Constant Flux Meth Math

No. To be honest, I really don’t think about anything too much. In everything I do, I start with a blank canvas. I don’t want to conceptualize anything too much. In this case, when we had our first performances, we didn’t have a huge audience yet, it was just our close friends. At times we performed in front of ten people. I always found this set up weird: us being on one side and the audience being on the other, kind of like an invisible barrier of discomfort you couldn’t disband. Sometimes you suddenly have someone in the audience who goes mad and starts stomping, throwing themselves on the floor, perreando, and not giving a fuck. But that happens rarely, because it takes a lot of courage to liberate yourself that way. So, this wall or distance between myself and the audience makes me uncomfortable as well. I find it unnecessary, like, for what?

It just seems obvious to me; it’s way more fun to dance altogether. I know that I am a performer, but sometimes I feel like a circus monkey on stage, entertaining the crowd. I want to move organically, and if I disrupt the space, so be it. As a matter of fact, I just asked if I could get a longer cable for my microphone. Here at Café Sismo, I am even on the same level. I don’t want to perrear alone. Let’s feel good together and share this experience.

It’s an act, a way of dancing. But on “Perreando Y Llorando” it’s also a mood. To perrear you need people around you. I think it’s important to say that perreando is a collective experience, it is bodies touching each other, all while letting yourself go. With the song we wanted to make this connection in a humorous way between crying and dancing. In reggaetón, they often talk about broken hearts, but also getting laid. We wanted to juxtapose these into contrasts. I think we’ve all been there, being sad or not in a good place, but processing these emotions on the dancefloor, surrounded by a crowd.

Often it’s not easy to see something, without contrasting it to something else. I believe that it carves out the nuances in between, which one can play with when composing or writing lyrics. By contrasting you evidently accentuate the differences, thus giving each subject more importance. You can find similar approaches in curating or painting; by contrasting, you also emphasize. And still, the aim is to achieve a harmonious combination.

Again, there was not much thought behind this. Actually, my gallery was at Friki Plaza 2, the smaller version of the original here in Mexico City. One day in 2017, I wanted to go to the latter one, but accidentally ended up at the Friki Plaza 2. It seemed like the lamer, toned-down version of the big one, but once I took a closer look, I fell in love with the place. I noticed that there were a couple of empty shops, and it suddenly all made sense. I loved the size of the booth, just two by one meters, and I loved the vibe of the mall. As I had curated an exhibition before, I thought it could also serve as an art space.

Well, that was the spirit of the place. It was so small that I preferred it being in constant flux. I didn’t run it as an art gallery per se, I also sold stuff from my clothing line Baby Angel, or displayed objects I found at the mall, as well as art projects from my friends. I think more than anything, it was a showroom of things I liked, and although I did sell things, I more often swapped objects with visitors. It was a lot of fun, but because of the nature of the place, it wasn’t easy to keep it running.

Yes, and I really miss it. I love arranging a place and filling it up with art. That’s easily one of my top three favorite activities to do. But in the context of the art world, you have to sell and run after people. And appeasing those aspects makes me feel uncomfortable, I don’t like it. So, I’d be thrilled to give it a run again, but I’d want to collaborate with someone who knows how to deal with these market mechanisms. I wouldn’t say I am bad at selling, but for me it’s noticeably another level of seriousness when I sell an art piece for 70,000 MX$, or 70 EPs for 700 MX$ each. With an art piece, you are entering another sphere. It’s this supposedly sophisticated culture of the contemporary art world, which scares me a bit. It takes the beauty out of it, its purity maybe.

Right! I remember collectors approaching me, giving me their business card, nodding at the art exhibited and telling me that it’s “quite impressive.” I mean, what are you actually trying to tell me? That you collect and buy art? Because that is all you are suggesting. I feel that there is always a certain type of transactional conversation to be had, where honestly, I feel kind of submissive. Why can’t you just tell me your honest opinion of what’s in front of you? It turns into something hollow. “I hope this email finds you well,” do you know what I mean? Just no. That’s why I like music. Do you vibe with it? You don’t? Cool. The same thing with clothes. Does it fit? Do you like it? Great, here you go.

