Marc Johnson, Philosopher

Marc Johnson在滑板界里活跃了差不多30年之久，这位元老级的滑手不仅仅因为他的滑板而著名，他的智慧更让人称道，这个访谈历时10年之久，学习MJ的人生哲学，这时我们更愿意称他 智者Marc Johnson
You’ve probably heard of Marc Johnson- he’s been in the skateboarding spotlight for nearly three decades, after all. You probably know him as insanely talented, unpredictable and hysterically funny. But what you may not know is that Marc Johnson is brilliant. His talent with his skateboard got him in the door, but his brains are what’s fueling his nearly unparalleled career span in an industry that can often be brutal and unforgiving.For English please scroll down

这个采访超过10年之久

Q：你小时候的理想是什么？

A：成为一名乒乓球运动员，一个滑手

我有点儿艺术天分，但是我不是艺术家，我也不想别人认为我是个艺术家。我希望别人叫我思想者，梦想家

Q：你会经常想设计创造些东西吗？

A：我年轻时并不觉得我有那些创造性天赋，别人会骑车，建造自己的堡垒，玩电子游戏，而我总是在画画。我妈妈还保留着我幼儿园时画的画。直到18岁时我才对设计有了点儿了解。由于一直在滑板，所以我的创意依旧，不过我只是看着别人做那些新奇的招，看他们画画，设计奇装异服。

我18岁时才真正想画点儿自己的东西，我用我的第一块板面，买了点颜料，开始自己的创作。从这以后一发不可收拾，我开始接触雕刻，利诺印刷，丝网印刷，摄影和影印这些东西。我喜欢用图像来做实验。小时候我从没想过成为艺术家，13岁起我就只想成为一名滑手

关于艺术的发展，是在我能买的起创作艺术的工具之后，哎，不提了，就是罐$15的油漆。16岁时，我穷的叮当响，每天都按固定的分配的吃面条，那时怎么能想得到艺术？那时脑子里想的就是生存和滑板。学会电脑的使用让我接触到一个崭新的世界，不过我也算学习的比较晚的人了。我只是想把事情做完，并没考虑让别人以为我是艺术家。我一点都不关心艺术家这个称呼。艺术跟别的东西一样，都是事物的一个层面，我只考虑先把事情完成，其次考虑还有什么没有完成。应该这么说，我有点儿艺术天分，但是我不是艺术家，我也不想别人认为我是个艺术家。我希望别人叫我思想者，梦想家之类的，热爱木质家具的人。

成功就是你可以一直做你喜欢的事情。成功就是生活中拥有让你充满激情的东西

Q：你怎么定义成功？

A：我觉得成功就是你可以一直做你喜欢的事情。成功就是生活中拥有让你充满激情的东西，不论它是什么。很开心的工作就是成功。很多人不喜欢工作，而且很多人做的工作并不适合自己，更可怕的是很多人甚至自己适合什么都不知道。成功就是直到自己想要什么，然后去实现它

Q：你有什么东西觉得学起来特别困难的？

A：我觉得学点儿新东西非常好，至于困难这个词只是学习路途中的一个选择，我觉得我学的最难的就是滑板了，滑板只有这么一条路可走

如果每件事做起来都非常简单，似乎我们便不会珍惜任何事情。还有非常困难的事情就是控制住自己的情绪－绝对不要让你的情绪控制着自己，像疯狗一样到处乱窜。做决定时不要受情绪的影响，要学会放手，顺其自然，不要总想着用暴力解决问题。如果一个人总想着冲突解决问题，那么回敬他的也总是暴力，为了领悟这点，我差点死掉

Q：你想和谁一起工作？

A：现在我年纪大了，我想和那些能够看清事物连贯性的人一起工作，那些人善良大度，能看清大局，为了大局，他们不会小看别人，不会囤积利润，不会为了钱去裁员，相反，如果领导我们的不是这些人，我们对他们便是可有可无的。我希望可以和那些真正敢于做自己，真实、并不完美、勇于尝试、勇于创新、勇敢去爱的人共事

Q：你认为什么品格最重要

A：爱心和信心

Q：你觉得我们怎样才能让世界变得更好？

A：生命是你所有的想法，决定，行为的集合，今天做的事情是为了让你明天过得更好。如果每个人每天做一件好事，那这个世界将会迅速变得非常好。你不应该坐等别人去做好事，行动起来，鼓舞别人去做。这些好的事情并不诞生于反抗与斗争之中，而是诞生与创造全新得事物之中，因为这里那些陈词滥调完全不适用。

这个世界不存在什么“不可能”。每个人都要深谙这点，只要你付出努力，这个世界就似乎在暗地里帮助你去实现

Q：最后有什么想说的？

A：永远不要说我当初可以怎么样。如果你想做件事，那就一定要做到，否则这件事就不该出现在你的脑子里。这个世界不存在什么“不可能”。每个人都要深谙这点，只要你付出努力，这个世界就似乎在暗地里帮助你去实现。你的想法是具有分量的，你所做的就是努力实现它

More about Marc Johnson:
Instagram: @marcjohnson
Chocolate: www.chocolateskateboards.com
Lakai: www.lakai.com
Back 40: www.theback40.com

Featured photo by: Duane Fernandez
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Marc Johnson fell in love with skateboarding at an early age. When he was 16 years old, he moved to California by himself, attending a homeschooling program and working in restaurants until becoming a professional skateboarder in 1994. It wasn’t until he was 18, that Marc read a book for the first time, and instantly began a lifelong love of books and information.

