Ben Jones is one of Tetra's most creative — and prolific — friends and neighbors. The L.A.-based multi-hyphenate founded the art collective Paper Rad before turning his talents to animation; among many other shows, he created (and lends voiceover work to) the Cartoon Network series The Problem Solverz and creative-directs the Animation Domination High-Def family of Fox shows. His fine art work has been exhibited worldwide and was the subject of a solo show at the MOCA Pacific Design Center in 2012. In the pipeline are three books, two movies, eight TV shows — "and then maybe I'll go back to washing dishes," he says. "I think we might design and build a house, so that will serve as my next art show."
Jones has an aesthetic like no other, which is why we asked him to be the latest in a series of curators for Tetra's 2015 holiday gift guides — click here to shop his picks. To mark the occasion, we visited Jones at home in L.A. with up-and-coming photographer Gaea Woods, to capture his smoking ritual and hear the Renaissance man's thoughts on inspiration — and inhalation.
What are your go-to artistic references? Kubrick, Sol LeWitt, and anything form Japan or the UK from 1966-1999.
What's inspiring you lately? Anomalisa, Charlie Kaufman's new movie.
What have you been listening to? Howard Stern.
What do you like about living in L.A.? I really like cars and driving, so taking meetings in Culver City, then driving home to Silverlake is really fun. Like I said, I like listening to Howard Stern, which is the perfect thing to do while driving, so basically I'm experiencing a constant state of utter bliss for the majority of my time.
What are your plans for the holidays? Cats, family, and sweatpants.
What's your smoking ritual? Led Zeppelin, headphones, PAX.
Fri Dec 18, 2015
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Wed Dec 16, 2015