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Monday 22 January 2007

Interview with Mariano Chavez

Q)Something about you…what you want…

A) Before moving to Chicago I grew up in south west Texas in a town called BigWells which is pretty much in the middle of nowhere.At the moment what I would like is to devote full time to my work.

Q) What are your main goals when you create?

A)My goals are to make an image that I have never seen before. I want to keep new ideas flowing and try to make it well.

Q) Do you rule by any tendency in your creative work, or you only follow what comes in your mind?

A)I get my ideas from many different sources. I usually have an idea and I look around me for something that can help me evolve the image such as music, books,or the internet. The way I make things has a certain look to it that keeps a relationship with all of my work.

Q)How has the internet and your website helped you spread your artwork to a wider audience?

A)Well, sometimes I get to work with people that I would not get to meet day today. For instance when I got a message from you in Italy is a good example of how the internet can work on a wide scale. I have also gotten people from different parts of the U.S inviting me to be in projects which is always nice.

Q)How do you define your style and how would you describe your art to someone who could not see it?

A)I guess that my work can make you laugh and also scare you. My work works within comedy and disaster. My style seems to change from subject to subject but it has a certain unified look to it.

Q)What materials do you use to realize your creations?

A) I am pretty open to all forms of materials. I like to use the computer and photoshop. I also like to draw and paint. I like mixing old and new technologies to make work.

Q) What is your favorite a) taste b) sound c) sight d) scent e) tactile sensation?

A) Would I seem strange if I said women for all four?

Q) What are you doing now...your current projects.

A)I have been finishing up the final stages of this multi-media book Troll/DirtyFlowers. I have collaborated with several artist and am waiting on the animation to be finished. The books are made and the sound piece for the book as well. The animation is what is taking so long at this point.

Q) Do you listen to music while you're painting and what do you listen and what do you like to listen?

A)I like to listen to all kinds of music (top 40, indie, rock, Electronic). I listen to what is going on with the music scene good or bad. Sometimes I shut it all off and prefer silence.

Q) Do you draw influences from a wide range of artists, musicians, books.?

A)The influence I draw from various artist is inspiration. When you seen something amazing it gets me really exited about making my work. I really don't try and belike another artist.

Q)Name 3 things you couldn't create without?

A) Time, materials and an audience.

Q) Where have you show your art.?

A) I have shown my work mostly in Chicago galleries and museums. I have shown around the U.S and the most distant place being Sofia,Bulgaria.

Q) What haven't you done yet that you definitely want to try someday?

A)I would like to go to Europe. I really don't like to travel that much, but I would like to see the amazing art, museums, architecture and food there. I would also really like to go to Egypt.

Q) How important is self-promotion for an artist nowadays?

A)Well I guess it depends on your personal goals. Technology these days certainly makes it possible to do that with ease. I think that it is part of art making to get an audience to see your work. Self promotion is very important--unless you just want to make work for yourself, which, some people do.

Q) Would you say that your work consciously reflects characters and situations found within your daily life?

A) I think that it does in a general sense, but it mostly deals with me and my view of the world.

Q) Favourite book?

A)I collect many artist monographs and this is what I seem to read the most.
Q) Designers/Artists you admire?
A)I like Caspar David Friedrich, Salvador Dali, Munch, Redon to name a few.

Q) Your contacts..e-mail.links...

Giuseppe Sassanelli

Thursday 18 January 2007

Interview with Jason Daniels

Q)So, can you tell me a little about yourself? Full name, age, some background info, etc?

A)Jason Daniels, male, age 26. I live in the UK. I graduated from University last year. I have a cat called Jehrico Mole and a small birth mark on my right thigh.
Q) How did you get started making art?
A)I had always had an interest in art and I had been drawing and making things since I was a kid, but it wasn’t until I was about 23 that I really accepted it as a genuine possibility. The art world had always seemed so inaccessible and alien to me; then in 2003 I won the regional award for undergraduate animator of the year for the Royal Television Society, and it challenged a lot of my assumptions and beliefs about my work and the art world. It was a very strange experience; I only entered it because my tutor (at the time I was on a foundation art course) wouldn’t stop bugging me about filling out the forms, the possibility that I would win it was impossible for me to consider. I think after that I realised that I knew nothing about my work or the art world, I had just been obsessively creating things with no consideration as to why or what I should be doing with my work, a lot of my stuff was just getting thrown away when I moved house or to make room for me to create more. For some reason that was the time I realised that I had to treat my work with respect and that being an artist was the thing for me.

Q) How would you describe your art?

A)A reaction to a system that I disagree with on almost every level.

Q)Who is your biggest influence, both art and non-art related

A)I really like the work of H.R. Giger, but I don’t think there is much indication in this in my work.

Q) How do you approach the creation of a new piece... how does everything come together?

A)It probably takes me about 3 days from pencil sketch to finished piece. If it’s an animation I am working on it takes a lot longer, for instance, the new project I am working on I am expecting to take about 6 months. There is so much involved in the production of a puppet animation, it is such a complex art-form and everything needs to be made from scratch for each film.Usually I just sit down with a pencil and lots of paper and see what comes out. I try to let the work control itself, I just keep working away at a piece until I feel it is finished. Usually I don’t have a plan as to what I want to produce, I have tried working like that but it just doesn’t happen for me.

Q) What's your favorite medium to work in, and why?

