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An Interview with Aidan Hughes of BRUTE! Propaganda
Posted: Sunday, March 30, 2008
By: Jacob H. Smith
Staff Writer/ New Releases Manager

Attacking your senses with a simplistic, visceral, and socio-political commentary through artwork, Aidan Hughes, a.k.a. BRUTE!, is among other things the man behind almost every KMFDM album cover. His work is instantly recognized for its in-your-face aesthetic and subject matter. As a child, Aidan found a love for Golden Age comic book artists like Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko and Jim Steranko, and later in life discovered the wonders of Russian propaganda. Developing his own style through his influences, Aidan's work has become a force all its own. In an interview with ReGen, he finds time to discuss the changes in the arts, his inspirations, and his love of propaganda.

Your use of the trichromatic color scheme of black, white and red is very effective and really helps with the content of your imagery. I know you started out using straight black and white and red. When did you really start using more color in your pieces?

Hughes: Until I started publishing my own stuff, a lot of what I did was in full color. I always had big boxes of biros, crayons and felt tip pens around as a kid and learned about colour from my father who was a painter. I was a big fan of primary color stuff, like Jack Kirby's Captain America, Steve Ditko's Dr. Strange and Jim Steranko's Nick Fury: Agent of SHIELD comics. Then, when I was working on a friend's house, I found an old wartime magazine which took my breath away with its strength and dynamic angles. Through that, I got into propaganda and Russian Constructivism and learned to control color, rather than see it as compulsory. I'm now leaning towards cobalt and aquamarine blues.

Your work can be seen everywhere, from T-shirts to tattoos. How do you feel when you see someone showing off your work?

Hughes: I don't see any of my stuff on people's shirts in Prague. Sometimes, fans will send pictures of themselves showing off their tats. I reckon if they want to bleed for my art, let 'em. A couple of years ago, a big sportswear company tried to rip one of my designs. I spent a long time trying to get justice, and it almost bankrupted my family, but the consensus was that if it's on the Internet, it can be bootlegged. Since then, I just ignore many of the infringements of my intellectual properties. Life is too short, and I'm here to create, not procrastinate.

Do you feel that the art community has become stale and just regurgitates the same old drivel that we've seen for the past 20 years?

Hughes: If you mean the old gallery system with its cheese and wine-sucking freeloaders and its nepotistic and extortionate exploitation of the artist by the art establishment, yes. If you mean the never-ending waves of gadget, game, Web site and graphic designers, bloggers, hackers, Photoshoppers and YouTube directors, then the answer's no.

In the book 1984, the main character was in charge of changing information for distribution. With the current global situation, do you feel that your work is more relevant now, in this steadily progressing Orwellian future of mass propaganda and loss of privacy?

Hughes: I'm a little peeved that I haven't been approached by any agencies representing any political party since before 9/11. I was highly impressed by some of the retro propaganda produced for Obama during the current Democratic campaign. That shows a sense of style. However, Start Gallery's propaganda show was full of trite, right-on imagery that bore little evidence of passion or commitment, either graphic or political. It just shows how far the power of propaganda has fallen. Propaganda has to be brave and alarming, and politically correct propaganda sucks.

Your images are always gritty and show sometimes the worst sides of humanity. When starting a new piece, how do you come up with the idea you want to end up with?

Hughes: Sometimes, I get a little offended when people categorize my work as violent or negative. I was always a big fan of Biblical illustrations growing up, because I felt that there was more expression in people's faces than there were in the faces of Italian Renaissance art, which seemed passive and bland compared to the tortured souls in the Wesleyan and Calvinist booklets I was reading at the time. I also have a problem with a lot of classical statuary: the faces are so still. To analyze my work, its a matter of stress lines and dynamism in perspective and color. The creases in someone's shirt or the lines in a face denote action and speed, and this can lead people to see something angry or violent, when really it is the rush of shapes that upsets them, not the content itself. Look at my imagery: there's barely any blood, no shootings or stabbings or rapes, like in Shakespeare. It's the drama of the threat that is portrayed, not gore. Besides, my clients wouldn't allow me to draw something that might give them cause to withdraw it later.

Aside from your animations, short films, and the video game Zero Population Count, with the newer and easier methods to work digitally do you still remain a fan of the manual art form, or are you happily delving into the digital format?

