Kalynn Campbell is an artist known for his lowbrow illustration style. We see many t-shirt brands copy this style these days, but Kalynn is the real deal. Drawing influences from advertising from the 30s to 50s, county fair freak shows, underground comics, and hot rod art, to name a few, Kalynn's artwork is truly out there and one of a kind. We're thrilled to announce that Kalynn will create an exclusive line of muscle car-themed tees for Racing Code's Artist Series Collection. Coming off the line first is the "Hot Pearl Snatch" tee in two colorways (Brown and Army). More of Kalynn x Racing Code tees to come out in the near future, stay tuned. Below is an interview Kalynn did for Memphis Creep magazine.



Memphis Creep: Describe your work.
Kalynn Campbell: My pieces are usually bastardized games.....from pie shaped dart boards to dice thrown "move the shoe one space" type of imagery. Each painting centers around some base facet of life, be it a slice of dark truth or a hunk of bad fortune. But I also try to point out the irony of life's little pitfalls and fallacies, usually done with puns that frame each piece and (hopefully) allows the viewer to relate on a "Yea, I've been there" level with more of a grin than a grimace. The pieces usually create themselves, images and ideas growing as the piece progresses. For example, I started a piece centered on the idea of airing one's dirty laundry, so the game began with a clothes pin and before I knew it, the imagery progressed through a maze of sex (bras), violence (guns), motels (roaches), etc. until the soul of the player was stripped naked (all through metaphoric icons). I just let the imagery follow the nature and course of the subject. As for what imagery I enjoy using, I think the lowbrow the better. Anything representative of the base in society is alluring to me: From the taboo image of a syringe stuck in an arm to the "poison, don't touch" cultural meaning of the skull and crossbones. I'm also a sucker for a cheesecake pin-up cutie!.

MC: Besides Juxtapoz, what magazines have you been in?
KC: I was one of the early artists covered in ART?ALTERNATIVES magazine when it first started, back before JUXTAPOZ. HYPNO did an amazing feature piece awhile back, and I think I was in AXCESS (so I was told), but never got a copy of that. I just got a call from GALLERY magazine (the smutty sex rag from the 70's I use to hide under the mattress) and they want to do a feature. Hey- smut, Lowbrow and rock n' roll, I'm there!.

MC: What's your favorite rock n' roll album?
KC: God, my favorite rock n' roll album? I go through phases, but through them all I ALWAYS have some delta blues CD on the rack. I just got a Telestar Mona guitar (cheap Slivertone knockoff) and it's brought me back to early CRAMPS (it's got a cheap Link Wray sound). Love that stuff. Typically I listen to old school punk like Lydia Lunch, Iggy Pop and Nick Cave ( & B-day party) and early Stones. And Tom Waits. Lots-o-blues. Lately I've been wearing out a copy of CHUCK E. WEISS's "EXTREMELY COOL"..........must listening! But I'm also into tiki lounge music (back to my South Florida roots) and every now and then I go back to those roots and crank out the Southern Rock bad boys - from the Allmond Bros to Blackfoot, I can't ever get my fill of The Southern Rock sound.

MC: What album covers have you done?
KC: Album Covers I've done? Ahhhh, been lots of them. Favorites would be covers for Davie Allan & the Arrows (original Biker soundtrack guru) and The Joykiller (I've done lots of work for Epitaph). Early on I worked with AWEST and we did Tom Petty, ELO, Billy Idol, etc, lots of big names. I've also done tour design, like the H.O.R.D.E. stage art. I like the challenge of matching a visual look with a band's sound, it can be a living entity when it clicks. But I never take jobs with too much "creative control" coming from the labels end- I like to let the art develop out of a meeting with the band and and music - not the management.

MC: Where are you from?
KC: Originally I'm from a town outside of Jupiter Florida, lots of "good old boys" back where I lived. I tooled around in a '50 chevy pick-up with the confederate flag afixed to the front. Most people just think of South Florida as tourist town but it has it's Southern pride. My great grandfather was from Florida, back when it was nothing but swampland. I came out to California in the early 80's to get into "underground comix" art (having grown up reading Robert Williams, Robert Crumb & Rick Griffin's comix as an obsession) and found that the genre had died. So I started a punk magazine (Spastic Culture), went to art school (Academy of Art), Started painting, and the rest is history. I lived in New Orleans for a short time, but found myself back in Los Angeles. I'd still like to return to the south someday. I guess you can't take the rebel out of the boy.

MC: Who or what are your influences?
KC: Influences? Damn, Gotta start with advertising from the 30's, 40's, & 50's (from match covers to labels), Tijuana Bibles, Florida Roadside Attractions of the 60's (visited them all), state fair sideshows (my dad ALWAYS took me to see the freak shows), Ouija boards, creepy board games, casino imagery, Tiki imagery, EC comics, MAD, hot rods and hot rod art, sleaze paperback cover art, biker art, underground comix, (Robert Williams & co.,), B&W Horror/Monster/Sci-Fi movies, dada, futurism, and the devil. Lately I've found myself drawn to the lowrider/Chicano style of art/lettering.

MC: What do you think will be the next big thing?
KC: I guess the next big thing will be the very thing that pisses the masses off the most. God bless this Country!