Meet NYC's most promising starving artists before they're rich and famous. This week meet cartoonist and illustrator, Jeremy Nguyen and find out what he has to say about talking to adults, Sunday comics, and real estate.
by David Davila (musical theatre writer)
I wish I could say I discovered the cartoonist Jeremy Nguyen at a cool party in Bushwick with a bunch of smelly hipsters but he actually caught my attention on Instagram where he posts clever and hilarious cartoons about hipster life in the Bohemian capitol of the world: Bushwick. "Stranger Than Bushwick", which he illustrates serializes in Bushwick Daily, and it's pretty friggin genius.
Now that his comics are catching on you can see his work on Thrillist, College Humor, Time Out New York, Brooklyn Magazine, and Bedford + Bowery. Now he's bringing his love for comics to life with live readings of brand new comic books by Brooklyn writers! I caught up with the anti-hipster this week to find out more! Here's what the illustrator had to say:
(David Davila) So tell me about your Bushwick comic strip, how did this come about?
(Jeremy Nguyen) I had lived in Bushwick for about a year before some ideas came to me to make a comic. I was always seeing crazy things happen and had conversations with my friends about what was going on, like you do when you first move to a new neighborhood. I made friends with Katarina at Bushwick Daily and started contributing illustrations to different articles and columns, and she eventually asked for me to write articles. I declined her offer, cause I'm not a writer or journalist.
(DD) Where do you find the inspiration for the things you draw?
(JN) It's pretty easy to find inspiration for comics because you can just take a walk and find something to write about at your doorstep. Sure, Bushwick has a lot of strange things going on, but a lot of the fun is finding the mundane normal things that all my friends and neighbors do and using that as fuel for a comic.
(DD) Why comics? What's the power in drawings as opposed to essays or prose?
(JN) Comics have visuals that people gravitate to. Bold colors and black lines is such an immediate readable language, that even kids can understand. A lot of great people have written about New York in books, novels, movies, and TV.
(DD) Most artists I know are quickly getting priced out of Bushwick, what do you think will be the next great center of Bohemia?
(JN) I don't really like to think in terms of "next great bohemia".
(DD) Now let’s get into some really important Bohemian questions. How long have you been living in NYC?
(JN) I moved to Bushwick in 2011.
(DD) And where are you from originally?
(JN) When I was about 3 to when I was 10 it was almost a different state of country every year. After that I basically grew up in the Bay Area, California. Like 3rd grade and up.
(DD) What neighborhood do you live in now?
(JN) Still in Bushwick. I've just been circulating apartments in the same 20 blocks
(DD) What's your favorite appetizer to order at a Pub?
(JN) I don't go to pubs very often, but if they have tots, I'm getting them.
(DD) What’s your favorite adult beverage?
(JN) Spiked milkshakes. Hot tea.
(DD) How do you like your coffee?
(JN) Irish. No I'm kidding, iced coffee is nice but I prefer tea.
(DD) What are your top five favorite hangouts in NYC?
(JN) My girlfriend and I see a lot of shows around town, so we go to places like The UCB, Angelika, IFC Center,
(DD) Favorite food to eat when you are poor?
(JN) Soup!
(DD) What's the craziest or worst job you’ve ever had?
(JN) My dad was a real estate agent when I was teenager, so I had to do Open Houses for him, most of the time alone. So I had all these terrified couples who'd come to an Open House and see me on the couch watching TV wondering what the hell they walked into. They never felt comfortable talking to me, which is good cause I didn't either and I didn't know anything about the house or what escrow is.
(DD) Who’s your favorite comic book character?
(JN) I love Smiley Bone, he's a character in a series called Bone. He was just a hammy character, had a cigar in his mouth like an 50s bookie.
(DD) How about your favorite Sunday comic strip?
(JN) I can't choose just one. There's Foxtrot, Calvin and Hobbes, but I always loved Bizarro! by Dan Piraro because it was really different each week and he had free reign to do whatever he wanted. His comic was like a sketch show.
(DD) Someone who we should check out that just doesn't get enough credit?
