Pizza in the Wild, Art Print From Jonpaul Douglass
Jonpaul Douglass photographs pizzas in the wild. He uses pepperoni pizza to add a little something special to his already spot-on images. Jonpaul’s ‘Pizza in the Wild’ series will either make you hungry or happy, or both. We loved this series so much we decided to partner with Jonpaul to create an exclusive Pizza in the Wild print.
We sat down with Jonpaul and asked him a few questions. Check out the interview and exclusive print below.
Love this photo as much as we do? Want one of your own? You are in luck! Check out the print in our shop, available in three sizes!
Do you use real pizzas? I do. In the beginning I wanted what I called “Ninja Turtle Pizza”, which is a pizza that looks like one from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoons. Yet I found that most pizzas these days do not look like that. It took me a couple of weeks but I finally decided that Little Caesars’ pizza was the closest to “Ninja Turtle Pizza” I was going to get. This was fortunate for me because a large Little Caesars pizza is only $5 a pie.
How many have you gone through, and what do you do with those glorious pizzas afterwards? I haven’t gone through as many pizzas as one might think. I would guess 20 pizzas at most. Most of the time I will pick up two pizzas. After I run around town photographing them I will put them in my fridge in case I get another opportunity. If you look at the series you can see that some pizzas are fresh and some look to be days old. This works because some situations call for a floppy pizza and some call for a stiff pizza. I also must admit that there have been times when a used pizza gets eaten anyhow, it’s tough to ride around with a freshly baked pizza and not be tempted.
Place you live? Los Angeles, California
Can you sum up Los Angeles? I live right outside of downtown LA in an area considered to be Echo Park. My home is up on a hill that overlooks the LA skyline as well as Dodger stadium. My neighborhood is home to many peacocks that are very entertaining to watch. Echo Park is quite the eclectic area. It’s centrally located, making it a great jumping off point for traveling within LA.
Did you have any idea your #pizzainthewild series would become so popular? Not really. I noticed that people really seemed to respond to pizza in a positive way so I figured it would be liked, but not on the level it has been.
Tell us all the places this series has been featured: Buzzfeed, The Huffington Post, Instagram, The Daily Beast, ABC news, VICE creators project, COMPLEX, IGNANT, Mashable, AOL news, New York Daily News, The Atlantic Cities, Design Taxi, Yahoo, Daily motion, Hello Giggles, and many more…
Who are three photographers that inspire you?
Gregory Crewdson – I have always been fascinated with Crewdson’s work. I love his sort of “un-stroytelling” in his photography. He creates scenes but let’s the viewer decide what happens. I also like that he has made a career with his art, an inspiration in more ways than one.
Aaron Ruell – I love the humor in his work. Not only in his photography but his commercials as well.
Tim Barber – Pure, raw and always on point. It does’t take much for Tim to make something beautiful.
What is your favorite pizza restaurant in LA? Pizzanista! I honestly haven’t been to that many, but this one is owned by legendary skateboarder Salman Agah… which gives it added street cred.
Name:
Jonpaul Douglass
Place you live:
Los Angeles, Echo Park
Best meal in LA?
The most convenient and tastiest spot in my neighborhood is a place called “Guisados” which serves braised meat tacos on handmade tortillas. Delicious.