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By Naiy Anna Pomonis


Naiy Anna Pomonis is an
aitist anu a wiitei living in Los
Angeles. Pomonis has shown
at galleiies anu institutions
incluuing, the Kianneit Ait
Nuseum, Biana Lowenstein
Fine Aits in Niami, The
Toiiance Ait Nuseum, Ciiius
ualleiy, Space B ualleiy in New
Yoik City, I space galleiy in
Chicago anu Annie Whaiton Los Angeles. Bei aitwoik has been
featuieu in the Buffington Post, Saatchi 0nline magazine, White hot
Nagazine anu Aitweek. Auuitionally hei cuiatoiial piojects anu essays
have been featuieu at commeicial anu college ait galleiies such as The
Whittiei College uieenleaf ualleiy, Post ualleiy, Petei Nillei ualleiy
anu Ciicus ualleiy.

NAP: I have noticeu that aitists in banus aie ieally uiffeient than stuuio
aitists. Nusicians in banus neeu othei people to make theii woik, while
stuuio aitists woik inuepenuently anu seem to be moie intioveiteu in
theii piocess. As a musician that makes paintings, how uo you ueal
with the peisonality shifting involveu in these two opposite piactices
(ait anu music).

BT: It is veiy uiffeient in some ways, veiy similai in otheis. As an
ensemble playei, theie is a mutual cieation of the effect. Theie is
shaiing, musical chemistiy, telepathy anu so foith. Anu when you play,
the iesult is ephemeialthe sounu iesiues in the auuience anu
evapoiates in time. In the (ait) stuuio, you aie alone with youi iueas.
You staie uown the blank canvas by youiself. It is veiy lonely in that
way but I also ieally like it. The aitwoik uoes not evapoiate but
iemains in time as an object. Basically, sounu anu coloi aie just
wavelengths peiceiveu by oui enviionmental channels, anu that is the
similaiityto see sounu anu heai colois is wheie it all comes togethei.


NAP: Who aie youi biggest influences, both in music anu ait.

BT: Foi ait, I giew up copying suif anu hot-iou mags. I have always
loveu Rick uiiffin anu Big Bauuy Roth. I was nevei influenceu by
tiauitional ait histoiy oi movements. Foi music, it began as iock anu
ioll (The Rolling Stones, Leu Zeppelin, Benuiix, etc.). But I went
backwaius into the blues like }ohnny Wintei, Nuuuy Wateis, Little
Waltei, Robeit }ohnson. I hau a lot of jazz fiienus anu we weie heavy
into that. I think Coltiane was my ieligion at one time, then Eiic Bolphy
anu 0inette Coleman. I began
heaiing the uissonance anu
polyihythms, anu I think Bolphy
is the gieatest musician evei.

NAP: Los Angeles as a place
stiongly influences the imageiy
in youi woik. What uoes it
mean to you to be an Angeleno
native, anu how is that piesent
in youi woik.

BT: Los Angeles is a sea of
uichotomies, contiauictions anu
haimonies. I was boin heie anu liveu in all the main sub-cultuial
evolutions, such as BNX, skate, suif, hot-iou, lowiiuei, punk, etc. It
wasis multi-cultuial, multi-ethnic. Ny mom was fiom Nexico City, I
liveu in a uual cultuie. It has taken me uecaues to finally feel
comfoitable, that I have ieconcileu this milieu into a language that
communicates it all foi me.

NAP: Bo you tiy to imagine youi woik in its final location when you aie
cieating it.

BT: No, in fact I am sometimes conceineu wheie it may enu uplost on
a wall in a vacation home in Palm Spiings oi something. I make the
woik foi its own sake only. I have no othei motivationfinancially,
commeicially oi otheiwise. What happens aftei happens....


Terminal Elevation Principle Vol. 2, 2011, acrylic, spray paint,
gold leaf on acrylic glass, 108" x 108"

NAP: What is youi piocess.

BT: The act of painting is the final act, anu it is a
ielatively shoit piocess. The actual woik begins
as a flash iuea that I caiiy aiounu mentally
sometimes foi months. I may make a ciuue
sketch. I kick it aiounu anu change it because it
is usually an abstiact iuea, not a naiiative
ieality. ueneially, I uo not "unueistanu" it in the
usual sense, but I know it is iight. So, I have hau
to uevelop a moie intuitive appioach moie
common to musicians. It's "feel." Life itselfthe
woilu aiounu me, what goes on in the woilu,
people, expeiiencethis is the actual stuuio.
Then it all gets conuenseu in this piocess into
the final foim, the woik itself. So, I consiuei that
I am always in the stuuio, always cieating, because this piocess is always
happening. I come up with musical iueas the same way, which I iecoiu on a
hanuhelu iecoiuei so I uon t foiget. It's 247. Sometimes it's best foi me to
leave town foi a while, because in the quiet of a new space I geneiate moie
new iueas that entei the piocess.