He started his collection of fiction, as well as books about spirituality and design. In 2000, he created the skateboard brand enjoi, and was the brand’s art director for three years before joining Chocolate Skateboards. An avid design enthusiast and woodworker, Marc uses his spare time to design and build furniture and sculptures in his workshop. He currently works with six different skateboarding brands, and is co-founder of The Back Forty, a multimedia project-based skateboarding brand.

This interview spanned over ten years.

What did you want to be when you were a kid?
A great ping pong player, and a skateboarder.

Did you always want to design and create?
I didn’t really think of being creative or trying to be creative when I was younger. Kids are just kids. They ride bikes, build forts, play video games, whatever. I did, however, always draw. My mom has drawings I did in preschool to this day. That was my medium – drawing. I didn’t even know what design was until I was 18 or something. Coming from a skateboarding background, creativity was always there, but only watching other people doing creative things like new tricks, cool graphics, weird clothes, stuff like that.

The opportunity to draw my own graphics when I was 18 really sparked it for me. With my first skateboarding check, I bought paint, and started painting. Everything spiraled upward from being able to do my own board graphics. Then I went and messed around with sculpture, lino printing, screen printing, photography, xerox stuff- you name it. I just loved to experiment with images. As a kid, I didn’t think about being an artist. I didn’t want to be anything but a skateboarder after the age of 13.

The art side of things only came after I could afford to buy things to make art with. Come on! A tube of paint is 15 bucks. I’m 16 years old, rationing Ramen noodles for the month. No money at all. Art wasn’t on my mind, surviving and skateboarding were. Learning how to use a computer opened up a whole new world, and I was even a late bloomer with that. I don’t know, I’ve always just done stuff, but never really thought about being known as an artist. I don’t really care about the label of artist anyway. Art is mostly a scene, just like any other thing. I’m just some guy who looks at what’s been done, and then thinks about what hasn’t been done yet. I am creative in a sense, but I am not an artist, nor do I wish to be regarded as one. I’d rather be thought of as a thinker, or dreamer, or something else. Driftwood furniture lover. I don’t know.

How do you define success?
I’d define success as being able to sustain a living doing exactly what you love to do. Success is having something in your life that you are absolutely passionate about, whatever it is. Being happy while doing the work is success. Most people don’t like work of any kind, and most people don’t do the kind of work that is suited for them. Most people don’t even know the difference, either. Success is knowing, and then doing.

Is there anything you had to learn the hard way?
I think learning anything new is pretty great. Describing something as “hard” is only one opinion. I can say that the only thing I learned the hard was skateboarding, which is the only way to learn.

If everything came easy to us, we wouldn’t appreciate anything. One thing that was especially hard to learn was discipline with emotions- not letting my emotions drag me around like a rag doll. Not making decisions based on fleeting emotions. Learning to let things go, let things work out naturally, and stop approaching things in life with the mindset of conflict. If a man puts conflict out there, he will surely get conflict in return. Learning that almost killed me.

Who would you like to work with?
Now that I’m older, I realize I want to work with people who see a connectedness in all things. People who are generous and kind, and know that in the bigger picture, contributing to the whole is worth more than looking down at people, hoarding profits and ripping people off. We are disposable to those kinds of people. I want to be around people who make a difference simply by being the way they are: genuine human beings, gifted and flawed, brilliant without trying, driven to create, and driven to love.

What personality trait do you think is most important to success?
Compassion and confidence.

How do you think we can make the world a better place?
Since your life is the sum total of all of your thoughts, decisions, and actions, do one thing today that will put you in a better place tomorrow. If everyone did that- one good thing, every single day- the world would change dramatically for the better. You can’t sit around waiting for other people to make anything better. Get off your ass and act. Inspire others to act. It doesn’t start with protesting or fighting against anything. It starts with creating something totally new, so there’s no room for the old stuff that doesn’t work.

Parting thoughts?
Can’t never could. If you want it, it’s out there waiting for you, otherwise it wouldn’t be on your mind. The universe doesn’t understand the concept of ‘No’. That’s something everyone needs to know. As soon as you put your energy into a project, the universe conspires with you to make it happen. Your thoughts have weight. Push them around.

More about Marc Johnson:
Instagram: @marcjohnson
Chocolate: www.chocolateskateboards.com
Lakai: www.lakai.com
Back 40: www.theback40.com

Featured photo by: Duane Fernandez
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Interview From：Leftfieldproject.com