A)It has got to be a good pencil and some nice paper. Pencils are just so spontaneous and you can get results so quickly, I really like that about them.

Q) What is your favourite art related web site?

A)At the moment I would say it’s The Dave Cave (www.thedavecave.us ), Dave seems like a cool guy and we both started pushing our websites and work around the same time, so there’s a certain kinship I feel with that site.

Q)Is your work all hand done? Or do you use any computer tools to help out?

A)Almost all the work I produce goes through some stage on the computer. Photoshop is amazing, and I don’t feel like my work is finished until I have done a bit of work on them digitally. It is also a great way for me to keep my work in good condition, my house is very small and damp, if I had pictures or painting hanging around there is a good chance they would degrade in some way.

Q)What, in your opinion, are the best and worst places to exhibit artwork?

A)I am not sure there is a bad place to exhibit work. Even if your work ends up in a place that you think is completely unsuitable it’s going to affect people in some way, I think that is part of the reason people make art. So I guess everywhere possible is the best place to exhibit work.

Q) I'm always interested in where an artist finds their inspiration. Where do you find yours?

A)I am really not sure. Sometimes I take ideas from my dreams, sometimes an idea just pops into my head, and sometimes I just keep drawing until I produce something that I feel could be developed further.

Q) How are the reactions on your work in general?

A)In general most people react positively.

Q) What are you doing when you are not creating art?

A)Playing with my cat, watching films, flicking shit at old people. Nothing too adventurous these days.

Q )What are some of the greatest challenges that you think artists face today?

A)Remaining positive about your work. From what I have experienced in the UK there is almost not encouragement for artists, or for anybody that wants to try and develop their work further. It really does feel like a war sometimes.


Q) Do you believe that a person is born with a talent to produce art or can anyone be taught?

A)I believe that anybody can be an artist. I am not sure I would say it even requires teaching or training. It takes commitment above anything.

Q) Are there any particular works you've done that stand out as your favorites?

A)I go through different phases, but generally the more recent something is the more I like it.

Q)What are some current/upcoming projects you are working on or excited about?

A)I am working on the illustrations for a book I have been working on with an American writer called Forrest Armstrong, I am not sure when it will be finished but it’s slowly coming together. There’s a “scrap book” that I am working on at the moment with contributions from some of my friends. It is a way of providing a home for all the work I produce that doesn’t belong anywhere. It’s going to be self published, and I have plans of doing a small run of special editions which will be finished off by hand.There’s a couple of book covers that I am working on and a CD cover for a small record label, it’s all pretty exciting really.

Q)What advice would you give to younger up and coming artist?

A)Don’t back down. Imagine the life that you want to be living and do everything you can to make it a reality.

Q) Who are your favourite artists & Your favourite galleries?
A)I have already mentioned H.R. Giger, he is one of my favourite artists. Theres loads of others: Francis Bacon, Chet Zar, Dave McKean, Jean-Marie Poumeyrol, Portizine, David Mack, Spike Milligan, Dave Cooper, Jan Svankmajer, Alec Empire, Christian Boltanski, Jehrico Mole, Hokusai, M.Gira, Nick Cave. I am sure I could think up more.I don’t really have a favourite gallery, I wish I had more time to check them out. It’s actually part of my plan for the year to visit the Giger Museum, but I guess that depends on how poor I remain.
Q) Do you need others to tell you they like it before you feel validated?

A)No, I don’t think so.

Q)Your contacts….E-mail…links

A)You can contact me via email: jason2019@hotmail.com
Or info@jasedaniels.com
Visit my website to see more of my work:
www.jasedaniels.com
I have a myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/jasedaniels

Sunday 14 January 2007

Interview with Mia Mäkilä

Q)Something about you...what you want...

A)I'm Mia Mäkilä. 28 years old (christ, I'm almost 30). Swedish artist. selftaught. Art historian. Yada yada yada, let's get to the good stuff, I'm apassionate loner, I don't like to travel, I'm neurotic, scared of many things and extremely afraid to die, I think everyone has an Universe inside that takes a lifetime to explore, I'm not religious, I love to walk in the rain without an umbrella, I really dislike dishonest people and deceitfulness, I live in a haunted house, I have met the love of my life(Jimmy), as a child I lied a lot and I don't have any pets. There you have it. That's me.

Q) What are your main goals when you create?

A)To get rid of my demons and all the uncomfortable feelings I have. Grief,sadness, pain, anger, rage, hurt, confusion, shame and desire. I don't create just to sell the paintings and make a lot of money. I don't believe in artist as moneymakers, but as magicians. I have a gift and I want to share it with others. You know, like a doctor wants to save other peoples lives and priests wants to spread the word. I think we all have a gift and a duty to others. An artist is an entertainer, magician, truth teller,madman and scientist, all at the same time.

Q) Do you rule by any tendency in your creative work, or you only follow what comes in your mind?

A)I only follow the images I get in my head and the intuition and inspiration that comes to me. But I never compromise with myself. I never finish a painting I don't feel is good enough.
Q)How has the internet and your website helped you spread your artwork to awider audience?

A)The internet is fabulous. You can show your artworks to anybody anywhere.It is like a huge cyber gallery if you want. And you get attention and admiration from all over the world. I love that. And you can get an instance relation with other artist around the world. Told you it was fabulous.

Q)How do you define your style and how would you describe your art to someone who could not see it?

