Name:
gmunk

Age:
24

Location:
San Francisco, California

Mac or PC:
Mac, but leaning towards the dark side more and more with every crash...

Site(s):
www.gmunk.com

Gmunk.com seems to be mixture of all kinds of crazy work, what is the concept behind it:
The concept behind gmunk is simple.. It's a personal expression of my experiences and their associated feelings and opinions. I know that sounds like artsy BullShit, but that's what it is..

You see, I don't create to impress others or compete with my peers (although competition is VERY healthy).. I create to release whatever's on my mind or in my soul.. It's just like weightlifting or having sex; one big release; a personal emission... Because if you don't get it out, you'll go insane and end up sucking SoulDust on the streets of Thailand for the rest of your life....

I like what your splash says... it is something I try to follow "don't give a fuck what people say and just push it" can you expand on this some more:
Like I was saying, I try to ignore other's criticism and just 'push' the internal noise outward and into another medium... it's also so important to me to avoid designing the 'trendy look' just because that's what's in at the time.. I mean, fuck that.. design is personal, not a following of others' ideas.. that's why the 'typical' corporate environment scares me so much, because you become a design grunt, executing someone else's ideas and tastes.. That's not what it's all about.. it's about expressing yourself, taking your emotions and expressing them so you can see what's within...

You are just about one of the only 'design' sites that seems to not care whether they have huge 900k+ files on the site, are you trying to predict the broad band future before it arrives:
Absolutely.. why compromise your work when you know that in about one year it will be considered small by the current bandwidth standards?.. Naw, I know I get a lot of shit for that, but I've seen some pieces that were compressed to the point that the piece was totally ruined...

'Hey, check out my new splashpage, it's a mosaic of artifacts and muddy, desaturated color...'

It's like a really bad first impression.. You know, dandruff, spinach in the teeth.. bleeding gums...you want your shit to look good when you publish or nobody will respect you, even if they have to wait and extra minute or two... but you could argue that 'you create for your medium and accept the compromises..' Naw, I disagree because our medium is forever dynamic and improving upon itself... are you going to want to repurpose all your graphics in 6 months because the connections all got faster? why not design for the future? and that's what I do....

Do you care about us poor saps who still have a 56k modem:
Sorry bro, but I can't consider the 56K posse as 'dedicated' webSurfers.. anyone who makes surfing the web a priority in their lives (sadness indeed) would be smart enough to buy a Cable modem or DSL... plus, a majority of my audience all work within the confines of a T1 network, so to them, 900K files are sissy lil' PussDroplets..

Your design are remarkably tight and complex, is this a style you have always worked in:
Actually, I try not to stick to one style.. any great designer will tell you that you need to be versatile enough to generate design solutions for all types of problems.. plus, I'm a phase guy too..

Right now, I'm going through a 'wow, I'm really enjoying MetaBalls and transparent Blue textures' phase.. Next week I may be back into the good ol' gmunk textureNoise phase, or the Photoshop Pencil 1Pt. Pixel Phase...

This is what keeps it interesting... exploring new looks all the time and maturing as an artist.

Some of your work seems to be a mix between eboy and some weird Kubrick movie, what are your influences:
My biggest influence is still Tim Burton, going back to my Film and Video production days in school. He's such an incredible artist, not to mention storyteller.. Look at his films.. they're beautiful.. the colors, the texture.. the shots are so nice... Plus he can draw.. I think people who can draw and paint are the real artists in this world.. not us pixelPunks.. nah.. it's the people who don't need a screen to help them visualize their ideas.. it's the people who hold the vision inside whom I have the most respect for...

but in this little 'Internet Design' ring, I'd have to say Matt Owens is the one who really inspired me to try Experimental Narratives in Flash... I still think he's the greatest out there..

You work for Vir2l, a company that seems to have an amazing number of incredable designers, is it hard to work woth such talent or inspiring:
it's Fucking so inspiring to the bone it makes me cold...

here, I'll paint a little scenario:

Let's say you're having a tough day, nothing's working out.. your designs look like shit.. so you get up, walk around the studio...

So in the next cubicle over sits Mike Young (designgraphik, submethod) making some absolutely crazySick design.. you look at it, nod your head; you're stoked... inspired... but then you move on to the next cube and find James (three-oh) working his magic.. you look at it, nod your head; you're stoked... inspired...

And you move down the hall and find Anders (Dform1) and Eric (Greyscale) and Phillip (PlasticBag) and Kid Demo (DemoDesign) and Jason (VTwinLaboratories) and Nathan (ngin) all making pimp ass shit, and you look at their work, nod your head; you're stoked... inspired...and you get the idea.. it never stops.. everyone jams.. and there's about other 20 artists whom I haven't mentioned who blow my mind as well; and our two senior Art Directors are so sick it should be illegal... I mean, everyone here totally stokes each other and it pushes us all to become better designers...

Recently we've all been split up a little since we opened a studio in London and half of the crew works out there, including me... But still, working here at Vir2L has easily been by far the most educational and artistically inspiring time of my life (sorry Humboldt)..

Is there any rivalry around your personal projects:
Not at all.. in fact, we all help each other out and make sure we do jam at home on our own shit so we don't waste away under the corporate blanket....

What do you know about Australian design/designers:
Australian Design? why? All I know is that I occasionally buy a design mag published in Australia and all the release dates are like three months behind.. but I'm sure they have a healthy vibe down there...

Do you have any new projects coming up soon that you can tell us about:
Yeah.. it's called oneNight: and is a compilation of 30second quicktime movies that I tricked serious balls in AE... the content varies, but always focuses on events that occur during one night; not some drawn out political conflict or something.. I wanted instantaneousness... the now.. and I got it..

And the piece is presented in a detailed and highly graphical Flash interface, so it's something new... so everyone go do that now and beat me to it.. go ahead.. add some more fuel to the munkosity tank.... that's exactly what I need.....

Any final comments:
Yeah, everyone should watch more TV.... and excercise less ...and eat McDonalds every Tuesday night.. Double Whopper with Bacon, Mayo, Sausage, Cheddar cheese and some Pork strips... and don't forget the fries... SuperSize...

but only on Tuesday.