ARTIST INTERVIEW: DANNY J. SIMON + WOODWORKING
ARTIST INTERVIEW: DANNY J. SIMON + LONG BEACH, CA
A Southern Californian wood-working artist.
ARTIST INTERVIEW: DANNY J. SIMON + LONG BEACH, CA
WITH SUN-STREAKED BLONDE HAIR, AND EYES THE COLOR OF A SUMMER SKY, THIS BEARDED MOUNTAIN MAN SEE'S LIFE THROUGH A DIFFERENT LENS. A WOOD-WORKING ARTIST REVEALS HIS SECRET WORLD.
I MET DANNY WHILE HE WAS SITTING ON A DECK AT THE CAMP [ A LOCAL ARTIST VENUE IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA]. PENCIL BEHIND HIS EAR AND A YELLOW SCRAP OF PAPER, SIMON WAS SKETCHING OUT PLANS.. PLANS FOR WHAT YOU MIGHT ASK? PLANS TO BUILD A RAD WOODEN FENCE WITH UNCUT LOGS AND ROPE. SOUNDED PRETTY WOODSY AND RUGGED TO ME.
DANNY J. SIMON INVITED ME TO HIS WOOD WORKING STUDIO AND SHARED ABOUT HIS PASSIONS AND LIFE. DANNY IS A HUGE INSPIRATION FOR ME. HIS LOVE FOR NATURE AND ADVENTURE AND HIS SIMPLISTIC LIFESTYLE ARE TRULY WONDERFUL.
©2011 London Red
Pulling up to his studio in Long Beach he took me around the space, covered in wood shavings and sawdust, tools, paint buckets, a dart board, a couch and more equipment. He led me over to the desk he was constructing for a friend.
Simon talking about the adjustments he and his friend, Eric Triune, would be working on to make the studio into the perfect work space.
We grabbed two stools, a few beers, sat down and started talking. Pretty soon I found out about his life, inspirations and where he got started in his career as a mountain man-wood-worker. Looking up I saw chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, he laughed, claiming he didn’t put them there, but they add that homey feel to the studio, “they kinda suck, but I kinda like them.”
His quiet demeanor faded away quickly as he began talking about his passions, his love for nature, the ocean, mountains, and his raw-creative style.
He asked if it was ok to have the beer cans in the shot while I filmed him.
This quarter Italian, quarter Spanish and partial Scandinavian man [on his mom's side] is a native Californian boy, originally from San Diego County. He had an early start in construction by his father- who had the ability to visualize something, and carry forth that design into reality; he did this by designing their home. He holds a great respect for architecture as an art form. - London Red
ARTIST PROFILE: DANNY SIMON
ON HIS RESUME: “Witnessed a hawk get hit by a semi truck. Did 4H [pigs] . Won an archery tournament after drinking a handle of vodka.”
SON OF: "My father."
DREAMS OF: "Building my own log cabin."
ADMIRER OF: "Individuals."
SOMETHING INTERESTING: "Oh man. Well I worked and lived on San Clemente Island, that’s south west of Catalina. It’s a navy base, and I poured concrete out there. It’s not necessarily that exciting…”
HOW LONG WERE YOU OUT THERE FOR? "The first job was eight months, the other a year and a half.. So I got a nice break between them."
SUCCESS/ ACCOMPLISHMENT: "Climbed Mt. Whitney.I like hiking, so I hiked Mt. Whitney, on my 25th birthday…" (Shaking his head, he laughs at the memory) "It’s the tallest mountain in the 48 states, (14,505 ft to be exact) right here in California." (Nodding my head, I jot down a few facts as he continues to tell me the story of Mt. Whitney.)
"That’s a little bit of an achievement…" (He fades off as he looks out the door of the studio, seeming to be back on the mountain.)
Danny’s custom desk and skateboard. Wearing the signature Red Wings.
WHAT’S YOUR STYLE: "My own personal style?"
WHEN YOU WAKE UP IN THE AM DO YOU THINK ABOUT YOUR OUTFITS OR JUST THROW THINGS ON?
“I definitely think about it, or at least I like to think that I don't care about it, but I am vain in my own way. I would say a simpleton. Having good t-shirts is a good thing, not too thick. I like normal pocket tees. That would be my preferred clothing piece.”
FAV PIECE OF CLOTHING? "Red wings."
DESCRIBE A TYPICAL DAY: “Wake up at 9 a.m. Buy a medium Americano with half/half and 1 packet of sugar. Buy materials. Make something. Try and get $ for it. Go climbing at the rock gym. Shower. Drink beers/ eat food with friends and try and make each other laugh. Go home. Look online for inspiration. Face book. Gmail. Etc. Go to sleep and dream about enchanted forests.”
FAVORITE COLOR? “Any kind of mustard or yellow ochre. That’s what I’m drawn to if you showed me five different colors.” (A loud airplane passes overhead)
WHERE DO YOU FEEL OUT OF PLACE? "Las Vegas." (The last time he was there, he decided it would be his final time visiting Vegas) "All the facade of that stuff, it can be fun, but anything like that with too much glitz and glam, too many lights. Just pretense upon pretense."