A)Some kind of horror art, new victorianism, dark eroticism, grotesque yet beautiful with a lot of black humor. Yes, that's it.

Q)What materials do you use to realize your creations?

A)Artist colleague Gus Fink once told me you should never revealer your technique, like those old-fashioned Magicians. But I use acrylics, vintage photographs, paper cut outs and charcoal. The rest is my secret.

Q) What is your favorite a) taste b) sound c) sight d) scent e) tactile sensation?

A)I´m obsessed with candy and liquorices (the salty ones) b) thunder and rain c) my lover's eyes d) coffee, but I don't drink coffee because I get really hyper and dizzy, I also like the smell of really old books (how weird is that) e) ostrich feathers

Q) What are you doing now.your current projects.

A)Working on my "My Victorian Secret" collection for an exhibition in my hometown this spring. My studio is a mess. I'm working day and night right now.

Q) Do you listen to music while you're painting and what do you listen and what do you like to listen?

A)I always have music on when I create. I love to have classical music on and great operas. I love Mozart but my favorite piece is Pachelbels "Canonin D". I also listen to Julee Cruise, Angelo Badalamenti, Edith Piaf,Serge Gainsbourg, Billie Holiday and Vonda Shepard. With other words: alot of different shit.

Q) Do you draw influences from a wide range of artists, musicians, books.?

A)I guess I do. My biggest inspiration comes from artists but also from movie directors; Ingmar Bergman (he's so dramatic and storytelling), DavidLynch (I love his riddles, symbolism and dark humor) and Tim Burton (for his beautiful inner worlds).

Q)Name 3 things you couldn't create without?

A)My eyes, my soul and the teeny tiny little brushes I use when I paint.

Q) Where have you show your art.?

A)I only like to show my artworks at small underground places, only inSweden so far. Once I had a great and successful show at a nearby castle(Löfstad Castle). That was really cool.

Q) What haven't you done yet that you definitely want to try someday?

A)I want to try digital art, C-prints and 3-D stuff like making dolls inpapier-mâché.

Q) How important is self-promotion for an artist nowadays?
A)Very important. I believe that you have to work really hard to get somewhere. If you get your dream to easy, there is no feeling to it. But if you work really hard, you will get that glorious feeling when your dream finally comes true.

Q) Would you say that your work consciously reflects characters and situations found within your daily life?
A)All the characters I create in my artworks are real. Either from my pastor from my everyday life. Some of them are only embodiment of my inner demons.


Q) Favorite book?

A)I have a thing for old fairytales and children's literature, you know like the brothers Grimm, Lewis Carroll and Roald Dahl. Their stories are verycruel, magical and have quite some dark humor. When I think about it, I'm very inspired by that kind of mixture.
Q) Designers/Artists you admire?

A)Because I'm an art historian, I love to look back at great artist. My two favorite artists (that died a long time ago) are Hieronymus Bosch and Pieter Bruegel the Elder, but of all the contemporary artist I get my biggest art intoxication by Gus Fink, Maggie Taylor, Travis A. Louie, Chris Mars and Kelly Louise Judd.

Q) Your contacts..e-mail.links.

http://fishyquotes.blogspot.com (my art is a part of a collective art blog)

Saturday 13 January 2007

Interview with Daniel Garcia

Q) Something about you/what you want?

A) I want to conquer the world with my art and I want to be the first living modern painter to have a show inside the Vatican.

Q) What are your main goals when you create?

A) To express inner desires and escape any form of oppression. I usually achieve my goal when I paint something that I like very much onlyto paint the canvas in a solid color and cover the image so that no one can ever see it. Maybe one day I will publish the photographs of every painting I have made and then cover again - "The lost but not really lost works by Daniel Garcia", it sounds ridiculous but it has capture my attention.

Q) Do you rule by any tendency in your creative work, or you only follow what comes in your mind?

A)I have too much in my mind, I stand in front of the canvas and just let loose, whatever wants to come out pretty much makes it's way out. I do not hold back or think too much, that would not let me be myself and the art suffers as much as I suffer.

Q) How has the internet and your website helped you spread your artwork to a wider audience?

A) I get to share my art with the world and before I created my website I was not able too share my work. Because of the internet, I am showing my work more and more and it is getting me notice by people far away from my home, like Italy, Japan, Brasil, the moon.

Q) How do you define your style and how would you describe your art to someone who could not see it?

A) My works is like making a tall cocktail drink, you take 1 partGraffiti, 1 part Naïve, 1 part abstracts and 1 part African = my work.

Q) What materials do you use to realize your creations?

A) Everything that makes a mark and it does not always have to be paint,it could be creams, markers, pencils, inks, charcoal, foods, water, wine,human fluids, etc.



Q) What is your favorite a) taste b) sound c) sight d) scent e) tactilesensation?

A) Everything together is my favorite (eating a delicious dish, with beautiful orchids to decorate the plate and sounds great going down,smells extraordinary like bubblegum flavor and the sensation is completely satisfying - Like eating a slice of pizza and washing it down with a coldbeer).

Q) What are you doing now/your current projects?

A) I am currently working on large paintings based on the crazy environment all around - stupid war, retarded leaders, selfish people,greedy consumer, chaotic motions, poverty, crime and lack of time, doing everything together and more and more and more and more.

Q) Do you listen to music while you're painting and what do you listen andwhat do you like to listen?

