Arty friends

Rainbow City comes to town

By Arlyssa P. Supangkasen
Photos courtesy of Central Embassy

In 2002, American artist Samuel Borkson and Cuban artist Arturo Sandoval III established a collaborative art project called Friends With You. According to Samuel, Friends With You’s mission is to create friendly artwork that is very accessible to people as well as reflecting how they are. This mission has been successful since their art exhibitions have been held internationally in places such as New York, Toronto, Hong Kong and Seoul.

Besides their art exhibitions, in 2010 the group created a limited edition Hello Kitty collection called Wish Come True, and they also worked with prominent producer Pharrell Williams and his duo N.E.R.D to paint a classic car for the video, "Hot 'N Fun."

To celebrate the one year anniversary of Central Embassy, the guys have brought their colourful exhibition Rainbow City and its interactive installations to Bangkok.

Student Weekly recently met up with Samuel and Arturo to chat about Rainbow City, which will be exhibited until June 30 at Central Embassy.

Student Weekly: What is the philosophy behind Friends With You?

Arturo: We figure out ways of connecting people. Our work really involves how to connect people in modern society.

Student Weekly: How do you get inspiration for your artwork?

Arturo: I think you need to ask questions and keep exploring. I don’t even know what inspiration means anymore. It’s like you’re trying to wait for something to come, but when you’re an artist you’re not just waiting but you’re seeking it all the time.

Samuel: We’re just constantly inspired and live our life with inspiration, whether it’s people or experience or food or whatever.

Student Weekly: Which collaborations are you most proud of so far?

Samuel: The entire journey has become very exciting and inspiring. For all of the collaborations that we decide to do, we need to love them or we don’t do it. We stay almost constantly excited by what we choose. It’s more like each little victory is the exciting thing. As an artist there are so many failures that people don’t see and don’t know about. But every time anything starts coming to life, that’s the exciting moment.

Student Weekly: How do you deal with failures?

Samuel: We don’t get hurt so much by the things that we wish for that fall through. We are constantly pushing forward and living in the unknown, and experiencing this journey of the unknown is really an amazing exploration for us.

Arturo: Failure is a form of learning.

Student Weekly: What does the rainbow on your logo mean to you?

Arturo: The rainbow is a splitting of the light by a prism, so even though we see different colours it’s still one thing — the union of those colours. So I think we get into the metaphysical.

Student Weekly: How did you feel about working with Sanrio and releasing a Hello Kitty product line?

Samuel: I’ve been into Hello Kitty my whole life so it’s like we took her on a date. I think that she has this amazing connection to all different kinds of people around the world.

Arturo: We’ve always really liked the kawaii culture. Hello Kitty is a symbol that we can all relate to, so it has become bigger than being perceived as just a marketing tool or merchandised products.

Student Weekly: What was working with Pharrell like?

Arturo: He’s awesome.

Samuel: He’s like our big brother and a huge supporter. He saw the art inside us. We are also huge fans, so we almost can’t believe that he works with us.

Student Weekly: Do you have any message for aspiring artists who want to be successful?

Arturo: Stay like a kid.

Samuel: I feel that you have to be honest with yourself, follow what you are and be yourself as much as you can, because that’s what unique and beautiful to you. If you want to be an artist, be honest with yourself and make what you want. We have such a short time on earth. We’re like cosmic dust, we’re barely here right now.

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