Interview with Street Artist Abe Lincoln Jr.

Abe Lincoln Jr. grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and came up in the hardcore punk scene in the early 80’s. Skateboarding & punk rock were the only things that mattered to him as a teenager and those two influences shaped who he is today for better and for worse. Abe Jr. spent a great deal of time being one of those “Troubled Youths” you read about. By pure luck he made it through all that when a lot of people he knew didn’t. Now he’s an Artist and Designer who’s been grinding for a long time, first with Street Art and now Pop Art. He’d rather create something that makes a person laugh or stop and say “WTF?!!?” than impress art critics. Abe Jr. was a contributor to our Stoked Sessions LA event is an overall great guy! We look forward to collaborating together in the future. Check out his site Girls Bike.

Chase Dunny for Kid Robot.

Stoked: What is your definition of success?
Abe Jr: Success is how you feel at the end of a project. I don’t measure success by how much money or props I get at the end of the day (though both are really nice). If I felt that I’ve created something that I’m proud of, then that to me is a success.

Stoked: What inspires you to do what you do?
Abe Jr: My main inspiration was my daughter initially. When she was born something clicked inside me and I started making art again after a 10 year hiatus. Once I started doing art again I was fortunate that people liked my work and saw the sense of humor in it, and I kept being asked to do cooler and cooler projects. Now my motivation is to grow as an Artist and Designer and create work that I love and try to get it out to as many people as possible.

Baller Status deck for Stoked Sessions LA

Stoked: How important is it to have a supportive community within your field of work?
Abe Jr: I think it’s very important to have a community and support from within it. When I first discovered Street Art it had the exact same vibe that Punk had but it was new and wasn’t trying to recreate something that happened a long time ago.

Stoked: What have you learned from a particular action sport (snowboarding, skateboarding, or surfing)?
Abe Jr: I learned more about tenacity and sticking with things from skateboarding then all the pep talks from guidance counselors and “role models” combined. The rewards of dialing a hard trick to me was concrete as opposed to the “life choices” they were talking about in school.

Stoked: What are you Stoked about these days?
Abe Jr: My Wife and Kids, my Art, even the day job ain’t so bad. The projects I’m working on now are things I would have never imagined doing even a couple years ago so I guess I’m stoked on my life, who’d have guessed?

Le Cirque Des Oiseaux - - New 19 x 27″ 3 Color Silkscreen Print for Little Art Book