A)The beat from the sounds of African and Santeria music get my moving and makes my creative juices flow. When I paint on paper, the music of choice is 80's but on canvas mainly the large works, it is African all the way.



Q) Do you draw influences from a wide range of artists, musicians, books?

A) Yes, from everything, everyone, anything and anyone. I never know what will influence me.

Q) Name 3 things you couldn't create without?

A) Hard cord beat - Music, frustration and reason.

Q) Where have you shown your art?

A)I invite you to visit my curriculum posted on my web site www.dgarciaart.com I am also working on other shows but if you also join my mailing list, I will keep you posted with up coming shows, new works,others.

Q) What haven't you done yet that you definitely want to try someday?

A) I want to go back to the beginning of it all and create a series based on the masters (Caravaggio Tintoretto Rembrandt DaVinci Rafael Michelangelo Velazquez and so many others). The foundation would be taking 10-12o f these most know masters and the most recognizable painting they've created and use those images as my inspiration to create my own tribute to the master and the masterpiece they created, yeah that is what I would like to do someday and real soon too.
Q) How important is self-promotion for an artist nowadays?

A) If you do not promote yourself, no one will know about you, if no one know of you, no one will come to the shows, if no one comes to the shows,you do not sell art, if you do not sell art, you can not afford to buy more supplies to create more art and if you can not create more art, you get frustrated and loose your passion and without passion there is nothing. In other words, you do not exist without self promotion.
Q) Would you say that your work consciously reflects characters and situations found within your daily life?

A) Everything I paint reflected a character/situation in my daily life. Life is what inspires me, I love to live - imagine how inspired I am?
Q) Favorite book?

A) I like porn magazines because the way that the human body is shown is unlike anything else becoming works of art. Another favorite book is the one I have on anatomy or human and one of animals - very interesting stuff, check it out.

Q) Designers/Artists you admire?

A)Alexander McQueen - the best Fashion Designer without any questions .
Carlos Quintana - A painter from Cuba living in Madrid (his works blow mymind so far out into space-real good works).
Cy Twombly - Genius
Jesus - without him, nothing would be
Louise Nevelson - Another genius and with real big balls
Wilfredo Lam - Such visionary, a real creative leader
David Bowie - WOW, WOW, WOW, many of my painting have been inspired listening to Bowie (Major Tom freaking rocks)
Pedro Almodovar - His art is like seeing my art in motion. I want to be like Almodovar when I grow up.
Christopher Columbus - not sure why but he had allot of balls to venture into the unknown, that is gutsy,
And the most admired artist in my book is my mother, she created the ultimate masterpiece.

Q) Your contact e-mail/links...

Thursday 11 January 2007

Interview with Katrin Plavcak

Q)So, can you tell me a little about yourself? Full name, age, some background info, etc?

A)I am Katrin Plavcak and 36 years old - I was born in germany and grew up in austria. For a few years now I live in Berlin.

Q)How did you get started making art?

A)As a kid I was drawing a lot and with age 16 I went to a school where painting was taken serious.
Around 18 a friend of mine tried to get into arts academy - I joined him painting for the exams. I got more and more into it and couldnt leave it anymore.

Q)How would you describe your art?

A)It’s mostly representational painting. Weird people and strange sceneries.- political stuff and half abstract tryouts.
I start with a painting and then I try to create a kind of surrounding for the paintings - very rudimentary – like some sculptures from papermachee or wood and plastic or a murial. I put them in a small scene and see if the paintings can take it. To check the contrast or to see the conflict - to broaden the scape of the paintings. Just to give them a sort of context to be in.

Q) Who is your biggest influence, both art and non-art related

A)I studied with Sue Williams in Vienna at the arts academy and she was very important for developing my approach on art. To make a piece of art and deal with a content.
I love Magritte, because he uses realism to play around with forms. And I think that’s where my interest is right now too.
I like William Kentrige a lot for his political statement in his work and at the same time it is very poetic.
I like Nicole Eisenmans work a lot for the weird , surreal paintings and the messy installations and great murials.
Peter Doig is still one of my favorite painters, because the closer you walk to his paintings, the deeper they get.
I just red „Wilderness Tips“ from Margaret Atwood, a story called „Hairball. A woman gets a cyst size of a coconut operated and brings it home in a bottle of formaldeyde. She names it „Hairball“ and reflects her relationship to a man because of talking to „benign“ hairball.
Stories like that are a big influence for me right now.
Q)How do you approach the creation of a new piece... how does everything come together?

A)I freely aassociate things and start with an image I found or an article, or a title, a sentence and then I rembember other photos I collected and try to find them and see what they do together.
I listen to music a lot while painting, some lyrics or a certain mood in a song can strongly influence me.
Or radio – latley I listen to a wissenschaftsmagazin on deutschlandfunk called sternzeit where they always talk about space and new technology – that gives me great ideas.

Q)What's your favorite medium to work in, and why?

A)I paint in oil, I like it’s smoothness and the fact that the medium is slow and keeps open, while you work on it.
If I build stuff I like provisorial materials from the hardware-store. Simple constructions to demonstrate an idea. I built for instance a „satelite“ or what I thought what comes close to it. The inspiration came from the nasa webpage. I saw a photo of one and had to laugh, because it looked so crappy. I wanted to have one too, so I build one.

Q) What is your favourite art related web site?

A) http://www.corncub.blogspot.com/

Q)Is your work all hand done? Or do you use any computer tools to help out?

