POUR LA FRIME - STUFF BY DAVID ZIGGY GREENE

Sniff-Sniff! Hey! Can you smell something funny in the air? Something weighty. Something stupid. And something digestible. Like a stray fart wafting in the breeze. Or is it just my mate, David Ziggy Greene, drawing again? Wait a minute! I know what I can do! I can ask him, can't I? Youuuuu Whooo! Davvyyyyy! Did you fart? Plus...


Private Eye a Cartoon History


1) What are your own origins, David? Plus what path did you take in life before you got to where you are today?   I did many a crap job. Including far too many in retail. Retail work is mankind’s way of literally bringing hell to earth to damn our souls.

I drew a little in spare time, and that was basically it.

Then I fell into my current hole, mostly by chance and accident. A little drawing here and there seen by the right people and hey presto! I've had some good luck to go with the bad. Which doesn't always happen.

2) How did your ‘Pour La Frime’ blogsite come in existence? It’s ‘secret origin’ as it were.   To be honest, I kinda dread putting my stuff on the internet. It took a friend about two years to really push me to start a blog to stick some of my stuff up. But to this day, I stick only half of what I do online. I like it to be a teaser. I’m a bit of a control freak and having too much on the web feels like I have no control of where it goes.

3) In your own words how would you describe your style of art?   Weighty. Stupid. Digestible. And can give you wind.

4) What theme tune taken from pop culture would you assign to your style?   Hmm. That’s tough. I’d have to go with the theme-tune from 'Dallas'.

5) If you could get a celebrity -- either living or dead -- to promote your wares, who would you choose, and why would you want to choose this particular person?   George Carlin. The guy knew how to look in from the outside and find humor and stupidity in absolutely everything. And then had the balls to say it.

6) To me, 'Private Eye' has always been the secret love-child of such satirist's, as, Peter Cook and Ian Hislop. What does 'Private Eye' mean to you? And what was it like contributing to such a prestigious magazine?   I read the mag for years for similar reasons that I like George Carlin. It stands for principles in a way that’s hard to find these days. And being lucky enough to work for the mag for a couple of years now, I can say that approach for strong principles isn't just a façade.

It’s been really great to be associated with what I think is an important publication for showing some of the wrongdoings of man or society, and yet still having a laugh. There aren't enough publications out there that can acknowledge that life actually represents stupidity and ridiculousness.

7) Could you give us a brief run down on some of your commercial work?   I don’t have a lot of ‘commercial work’ to be honest. Pretty much most of my drawing years have been stamped by being told my style isn't commercial enough.

So for example, I've never been accepted by an illustration agency. So I get work commando style. And I’m pretty fussy about what I do. It has to sit right with me. I can’t just do something because others will think it’s cool. Those days are gone.

In recent times, commercial work can mostly mean working for little or no money. Whether it be in advertising, comics, design, or anything arty, an illustrator is forced to look at commercial projects as exposure to other work.

It’s a shameful sign of the current times.

In terms of ‘commercial’ as in mainstream, I sometimes dip into comic stories I think are a bit more mainstream and then they turn out to not be popular with people. I get most of my success with less commercial stuff. More subversive, as I’m told.

8) Taking into consideration your previous answer, what would you say you've learnt the most from being an artist?   That criticism is a very strange and delicate thing. First it can be broken down into two crucial parts: Self-criticism and outside-criticism. And you must juggle them both differently in order to find harmony. You need to criticize yourself enough to keep standards high but not too much that it cripples you.

Then you need to understand that outside-criticism is just as important. You need to deal with it constructively, whilst not letting it cripple you also. It’s all very complicated and destroys people in many ways.

9) If you had a motto, what do you think it would be?   ‘It hurts less if you don’t think about’.

Ha! Lovely stuff, David mate. Sometimes you have to just keep them hanging. Right? So if you want to know more, dear reader, please check out Pour La Frime today. Trust me. One click and you'd hooked for life.