Roger Gastman interview

BSCI: Do you feel validated as an artist by the critical acclaim Exit Through The Gift Shop recieved?
 

RG: I was one of many people who worked on the film. So the critical acclaim is validation for everyone who made the film—not that  they were looking for validation in the first place. We were all just trying to have fun.
 

BSCI: After watching several of your films, I felt like I got a sense of who you were based on your humor. In what way do you integrate your sense of humor into your film making process?
 

RG: How prominently my sense of humor is reflected in a film depends on the type of project. I am primarily a documentarian, not a comedian, so I don’t really think about integrating or not integrating humor into my projects. They are what they are. I don’t try to be funny. My earlier projects like Bedtime Stories reflect my humor the best, I guess.

 

BSCI: What causes you to change your position (director to consultant, to producer) from film to film?
 

RG: Whatever the project calls for, I’m there. 
 

BSCI: How do you see your first film Bedtime Stories, compared to the more commercially successful Infamy?
 

RG: It’s impossible to compare the two. Totally different reasons for making them, and totally different parts of my life. Bedtime Stories will always hold a special place in my heart especially the DVD extras with Rocky Hightower.
 

BSCI: How did you decide to show faces in Infamy considering the writers are still active? Were they wary of this choice? 
 

RG: We worked closely with the artists and really talked to them about the pros and cons of showing their faces and their true identity. But it was about more than them just showing their faces – it was them opening up on who they were.
 

BSCI: How do you protect yourself and the subjects of your films legally?
 

RG: Good E and O insurance (errors and omissions). 
 

BSCI: What’s going on with Swindle at the moment?
 

RG: Swindle went on vacation in 2009. A really long vacation.
 

BSCI: What have Swindle’s advertisers contributed back to the art community?
 

RG: By buying ads in any publication created by the art community, they are already giving back.

BSCI: Describe your film making process, would you say it’s comparable to giving birth? Did you ever have to film weddings when you were starting out? 

RG: I have no idea how to make a film. Everything I have done has been trial and error. My earliest experience with film came early on in high school and I don’t think I should mention what the films were about, but they included many hidden cameras.
 

BSCI: Do you think more artists should reveal their identities to support graffiti? 

RG: If you do your graffiti well enough, you do not need to think about whether or not you should expose your identity, because your identity will become known sooner or later anyhow. But if you want to run out and claim who you are, then you obviously don’t get the point of doing graffiti in the first place.

BSCI: How is doing a film about graffiti more respectable and humbling than doing a big budget film?

RG: It’s not. I’m ready for my big budget film. I’ve got a script with Alf, Heathcliff, the man in the yellow hat and a few other people.

BSCI: Explain the self-reflexive character you played in “Exit through the gift shop” and how this role came to be.  

RG: I’ve had 33 years of experience playing myself and I do it really well. “Exit” was a documentary, so there was no role-playing involved.

BSCI: Is that exactly how you would have handled a last-minute near-disaster? If not, explain.

RG: Yeah, that’s what I would do, and that’s what I did. Because that shit was real.

BSCI: How much of a role did Banksy *really* have on and off camera? 

RG: A big role. It’s his movie.

BSCI: In retrospect, what lead to the creation of your first magazine “While you were sleeping”? Did you feel that the graffiti scene in DC deserved a certain recognition and legitimacy that it was not getting locally? 

RG: I was bored. I was running around writing on a lot of shit. I had a lot of photos. I knew a lot of graphic designers. I had a line of distribution through other businesses. IT wasn’t [planned…but everything kind of fell into place. The shit just happened.

BSCI: How do the artists that you have represented feel about being able to achieve a commercial success that they otherwise wouldn’t have been able to? Would you consider this task a personal responsibility? 

RG: I’ve helped a lot of people but they have helped me too. If they weren’t already really good at what they do, they wouldn’t have gotten where they are now.

BSCI: Do you find that you have invented words to describe things, as there is a lack of vocabulary to properly articulate what artists do? (Such as “influencer marketing” and “alternative distribution” to name a few) 

RG: I really like the word ‘bit’. I did not invent the word “bit” but I have helped the spread of it. It was invented by one of my oldest and dearest friends, Nick Cade, when we were all sitting on my bed on speakerphone with this girl called Amber. We can’t really go into more detail because it gets a bit graphic.

BSCI: As a person who works with “big corporations”, why do you think advertisers are so keen on using the graffiti aesthetic?

RG: Because it reaches the demographic they wanna reach.

BSCI: Have you ever attended a Laker’s game?

RG: I don’t like basketball. I never liked basketball. I hated it a lot more after the Washington Bullets changed their name to the Washington Wizards. Watch hockey. It’s much cooler. Go Caps.

BSCI: What sports do you currently support in LA? 

RG: None. Go Caps.

BSCI: Which sports would you like to see developed more? 

RG: Midget tossing. So many options.

BSCI: Which sports do you think should be kept underground? 

RG: Midgets tossing is pretty low to the ground, because they’re midgets. They’re short.

BSCI: What advice do you give to kids stuck in small towns with no art scene? 

RG: MOVE. Do something.

BSCI: What life goals do you have yet to fulfill? 

RG: Please refer to the large budget movie I want to make. And in that film Topanga will have a guest-starring role. Also we will have cameos by Tony Danza, Bobcat Goldthwaite, Andrew Dice Clay and Gibby from iCarly.

BSCI: Do you consider yourself to be a politically correct person? How does graffiti transcend racial issues that people seem to be so stuck on, or doesn’t it? 

RG: I’m not politically correct at all. Actually, I am very politically correct. I’m a good Jewish boy and I am deep down really PC and I like bagels, but not all bagels. I like blueberry bagels. Once I had a fresh blueberry warm bagel with raspberry cream cheese on it. It was like a fruit explosion in my mouth. Yes, graffiti does transcend race because writers don’t care what you look like, just how your pieces look. 

BSCI: Are you still painting graffiti? 

RG: God no. For real, I spend enough time watching TV all ready. 

BSCI: Do you get mad when you see people bashing writers who “make the news” in forums? Do you think these artists are protected under the first amendment? 

RG: I don’t go to graffiti forums. And anyone that does really has nothing better to do with their time. Especially when they start beef on forums. It’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. If you’re at home and you have that much time, bake me some cookies and fucking mail them to me. I like them soft.

  

BSCI: Tell us something nice that has happened to you recently? 

RG: On my birthday I got a really nice clock with a marijuana leaf on it and all the hours say 4:20, and I took the batteries out and made it say 4:20 all the time. I got an autograph sent to me from Topanga. She knows I’m watching her. I also shared a fried cheese melt at Denny’s with Ian. Morphine when I had kidney stones—that was nice.

BSCI: Something that made you cry? 

RG: The passing of my dear friend Gary Coleman. Nothing else really makes me cry because I have a heart colder than Eskimo balls.

BSCI: Anyone you want to give a shout out to on the streets…

RG: The dude that I bought all the pagers from in Miami. I don’t know what his name is. He came by our gallery space and he was selling a bag of pagers. I now own more pagers than anyone. I would like to give him a shout out because I want more pagers. He came by with more pagers the next day. They were two bucks and he said “you know, it’s $3 to eat.” And I said “where you eatin’?” Also I’d like to give a shout out to hip hop. Word.