WHERE’S HOME: “ Where my friends are.”
WHAT’S IN YOUR BAG: "Books"
LISTENING TO: "Beach House, Animal Collective. I love music. Definitely get good visuals from music. It keeps my brain going and that whole deal."
READING ANYTHING GOOD/ FAVORITE BOOKS? "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. I read it once, it’s pretty neat. It gives words to things I think about a lot. ‘Brok.’ ‘Dogwalker’ ‘Everything is Illuminated.’"
CURRENT HANGOUT SPOT? "Joe Jost’s, Old Man’s, The Pike, the bank. That’s right, the Bank."
SHOWS? He’s not a huge fan of live music, but you’ll be more likely to find him parked at his house, with an old record on where he is inspired to be creative while his mind is being fueled my music.
AN ARTIST OR A THINKER? "Those definitely correlate with who I am. I would never want my identity to be found in my job or something. I would consider myself a creative type, so I would rather I be identified with what I create rather than my job…I like nature, I like hiking, I like the natural world, yeah that can sound corny but it is true. I like being outdoors, above all. I get really stir-crazy if I’m inside too long"
SO YOU GET CABIN FEVER OFTEN?
"Cabin fever, yah that’s it." (He says, smiling)
TOOL OF TRADE: (Glancing at the man, sitting on the stool) “Pencil, best ones you can get at 7-eleven.”
(Who knew 7-eleven carried pencils.)
DROP EVERYTHING AND MOVE TO THE WILD? “I've thought about that a lot of times. I think that the only thing keeping me from that is that I like people and wouldn't want to be alone for that long. It could get old fast, but when you’re stuck in traffic in southern California, yeah, that gets old fast too. All in all, with all its faults, I think I'd rather live in kind of a more heavily populated area and be able to retreat into those kinds of (wilderness) areas instead of letting that be my only kind of option (living in pure wilderness with no one around to cheer you up on lonely days, besides animals of course).
WOULD YOU BUILD YOURSELF A LOG CABIN? “I pray to God that I will be able to someday; that and a cool tree house, a regular house, and a car.”
Danny at his custom woodworking gear: straw hat, flannel and Red Wings.
INTROVERT OR EXTROVERT? Claiming to be an introvert, with an extrovert inside of himself some where, he has steadily progressed from having a shy childhood to now being comfortably in-between. Like many of us middle-goers ‘intrextaverts’).
"When I was younger, I was definitely overly shy, but now I think I've kind of become more comfortable with whatever it is I am.”
WHAT ARE YOU? (Laughing and shaking his head )"Ahhh, thats a good question… I like being around people and…. I don't know, try and make them laugh…. not like a stand up comedian, but where everyone is laughing together, kind of building off of each other. That’s a tough question.”
WHO/ WHAT DO YOU ADMIRE IN LIFE? “The who part of that would be; I guess people who do their own thing, and make up their own mind about whatever. Try to find their own way to talk about things; it’s hard you know, but (pausing) little moments when you see that in people, it’s really pretty special. You can tell that they make up their own mind about that stuff… The what (do you admire) part of the question, I like things that are pretty unrefined, that have a sense of raw beauty to them.. I'm sure the whole nature lover side of me is apart of that, anything that is along those lines.”
WHAT INSPIRES YOUR CREATIONS? "I think that a lot of the inspiration comes from those types of people [the individuals] and those types of things [raw beauty] I think a lot of times, when they're witnessed in real life; like a building that you really like, in the art sense: music, magazines, definitely film, I guess I build off of other peoples creativity. There are enough good things, that we all speak the same language, you don't have to worry about being too original or ripping someone off of their ideas….”
SURF? [He surfs, though not as often as he used to.]
"It’s hard to make a lot of money and surf all the time though I’d like to. [Pausing] During the summer time I like to surf a lot, in the wintertime [wrinkling his nose] I don't really like it. I'd rather make a beach day out of it, you know? Spend the whole day at the beach, relaxing, instead of freezing your ass off in the morning."
[I fully agree.]
MOUNTAINS OR OCEAN? “I’ve thought about that one, its a hard one though. The ocean will always win, although it isn’t a fair question. But the ocean is on the edge of the world in a way, so it wins. There’s something pretty cool about that."
AFRICA SPEAKS OF: "hardship"
I AM THE SON OF: "my father"
RED VELVET: "cupcakes"
BLUE GRASS: "music"
AN EVER CHANGING: "thing"
IT’S A BIT CONVENTIONAL: "my need for the internet"
HIS GUIDING PRINCIPAL/LIFE PHILOSOPHY: “laugh”
IF YOU WERE TO CARRY A MAN BAG, WHAT WOULD BE INSIDE?
“I have a crush on bags, I’ve been fighting it my whole life because bags are supposed to be for girls.”
