Christian Acker, Sr. Art Director at Zoo York shared with us what inspires him, what his favorite artists are, and what action packed 70's TV theme show he would use on a tee.

PACSUN: Zoo York has some pretty sweet graphics on tees. What inspires you to create your graphics?
CHRISTIAN (ZY): We live in one of the most inspiring places on Earth. New York City has given birth to so much culture over the years. We’re just lucky to work for a brand that’s able to celebrate this city and the parts of the culture that we live.

PACSUN: What’s your favorite tee in the Spring 09’ Collection?
CHRISTIAN (ZY): Tough one. So many good designs… If I had to choose one it would be Flash Boro, which was painted by a long-time Zoo York friend, Matt Greenhalgh. Matt is an incredible tattoo artist. Most of the design staff has been tattooed by him at one point or another. He was living in NYC for years, and recently moved to Atlanta to open his own tattoo shop. But we still meet up a couple times a year, usually around the NYC Tattoo Convention. He hand paints all of his graphics for us, in watercolor or gauche. No
Photoshop trickery, just good old fashioned hand skill. Such rich color and an awesome sense of humor. We have a great working relationship because he is so used to working
creatively with people, as a tattoo artist. So we give him a theme or a request and he makes it happen. For Flash Boro, we asked him for a tattoo for each borough of New York
City, and a couple for Zoo York. It was important that they be as authentic as possible; something that a resident would be proud of. Something that you might actually see
tattooed on somebody in the Bronx for instance. I haven’t seen it yet, but send us flix if you got one of these designs tattooed on you.

PACSUN: How do some of the tees get their names, especially ones like: “Exterminator” and “Fat N’ Punk Rock?”
CHRISTIAN (ZY): It’s a fine art. When you design over 300 tees a year, the names are sometimes harder than the art. Usually the good ones are a step or two removed from the reference. Fat ‘N Punk Rock for instance was part of a history of graphics inside a graffiti tag that doesn’t change in its outline from season to season. The original was
called Fat ‘N Juicy, referring to the juicy drips in the tag and fat letters. That particular one had a punk inspired flyer graphic fill it up, hence the name. Exterminator was the name given to a graphic where the ZY logo was made from a swarm of cockroaches.

FUN QUESTIONS TIME!

PACSUN: What are some of your favorite artists?
CHRISTIAN (ZY): Greg Lamarche, Stephen Powers, Andy Warhol, Caravaggio, Peter Paul Reubens, Katarina Grosse, Travis Charest, James Jean, Sailor Jerry, Tezuka Osamu, Hayao
Miazaki, Tibor Kalman, Jean Michel Basquiat, Jack Kirby, Lichtenstein, Kara Walker, Jasper Johns, Aaron Siskind, Matt Weber, Mondrian, Pushead, Poussin, Hundert Wasser, Stefan Sagmeister, Weegee, Sean Cliver, Raymond Pettibon, Sean Taggart, William Blake, Makoto Fujimura, Mamoru Okuno, Brian Dulaney, Tom Eaton, Sufjan Stevens, Robet Combas, Peter Max, Erro, Chaz Bojorquez, Ilya Kabakov, Tadashi Kawamata, Michael Genovese, CS Lewis, Arturo Herrera, Stay High 149, Akira Yamaguchi, Mike Giant, Chuck Close, Raza Uno,
Breughel The Elder, Breughel the Younger, Jose Parla, Barry McGee, Revs, Robert Crumb, and on and on.

PACSUN: Are you a Mashup fan? If so, what kind of Mashup would it be and what would you throw into it (be creative as you want to be, doesn’t necessarily have to be a music mashup)?
CHRISTIAN (ZY): Not really. I keep my whiskey neat. No need to soup it up.

PACSUN: Your mission is to create a graphic tee with an action packed 80’s TV theme (A-Team, Knight Rider, MacGyver, Dukes of Hazard, Magnum PI) which TV show do you choose?
CHRISTIAN (ZY): Can I go 70’s? “Welcome back Kotter” without a doubt. There was P-Nut burner on the subway in the opening credits. And John Travolta was thug as hell.

PACSUN: I’m a MAC or I’m a PC?
CHRISTIAN (ZY): What’s a PC?

PACSUN: What’s next for Zoo York Tees?
CHRISTIAN (ZY): Flip The Script. Reinvent it. Make it Fresh. This city is lucky to be equal parts steeped in history and ever changing. The same formula applies to our
work.

PACSUN: Thanks Christian!
CHRISTIAN (ZY): Thank You