Building up a multi-hyphenated profile and career is a fairly widespread attitude these days. The ever-changing world we live in constantly urges us to push the limits of experimentation and create new ways of expression. In all our travels, however, Cali Thornhill Dewitt has proven himself to be the most prolific multitasker we’ve ever met. With an outstanding list of occupations and projects behind him, the LA-based artist-cum-designer keeps surging forward in his relentless search for the next big thing.
Deeply involved in American underground culture for the past few decades, he’s been attached to everything from the experimental LA radio show and record label, Teenage Teardrops, and the art collective, WSSF, to the deep photo blog, Witch Hat, and the Hope Gallery.
Cali’s also devoted his talents to an impressive roster of collaborations. Among those he’s been featuring as of late are collaborations with OFF-WHITE’s Virgil Abloh, and Kanye West, who tapped him to design The Life of Pablo merchandise. One of Cali’s latest ventures is Society, a clothing brand he founded in collaboration with designers Kazuki Kuraishi and Haruka Hirata from Big Love Records, which draws inspiration from Japanese advertising.
We linked up with Cali while he was in Milan to get the inside scoop on his Chicano-inspired designs, typography, his approach to visibility, fame and his latest projects.
Who are you and what do you do?
I’m Cali, I make art and design things, that’s it.
How has your so-called “job title” changed over the years?
Well I’ve been a construction worker, I’ve been a bartender, I’ve been a pizza delivery man, I’ve been a baby sitter… I did whatever job that I had to at the time.
Tell us something about this new project of yours, Society.
I have a studio in LA with mate James Rockin and we make shirts together, we sell them at art book fairs or online. We make them ourselves in the studio together with Haruka from Big Love Records. As I work sometimes with Kazuki Kuraishi in Japan, we had the idea of teaming up with him on this project, so we can reach a wider audience.
What about Society’s first collection?
The first collection is just two T-shirts, but there’s more of it. It’s pretty simple, it’s T-shirts only right now, maybe some sweatpants. It’s all influenced by street signs and advertising in Japan. So it’s Japanese advertising-inspired. But walking around Milan, I’ve taken a lot of pictures of ads here that you might see in the next round, you might recognize some of it.
A lot of your previous work revolved around Chicano-inspirations. Were there any cultural barriers to break down to be able to appropriate these designs?
That text, to me, is southern California swap meet text, like flea market text. I used to go and make them at the flea market when I was younger. And then maybe five years ago, I went to go and make one and the stand that did it was gone. I went to every flea market and all the stands were gone.
Literally it was like a month before they were there. So all it was, the technology had a new way of doing it, suppliers had advanced and with that advancement, to me, that specific font and style was lost. So there was like a moment, maybe a few months, when I was looking for the suppliers of the letter, who supplied this font, and when I found them I just bought the heat press and started doing it myself. My dream for that font, because it was lost from the swap meet, was for it to return to the swap meet, and now it has. I don’t think that would actually happen but I’m really speaking up for my friends, I’m making them for myself. So now that I see bootlegs of it back at the swap meet, I’m so happy.
Thanks to your merchandise designs, some of your past typography work came to form a very visible and perhaps overly trendy approach to typography and design. Why didn’t you feel the need to reveal your exact involvement in it?
Personally, I think people really like any kind of visibility and they want to own that visibility. For me, I don’t want that to be a defining moment, like it can be a defining moment but not the defining moment. So I don’t want to stand there and shout “This is me! This is me!,” because I’m always working on something new. And culturally, many people want a certain kind of attention right now that I don’t really want.
“The whole world wants to interview me about making shirts with Kanye, and it only needs to be maybe one interview, they can all like copy and paste and put in on their website or whatever.”
Not boasting feels is very unlike the current “social media” era of our times, where people are constantly trying to create visibility for themselves.
If you’re comfortable with it, it’s fine. Personally, I don’t want too much, being famous doesn’t look good to me. It’s nice to have privacy and intimity in your regular life. I don’t think the other people think about that. Also, the famous think that if everyone knows your name then your life is better. I want to be famous in my neighborhood; it’s like the people who sell me Cokes and burritos, someone who says “Hey, how are you?” This is fun, not the rest of it.
Do you feel as though something you previously identified with is no longer yours?
I don’t know, I’m pretty comfortable sharing. And I also think it’s funny when people do copies and they’re not good, it’s all ok for me. It goes with standing and saying “This is me!” and I think it’s a bad idea for me to say “This is mine.” I see people who are wrapped up and saying “This is mine,” “I own this,” and it becomes obsessive, they’re unhappy, uncomfortable. The way culture is now, everything is so shared, so you’d better be prepared when you’re putting your ideas in the world as someone could use them. I have so many things I want to do, so I don’t want to house something and just do it, do it, do it forever. I’d rather grow and keep going with new things than spend years holding on to one thing. It would be so boring, and a lot of people do it and that’s ok for them, they just hold on to this thing, like it’s their only chance. The curiosity in the world is important, not this moment. Moments don’t last forever.
What opportunities do you think you were given through working with Kanye West? Any unforeseen difficulties?
It wasn’t difficult, the process was fun. I probably have not taken most of the opportunities. Interviews, I’ve turned down generally. The whole world wants to interview me about making shirts with Kanye, and it only needs to be maybe one interview, they can all copy and paste and put in on their website or whatever. I think that it is an opportunity for larger attention, and I don’t think it’s necessary to take it all. Because, also, that can get in the way of working comfortably on your own. I’m usually thinking about what I wanna do next, not what’s been done. And I think on the Internet, everybody needs so much content everyday, so it’s like a current content filling, it’s not like that interesting. It’s fast, no one pays much attention.
Now that you’re working more closely in fashion on a more profound level with Kazuki-san, what does this mean to you?
It’s just an extension of everything, of the creative process. I like clothes, so I think it’s a really fun opportunity. I love to see him (pointing at one guy) in the Big Love shirt, it’s fun.
What are you able to do that perhaps wasn’t possible without a partner like Kazuki?
Well, Kazuki is very experienced so there’s so much I can learn from him. I don’t really know what I’m doing as far as clothing is, I have ideas, I tell him, and he makes them reality. I don’t have a background in fashion, I like clothes but so do a lot of people, so to me it’s a lucky, wonderful opportunity.
In closing, what were the best and most difficult moments over the course of your career?
I think the best is just getting to do what you want, that’s the best. I’m very grateful for everything, I get to do what I want. The worst is far behind me, meaning that something horrible can happen but I’m very much like each day is a gift, and I’m happy with this. But I have to pay attention to it and remember that. I can’t even think of bad things other than that I was a more arrogant fool in my twenties. I’m glad nothing good happened to me in my twenties because I wouldn’t have experienced it properly. I would have been like “Hey, look at me! This is mine!” but I learned how that was not good for me. So I don’t know about bad moments, but I’m glad that I had the opportunity to grow first, just emotionally.