A)Sometimes I make collages on the computer, but they are very basic - more like cutting things out and glueing them together.
But yes, I like to make my stuff myself. It keeps me close to the process and thats kind of luxury these days.


Q)What, in your opinion, are the best and worst places to exhibit artwork?

A)I like too see it more in terms of people. Can be great to exhibit with cool artists in cave. I think the worst places to exhibit are art fairs.

Q)I'm always interested in where an artist find their inspiration. Where do you find yours?

A) I collect lots of stuff – I read the news – lots of press material - collect old books, make lots of photos myself. Friends send me stuff, cause they know I’m hooked.

Q)How are the reactions on your work in general?

A)I think that representational painting is for many people much easier to acess, than other arts. Lots of interpretation going on and misinterpretation. But thats ok. People love stories.


Q) What are you doing when you are not creating art?

A) I read a lot, go see movies and exhibitions and I love to travel.
I think of having an animal, but cant decide which one...a pig would be great.

Q)What are some of the greatest challenges that you think artists face today?

A) To have a point of view,. not to get drawn too much to produce a sell-able art-product. Pick up on certain challanges society is facing

Q) Do you believe that a person is born with a talent to produce art or can anyone can be taught?

A)I think it’s about that you see as a child that drawing or painting is something you can use for yourself. And then you eventually use it.

Q) Are there any particular works you've done that stand out as your favorites?

A)I like my sculptures a lot – it’s new for me and big fun to figure out how to build something without knowing it. I feel like a carpenter. I think I like all the stuff more where people say : Oh – what’s that? Stuff which is edgy and doesnt look to good.

Q) What are some current/upcoming projects you are working on or excited about?

A)For a recent show I build some black smokers / termal fountains from deep sea from papermachee – It was pretty messy making them and I liked them in the exhibition. It’s like you put another layer to the work.A barrier too.
For an upcoming show end january in the gallery mezzanin in vienna I build 2 sculptures. One looks like a big tank and the other one has a coffin–shape like from the photos you saw from the war between Lebanon and Israel. I’m courious how they work together with the paintings and if it makes sense to people.

Q) What advice would you give to younger up and coming artist?

A)Organise shows yourself together with artist-friends, look at art a lot and don’t stop doing art.


Q) Who are your favourite artists & Your favourite galleries?

A)Favorite artists right now are

John Baldessari
Öyvind Fahlström
Rene Magritte
Piet Mondrian
Bridget Riley
Sue Williams
Nicole Eisenman
Peter Doig
Ellen Gallagher
Raymond Pettibon
Kara Walker
Rosemarie Trockel
Esther Stocker
Jessica Stockholder
Jockum Nordström
Henry Darger
Monika Baer
Nicola Tyson
Ben Cottrell
Humberto Duque
Marcin Maciejowski
Lucy Skaer
Amy Cutler
Julie Mehretu
Sean Landers
Manuel Ocampo
Amelie von Wulffen
Jonathan Lasker
William Kentrige
Norbert Schwontkowski
Philip Guston

I like the galleries who have stuff of these artists and I like my gallery mezzanin, cause they sell my paintings and I can make a living out of it.

Q)Do you need others to tell you they like it before you feel validated?

A)Yes, shure, I do talk to some very close friends about stuff which is just about to get ready.

Q)Tell us a little about some of the different types of jobs you've had over the years, before/while doing what you do now. For someone who is starting out in art, how would you recommend they go about making a career out of it?

A)Uh, I was working at a place for drug addicts where they could stay and get medication and food. And for a few years I did nightshifts at a place where ex-prisoners where living and played lots of darts and poker. That was during my study at the arts academy and about 2 years after my diploma. For a while I took care of children from foreign mother’s , so they could learn german
For a month I was working at a second hand store - but I hated it. It was dusty.
Plus I was paid very lousy.

Q)Your contacts….E-mail…links

A)
www.plavcak.com
www.mezzaningallery.com









Wednesday 10 January 2007

Interview with Keli Reule

Q) So, can you tell me a little about yourself? Full name, age, some background info, etc?

A)My name is Keli Elizabeth Reule. I'm 25. I grew up in North Carolina, in the southeast US. I used to live in Chicago and went to school there and then transferred schools and finished in CA, and have lived in San Francisco for a little over 5 years. I have one older brother. I love rock and roll more than most things in life and I love Italian food and beer and live in the tenderloin district of SF.

Q)How did you get started making art?

A)I have always made things. So I am not sure how "I started". It's just always been there. But I have a very musical family and we always played music and sang a lot growing up. And I took art class and things like that as a child and always made drawings and paintings. My dad's house is like one big embarrassing art gallery of Keli. But I started painting w/ some intention in high school I suppose and then went I to art school. And dabbled in photo and film in college and eventually went back to painting.

Q)How would you describe your art?

A)Awesome. Kidding. It gets hard to describe to people because i'm so close to it, so I try and whittle it down to something like- large-scale oil paintings. Limited palette. Some figurative elements. Blah blah blah.

