Tails of a graphic design wingman #6 - James Victore

We were in New York for meetings, and, always an opportunist, John arranged a dinner with James Victore, who was still in NY at the time teaching at SVA. James was the NY “bad boy”, the designer questioning all the rules and creating posters with the illustration immediacy and vigor more often seen from the European poster masters. 

James suggested we met at a typical NY neighborhood restaurant - it was great. James was full of all the energy he is famous for bouncing from topics quickly. He was interested in John’s side project, Project M, a kind of summer camp for designers. With hindsight, it obviously influenced the program James has since put together in Texas. James was looking forward to finishing dinner only because it led to the next part of our NY initiation. As we were waiting for the bill, James produced the classic Sharpie Magnum and handed it to me, insisting I head to the bathroom to add my tag to the wall. Half thinking I was being set up, I did as I was told and was relieved to see upon entering the bathroom, every inch of wall space was tagged - probably mostly by James’ other previous dinner guests. 

Around this time, James had just had a show of his hand-painted dinner plates (many had wonderful drawings of flies, skulls, or poop.) One of his frequent side hustles was selling the plates, and since we’d recently met, I sent him a note asking if I could purchase a custom plate with a drawing of a monkey skull. I had no idea how he would make it a monkey skull, but when it arrived, it was brilliant - a simple large ear did the trick.