No, they are clearly separate from each other. I think it’s natural that most of the time you find inspiration for something when you are explicitly not engaging with it. I can also get really focused on one thing and leave everything aside. For example, I always liked making clothes, but I did it in a very passive manner, very much on the side in comparison to other things. Then I got obsessed with Theodore Kaczynski’s manifesto Industrial Society and Its Future and since then I am dedicated to making discarded clothes the coolest thing you can wear. It changed my purpose of making clothes; now there is more to it. In general, I’d say I mentally compartmentalize the input for my output. But there is no concrete method behind it.

A couple of years ago, I found my diary from when I was ten years old. There I was writing, with self-confidence: “When I’m big I want to be an architect, an interior designer, I want to make clothes, I want to have a huge house, and I want to adopt all the dogs, and cats, and kids of this world. I want to make music and I want to make huge figurines”. From an early age, my actions have always been shaped by this way of not wanting to dedicate myself just to one thing, it seemed so obvious to me. But reality also kicks in; sometimes it would be easier to have more money. I think I am not alone when I say it would be nice to own an apartment. It’s a bit of an inner conflict. Do I want to enter the Matrix or not? Do I really need to own an apartment? Or can I just go live in the wild someday?

I understand, there is this unnecessary outside pressure. Obviously, you compare your inner conflict or dialogue with the apparent best version of your peers through the internet. I also sometimes catch myself thinking: “How can this guy produce all this content in this brief amount of time?” But I guess everyone moves in their own time. I also need to chill sometimes. That is another advantage of my way of working, I can leave one thing be and dedicate myself to something else for some time.

Yes, my mom gives art classes and she taught me a variety of different painting techniques, and I spent a lot of time painting. She used to tell me: “When you feel you’re at a dead end, just stop looking at it, whatever you are doing. Turn around and forget about it.” And it helps me to this day, and I guess it makes sense in regards to how I work. It’s nice to ignore the music thing and spend time sourcing and creating clothes or making art. And then I circle back to my music, and then I’m fully dedicated to it, with a new perception of it.

Yes, error.error and Bonsai Babies are the producers. This particular example is crazy. We meshed perfectly together, that has never happened to me before. We weren’t even friends before we started making music. Back in my hometown Hermosillo, I very randomly posted on Facebook something like: “Someone invite me somewhere, I want to make some music”. And then a guy I somewhat knew, because we made a movie together once, hit me up and he told me I should get in touch with these two guys. In terms of creating music with each other, we’re inseparable until today. I love these guys, I love their brains. Hermosillo is a very small town, but I would have never got to know them otherwise, they lived in another world. It’s a quite radical collaboration from the get-go. When we meet, we first show each other a thousand YouTube videos that range from absolutely goofy stuff to gorgeous visual works and songs. And from there, we start establishing a conversation of what we want to do, where each one of us has their own position, but all this information is being processed together.

I am very wired to my emotions and am not interested in hiding them, so it’s just consequential that it shows through the way I dress. Obviously, as Meth Math, I can take it to a whole other level; it’s a character. Sometimes I feel very intense, and I dress accordingly. It doesn’t change my personality, but it shows nuances of it. Those who know me, know who I am and what I am about. But of course, wearing a wig and heavy make-up gives you courage; it’s dressing up and acting. It’s fun reflecting on myself while doing so, and further exploring these nuances: the tender nuances, the bitchy nuances. Dressing up is a visual testament to what inspires and moves you.

It’s weird because honestly, we all just started this for the sheer fun of it. But now, seeing that there are quite some people working around this project, you can feel the potential of it and the energy we are generating together. We all appreciate what we are creating and enjoy the purity of it, because we have never compromised in regard to the art we create through Meth Math. And if an opportunity arises where we can earn money and do what we enjoy, then it would be stupid to not further engage with it.