Hughes: I employ a lot of different formats, but I am still basing all the imagery from hand-inked drawings that I scan and clean up in Illustrator. I love the ultra-clean sweep of working in Illustrator. It's sexy in a way working in oils could never be. I'd love to be able to set aside enough time to become proficient in scripting Flash animations and After Effects motion graphics. Saying all that, my working partner and I have just spent two hours fantasizing what our forthcoming glossy magazine will smell like, so I guess a bit of both is always the way I go.

Now you've worked with or around numerous influential people over the years. Are there any that really stick out in your mind as a favorite?

Hughes: Winston Smith is a gentleman of the highest standing, and it was a pleasure to meet him when I did a show with him and Shepherd Fairey in San Francisco a few years ago. Top of the list was working with Valerie Leon, who worked in several Hammer films and was a Bond girl twice. Last week, I shot a film with legendary Australian character actor Peter Hoskins, who worked with Lucky Grills in Bluey. But I guess the guy I've been working with these last five years, Rory Wilmer, is about the most impressive all-rounder I've seen for years. Not only is he an enthusiastic graphic designer and thinker, he's also someone who gets the show on the road yesterday, unlike a lot of so-called artists who are really arrivistes, who take forever to say nothing.

You are a spokesperson for BogArt. Can you tell us a little about BogArt's mission?

Hughes: BogArt is a call to arms to every lazy fuck who says he can't do a show or make a film because of lack of money or time or whatever. We began by stealing the posters in public washrooms, drawing bold pictures on them, and then replacing them in their frames, thereby using the washrooms as temporary art galleries around the city. We'd do about three bars a night, film it and put the clips on YouTube. It was about reclaiming art space that had been nabbed by advertisers in a way that was non-toxic, cheeky and without damaging the architecture (BogArt is very anti-graffiti). From there, we started setting up random stunts, like finding broken street furniture or abandoned cars and coming up with an idea for a film on the spot. No storyboards, no lights, no script. Then we'd add laugh-tracks, sound effects and music to give it a more professional sound. Our last film cost us nothing to make and only four hours to shoot. Two of our short films were written, shot, edited and shown within six hours. It's the same principle of BRUTE! Propaganda: minimalism and drama before all.

Does your Web site help to bring in a lot of potential customers?

Hughes: Yes, about 90 percent of my work comes through the site. I'm never in one place long enough to build a local client base, so it helps that I can work wherever I am through the net. At the moment, I think the site could do with some work, probably more than I have the time to do, so I do a lot of networking through Facebook, especially through the many groups we have on there.

What are some of the more bizarre pieces that you've done for your clients?

Hughes: I remember walking down the Portobello Road once and running into a friend of mine who seemed a bit upset, to say the least. When I asked him what was up, he replied that he'd had an argument with the landlord of the local pub and was going back to the place to 'sort him out.' He pulled back his jacket to reveal the chrome Desert Eagle 9mm beneath. 'Look,' I said, 'Why don't I draw you a picture of you shooting that guy in the face instead?' He agreed. But instead, I drew a picture of him about to blow this guy's head off, the moment where he gets to think, 'Is this really worth it?' Needless to say, the landlord is still alive. Another piece I designed was for a tattoo sleeve, and I insisted that the guy work out before I started work on it (it was created so that it animated across the flesh when the muscles were in tension). I also designed it so that an eye opened in the crease of the arm when he lifted it. It freaked his girlfriend out every time he did it. I've had all sorts of death metal bands, Neo-Nazis, and sick art pervs ask me to do a range of things, but my stuff is really quite traditional and not the crazed, twisted shit they are after. I think some of them ask just to see if I'll do it.

You've done several graffiti style pieces in public areas. Do you have any more surprises waiting to be unveiled?

Hughes: I think I've said all I wanted to say with those Creation pieces. I prefer the direct attack of the DV-cam now. I can stage something that gets filmed in a couple of minutes, whereas you have to constantly be on the watch for hours when doing an illegal mural. I find that and the climbing harnesses a bit constricting, creatively. Of course, if someone offered me the money so that I could get the team over to do something dramatic and legal, I'd not turn it down. I found out that the last mural I did has been torn down a few months ago.