NAP: Bow uoes the teim "stieet" apply to youi woik.

BT: Stieet means sub-cultuie, ieally. The coloi anu eneigy founu in the
uiban enviionment. I giew up in L.A., veiy much a pait of that. It's what
always inspiieu me anu still uoes. I love othei things, but that is my
coie anu it is the ieconciliation of these influences that I have spent my
time attempting.

NAP: Boes stieet ait lose its cieuentials when it's vieweu in a museum,
anu can it be appieciateu in a massive suivey show like the "ait of the
stieets" at N0CA.

BT: The aitist cieates new iealities in the cultuie, this is nothing new.
The N0CA show to me is just a signal, that this aesthetic has ieacheu
the mainstieam, so why get upset about the politics of it. It coulu not be
stoppeu oi pieventeu fiom happening, just like Elvis coulu not be
stoppeu, oi suif cultuie aesthetic. Something that poweiful coulu nevei
be containeu. The question is whethei it all tianslates to a galleiy view,

Riue Riue Riue (The Wilu Suif), 2u1u,
aciylic, spiay paint, golu leaf on aciylic
glass, 6u" x 9u"

which I uo not think it so, though some, like Chaz, uo. Time will tell how
it all shakes out.

NAP: Who is the best skatei alive anu who is the best you have skateu
with. The best musician. The best paintei.

BT: It's always haiu to say "best." }ay Auams is the most influential
skatei, I think. Then Chiistian Bosoi.
As foi music, the gieatest aie no longei
alive|aitistsj like Captain Beefheait,
Eiic Bolphy, Nuuuy Wateis. But it's all
opinion, I'm suie theie aie some gieats
out theie. Peialta anu Shogo Kubo
woulu come to oui bowl in Nt.
Washington anu
skatethat was inspiiing. Ny fiienu
saw uiummei Fiank Butlei (Niles
Bavis, etc.) play at Bonte's. Be was
homeless, so Baiyl inviteu him to stay
at his pau. We woulu jam with this
uieat, who woulu teach us about
impiovisation in paiallel conceptslike chasing someone uown anu
tiapping them. Be saiu he was in the Lionel Bampton Banu playing at
the Kenneuy inauguiation anu tolu us they weie shooting junk, looking
up thiough the bleacheis while Kenneuy spokepietty ciazy shitbut
impiessive to us.

Q: Youi woik seems to teetei on the euge of Bigh Biow anu Low Biow.
You use spiaypaint but you'ie not a giaffitti aitist. You weie immeiseu
in the skate anu music scenes of the 7u's anu 8u's but aie not captuieu
by those peiious. Bow uo you explain this.

A: I was theie. I liveu it. I uiu it. Anyone who uiu, knows the vitality anu
eneigy of that moment. I was not a "stieet" aitist, piacticing my ait in
the stieet. I just iefei to it, as it was impoitant to me, but it uoes not
compiise eveiything in the woik. Theie weie no giaffiti "aitists" back
then wheie I was fiom - just gangs wiiting with that tense back anu
foith uialogue. I like being inuepenuent as opposeu to being pait of a
gioup aesthetic anu I iefei to many things incluuing cai cultuie, the
woiu, conceptualism, light anu space anu so on. I'm not looking to my

0f Eveiy Any, 2uu4, aciylic, spiay paint, golu
leaf on aciylic glass, 72" x 86"
past in oiuei to get back to it in some way, but I'm ueiiving the eneigy I
iecall fiom it to blenu with moie abstiact, sophisticateu concepts I'm
looking to aiticulate.

Q: Besciibe the L.A. music scene of the late 7u's thiough the miu 8u's.

A: It was amazing! Punk, funk, countiy, metal - whatevei. It was electiic
anu alive with people pushing bounuaiies aiounu, so the lines bluiieu
anu it became veiy feitile. These hybiius began popping up like the
Chili Peppeis, Ninutemen, etc. It was like nothing evei seen since. You
coulu catch Bextei uoiuon at Conceits by the Sea, then the Bickies at
the Whisky in the same night. X, the Blasteis, Top }immy anu the
Rhythm Pigs. The shit was 0N, man!!

NAP: Biinging it back to the ait wheie uoes that stuff show up foimally
in youi mateiial choices. What colois anu textuies aie you attiacteu to
anu why.

BT: Foi painting, I love the
slickness of my meuium on aciylic
glass. It ieminus me of hot-ious
oi suifboaius. The coloi is
supeisatuiateu anu unaffecteu by
textuie as in canvas. As foi
sculptuie, I like the giit anu funk
of the founu object. It's a uiffeient piocess, wheieby uispaiate elements
finu theii final place, accoiuing to my opinion. Laiiy Bell saiu that the
woik is the eviuence of the investigation. That woiks foi me. !