta thick paint than nobody cares. I think there needs to be more chances for the people not doing that.
C.C: What are you working on now?
C.J: Right now its all the insects I've been painting that look like they're mounted but are in all white shadow boxes. The work started out as being insects and spider that look like they are mounted but when you look closer they appear to be potentially alive. Then it started turning into these weird arrangements of beetles and flies, and creating these relationships that aren't even in nature but just my own twisted sense of where everything goes. I'm putting those relationships in different words and almost creating sentences and captions for these beings inside the boxes. It's all about the "1's" and "0's" that have been here forever and live with constant change.
C.C: What have you been listening to lately?
C.J: Alot of movie soundtracks- "Schindler's List" soundtrack, "The Royal Tenenbaums" soundtrack, alot of ambient music. Especially with the drawing, listening to music I've never heard before and being high as fuck really makes a difference. It moves you in a certain way. I think drugs supplement the drawing, they don't control your hand. You have to know how to draw, to draw.
(interview by: Tiffany Glover, castlesandcatastrophes.blogspot.com)
Chris Jehly's Blog
Chris Jehly's Myspace
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Alex Pardee
ZeroFriends
Where are you from and when did you first get into art? 
I’m from Antioch, California, but currently I’m in San Rafael. I never took art super seriously until I got sick when I was about 14, and I went into the hospital for a little while. Drawing was pretty much the only thing to kinda kept me sane and kept my mind off of being sick. So that’s when I started taking it really seriously and that’s when I knew that I was gonna do this forever.
What companies are you currently working with?
I’m working with Warner Bros.. I’m working on a fifty minute computer animated cartoon called “Chadam”, which is based off a character I created for The Used. That will be out probably by the end of the year.
I’m working with Hurley. I have a new line of clothes that they co-branded with me, a line called “Night of the Treeple”. Which is based of an old 70’s movie that I pretended existed.
I’m constantly working with Upper Playground. We have a book coming out at the end of the year and then of course my own company Zero Friends. My dream has always been to surround myself with creative people, and be able to feed off of everybody and have facilities that we can share and come up with new ideas, and if possible make money off it. Zero Friends is a collection of like-minded people. Were launching it as an apparel company but we want to expand and do more video stuff, get more artists involved and put together some music stuff.
 Where did the concept of Chadam come from?
The record industry is in a really weird place, nobody buys shit and everything is downloaded. So when The Used hired me to do their latest album, we were just thinking up just visual concepts. The original idea was to make a weird painting, then build it and take a photo of it. So it’s like a live painting. Using this idea we wanted to see if we can give some kids some visual incentive to wanna buy the album. So I came up with this character that embodies the music they were writing then. So I was like it would be rad if we built the whole universe around this character. Just to have something in addition to the music and then I just started writing stories from his point of view and making him an online commodity before the album even came out and introduce kids to the character. My intentions was always like, look lets give something the kids can relate to that’s really cool and if they like it, they’ll follow his stories, and if they don’t they still got the music. All the sudden we seen kids drawing Chadam and getting tattoos. We were encouraging kids to do their own stories and it kinda took a life of its own.
What special powers does Chadam have?
Chadam has special powers; however I’m not able to tell you anything. It’s vague in the press release. In Chadam’s world, every person has an extra little gland. Like you have a heart, everyone has an imagination gland. However someone chooses to use it is their choice.
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To read the rest of this interview with Alex Pardee pick up Four G's Magazine - Issue One here, including more talk about the upcoming Chadam movie and Cage's "Depart from Me" cover art.
(Photo by: Anya Leed)
Alex Pardee's Blog
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Cage
Definitive Jux Records
 Chris Palko, more commonly known as Cage to his fans has been a prominent figure in the hip-hop scene since 1997. Cage was born Christian Palko in Germany to American parents. His father was an MP in the U.S. army, stationed in Wurzberg, Germany. When Palko was 4, his dad was dishonorably discharged for using and selling heroin. The family was sent back to New York where Cage has lived throughout most of his life.
Cages music leads the listener on a deranged journey through the perils of his childhood. Cage explains that his music has always been an outlet for the emotions he experienced as a kid, but never had a means to express.
At the age of 16 he was sent to Stony Lodge Psychiatric Hospital to avoid jail time for probation violations. What started out as a two-week evaluation turned into an 18-month stay. During the time he was in the hospital he was part of a small group of medical guinea pigs for the then new up and coming drug, Prozac. Many of his songs detail his stay at Stony Lodge, where he was restrained by a straightjacket and occasionally by 10-point bed restraints. He called this period of his life “rap college” because he would spend his time doing the only activity he could which was going deep into his mind and channeling the anger he harbored.
In 1993 Cage made his debut with “Rich, Bring ‘em Back,” a track from Pete Nice’s solo album, “Dust to Dust.” He then went to release several solo singles including his widely known track, “Agent Orange” in 1997. He later emerged as a member of the Smut Peddlers with Mr.. Eon and Dj Mighty Mi in 2001 when the group released the album “Porn Again” on the New York rap label, Rawkus Records.
 In 2002 Cage released his first solo full-length album, “Movies for the Blind” which received mixed reviews. The change between his sophomore album “Hell’s Winter” off of fellow artist El-P’s record label Definitive Jux is dramatic. Cage explains, “Movies for the Blind” was just a bunch of fits and tantrums, just madness and anger. On the other hand “Hell’s Winter” is my analyzation of that anger, putting it under a microscope.”
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To read the rest of this story with Cage pick up Four G's Magazine - Issue One here, including more talk about the upcoming album "Depart from Me".
(Story by: Lacie Schwarz, Photo by: Gretchen Robinette)
Chris Palko
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