Q)Who is your biggest influence, both art and non-art related

A)Influence in and of itself is a wildly complicated thing and difficult to nail down just due to the vast mysteries of our minds, hearts, and souls and their relationships to things like skill, tools, resources, work ethic, ect. But in essence I am really influenced by other art, music, books/writers, my relationships, surroundings, and experience. But really its just life, as it were. Anyhow some of them are:Edward Ruscha, Goya, Francis Bacon, Keifer, Elizabeth Peyton, Richard prince, Lucien Freud, William Kentridge, Kiki Smith, Robert Rauschenberg, Banksy. Ha. Super influenced by photography done before 1950. Film noir, and black and white aesthetics in general. i.e. any photo or film stuff done w/ limited access to contemporary tools.Blonde Redhead, Zeppelin, Radio head, Sonic Youth, Nina Simone, Tom Waits, Miles Davis, Mingus, SabbathFlannery O'Conner, Faulkner, Joan Didion, Pablo Neruda, Chekhov, Saul Bellow. James Joyce. Good friends and artists- Karin Olsson, Henry Lewis, Shawn Barber. Everyone I love. Friends and Enemies.

Q) How do you approach the creation of a new piece... how does everything come together?

A)There is a process but there is no FORMULA here, and the moment it starts to feel mechanical I try and rethink. But- Its starts (usually) with a photograph as an idea. Or w/ an idea for a photograph, which I subsequently shoot. Then I get a sketch going on a small scale and start to hash some things out conceptually. Then It moves to the canvas w/ a sketch and then I start painting. Once there is paint involved it becomes a completely different animal. I try and leave the paintings up to their own devices- if something is not working well, not serving the painting as a whole, then it goes. Even if it took me a considerable amount of time and effort (or luck) to get something to look a certain way technically. If it doesn't work it doesn't work. The moment it becomes too precious you're in danger of letting it control everything, which is to say that the painting would now be about technicality. Or if certain facets seem to be creating a different idea than I had initially intended then I'll (usually) go with it. Depends on how egomaniacal I'm feeling. Although sometimes I just have to really work work work to get an effect or something of that nature. Sometimes its just blood and sweat.

Q) What's your favorite medium to work in, and why?

A)o-o-o-oil paintttttttttttttttt. It's just the way it comes out. And I just love the paint as a thing. I like to work in a lot of other mediums and most certainly love other mediums in regards to my taste and aesthetic as a viewer/consumer. But I work in oil due to the technical ramifications mostly.
Q) What is your favorite art related web site?
A)There are a lot. But here are some of my favorite-

Q) Is your work all hand done? Or do you use any computer tools to help out?

A)Yeah. Its all just pencil, canvas and paint. But I am by no means, ideologically speaking- a purist. Some of my favorite pieces of art are done using a great deal of tools. And I will occasionally use a transfer or something if I need to get something done quickly. But 95 percent of the time, at least up until this point, its "hand done".

Q) What, in your opinion, are the best and worst places to exhibit artwork?

A)This is a really hard question because that is going to depend entirely on what it is that you are showing. Paintings, specifically, seem to be best suited to a place where they are the focus. But that could be a multitude of places, and not necessarily a gallery either. So the best places could be the worst and the worst places could be the best. Whatever serves the piece. Graffiti or installations or music would clearly dictate an entirely different space demand and create an entirely separate set of problems/issues/ect.

Q) I'm always interested in where an artist find their inspiration. Where do you find yours?

A)It's more a compulsion than anything else. Less what I do and more who I am. I don't mean that in that it defines my identity, I just mean that everything that goes in has some need to come out and it does and I try not to get in its way. It's not something I think about. I work at it, but I set my intention naturally.

Q) How are the reactions on your work in general?

A)All over the map. Obviously where ever the viewer is coming from, their perspective, is intersecting with the painting in a way that is entirely unique to them, so people have really different thoughts. Some incredibly kind, some very confused, some indifferent, some extremely negative, some smoke blowers.

Q) What are you doing when you are not creating art?

A)Music. I play in a rock band (although I generally qualify everything I make in the same way so technically I guess that falls into creating art but for sake of the question) and play music in the house, sing in public, all that. Yeah, pretty much playing music all the time. I like to read a lot and watch films.

Q )What are some of the greatest challenges that you think artists face today?

A)Just all the red tape and bureaucracies involved in it. Anytime something that was never intended to be a commodity has to intersect w/ a free market economy, thus unfortunately making it a commodity, there are enormous logistical, moral, and ideological dilemmas.

Q) Do you believe that a person is born with a talent to produce art or can anyone can be taught?

A)First- they are innumerable angles to this. And as a discourse has been discussed at length for many years so I think it's difficult to pare it down to some sentences. But- Skill can be relatively arbitrary to ones ability to make things just because 75 percent of art is ideas. So in that vein- its something you've just got. But skill is obviously imperative and without it we would all be shit up the creek without a paddle, and in all mediums there are circumstances where a skill has to be learned. For example there are times I want to work w/ an idea that I quite literally have to really work at technically to get it on the canvas, because I've never done it before. Other elements to this are specific to medium and to opposing definitions of art-. But I think popular culture at large tends to think of art as this very elusive thing they don't understand that is made by very intense, eccentric, insanely sad people. Which is true! Kidding. But really I think the human experience is so complex that people who compulsively make things I think are not necessarily experiencing more of those complexities be it pain, joy or any of the myriad of emotions and experiences, I think their just tapped into them in an incredibly unique, mysterious way. And I don't mean tapped into like a therapist is tapped into them or some hippie shit way, just a very different and distinctive way.

Q) Are there any particular works you've done that stand out as your favorites?

A)I really like the painting I did of my grandparents. Not sure why. I like a painting I did of one of my best friends, Rannie, with a blindfold on just because it's so indicative of a particular time in our lives.

