JIM LUCIO - BALTIMORE.USA

1 OCTOBER 2009

Interviewed by TRAVIS LEE STREET

  Child of the lesser known subcultures in San Francisco, Jim Lucio is a documentarian, self-publisher, editor, pseudonym vigilante and underground icon in his own right. Since the early 80s he has been stalking the SF night-scenes and NYC daydreams with his trusty Polaroid Spectra and stealing the souls of all those who cross his path. More recently, he’s moved to Baltimore, home of the porn-thriller-horror movie, Hampdenfest and DMX. He’s shot such famous jowls as John Waters, Leslie and the Ly's, and stretches his journalistic talents in his column in OUTloud Magazine; DEFECTIVE ARTS where he has interviewed such amazing specimens as Buck Angel (the legendary female post-opt transsexual pornstar). Constantly on the move infiltrating mundane American mainstream culture with his mongaloid characters, zines about the sometimes fabricated underbelly of society and Boston terriers in kitty wigs, Jim Lucio (better known around the globe as DEFEKTO) represents everything that a card-carrying subversive photographer/activist should, and thats just peachy.
 

How would you introduce your work to the great British public, where the scene that you embody almost doesn’t exist?

First I'd have to say that whatever you think doesn't exist where you happen to be, is hiding in plain sight.

The work that I am most associated with is my Polaroid photography which I have been doing for about 20 years. Unlike the way people shoot now with an unlimited amount of digital exposures, I have always been very careful and methodical about my Polaroid shooting. Even back when I started, I also shot regular roll film with up to 36 exposures, but ten exposures per pack of Polaroid film always made it seem more special, not to mention much more expensive, so with that in mind, I always tried to capture the most interesting people doing the most interesting things.

But if you look beyond my photos of adult babies, drag queens, misfits, punks, people playing dress up and stuff like that, the majority of the images are of regular people that you might pass on the street and not take any notice of. I see something special in most people and I like to think that that unique spark that each person has shows up in my work.
 

You seem to take the world in your own hands when documenting your surroundings. I remember a few portraits you did of a caveman running wild through the woods of Baltimore in a furry nappie, and a series you did of interesting crotches. Where do you find these people?

I actually know most of the people I've photographed. I did do a year long project portrait a day and many of those people I did not know, but many of these people are just out and about, it just takes a little nerve or maybe a have a cocktail in you to be able to ask if you can photograph their crotch. I was at a party recently and photographed this guys really hairy arms and legs. I loved them and he let me take three Polaroids, but the following week I found out that he was really disturbed by it!

Do you see any trends when look back on your previous work in San Francisco and compare it with today’s Baltimore scenesters? Is society getting more sleazy, or is it just you?

Haa...I would have to say that society has always been somewhat sleazy and always has an edge of some sort. I am just drawn to the "other" of subcultures and people who are not total conformists.

If I look at my work from twenty years ago, it is almost indistinguishable from stuff that I do today. I have the same approach and style of shooting portraits and I have always sought out interesting subjects. In recent years I have added more elements like costumes, make-up, a greater sense of melodrama or ridiculousness, but that was always there, I'm just doing it more.

 

Who is Wilma Martinez and why should we love her?

Wilma represents the underdog. She is the poster child for unsigned bands, overlooked talent, beauty pageant losers, the last person picked for a team, the marginalized and misunderstood.
 

We created Wilma one night six years ago without knowing what we were doing or what she would end up meaning to us. She was an outlandish and volatile character that we just fell in love with. Visually, she was an utter disaster, very poorly applied make-up, rotten teeth, vintage fashions, yet charming and sensitive. After that first experience it felt like I was in the presence of an amazing celebrity, I just wanted to see her again and again and it became a collaboration with the model who portrays Wilma.
 

