Tell me a little bit about yourself and your brand?
Pop Wasteland is run by my brother Timothy and me. Timothy writes short stories, and poems. I handle all the design work for our t-shirts, buttons, stickers, greeting cards, and prints. Timothy came up with the Pop Wasteland name in 2010. It is reflective of our interests in high, and low brow culture as well as a blurring of the distinction between the two. It's also a nod to T.S. Eliot. Our first shirt was a design I made of Edgar Allan Poe. Since then we've come up with a variety of shirts, prints, stickers, and buttons. My designs are zany, scary, trippy/psychedelic, funny, sick, and sometimes socially critical.
What made you decide to get into your field?
I've been obsessed with drawing since I was a very little kid. Influences are artists such as Joe Coleman, Mike Diana, Crumb, S. Clay Wilson, Mort Drucker, Grosz, Dix, Ensor, Bosh, Breughel, Dali, and others. My chosen field has much to do with my discontent after having been through two art schools (BFA from Pratt Institute, MFA from The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts). I observed fellow artists schlep their work around the gallery system to little or no avail. $700.00, $1,000, $2,000, $50,000 a painting. Who the hell has that kind of scratch to throw around? Nobody I know. Some of these artists were working on huge canvases too! Where the hell does one store all those murals?! (Personally, I've always been interested in smaller, highly detailed, intimate paintings). I plopped my own work in a scant few gallery spaces, and went along with the absurdly-high-price-tag routine. Damn, I thought. Art does not necessarily have to be priced out of access to people who love cool stuff. I kinda gave up painting, and returned to cartooning like a maniac. I see cartoon characters in my head 24-7.
What do you hope to achieve?
I hope people will enjoy the art, laugh it up, and wear it around. I love it when they visit my table, and crack up. Life's too short for one to not nyuk, nyuk, nyuk.
What is your favorite design? Why?
Of my own? Perhaps my Krampus shirt. Krampus was meant as an adjunct to Christmas, but has become an alternative for many Halloween enthusiasts who dig a spooky December. Devils are cool. In addition, I'm very proud of my Pussy Riot drawing. They are modern outlaws, true to the punk spirit.
What do you hope to achieve by bringing your work to Newark Comic Con?
I'm always seeking new audiences for my stuff. I enjoy chatting it up with people at events. One of the great things about events is that my art is out of the cave, and on the way to walls, notebooks, denim vests, hats, and laptops. My t-shirts make it to the sunlit world. The comix make it to coffee tables, and book shelves. It's damn groovy. Although, you know you've really accomplished something in life when you find out someone has read your book while sitting on the crapper.
Tells us more about your work? What do you have coming out soon?
I self-published The Heaven of Hell around 2013-14. It's chock full of my bat shit crazy drawings, and comix. My art can be seen on the merch of Texas punk band Kallohonka, and upcoming merch for Jeff Stewart's youtube comedy series Paranormal Adventure Hunters Supreme (approved by The Hoff himself, I hear). I'm currently finishing up edits for the very first issue of Pop Wasteland magazine. It will feature the comix artists Aaron Lange, Aleksandar Zograf, Rich Hillen Jr., Jim Ether, and myself. Illustrations by Brian Spies, and Joshua Borden. Poems by Timothy Allen, Lora Bloom, Bonnie MacAllister Elizabeth Stelling, and Roy Smith. Pop Wasteland will hopefully be available to the masses as soon as June rolls around. My brother Timothy, and I also collaborate on Crime Time Comix which are various stories about organized crime, corrupt police, and killers. Timothy self-published his book The Dust Storm: a collection of poems and a short story. In it are twenty poems and one short story. The poems are about various topics and are inspired by the author's experiences and perceptions. "The Dust Storm" is a short story about a young couple and one afternoon spent inside the area of the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. He is currently working several science fiction stories. In addition to Newark Comic Con on Sept. 12, we will be vending at Asbury Park Punk Rock Flea Market on May 30th, and Trenton Punk Rock Flea Market on August 16th.
What is your website? Contact information?
www.jonfallen.com
https://instagram.com/pop_wasteland/
https://www.facebook.com/popwasteland
https://www.facebook.com/jonfallenartist
Additional Comments? Thank you, Victoria, for the opportunity!
Thank you to Jon of Pop Wasteland. We look forward to seeing more from you and your company. Pop Wasteland will be at Newark Comic Con on September 12th, 2015. Please take a moment and check out the website at www.newarkcomiccon.org. Buy a ticket and we will see you there.
Post by Vikki
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