Q) What are some current/upcoming projects you are working on or excited about?

A)I have a piece up at 111 minna here in sf, w/ 110 other artist, which is a really great show. I had a piece in a show in Melbourne recently, which was really cool, lots of great artists and great gallery. Right now just moved into a new studio with incredibly high ceilings so I am working on getting some huge shit happening. Maybe 10 x 10's which I have been threatening to do for years now. Going to do a solo show in SF in May. And currently painting the cover for the record the band is going to make in a couple of weeks.

Q) What advice would you give to younger up and coming artist?

A)Well I'm pretty young in art years, so I'll get back to you with a more in-depth answer in 20 years, but I think the only advice is really just to keep making it. Keep making art. It's really hard, and if you can do something else go do that. But if this is all you can do then just keep doing it. The other stuff will come.

Q) Who are your favorite artists & Your favorite galleries?

A)See question 4

Q) Do you need others to tell you they like it before you feel validated?

A)No. Although anyone taking the time to look at/think about your work let alone talk to you about it is good and rare. But I do whatever I want to do all the time and that is all. Needing to be validated by other peoples thoughts on your work will not only make you insane but your work will ultimately become tethered to other peoples opinions and not to you which is to say, it is no longer your work. It creates this massive chasm between being able to think for yourself, trusting your own instincts, and the work you make. They are no longer related. Which is very dangerous business. But opinions and criticism are different things as well. Because criticism is key to being able to continue to make things and to learn to discern criticism is also important. So there are a lot of connected ideas there. Sorry I'm a bit of a rambler.

Q)Tell us a little about some of the different types of jobs you've had over the years, before/while doing what you do now. For someone who is starting out in art, how would you recommend they go about making a career out of it?

A)I'll get back to you on this once I have it entirely figured out. Cause I still have to work odd jobs. And I am still wading into the water of art as business and trying to figure out what I am willing to pay for it. And how all the logistics fit together in a way that I can make them work. But I stuff envelopes at print shops; last week I did temporary daycare at an international science convention. I've waited tables. Borrowed ridiculous amounts of cash. Won some grants. Blah blah blah.

Q)Your contacts..E-mail.links

myspace.com/sergeant (band)thank you!

Monday 8 January 2007

Interview with Nefario Monzon

Q)So, can you tell me a little about yourself? Full name, age, some background info, etc?

A)My name is Nefario Monzón, I was born in Zaragoza 31 years ago, I´m a painter, xilographer and illustrator, I play the drums too when the musicians I play with are not too much drunk.

Q) How did you get started making art?

A)I used to go with my brother to painting classes when we were kids. They forbade us to use black colour there, I didn´ t understand it so I started to paint by my own.

Q) How would you describe your art?

A)Well, I don´t really know how, my last painting serie "Memoria del dolor antiguo" is a regurgitation of a deep feeling of inside desolation.


Q)Who is your biggest influence, both art and non-art related

A)I am always shocked by Víctor Mira`s and Goya`s works, Antonio Saura makes me shiver as well, they were born here in Zaragoza or next to, so, saving the distance, we have the same desertic and hard enviroment to understand... I like the german expresionism... I´m in love with the polish placate makers too, and the russian film poster makers,I also love my friends` works Diego Fermín, Isidro Ferrer or Stephane Blanquet...

Q) How do you approach the creation of a new piece... how does everything come together?

A)It depends, sometimes it is hard to have that piece of paper or wood, looking at me, telling me that I´m a bullshit and will never make anything good, at times I feel strong, with a kind of a powered monster-dog inside me, then the struggle begins...

Q)What's your favorite medium to work in, and why?

A)I like xilography, wood gives me the texture I need, this material has an extreme power that makes my hands go crazy... but painting gives me more inmediacy, so it seems to me more spontanous... I use the same technique (not very academic) both in xilography and paintings, first, I make the shapes in plane colours, then I put black on the top of those colours.

Q) What is your favourite art related web site?

A) diegofermin.com

Q) Is your work all hand done? Or do you use any computer tools to help out?

A)I never use a computer to make or help in my paintings or xilographies, it wouldn´t have sense, but I use it in my illustrator work.


Q) What, in your opinion, are the best and worst places to exhibit artwork?

A)Maybe an art gallery is both of them...

Q) I'm always interested in where an artist find their inspiration. Where do you find yours?

A)It depends on the moments or the years of my works, some of my xilography series are inspired by certain writers I like, Celine, Burroughs, Knut Hamsun, Dostoiewsky, De Quincey... but my last paintings are a kind of an inside war, a survival struggle.

Q) How are the reactions on your work in general?

A)At my last exhibition there were people who had to go out of the gallery because they felt sad, others were amazed, most of the last ones work in the pshychiatric centers or were interned there.

Q) What are you doing when you are not creating art?

A)The same that other people, eating, drinking, listening, reading, having sex with toys...

Q) Do you believe that a person is born with a talent to produce art or can anyone can be taught?

A)Anyone can be taught, but it deppends on his innate talent to know when is time to run away from the teacher.





Q) What are some current/upcoming projects you are working on or excited about?

A)Now I´m working in big wood formats, I steal them from the buildings construction works and I paint cranes, urbanistic landscapes on them. Then I´m preparing a serie of xilography based on what Víctor Mira called "The Five Dogs" a compilation of five artists (painters, filmers, writers...) that were born in Aragón (Francisco de Goya, Luis Buñuel, Antonio Saura, Baltasar Gracián and the same Víctor Mira)

Q) What advice would you give to younger up and coming artist?