(JN) Theres so many, all of my friends David Ostow, Ellis Rosen, Tony Wolf, Annelise Capossella, Spenser Anderson, Courtney Wirthit. They are all so talented and are each having amazing moments to their great careers.
(DD) How about your favorite guilty pleasure?
(JN) I have no idea how to answer this question because so many types of things are flooding me. I love watching romantic comedies, watching clips of Ellen, eating entire loaves of banana bread, checking out people on the subway or the park. I have a lot of pleasures a normal person might feel guilty of, but I have no shame in them.
(DD) Favorite graphic novel of all time?
(JN) Bone, Blankets, the books of Michel Rabagliati. I can't choose just one!
(DD) What's your favorite place to draw?
(JN) I love my studio, but outside of that I love the Natural History Museum. My girlfriend and I did one of those overnight Night-at-the-Museum events they do, and we stayed up til 3 or 4 in the morning drawing in empty exhibit halls. I loved it.
(DD) What lesson would you like to go back and teach a 10 year old version of yourself?
(JN) Talk to adults better. I was a very timid kid.
(DD) What do you think is the purpose of art in society?
(JN) Art is supposed to stoke conversation. Whether thats internally in a single person, or among a group of people, it's supposed to address things that people don't or haven't talked about or haven't thought about in a certain way.
(DD) What reoccurring themes surface in your work?
(JN) Bushwick and all things that come with it, including gentrification, sex and dating, pop culture.
(DD) What do you wish to achieve by creating your comics?
(JN) I want people to laugh, I want people who don't read comics to start reading comics. If I can be a gateway to more comics for people, then I feel I did my job as a cartoonist.
(DD) And what are your biggest influences?
(JN) Everyday life! Obviously Bushwick for the comics. But I would say my girlfriend is the funniest person I know and I run pretty much everything by her to see if something i funny. She knows my life the most and has the same comedy lens as me, so getting her opinion on funny things hugely influences me.
(DD) Are you able to make a living off of your art?
(JN) Yes, but only just recently. My comic has led to a lot of opportunities this year and I enjoy everyone I have worked with so far.
(DD) Which brings us to a very important one: any advice for the teenage artists around the world who dream of moving to NYC?
(JN) Save up your allowance and get a job and save all that up. I graduated a quarter earlier than my peers in college by taking classes during the summer. And while other kids were taking their last classes, I was picking up every shift I could at the restaurant I worked at. And it was crazy how much in tips I was making. I didn't draw as much, but I knew I would do more drawing once I graduated so I worked hard long hours, and worked all week during St Patrick's Day (which in Savannah Georgia is like Mardi Gras in New Orleans). Just come to NYC with all that money you earned will be drained in your first few months of rent and security deposit.
(DD) So, what other projects are you currently working on?
(JN) So I'm making more comics, I'm part of anthologies my friends are putting together. I'm working on a coloring book with my friend and photographer Darragh Dandurand. I also do a reading series with my friend Christian Niedan, called PROJECT COMICS, where we have cartoonists do live readings with a slideshow of their comics projected behind them. We have a great line-up for our show on July 8th at 8pm. The Brooklyn Art Library has been extraordinary in hosting our event and we are very happy to be back again for this installment. (Here's the link to the event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/1003013316486787/)
(DD) Anything else you want us to know about Jeremy Nguyen?
(JN) I have a website at jeremywinslife.com and if you enjoy my stuff my handles on Insta and twitter are @jeremywins
(DD) Can you please share your favorite Instagram photo with us?
(JN) One that I took? I kinda love this one of my girlfriend's strawberry:
DAVID DAVILA is the composer of MANUEL VS THE STATUE OF LIBERTY, VOX POP, #52SONGS and author of the Tex-Mex plays ADAN Y JULIO, MEN OF GOD, ABUELAS OR THE POVERTY CYCLE, CREDO, REQUERDOS OF MY LIFE, ANIMAL HUSBANDRY, and AZTEC PIRATES AND THE INSIGNIFICANCE OF LIFE ON MARS. He is a self proclaimed Voxist, a Diva enthusiast, and founder of Lone Star Theatre Co. Wanna talk about it? www.daviddavila.net
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