Fizzy Chat With Full Time Rebel Jesse Willesee

POSTED 17.12.14 13:12 BY FIZZY STAFF

Jesse Willesee is a 27-year-old conceptual artist from Sydney, Australia â and whenever he pops up in the media reaping digital havoc, the word âcontroversialâ tends to be placed in front of his name. He chatted to us about his collaborations with Demian Renucci, his Tabloid Art project and his upcoming trip to LA.

How long have you been working with Demian Renucci?
Weâve met around eight months ago. We clicked right away and designed the CAMGIRL capsule collection together, to tie in with my recent show CAM GIRL/CAM BOY, which was a live photo shoot held inside a series of hotel rooms. It was based around the sex cam world. Weâve done a bunch of shoots since then too.

You and Demian do a lot of collabs. Why do you guys work so well together?
I know for me, I really dig the clothes. I liked the clothes before I met him. Then when I met him and he was a super chill guy and easy to work with, it was perfect. We share similar aesthetic values. We both dress nearly the same, lol. He’s a cool dude and heâs doing something with street fashion in Australia no one else is really doing.

You’ve been working on a project called Tabloid Art. What is tabloid art?
I take headlines and turn them into art, that art then turns back into headlines. It’s taking a tabloid journalism style approach to art. Itâs taking all my art shows online and out of galleries, which have always kind of bored me.

Tell us about your recent Tabloid Art works The Government Is Watching You Fuck and Marijuana is Not a Crime.
For Marijuana is Not a Crime I smoked weed in front of a bunch of Sydney police stations and Parliament House in protest of marijuana laws. Weed is illegal in Australia and even banned for medicinal purposes. It blew up and made international news, it was on TV, radio, everywhere. I lived in fear of the cops for a few weeks. I made my protest and my art at the same time and all I had to do was put it online. No gallery needed.

The Government is Watching You Fuck was also an online show. It makes people think about what street video surveillance really means. The sexual scenes depicted in the images happen every night by people who would never consent to being filmed while having sex. And again on one site that artwork had over 40,000 views. All I did was drop that show on my Instagram and tumblr. You just canât get the same scope from a gallery show.

You’re coming to LA in January – what do you have planned for your visit?
My girlfriend and I jasman420 are coming out for a month, we have a crazy trip planned. LSD in Death Valley, getting married in Vegas, smoking as much Cali weed as possible, eating all the tacos, drinking all the 40s! Were meeting up with some really cool people and collaborating on a bunch of fashion shoots and video art projects. We are also hosting an art party at The Glitter Death store towards the end of our trip.