A)Don´t write poetry

Q) Do you need others to tell you they like it before you feel validated?

A)I like to hear what my friends think about the works I show to them, I will lye if I say I don´t like to be liked, but I don´t know if I really need it.


Q)Tell us a little about some of the different types of jobs you've had over the years, before/while doing what you do now. For someone who is starting out in art, how would you recommend they go about making a career out of it?

A)I have worked as a bookbinder, as a mounter of texts and films in a print house, a professional musician a couple of years, as a graphic designer, illustrator for covers and posters... I really cannot recommend the way of making a career out of it.

Q)Your contacts….E-mail…links

A) nefariomonzon.com

Saturday 6 January 2007

Interview with Bas Louter




Q) So, can you tell me a little about yourself? Full name, age, some background info, etc?

A) My name is Bas Louter, I am 34, I live and work in Amsterdam since 1992. I was born in Alkmaar situated in the north of Holland.

Q)How did you get started making art?
A) I started a creativity-cours in my hometown, it was fun, it made me apply for a teacher-degree in painting and drawing. In this school I was drawing a lot of still-life and nudes, I learnt to work with paint. It was an intense and great time.

Q)How would you describe your art?

A)The spine of my work is drawing., out of black and white drawings I build installations. The works look like large-scale absurd theatres about to explode or crumble down. The works are monumental and vulnerable at the same time. Since one year I restricted myself to one subject, portrait. I wanted to go deeper into a fascination I have there for longer time. I am making large portraits of historical figures, the one being forgotten or unknown.

Q)Where do you get the inspiration for your art?

A)Books, music, and movies.

Q)What are you working on now?

A) I am working on three upcoming solo-exhibitions in Amsterdam, Berlin and Los Angeles . I started making a series of new portraits in my atelier.

Q)How do you approach the creation of a new piece... how does everything come together?

A)I start with my archive of images, I go to libraries, browse the internet, dig into my archive. From the images out of the archive I build little constructions, small scaled try outs for the monumental works. Then I start drawing,, I draw in sessions, more drawings in one session. I draw a lot but the drawings tend to develop slow. I draw with large quantities of charcoal, I continuously put it on and of the paper, for this I use different ways, I have a whole range of different erasers, I use different pieces of cloth, the vacuum cleaner I use directly on the paper when I want to take drastic measurements.
Out of the series of drawings I build installations, from the flat surface of the drawing I construct installations or sculptural works. In my work there is a constant shift from two to three dimensional.


Q) What's your favorite medium to work in, and why?

A) I really love charcoal, it has character, it does what it wants, it has much variety and colour, it is simple, nice and dry,,… I really dislike glossy paints. I like dust.

Q) Do you collect anything?

A)I collect LP’s, not in a obsessive way though.

Q) Is your work all hand done? Or do you use any computer tools to help out?

A)All hand done, my archive I keep it in my computer.

Q) What, in your opinion, are the best and worst places to exhibit artwork?

A)A Amsterdam coffeeshop is probably the worst,

Q) What are your artistic influences?

A)Writers, Yukio Mishima, Martin Amis, J.G. Ballard, Louis Ferdinand Celine
Music, Joy Division, Kool Keith, Autechre, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Chris Whitley
Movies: Seven Samurai, Scanners, The Shining, Good Fellas, City of Gods.


Q) How are the reactions on your work in general ?

A)People are usually surprised when they haven’t seen my work in real life before, the scale and manual labour is more present, its just more physical and raw then pictures of the work.


Q) What are you doing when you are not creating art?

A) I cook, swim, run, read and spend time with my girlfriend.


Q)What are some of the greatest challenges that you think artists face today?

A)To create work and concentration without money or time pressure

Q) What is freedom to you as an artist?

A)To create your own restrictions within the body of work you make.

Q) Are there any particular works you've done that stand out as your favorites?

A)In the body of works I make there are moments when things fall together , its like you’re just looking how a puzzle falls together. This works are usually my favourites for a while.

Q) What it the coolest thing you have seen recently while wandering the streets?

A)Amsterdam is beautiful in October, a lot of wind and rain, it smells great. In the evening when I drive my bike through the city it can be so quiet that you just hear the sound of the tires hitting the street-surface

Q) Do you carry a notebook? Do you draw in public?

A)No usually I cut things out, put it in my archive.
I used to make large-scale murals on the spot of exhibition-spaces before, it was a kind of sport, putting a lot of pressure in a short amount of time while people coming in and out.



Later I stopped this way of working, I don’t want to perform as an artist, I am more the person in between the audience. I love seeing concerts or theatre, I have a fascination there.


Q) Who are your favourite artists & Your favourite galleries?

A)Artists: Oyfind Fahlstrom, Joep van Liefland, Raha Raissnia, Thomas Zipp,
Galleries: Deitch projects N.Y. , Fette’s gallery L.A.

Q) Do you get emotionally attached to your work and do you miss your work when it is sold?
A)Yes I do get attached, it never lasts extremely long.

Q)Your contacts….E-mail…links

A)
baslouter@hotmailcom
www.baslouter.com
www.fette-gallery.com
www.spaceforartists.nl
www.emmelinedemooij.com