Sure, we know him as "the guy who did those Super Mario Clouds," but come on... The Glockenspiel Addendum, Simons and Garfunkles, Permanent Vacation, these are all new projects!  Or at least seeing new audiences.

On a Wednesday afternoon, Cory invited us to his studio in Brooklyn to talk art, computers, comedy, and sports.



Cory Arcangel: So how does this work? You ask questions?

Chief Magazine: Yeah.

Okay.

Where are you from, originally?

I am from Buffalo, New York.

My Dad’s from Buffalo.

Really? Where?

Town of Tonawanda.

But that’s… Like if you’re actually from Buffalo and you say, “I’m from Buffalo,” it means that you’re actually from the city of Buffalo, which not many people who are quote, unquote from Buffalo are actually from Buffalo.

So, are you from Buffalo?

I’m not from Buffalo. No one brings it up usually except if you’re in Buffalo. They’re like, “Well, you’re not from Buffalo.” But I’m from a suburb called Hamburg.

Is that where your folks live still?

No. They’ve since moved. They moved to Saratoga, which is around Albany. It’s been a while, but I still go back for all the holidays because my extended family is there – like Christmas and all that type of stuff. So have you been there?

To… Buffalo?

Yeah.

Yeah. Many times.

Yeah. Great, right?

Uh, ummm…

No? Come on. Come on. I just got tickets. They’re having an outdoor NHL game, this year, on New Year’s eve.

The Sabers?

The Sabers. It’ll be the second time – something crazy like the second time – they’ve ever done it. And it’ll be in Rich Stadium. The football stadium.

Wow.

I’m gonna brag. My sister Jamie called me up at like 9:55 am. Maybe it was this week. She’s like, “Cory, can you go online and buy these tickets? They’re going to go on sale in like five minutes.” And I just happened to be sitting here, so I kept reloading the webpage, Ticketmaster, and it said "not available" "not available", "not available". So I reloaded it and it said "available"—and I was casual—and I just clicked and I bought four, but it had this weird thing where you only have like a minute to type it or you lose your space. So I just bought them, didn’t think twice about it, but apparently like nobody got them. Nobody got them. 80,000 tickets sold out in one minute!  So I think I was right in…

Right in the thick of it there.

Yeah. So I’m excited to go back this year for New Year’s Eve. At least I think it’s around New Year’s Eve. So anyway there are good things about Buffalo.

Like hockey.

Like hockey.

And… what else you got?

I don’t know. It’s beautiful … architecture. Good people. Beautiful summers. You know what I mean? Like the summers are really kind of calm and mild in terms of temperature. For me being in New York is like crazy in the summers.

Yeah, even today it’s pretty bad.

Even today, it stinks out. So, there are a lot of good things in Buffalo.

Did you grow up there? Did you spend a lot of time there?

Yeah.

---

What kind of shit were you into then?

Hockey.

Yeah?

Football [laughing]. I played hockey. I was always too small for football. Plus my mom would have never let me play anyway. Which is fine. Which is good.

Were you good at hockey?

No. I wasn’t that good.

Good enough, right?

I was good enough to play and not like a disaster when I got on the ice. I could skate really well, but every time I got the puck I would just freeze, mentally freeze. I couldn’t take the pressure. And then when you could start to hit, I was too small. I really hated it. I played lacrosse, though. A lot of people in Buffalo play lacrosse. So that was my sport.

Yeah, it’s like an upstate thing, too.

Yeah, it’s like an upstate thing. So I played that.

So you were into sports, then?

I mean, if you’re from Buffalo it’s kind of hard not to be into hockey and football. You just can’t escape and I didn’t want to escape it. You get like hockey night Canada on TV. It’s like hockey is just like part of the blood. Know what I mean?

Still with the Bills, too. I remember as a kid those four years where they just kept losing in the Super Bowl.

I have a good photograph I took. I stopped following football after the third Super Bowl.

Me too. That’s enough.

It broke my heart.

That’s enough loss there.