interview
[gabriel] your work leans heavily on discomfort and taboo. what line, if any, do you refuse to cross, and who decides where that line is?
[elijah] My work definitely lives in discomfort and taboo, but I'm not really interested in boundaries just for shock value. If something makes sense to me and feels right, I'm willing to go pretty far (evidently😂). End of the day, I decide where the line is. The people who connect with it will find it, and the ones who don't were never meant to be there anyway. The "wrong" audience discovering it just filters itself out naturally.
[gabriel] the elf imagery sparked intense reactions. was the goal shock for its own sake, or was there a specific cultural point you wanted people to confront?
[elijah] The elf on the shelf masturbating mimics a scene from the movie Ken park filmed by Larry Clark. Originally it wasn't supposed to do black face, but my friend Kingsley was like "what if u made it with black face?" and the writer of the movie, Harmony Korine, has a very obscure video online of him doing black face while tap dancing, so naturally I thought it fit the reference.
[gabriel] when you use symbols tied to historical trauma or violence, how do you personally separate provocation from exploitation?
[elijah] It depends the matter of which I'm doing it on. I made a reenactment of Charlie Kirk's death in the middle of Los Angeles. In a way that could be seen as exploitative, but naturally it was cheered for rather than ridiculed due to LAs left leaning demographic. Had the same thing been put in Texas and I think they would've tried to kill me.
[gabriel] you've used imagery that resembles self harm alongside your razorblade bracelet. what responsibility do you feel toward people who might be vulnerable to that imagery?
[elijah] I stole the razor blade design from a throwaway Alexander McQueen motif; I'll have to bring it up with him the next time I see him.
[gabriel] do you see your work as documenting darkness that already exists, or actively manufacturing it for effect?
[elijah] neither but if I had to pick I guess you could say the latter. Ironically I don't view my work itself as dark, and I think there's much darker works intending to be dark when standing alone. However, when people perceive and talk about it is when it makes it dark.
[gabriel] a lot of your visuals feel ritualistic. altars, repetition, relic like objects. is that belief, performance, aesthetic, or something else entirely?
[elijah] well, belief, maybe. I do believe in my works. If I didn't I wouldn't make it. Performance, a lot of my pieces do perform alone so I wouldn't take that one out either. Aesthetically, of course. So maybe all three.
[gabriel] how much of runners club is mythology versus reality, and do you intentionally blur that line?
[elijah] the things I want to do with the brand, the ideas I have that cannot be done in real life, I will get them animated either from myself or have skilled animators do it. Never via AI though, it doesn't look good.
[gabriel] there's very little concrete information about you online. is that anonymity strategic, or just a byproduct of how you move?
[elijah] I've never really had an account for longer than a year and some change aside from the healthiest man ever account. Not on purpose, but Even when I was a kid it was always delete then make another account. the habit just got worse over time. So I suppose it creates little fragments of me for people to pick up when they choose to seek my work out.
[gabriel] do you think shock value loses power once people expect it, and if so how do you evolve without escalating harm?
[elijah] holy toledo of course it does. I mean, look at Kanye. He can put swastikas on t shirts and nobody bats an eye anymore. I think evolving is pretty textbook, you just have to put more depth into yourself. Set aside the craziness a little do something more worth while.
[gabriel] what separates art that disturbs in a meaningful way from content that's disturbing but empty?
[elijah] i think that's for the creator to decide and the viewer to perceive. Realistically nobody decides this other than the audience it's presented to, so. Unless you're just making it for yourself.
[gabriel] have you ever looked back at a piece and felt like you crossed your own line, even if it got attention?
[elijah] Not gonna lie, setting up the charlie kirk thing had me feeling crazy like maybe I did. I was setting up this tarp and the table and people were just staring at me like crazy burning holes in my back with their eyes.
[gabriel] some people interpret your work as cruel or nihilistic. do you see empathy anywhere in what you make?
[elijah] of course I do, but, I don't think it's gotten to a point where I should feel empathetic for the audience.
[gabriel] is runners club a brand, an art project, or an experiment on the audience?
[elijah] all of the above.
[gabriel] how do you want someone to feel after the initial shock wears off?
[elijah] that's if they are shocked. People view things in a matter of seconds on the internet and decide whether they like it or not. There's very few instances where people are actually shocked at my work.
[gabriel] if everything tied to your name disappeared tomorrow except one image or object, what would you want that final piece to say about you?
[elijah] I just wanted everyone to have fun together.
[gabriel] @bazo1199, @1199.fm, @rue.de.Sevres, what do those @s mean to you?
[elijah] Future collaborators.
[gabriel] who is elijah walker, and if this is the only interview you want to do ever, what is one thing you want to be known that isnt known or you believe should be known.
[elijah] If you need help, seek it out. Don't wait till the wheels fall off to do that.