To all of my friends, she has become a bizarre mysterious fashion model who is usually out of town, but flies in to visit, use the bathroom and take a few photos with me. Even my closest friends don't know who she is. So I just started getting obsessed with the idea of creating a history for this character and began speaking of her as if she were a real person and, not surprisingly, she did become real. People knew her, began asking about her, became fans and it became something I just didn't want to end. Someone in Spain recently started a Facebook fan page for her which was exciting.

Now, I'm taking Wilma to a greater audience thanks to Vince Peranio, who worked on probably all of John Waters' films. He co-curated a show that will be part of a big art festival called Artscape (Baltimore) and he liked my proposal so more people will be able to experience the wonders of Wilma! I'll be presenting documentation from her past films, modeling assignments, recordings, photos, etc. I am a graphic designer, so I've been working on movie stills, posters, album covers and stuff like that for a couple of months now...it's been so much fun. I've also interested some amazingly talented artists to contribute work that will "prove" Wilma has been a great pop cultural influence on other artists. The work I've seen so far has been great--like flash tattoo art, an action figure, stencil art, paintings, impersonators...it's kind of surreal.

 

Eclectic individuals have served as your main photojournalistic outlets (although we have been privy to some of your more abstract... and amazing shots), what do these people mean to you?

I am a visual person and I appreciate interesting visuals in people as well as in art and everything else. I photograph what I am attracted to and people who inspire me, it's really as simple as that. I don't much care for cookie cutter type lifestyles or situations. We experience that everywhere, so it's kind of like the last thing I want to document. Plus, I like meeting new people and I want to be friends with all the weirdos. It's like a pack mentality thing...I like to be around what I am.

Why Polaroid?

I think Polaroids mean different things to different people, but for me, a Polaroid is more than a photograph, it's a memento or an artifact from a time and place. There is something more tangible and authentic about Polaroid that I've always felt...even before everything went digital. Now that's a feeling more people can understand which, I think, has created kind of a Polaroid cult experience for some people.

I also shoot digital just like everyone else and love it. My style there is more candid which you can't do with Polaroid, but there is something about carrying a bulky camera that I just don't like. I hate feeling like I am on safari and burdened with heavy equipment...it feels too much like work and I like to feel like I am at play and Polaroid always makes me feel like I am at play.

Last year you had a big project centered around the remaining stash of your Polaroid film, where the last few pictures were going to be auctioned off to the highest bidder. What happened with that?

I still have a couple hundred exposures left! I'm not done yet. I did put that out there to auction off my last pack of film and as much as that would be awesome if someone wanted to do that, it is still a little bit of a gimmick and way of calling attention to what I'm doing. I honestly do feel that my final film must be used in a very special way. The closer I get to the end of my stash I'm sure ideas will start coming to me.

What artists currently inspire you?

I don't know that I am inspired by any particular artists to the point that they effect the way I see and what I like. It's more of a combination of all my interests coming together that creates the inspiration. The three people I have always felt were true inspirations and part of me and my creative output are P.T. Barnum, Andy Warhol and Diane Arbus. They all loved the weirdos, too.

What's next for Jim Lucio?

This has been a long time in coming, but I am going to start working on some film projects again. Way back in the 80s, me and a friend had a public access tv show in San Francisco called Trauma TV. We used to show short student films and any unusual content we could find, but mostly it was an outlet for us to show whatever video projects we were working on.

So, I've been thinking about film again and then a few weeks ago, I was asked by the guy who does the 48 Hour Film Festival here in Baltimore and in Portland, if I wanted to submit a film for an Edgar Allan Poe Centennial exhibit that will be held at the Baltimore Museum of Art in December. I read a bunch of Poe and it became obvious to me that I should film my version of Murders in the Rue Morgue, mostly because an ape is in it and I have a gorilla suit.

The BMA film has gotten things rolling for me a little and I'm in talks with a friend to start up a film production company. I get a ton of satisfaction out of the production process, whether it be for film, marketing, promotion or event planning--I love it. We're tossing ideas around and it feels like the right time for me to go down this road.

http://www.defekto.com