2002 interview with antipoda arts
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| Q · Origin. |
| A · Los Angeles California |
| Q · How did you get into the art scene. |
| A · Painting has always captivated me. Growing up in Southern California my mother would take me to museums and galleries so it was natural for me to be inspired by works of art. I found myself at a very early age trying to reproduce paintings, comics, characters from movies, everything that inspired me. |
| Q · What is the message behind your work . |
| A · I am always trying to find some new way to work, but as of recently I've been focusing on the narrative, working with ideas that touch on some kind of holistic view of good and evil. I find it very compelling that many situations often have a certain appearance mostly dependent on a viewer's depth of understanding of that particular situation. For example, in my latest series, I painted a picture depicting a nuclear strike on a major city, something I've been taught to fear my whole life. Something that nihilistic tends to frighten most people but if you understand the depth of complexity in our planet's immune system you would know that this most likely would not be the end of humanity. Even if every human being died as a result, reptiles, seemingly immune to large doses of radiation, would survive, and the evolutionary race would no doubt revive humankind in some form. Somehow I think that's beautiful. I also like to use a lot of pop culture references since these are the stories of our time. I think Homer Simpson can teach us stories of love that are just as beautiful and compelling as the stories taught to us by good ol Jesus Christ. |
| Q · Do you think that art (including graffiti and comics) and fashion can be combined any further |
| A · We are definitely living in a world where the categories are breaking down. It gets harder and harder to tell the origin of something. Was it the movie, the video game, the comic book, or the TV show? Where did this story begin? One thing you can count on is that whatever it is it started with an artist. |
| Q · What are you trying to achieve combining film making and fine arts |
| A · I don't know that I'm trying to achieve anything in both art forms combined that I'm not trying to achieve in each alone. When I got my first movie camera I remember being really bummed out when I discovered that it couldn't do sync sound. I thought to myself, "How will I ever be able to tell a story without dialog?" And then one day it just dawned on me that I have been painting my whole life, and in effect telling stories without any sound at all. That's all it took for me to start seeing thinks in a different way, at least in terms of the film medium. |
| Q · What do you think about the impact of computers and the internet as an artist |
| A · Computers and the Internet are great tools for creating, but like any other tool they are only as powerful as the force controlling them. It is the idea behind the finished product that stands to make an impression on us. |
| Q · Do you have any major external influences outside art. |
| A · Science, Philosophy, knowledge in general. It's hard for me not to see everything as art on some level. Graffiti has really inspired me lately ( the really sick shit that is, as opposed to your regular straight letters ) because a lot of it has such a strong connection to abstract art. Like abstract art, most people don't really understand it. They seem to be annoyed at the impossible task of decoding the letters, but let's face it, our society is built on these hidden forms of information. There was a time when DNA was just as abstract and hidden from us. There is information everywhere and art is kind of the first step in acknowledging that. |
| Q · What advise would you give to a student or any beginner. |
| A · Drive is as big a part of the equation as talent. I always feel like if you have the drive you could learn the talent. People are constantly disagreeing with me on this, but that's because they don't have the drive. Another great help is a healthy regiment of thought. I never try to rest on, 'That's the way it is.' I like to believe that every problem has more than one solution and all of human endeavor is mainly about exploring all of those possibilities. Those people who tend to see things in black and white don't really leave much room for exploration. |
| Q · How do you see yourself in 10 years from now |
| A · I wouldn't want to even hazard a guess. I'm one of those people who tries to keep my mind firmly planted in the present. |
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