Jonny Cota profile picture

Jonny Cota

you only live twice

About Me

I like to sew.

When I sew things together, I call it Skin.Graft.Designs.

I am an animal rights activist turned leather jacket designer.... queer huh? I honor both these extremes in myself, value balance and respect many different sides of truth.
I am a Jack of many trades. Currently I invest my creative energy into performing, stilting, circus arts, DJing and couture creations.

I spend most of my days creating tangible art out of seemingly-passable ideas. I create everything that you see in these photos... from the headresses and costumes to the performances and clothing.

I am fully intoxicated by art and love. I'm a hopeless romantic and look for beauty in even the darkest corners of our beings and our worlds.

(www.strikefile.com/myspace)

My Interests



reclaiming vulnerability (my greatest venture yet)... sunrises, new moons, theatre of the absurd, stilt walking, circus arts, cooking for lovers, alexander mcqueen, eye contact, body modification, ritualistic piercing and scarification, reconstructing and designing clothing, boys with big lips. gender fucking, tapatio, jasmine tea, dark black coffee, snake skin boots, iambic pentameter, alliteration and syntax, drinking mojitos in the shower, chewing on ginger root until my face feels like it's going to fall off, 3-day stubble, roadrash, independent media, gayshamesf.org, creative resistance, grungy-sexy-breakbeats, hip hop, glitch hop, turntablism, throbbing, soul-pounding bass, bloody maries in the morning, and madness... sheer madness. ... oh yeah, and amazing sex... of course.
no, actually no, I hate amazing sex.

costuming in above photo by Tiffa Novoa

I'd like to meet:

Trouble makers, unicorn tamers and ferret breeders

Check out my calendar below to stay connected with my future DJ sets and fashion shows.

Music:

Everything from classical to hardcore, intelligent electronic to balkan gypsy music, hoochy-mama hip-hp to gregorian chants...

breakbeats, glitchy IDM, bass-heavy freak hop... conscious and unconscious hip hop for completely different reasons

CocoRosie, Antony and the Johnsons, Beirut, Telefon Tel Aviv, Billie Holiday, Scott Matthew, Nine Inch Nails, Andrew Bird, sigur ros, Glassjaw

Movies:

short bus!!!, stonewall, paris is burning, big fish, strictly ballroom, dirty dancing, showgirls, sister act 1 and 2 (no joke)... i have a thing for bad movies.

Books:

The Bible, the Torah, the Quran, and the scrapbook of my life's mistakes

Heroes:

allen ginsberg (only when he's talking dirty), david bowie (only when he's high on copious amounts of cocain and drowning in fake eyelashes), kurt vonnegut (impressively crazier with every sentence written), tom robbins (only when he's drunk... which is most likely all the time), molly ivans (if you don;t know her work... seek her out! she is the most witty, intelligent, progressive journalist in america and she spends most of her time poking the bush administration with a sharp literary stick), 2pac (post-gun shot)...

My Blog

New Jonny Cota Mix Online

Wow... the other day I realized that I haven't put a mix online for over 2 1/2 years.So here you go!!!Bass FagI call this mix "Bass Fag!"Subtitled "Peacock Party 2007: Fedoras and Faggotry" :)As much ...
Posted by Jonny Cota on Sat, 06 Oct 2007 12:40:00 PST

New Orleans - August 2007

I just returned from a spectacular weekend in New Orleans visiting a close friend.And though my trip was spent with good company and deeply fulfilling on so many levels...I can't help but feel that sm...
Posted by Jonny Cota on Tue, 07 Aug 2007 11:05:00 PST

I am Jonathan Cota

I am a DJ... and I rarely danceI am thoroughly enthralled with cutting up dead animals and sewing them together like puzzles... and I have been a vegetarian for 8 yearsI am a designer of ridiculous st...
Posted by Jonny Cota on Sat, 14 Jul 2007 10:26:00 PST

Coverage of my fashion show!

Check out these links for news coverage of my recent fashion show in Los Angeles.http://69.93.14.237/fashion/skin_graft_07.cfmhttp:// www.apparelnews.net/
Posted by Jonny Cota on Mon, 18 Jun 2007 04:43:00 PST

Truly beautiful and dashingly cryptic - Arsen Savadov

So one of my dearest friends stumbled upon the photography of one Arsen Savadov and he insisted that he immediately thought of me. I love it. It's absurd and disgusting.I'm curious to what that says...
Posted by Jonny Cota on Thu, 22 Feb 2007 08:29:00 PST

Worst Dressed in Star Magazine!!!

We here in the skin.graft studios are very excited to announce that one of our dresses made it in Star Magazine's "Worst Dressed". Our dress is featured on our friend Courtney Marit (from Survivor) d...
Posted by Jonny Cota on Mon, 18 Sep 2006 05:00:00 PST

Skin.Graft.Designs Fashion Show!!! April 16th, Hollywood, Ca

...
Posted by Jonny Cota on Wed, 05 Apr 2006 03:34:00 PST

A BIOMORPHIC MASQUERADE - APRIL 1ST

*** A BIOMORPHIC MASQUERADE*** Saturday April 1st 10pm-10am $30 with Masquerade Attire $60 without A biomorphic masquerade ball set in the future, take a ride to Space Island through the sea of tomorr...
Posted by Jonny Cota on Tue, 28 Mar 2006 03:52:00 PST

My Space Explosion - A Tale of Tragedy and Inspiration

I would have to say that the last two days have been absolutely crazy. So the story goes... I passively signed up on my space a few weeks ago and then yesterday I randomly get put up on my space's "c...
Posted by Jonny Cota on Fri, 18 Nov 2005 09:15:00 PST