He said, "I would never hurt anyone by making art."
Is that the same reason you continue skateboarding?
Gons: No, skateboarding is different. I feel like skating is an obligation. It's something you have to do. I feel like if I don't skateboard, I'm going to get in trouble (laughs). I don't know why I feel this way.
Yes TROUBLE! But you still love skateboarding, don't you?
Gons: Now you're starting to lose track of that too. I have to skateboard anyway! I don't want to skate today. Even if I don't want to skate today, I suppress that feeling and go skate.
In front of a mirror painted with Gonz's poetry, which he completed in Tokyo, he wore a Supreme hoodie and Adidas Skateboarding sneakers, in typical Gonz attire.
Seriously? I never thought I'd hear that from Mark Gonzalez!
Gons: Yeah, it's not good (laughs). Even though I say that, I have fun while skating, and in the end I feel very happy. I'm glad I'm skating.
I know, I know, there should be very few times when I skate that I feel pain. That's good to hear. What does it mean that the theme of this exhibition is "NO TROUBLE"?
Gons: Like I said before, it means that there is no trouble with this venue or this exhibition. It's connected to the fact that I'm not going to hurt anyone by making art." NO TROUBLE is better than TROUBLE", right?
I see...that makes sense to anyone who hears it. I remember a long time ago, we were going to skate in the Tenderloin area of San Francisco, and Mark told us to go somewhere else because it was an unsafe area and we would be bothering other people if we skated there.
Gons: "NO TROUBLE is always good. You can't have fun if you bother someone. Skating at that time was fun.
Why are there so many bathroom scenes in this film?
Gons: I think there's a shock effect in a piece of artwork that's doing the toilet. So that everyone feels a little shock when they see that piece. Like Taku just asked, why? And at the same time, I feel that this work is not like me. At the same time, I feel that this work is not like me in some ways. The shock effect is also something that doesn't bother other people.
There are three themes in this show. Works on toilets and skateboards painted with paint markers. The works on canvas, which I painted with watercolors after arriving in Japan, and the works on canvas. The canvas piece is a series I came up with when I was meeting with adidas, and it's a combination of strong, clear colors. Oh, and the other is "poem on mirrors," in which I wrote poems on mirrors. on mirrors.
This is a reworking of a work I had done in the 1990s. At the time, a gym in the Meat Packing District of New York City was closed and many mirrors on the walls of the gym had been thrown away. I got some of those mirrors and drew on them. At the time, I painted with spray paint. Oh, by the way, do you like spiders?
Spiders? I've never thought about it. I don't particularly like them, but I don't hate them either.
Gons: A spider is a tarantula.
What? Tarantulas! I don't know if I like that, but it scares me. Wow, I'm almost done with this interview. Last question! You're going home tomorrow, right? What are you looking forward to in Japan before then?
Gons: I enjoy eating Japanese breakfast at the hotel. I especially enjoy salmon and natto.
What? You like natto? I think natto is a very hard-core food for foreigners.
Gons: I like that stickiness! But I'm leaving early and I'm hoping to get a good breakfast before I head home.
I was just about to say something about tarantulas.... I'll see you next time I see you!
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