Marking his 50th birthday, Tim Biskup is reopening his FACE GUTS concept on Sept. 21. Below, we’ve asked Biskup about the Los Angeles project, as well as how his attitude toward art has evolved over time. He was last featured on HiFructose.com here.
Hi-Fructose: When asked what Face Guts is, how do you describe it?
Timothy Biskup: The simple answer is that it’s a gallery and project space. I try not to define it too clearly so it can stay loose. Sometimes it’s a music venue or an art studio or a meeting space. It started out as my office and storage space about 10 years ago. I’ve been playing with this great display window in front forever. Putting strange stuff in there with no explanation. Earlier this year I came up with a name for it and decided to turn it into something more engaging. I’ve spent months in there playing with ideas. It’s a big fun personal art project. Oh, It’s also a store.
HF: What prompted the remodel? And what can folks expect from this revamp?
TB: It felt like time to make changes. I didn’t realize how much I was going to change but it all just started making sense when I began moving things around again. Planning is a very subconscious act for me. I don’t have a timeline or anything. Just ideas that I carry out. Very satisfying. Most of what I’ve been doing is making the place more intentionally interesting. Giving people more to look at. There might actually be prices on a few things now!
HF: In looking back in how you have forged your own path, with moves like the The Burning Brush Art Auctions, do you feel as though these kinds of opportunities are more or less available for up-and-coming artists?
TB: I think it’s important to do what motivates you. There are always angles for people to live out their ideas. I never felt like Burning Brush was an opportunity. It was just a crazy project that I wanted to do. I was obsessed with it. I never pictured how much it would do for my career. I’m not directly strategic. I just do what sounds fun. I’ve learned to trust that. I guess that’s my strategy. It works for me.
HF: Your work has been associated with “nihilism, anarchy and revolutionary idealism.” Is that thread continuing with your new output?
TB: No. Haha. Not really the nihilism and anarchy part. I had a lot of anger and sadness to work through so it was a big part of my work. It feels great to be on the other side of a lot of that art. I guess I’m still an idealist but I don’t know if it’s really so revolutionary. I’ve put a lot of energy into fine tuning my life. Rethinking things constantly.
HF: Your site teases a mid-career retrospective book for this year. Can you tell me anything about that?
TB: I’m working on a big coffee table book with Todd Oldham for Ammo. It’s taking a bit longer than expected. Should be out next year.
The group exhibition "Major Work" at Chandran Gallery in San Francisco features a select group of fourteen artists who are making some of the biggest impacts in contemporary art. The participants are particularly well known for consistently reinventing their own approach to art-making: Alicia McCarthy, Aaron Noble (
Coming this October, 
This last Friday, the Museum of Art and History in Lancaster, California (MOAH) celebrated over twenty years of toy art with their retrospective exhibition, "The Art of Toys". The exhibit is the first of its kind for the west coast, featuring some of the movement's most memorable pieces by artists and their manufacturers. The first modern designer toys hit the market in the 1990s, with many of their creators originating in the Lowbrow, New Contemporary, and even graffiti scenes. Recognizing the potential for the collectibility of their characters, participating artists like Tim Biskup, Mark Ryden, Nathan Jurevicius, and even Hi-Fructose's own Attaboy, began marketing their designs to collectors as limited editions.