1 If you weren’t an artist, what else would you be?
I never really tried to do much more other than skateboarding or writing and copy editing. But those are tough jobs so I’d likely be a teacher at the university level.
I imagine it would be pretty fulfilling to help artists develop their styles and prepare them for the slaughter that awaits them.
2 Name 3 of your least favourite artists.
I honestly don’t have least favorite artists. There are some that I think try way too hard, where it’s obviously less about the art and composition and more about the PR game
but I think Warhol proved that anything goes in art. It’s kind of like a circus.
3. Anytime, any place – which artist’s body would you most like to inhabit?
Kandinsky. I’d dig myself out of the grave, make my way over to Paris and do some back zombie alley street art.
4 What is your favourite ‘ism’?
Pacifism. Too much needless violence and war these days.
5 What was the most intelligent thing that someone said or wrote about your work?
A few people have suggested that I need to try harder. They had a point.
6. And the dumbest?
That I used too much orange within my work and that indicated that I suffered from a kind of subconscious madness.
7 Which artists would you most like to rip off, sorry, I mean appropriate as a critique of originality and authorship?
I enjoy trying to go in new directions but I love Miro and I love Klee. So my apologies to them both.
8 Do you care what your art costs? State your reasons!
Not really…I can write off most costs on taxes because this is the only ‘job’ I have. Plus, it feels like an investment when I have to spend to create.
9 What are the three big ideas that you would like your work to express?
I definitely want people to feel what I’m feeling at any given time that I work on a piece…to convey the emotion at the very least. I want them to consider spatial and emotional relationships to other living things and what can come of such relationships. Finally, I want them to either feel seduced or offended by an image. I think the worst thing you can do as an artist is to create these lifeless, emotionless works. I don’t necessarily want people to recoil but something a little more subtle where they try to resolve what’s going on within the image in their mind.
10 Are you a political artist?
I’m very politically active and aware. I’d be more likely to write about politics than to paint about them but I think it’s something that affect our daily lives enough to where everyone has a responsibility to stay informed and concerned. It has a tendency to bore people for some reason but some of the best art and literature has been created through history during times of political struggle and injustice. Albert Camus did most of his best work during the German occupancy of France…I think if it sparks questions about ethics and morals, it’s worth investigating and exploring.
11 How do you start the process of making work?
They always start with a simple pencil sketch in a notebook. I always like to develop at least the overall composition and movement before I start to paint. After that, I try to let it develop naturally so it’s not too planned out. What I intend to start off with and what I end up with are usually very different. I like a little bit of surprise along the way. It results in screw ups definitely here and there but those can be fun too. Like painting yourself into a corner and then having to resolve how you’re going to get out of it without starting over.
12. What’s next for you?
I’m doing my best to focus less on the commercial work that I’ve pursued over the past decade. I’m fortunate where I still get job offers within skateboarding and related areas but it’s nice to not have to take jobs if I don’t find them agreeable. I think true freedom lies within being able to just start on a blank page…no logos, no direction, no design brief. Just you and the canvas. And I think that’s what most of us want ultimately is just to be free to create what’s lurking down beneath.
