| // Apr 23, 2008 |
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| Artist Feature by Todd Brooks / Pendu Magazine and Gallery |
1. - Q: When did you first start making artwork? Is there a particular artist or group of artists that really sparked your interest in making art?
A: I’ve always drawn ever since I can remember. I guess my earliest memory of being sparked would be my mum giving me this second hand Ladybird dinosaur book and just being really intensely excited about the pictures in it… I must’ve been about 3…
2. - Q: Are you self-taught? Do you feel you had to ‘reinvent the wheel’ on your own to get where you are or are there certain people who have helped guide you along the way? Any important books that you found especially insightful for technique?
A: By and large I feel self taught really. I studied illustration at university. I wasn’t a very good student. I got stoned for three years, and the biggest thing I learnt from that was that I didn’t really like getting stoned… In terms of the course itself – whilst I’ve always got a buzz from making stuff, I’ve never really had a genuine interest in the academic side of art, and that the ways in which we were expected to get from A to B, and the documentation of that, for me personally I found quite counterproductive. That said - I don’t regret going. There were some good people there, and discovering Photoshop and learning how to animate definitely changed me for better… In terms of certain people who helped along the way – it turned out that my little sister’s best mate’s uncle was comic artist Dave Gibbons (Watchmen, Martha Washington) – and I learnt a massive amount from him as a teenager in just a few sessions… If I had to pick out a single book that I learnt the most from, if I’m honest, it’d be How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way by Stan Lee and Steve Buscema. I absolutely loved it as a kid…
3. - Q: What keeps you inspired to continue making new work?
A: Fear and anger basically. Fear of ending up stuck in a ‘proper’ job for the rest of my life keeps me motivated. And that if I haven’t done something creative in a day I feel like it’s been a failure - and that winds me up even more than making pictures…
4. - Q: What themes do you find yourself most attracted to and returning to in your work?
A: Faces, people, animals, religion, sex, humor, the unsettling, misbehavior, being obnoxious…
5. - Q: How much of each piece of your artwork would you consider comes from an intuitive or spontaneous sense of creating and how much is analytical and planned out?
A: All the best stuff I’ve ever done has been the intuitive or spontaneous stuff. I’ve always found that if it stays inside your head for too long it quickly starts to stagnate, and when you start to over plan and over think things, that’s usually when you fuck it up… It’s all about learning to surf the mania… Haha…
6. - Q: How important is music to your art? Do you listen to certain music when working? Any particular musicians?
A: Yes and no… Some of my more notable/higher profile stuff has been for people like Milanese, Clark, Warp Records etc… But I don’t really listen to music much when I’m working these days – unless it’s specific to the work (e.g. album cover). I find it too much of a distraction – especially if it’s something I really like…
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7. - Q: Do you have a favorite cultural critic, philosopher, or psychoanalyst that you enjoy reading/learning from? Has their work directly or indirectly influenced you and if so, in what ways?
A: No one specific really… I’ve always read a lot of books about evolution and prehistory and science and things like that, but beyond feeding my inner atheist I wouldn’t say that’s having a massive influence on my work right now… Though I did just read The Jesus Mysteries by Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy and had a lot fun appropriating some of the Gnostic ideas and initiations presented within into a little series of pictures I’ve been working on recently…
8. - Q: Who is your favorite young author right now?
A: I’m the wrong person to ask that one - I probably read a novel a year at the most so…
9. - Q: Is there a young visual artist right now whose work particularly has your attention?
A: I couldn’t single one particular person out…
10. - Q: Do you make a living as an artist? If not, and you don't mind sharing, what is your day/night job?
A: Just about…
11. - Q: What are your future plans?
A: “Find a girl, settle down, If you want, you can marry
Look at me -- I am old But I'm happy…”
Move along, move along… Nothing to see here…
(Though I strongly urge anyone who hasn’t already to take some time out and listen to Boyzone’s cover of Cat Steven’s Father and Son… It’s fucking disgusting…)
12. - Q: Any cryptic messages that you would like to send out to the readers?
A: If we aren’t supposed to eat animals, why are they made of meat?
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