Converse

Emilio, also known as "Antique Boy," is an artist from Mexico City who embodies a youthful spirit and a poised formality.

Emilio's work is inspiredby his life experiences involving Mexico City, his familly and his friends. Ever since he can remember, Emilio has been drawing. "I think of my drawings like a memory that I am trying to expand and share," he says.

As in life, when Emilio makes a mistake in one of his drawings, it cannot ne erased--and so it stays. "In the end you can say whatever you want to your audience, but you will be able to fool yourself," Emilio explains. In this way, Emilio sees his drawings as a sort of battle between himself and the paper.

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Three Artists, One Song. Free Download Exclusively for Converse. 

Converse has brought together three extraordinary musicians from different genres to form a unique collaboration known as Three Artists. One Song. The nucleus of this initiative is a brand new, all original track featuring Bethany Cosentino of Best Coast, Rostam Batmanglij of Vampire Weekend and Kid Cudi. This is their first collaboration together, and it’s available for free download for a limited time here on converse.net.au

Download the track here.

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Lucie & Simon, a 23 year-old photographer team out of Paris, were quite shy when they first began their relationship. The two began as friends who talked about history, photography, cinema and painting. But then, little by little, they got to the stage where they would go out at night to photograph their concepts--symbolic characters that tell a story and, as Lucie & Simon explain, "bring a little touch of reality and madness, translating our emotions into photography."

Their creativity stems from feelings, emotions and imagination--things they believe help them understand who they are and where they come from, thus, defining the world they live in. Their art, in their own words, is "personal, imaginary, poetic and sincere.

 

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Meet Zhan Pan, he's from the early post-80's generation, considers himself a genuine northerner and his hair length changes all the time. ZP has lots of ideas and acts on them.

Tell us about yourself.

I was born in 1982. My father was a soldier and we came to Beijing. I first set my sights on being a football player. I got in touch with rock music when I was in middle school. I also liked design so I applied for art colleges. Then I started a band. After graduation I started working in the artworld and kept my hobbies. I'm an idealist.

What's your schedule like?

The alarm clock wakes me up, I take the subway, work, play guitar, draw, surf the Internet, eat something with my friends, go home, play guitar, read magazines, draw, watch movies, sleep. I have band practice twice a week. I have crazy thoughts all the time.

When did you start loving music and decide to start a band? What has been the most interesting or hardest experience?

I've liked music since I was a child but my music teacher broke my confidence. I got in touch with rock music and taught myself guitar in middle school. I had my first band "Ne Zha" close to when I graduated and later I started "Gar". the most interesting and also the hardest thing is the clash between the band members when our minds collide, the sparks, the novelty, the excitement, the unknown and the surprises. Then pushing to surpass myself before more surprises come and I am back in the unknown.

 Zhan Pan in performance

Do you have any advice for kids who want to play music?

Just have fun.

What's your favorite musical style? Is there any musician who inspired you? Why?

I like and listen to many musical styles. But my favorite is still the music I heard when I was young. I remember the first cracked CDs I got, it seems like I was chosen to hear that music and I was deeply influenced by it.

You work as a magazine designer, you are an illustrator and you play in a band. How would you describe yourself?

I try to be "free" and I try to find a balance in my life according to my ability and status.

Zhan Pan's design for self entertainment            The design he created for the band tee

Do you express the same things in your illustrations as in your music or are they two different messages?

There must be something similar. They both express my mind just in different mediums. I think for me music expresses it more directly because it includes melodies and singing, an expression of lyrics. It also has the interaction from band members, while painting is something more individual.

 Previous work by Zhan Pan. He can draw everythingno matter how small the space is.

For you, what is creativity?

Discovering essential connections between things and expressing them or showing them in some way.

What inspires you? People, things?

Just life and experiences, I think. Some person or event will impact my life, sometimes maybe only a little thing, so I continuously observe and experience the environment around me. Then I ask myself "Why?"

How do you feel about the city you live in and the kids here?

Because I live in this city, maybe what I see is a blur. I feel like there is always some kind of information or ideas that get thrown around and most people will follow them. But I don't know where it comes from. Beijing is a place that received outside information early. It is a cradle; an inclusive city, it has enough culture and history to nurture everything. But it is also a severe mother, it will punish you if you are out of line or too naughty. I like its mix of old and new, its chaos, I like that it's full of the unknown and the noisy. the people are what annoy me. But having no people is no good either, what a contradiction!

What is the most impulsive / crazy / abnormal thing you've ever done?

I stayed overnight in an old beacon tower in Simatai, on the old great wall, with two friends. We heard a lot of strange sounds, we don't know what they were.

What's your plan for the future?

I want to experiment with different kinds of rock music, keep practicing basic painting skills, designing, and go skating in Beihai before next spring.

Is there anything you want to do but haven't started yet?

Build the blocks high and beautiful. then knock them down before people come to see.

If there is an afterlife, what do you hope to be?

No idea, I want to be a better ME first.

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Gilles Soller, aka Joke, is a 20 year-old MC from Montpellier, France. His style is all about disrupting the French hip hop community where he continues to gain acclaim. Joke grew up in a neighborhood where rapping and music was a part of daily life. “What made me want to rap was the old guys in my neighborhood,” says Joke. “They intrigued me, fascinated me.” Young and inspired, he started writing songs at age 11 and now, 9 years later, he his words and music has, in turn, intrigued and fascinated a following of his own.


Inspired by movement, Joke likes to make music that instigates dancing and the movement of bodies. He hopes his fans find peace in his music, allowing them to escape from their daily lives. In Joke’s words, “I move the crowd.

 

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