Big In Hell talks to Rooster Magazine about life, art and community.

Name:  Zac Simpson 

Hometown: Charlotte, NC

Nicknames: None that I can put here without incriminating myself. 

Sushi or burrito: Burrito, no question. 

Last book you read: “Eleven Rings” by Phil Jackson 

Every artist should have: Opinions and feelings. Fundamentals are cool but if you’re not a passionate person, I think it’s reflected in your art.

Biggest phobia: Man, I have this weird fear that I’m going to float away sometimes when I’m up at high elevations.

Weirdest thing in your fridge right now: I have a couple of definitely expired syringes of mushroom spores in the door but I don’t even know if that is that weird for Denver.

Best piece of advice you’ve ever received:  Rick Easter recently told me something along the lines of “go get your shit, you might not have this opportunity again.” And I don’t think anything anyone has ever said to me has resonated the way that did. I don’t think he meant for me to make it a daily mantra but here we are, I keep some art in my car now because you never know when an opportunity might show its face. 

When did you first get into art? I’ve been making art as long as I can remember. My middle school had a rule that you couldn’t take the same elective class twice unless it was band and my parents had a meeting with the art teacher and principal to make an exception for me to double up on art classes for the year. 

Tell us how you got into making custom rugs? Haha, I guess during early Covid days I was seeing a ton of these tufting videos online and I just kept thinking to myself that it looked like something I could do. About a year and a half later, I spent my tax return on everything I needed to get started and it’s just been a really fun medium to learn to work with.

What is your favorite part about making rugs? So far, the collaborating with other local artists. I’ve gotten to work with some awesome people like Rube, Cha, Matador, Skully; it’s just been really cool being able to translate some incredible pieces from some incredibly talented people into a new medium. I also really like that I’m towing this weird line between 2D and 3D art. I get to take 2 dimensional art and carve and shape yarn into a 3 dimensional representation of that 2D piece, it’s pretty wild. 

What does your creative process usually look like? When I’m creating for me, I like to doodle until I get a concept going that I can flesh out. I don’t usually go into making my own art with a strict “this is what I’m doing” mindset. The rugs are a whole different animal, it’s a meticulous and tedious process. It starts with design like anything else but then you’re stretching your own canvas before each piece, projecting and tracing your design, choosing what order makes the most sense, outlining your color blocking, filling in color. It’s a very different process for me. I usually just jump in and go for it but with this you have to follow a very specific order of operations to have a quality finished product. 

Any major influence or mentors that helped you in the journey? Oh, of course, Joe Bigly, my college art teacher. He taught Installation Art and I’ll just say that guy had a very unexpected influence on the way I even think about what art is. More recently, someone all of your readers are probably familiar with, RubeZilla. That guy has done so much to get my head on straight. 

What is the most unique way you’ve seen your art applied? Someone backed into my car recently and dented my front fender. I bought a new fender already but the plan is to get as many of the local artists that I know in Denver to put a small signature piece of theirs on the fender and make it like a little homage to the Denver art scene and the friends I’ve made since I’ve become a part of it. 

Social media for artists can be a blessing and headache, how do you believe social media has influenced your work?  Social media obviously has its pros and cons. I personally don’t love it. I was telling a friend of mine recently that I don’t want to study SEO, or outsmart algorithms, I want to make art. I like vending events and meeting people in person. I like to bring my art out into the real world for people to see it the way it’s meant to be seen rather than through a screen. I don’t know,  it feels to me  like we have this incredible medium to push our art out to people who wouldn’t have seen it otherwise, but it’s been so bastardized by corporate greed that it makes me want to avoid it completely. 

Dream project, money is no issue. What would you create? This is something I’ve thought a lot about. I think if everything was funded I would want to create an artist compound—a place where artists didn’t have to pay rent for studio space and could come and create things that they may not have had the space or help to create otherwise. I know there have been times in my life that all I really needed was a place to work comfortably and giving people that access is something I’d really love to do. 

Anything coming down the pipeline?  I’m talking with some cannabis companies about some collabs, but I don’t want to give away too much about those yet. I’ll be one of the artists in the Characters vol. 2 show coming up in February with 3d Print Wizz so definitely keep an eye out for that. And oh yeah, the KBA, Kanto Basketball Association, if you like anime, basketball, pop culture, or comedy please go follow my team @teamrocketkba, Rube’s team @lavendertowncubones and the homie Zo’s team @kanto_embers