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Interview w/ Yokonori Stone

Written by Chad Calhoun

Tuesday, 03 April 2012 10:38

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Yokonori Stone may have started out as a "dumb kid," who performed poorly on exams and was constantly chided for never paying attention, but today she's attracting the attention of curators in Asia and Europe as a young feminist artist who has a cunning ability to distill images of raw debasement. This summer, she'll have her American debut at Ever Gold Gallery with a suite of works that simultaneously embrace and ridicule her new hometown, San Francisco.

This spring I visited "Nori," as her friends call her, in her small apartment in the Western Addition neighborhood to talk about how she's been settling in and what's behind this new body of work. We sat on the floor of her living room and ate red bean mochi while we spoke. -Chad Calhoun

Counterfit Barry McGee

A plan for sucess in San Francisco

Mission Hipster

Ms. Stone interviewed by her friend Chad Calhoun

So how long have you been living in the Bay Area?

I have been here for just over a year.

Do you think the San Francisco scene has affected your work at all?

Absolutely. The generosity of this city constantly surprises me and all the great artists working here is very inspiring.

You've said that you think of your work as therapeutic. I think that's very interesting since so many artists today are focusing on external concerns rather than internal ones. Often I see artists engaging with the politics of representation or using art to comment upon current systems of oppression, whether cultural, visual, or political. You seem to be moving in a totally different direction.

I am not using art for anything except my own personal enjoyment and to gain a better understanding of myself. I wish I had the courage to tackle such important topics like sweatshop labor and gender equality but I am just a simple artist, and no one really cares what I think about such topics. They'd rather listen to Hilary Clinton or Reverend Al Sharpton.

Bamberger Classic (Nicely Done)

San Francisco Group Show

Another way that I see this—that your work is different from most of the art that's being made and exhibited—is that you create small works on paper. You don't do monumental works and you don't make videos or take photos.

I'd like to make monuments but they won't fit in my apartment, so I am not sure how I would be able to work on such things. Videos require a lot of technical skill that I do not have. I can't even figure out how to set up a facebook page. As for photos, there are just too many out in the world right now. I just don't think I have anything to add in terms of taking pictures of things.

Let's go back to the question of the "therapeutic" part of your art. Is it the making of the work that is therapeutic? Or is it the kind of images you make that is therapeutic? You do produce some disturbing images. But the images are also funny. I wonder which part of your production is therapeutic for you.

I take a lot of comfort from just working on things I like, but if I do not like the subject I can not enjoy the process. Like monkeys, I hate monkeys, especially baby monkeys. If someone told me that I had to make a picture of a baby monkey I would want to die. I try and only do what I enjoy, so I sit and make funny pictures all day except when I have to go to my job.

Chinatown Pigeon

Fulsom Street Fair

Tim Lincecum and Vida Blue

Where do you work?

You can find me working behind the scenes at the Trader Joe's over on Masonic. I stock shelves and keep the back store room tidy. I get an apron and don't have to wear those awful Hawaiian shirts.

I'm surprised to hear you say that because so many of your works have a tropical or beach theme. But I agree, they are awful shirts. Although I love Trader Joe's -- so many great deals in their dairy case.

Oh Yes! You should also try the frozen tamales, they are pretty good.

Shhh! Cant you see Barry- McGee is working

The guy from wikilinks

Totally Fake- Barry McGee

Okay, but getting back to your work, Freud said that jokes can only serve two purposes. They are either hostile or obscene. Freud also said that smutty jokes "unfailingly produced a cheerful mood" among common people. In other words, are your paintings jokes?

What is "smutty"?

Well, it's when you look at something dirty and it turns you on.

I don't think my work would ever turn anybody on, even in San Francisco, but I do think that they are kind of like jokes. It is fun to say things that aren't polite, and I think it is fun to hear such things as well.

Welcome to the Tenderloin

The Golden Gate

---
Yokonori Stone
Welcome to the Tenderloin
Opening Reception: Thursday, April 5th, 6-10 PM
@Ever Gold Gallery, San Francisco
Exhibition runs until April 26th

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