(5.4) For seven years Joe R. Perez was the creative director of Kanye West’s creative company Donda. Over the years, he has designed and art directed covers for Nicki Minaj, Tyga, the Griswolds, and Pusha T, as well as the cover of the new Janelle Monáe album, ‘Dirty Computer.’ He did that ‘Cruel Summer’ cover. And Joe Perez lives and works right here in Providence!
You can meet the man this Friday at Bad Taste in the Arcade Providence when Mr. Perez will present his new clothing line Mason. And that name has a local provenance.
The Brand’s aesthetic is inspired by a derelict Masonic temple that stood unfinished for 75 years in downtown Providence, R.I., abandoned in the late 1920’s, it became a right of passage for local skaters, graffiti artists, and street kids to break in and leave their mark, making it a temporary sanctuary. The temple was a place where the past and present converged through art and lifestyle. The same sentiment permeates every stitch of Mason.
Where does Perez look for inspiration? In a recent interview with Complex, he shared his love of the Fleet Library at the Rhode Island School of Design.
But this library is where he finds many of the references and inspirations for his memorable album and single covers, merch, logos, and other design works for West, Nicki Minaj, Pusha T, Lil Wayne, Big Sean, Desiigner, and more. For various projects for West, he scanned roughly 50,000 pages from various hardcovers from the library over the course of a year and a half.
“[Kanye] would send me crazy assignments, and I’d send back shit that nobody else could find on the Internet because it was in books from the 1800s,” Perez, sitting at a restaurant a few blocks from Fleet Library on a fall afternoon, says in his first extensive interview. He also found old logos used by book companies in the 1700s for the artwork for Tyga’s single “Gucci Snakes.” “Fleet is an artist’s dream,” adds Perez. “Researching different mediums and forms of expression is important.”
Hooray for libraries!
In anticipation of Friday’s Pop-up, Bad Taste owner Lvngstvn has been busy unpacking items like the black jean jacket pictured here. Perez is getting back to his metal roots with snakes, serpents, and skull motifs as well as gothy/death metal calligraphy. Check out the Mason look-book for more. We wrote up Bad Taste when it first opened with praise for Lvng’s own artwork, and among the wares on sale this Friday will be a Mason x Bad Taste collab shirt.
5pm to 9pm, Friday, May 4, Bad Taste, Arcade Providence, 65 Weybosset Street,(directions)