Q&A (March 2007) Juan Doe's year long 360 project serves up a daily dose of humor and wit to all its viewers.
Interview by Lynn del Sol
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Juan Doe's year long 360 project serves up a daily dose of humor and wit to all its viewers. Turning the idea of the political cartoon upside down on it's head. Tell us what it is and why you were inspired you to start it.
JD: Yes, 360... it was supposed to be a testament to the concept of full circle. I used to boast that I would come up with half a dozen ideas a day & that I would forget more great ideas than I could ever remember. It was to be a simple approach, like fishing in my mind. If I could bait one singular idea a day for a whole calendar year I'd end up with 365 images. I would then have a stockade of ideas with a sort of tangibility, in my mind completing the full circle, hence 360°.
Three Blind Mice, Uzi Does It, The Little Prince... I mean really my sides' hurt. Were you surprised with how well you were able to execute this series?
JD: I was never trying to make something that was specific to any one emotion; they just had to feel right. It needed to have a certain gravitas for me to accept the idea & execute it. When it's all said & done & I review my work, I see many different aspects of the art. Some are witty; others are flagrant, while some are just insane. I just hope that for the most part I was successful in achieving something & leaving people with something to ponder about or laugh at.
Do you have some favorites?
JD: Certainly, of course I don't remember most of them but some that stand out at the forefront of my mind are "THE DIARY OF ANN THRAX", "ZORRO VS. WADE", "DANCING WITH THE SARS"...
Let's play a game...I am going to give you a word you're going to give me a 360...
Booger Booger Presley (Booger Presley from Revenge of the Nerds)
Simmer Donna Simmer (Donna Summer singing in a frying pan)
Good Times (an image of war)
Everyday before the bell strikes midnight you got to have your image uploaded... did you struggle with the deadlines?
JD: At first no, it was pure creative adrenaline all the time. The one thing I avoided was cataloging any ideas; the point was to come up with the concept that day, as random as I could possibly make it. Of course, there were times when I simply didn't feel like executing anything but it was in these moments of doubt that I had to push myself to make something because I had committed to the concept and if I missed a day the project would have to end. That could not happen if 360 were to retain its credibility.The year is over, so what will become of 360 now?
Well, 360 became such a right of passage for me that I have decided to continue the process. Albeit with some slight adjustments. I plan to publish these as yearly installments into a book. In either case they will exist on my website until tyranny takes them down.
