Breaking Bread with Writer Hank Hubbard
How do you use art in pursuit of those ends?
Well, I’ve painted several provocative pictures […] The NEA won’t fund me; they’re afraid of a political outsider, with an idea that makes “just a bit too much sense.”
Who has been the strongest influence on your creative journey?
John the Baptist […] Of course, the “Death Grips.” Kurt Cobain, Anthony Bourdain. Darby Crash. Florence Lawrence, obviously. Sylvia Plath, but your readers already know that.
Anthony Bourdain is an interesting choice. How does his work as an entertainer, or perhaps as a chef, inspire you?
I actually respect him for creating so much, and doing so much, out of such a depressed place. I also like the idea that you can yell at people under you and still be considered a creative genius.
How would you describe your process?
Well, it usually involves a couple cold ones—Shiner Bock, Lone Star, Coors Light—I like domestic beers because I’m American. Then I open up a dictionary but not one of those hippy “dictionaries;” I use a glossary of Biblical terms. I pick a word at random, then I write free-association based on that word. For instance, my premiere in Sliced Bread was “Haiku to Dad,” and that piece, of course, was written around the word “chortle.”
Is there any particular goal you have for your art?
I would say the “goal” of my “art” is to create sweeping political change, and create an America that recognizes Dolly Parton as monarch, and where the ambidextrous mime community is the governing body.
Anyways, to answer the question, yes I miss yer Uncle Kevin. Sure he may have been guilty, but what he did took plannin! Forethought! Brains! That’s the man I fell in love with as we slid around the ice looking for his thumbs. Thirty years is too long a time to be in prison anyhow.
From “There’s Never Been a Hoser Quite Like Kevin, No Sir”
More of Hank’s work can be found in our Autumn 2018 edition.