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A note from the editors:

Kill Poet Press is more than poetry as our name would have you to believe; it’s about raw expression. We just want to put it up in the lights for all of you to consume. We’re just the bowl housing the goods. Whether it’s the poet, the singer/songwriter, comedian, painter, sculptor, photographer, hook–hanger or everyday gardener, Kill Poet Press promises to bring them to you, usually with hooks in their mouths and stars in their smiles. We’re sure you’ll leave satisfied with a bit left on your chin for later. Cheers.

In keeping with this mandate, we are very excited to introduce our first featured artist: Jessie Vukoson. Check her out.

Five minutes with Jessie Vukoson…

KP: The interesting thing about your robots jess are that they have this text that goes along with them that are wholly apt to the features and landscape surrounding the certain piece? It enriches it in an intangible way that is very satisfying. What drives this form of multi–media art in your head? How does it pop out of the ether for you?

JV: I started drawing these robots a few years ago for no real reason, well… there was definitely a reason. I had writers block and needed to vent somehow on a page. Each robot is a moment inside me; similiar to a poem, or a story, or a reaction. These are actually pretty hard for me to look at sometimes because they really are quite intimate depictions and very personal to me; because they are me.

KP: Why robots in general?

JV: Why robots? …I don’t know really. I draw them because I cant help it. I suppose there is a dichotomy that lies in these harsh, cold, lifeless machines that I relate too in some way. Its like society expects us to act a certain way, or expects certain output and input ––– but we are humans, not machines.

Sometimes i feel like a shell, like i exist in an air–tight shell of metal, inside i could be bleeding, screaming, crying, lonely, frustrated or… anything, but the audience that surrounds us would never know bc people put on a certain facade… pretend to be what they are not inside ” what they are programmed to think is the proper way to operate. What an oppressive world we live in huh? I had an ex–lover once say to me, “I want to be happy like everyone pretends to be.” I don’t know how i could explain it better than that.

KP: How long have you been doing them?

JV: Maybe 3–ish years, I keep finding them in random books and on sheets of lost paper.

KP: How disgusting is the scene in NY currently? LOL.

JV: Pretty grody dude. I’m ready to westcoast it.

KP: Do you care about what the critics think?

JV: Nope. Not at all. I dont draw these for anyone but me. The only reason I agreed to show them is in the hope that they may make people feel as uncomfortable as they make me feel when i look at them. They are very revealing. I don’t like to be present when people look at them. I don’t want to explain each story behind each one. The onlooker should find their own identity or meaning in each one.

Short response on:

KP: Love and the Artist

JV: Love fucks with you. Love is the greatest and the worst thing in the universe. It can make you feel high and euphoric, but once lost or betrayed it can turn you into monsters you never wanted to see yourself become. These monsters only show their faces for moments in time. Moments that will pass. The euphoria and passion that love can inspire in an artist is indescribable or incredibly distracting. For me, when i first fell in love i was more inspired than ever, in the middle of love –– I became bland and distracted, when love came to a close, the inspiration was rekindled in pain…but its beautiful all the same; I try to turn all my pain into ambition and inspiration.

She’s a girl that lives in Brooklyn, designs fashions to pay the
bills, doodles robots and writes memoirs she never shows to anyone.
All she really wants is a beach with warm water and a mountain with
snow. If you see her, say hello.