Interview with Martin Wollerstam

q)please tell us a brief info about yourself.


a)My name is Martin Wollerstam and I’m a Swedish born Illustrator living in London. Drawing is a big part of my life and I’m struggling to one day be able to live on my creativity.


q)Tell us about your humble beginnings, When did you first realized that you wanted to be an artist?


a)My father is an artist and it’s kind of grew into me. But when I first felt that I could maybe someday live on what I’m doing was around 2004 when I got my first illustration job at a morning newspaper in Uppsala, Sweden.


q)What are your tools of the trade and why?


a)I usually work with a computer using a pen tablet in Photoshop. It’s a great way for me to work as I can draw in layers and manipulate my drawings a lot. But I also use markers and pens. I always have a sketchbook in my bag so I can draw whenever I want to draw.


q)Who or what gives you inspiration on your morbid art?


a)Mostly life itself. How we people act to each other. I also been using creativity a lot as therapy when I been depressed. I’m also a big fan of Rollplaying games and dark animated movies, so I guess some of the inspiration comes from that.


q)Is your artistic background self-taught or did you go to college to study?


a)I’m mostly self-taught, but I had a year at a basic art school to concentrate on my creativity and not be thinking of finding jobs and other depressing things, and it help me a lot to develop my style and myself.


q)How do you keep “fresh” within your industry?


a)I don’t know really, I try to always be doing stuff if I don’t have any assignments to keep myself constantly develop myself. And not being afraid to tell people of what I’m doing and showing my work.


q)What are some of your current projects?


a)At the moment I’ve been doing some illustrations for some new magazines and I’m always working on my fanzine called “Heart Heart”, I’m working on the third issue now. I’m also working on personal picture book and I’m drawing some pictures for my friend’s children book. Otherwise I’m working monthly for the club night “Wet yourself” which is based on the club Fabric in London.


q)Which of your works are you the most proud of? And why?


a)It’s hard to say I always get bored of the old things I do so I would say a lot of the new things I’m making. There are some artwork that I made for Wet yourself that I really like because I pushed myself to do great things. There are also some murals that I’m very proud over.


q)Are there any areas, techniques, mediums, projects in your field that you have yet to try?


a)I’ve just been touching on the surface of animation, which I really would like to make more of. I also would like to make some longer comics and I also want to make more visuals for club nights. And I would really like to use more colours! I almost totally work in monochrome!


q)What do you do to keep yourself motivated and avoid burn-out?


a)At the moment I don’t get enough work to get burned-out but I always try to create even though I feel like everything I do is bad eventually it something get right and that boost my confidentiality.


q)how do you spend most of your free time?


a)I play videogames(mostly RPG), watch movies, listen to music, hang out with my girlfriend and my friends and I go out on parties. I big part of my free time I draw just for fun too.


q)What contemporary artists or developments in art interest you?


a)I like people who work on dark twisted drawings and people who have a good taste of humour in what they’re creating. I also get interested of people with a very special and creative mind and that do things out of the ordinary.


q)We really like some of your pictures, how can we get our hands on them? Do you sell them? How?


a)I’m (slowly) working on getting a section on my homepage where you can buy prints, but at the moment I print most of my stuff if someone wants to buy anything and send it to the buyer or hand it over personally if possible.

_____________________
MARTIN WOLLERSTAM
_____________________
phone: +44(0)7927030804
email: martin@wollerstam.com

web: http://www.wollerstam.com

fanzine: http://heart.wollerstam.com

Interview with Matina Stamatakis

q)please tell us a brief info about yourself.

a)I almost always act on impulse.

q)Tell us about your humble beginnings, When did you first realized that you wanted to be an artist?

a)I've always been interested in art from as far back as I can remember. My mother was, and still is, a solid foundation for creative expression. Growing up I was surrounded by my mothers' endless arts & crafts projects. I wouldn't say I partook in these projects, but there was an interest. However, in my early teenage years I was more interested in writing poetry; it seemed to come more naturally. Visual art has always been secondary to me in terms of importance.

q)What are your tools of the trade and why?

a)One computer. Scanner. Basic photo software. Camera.

I'm under the belief that less is actually more, and that using basic tools can also render an appearance akin to that of some high-tech method. It's not necessarily what photo program or camera you use, but how you use it.

q)Who or what gives you inspiration on your morbid art?

a)90% sexual frustration, 10% mental conflict.


q)Is your artistic background self-taught or did you go to college to study?

a)A little bit of both. I went to school for photography and creative writing, and found it made me more aware of what I liked and didn't like, but as far as building personal growth in the creative realm, it really didn't.

Personally, I prefer the self-taught method, as it tends to diminish preconceived notions of what art and poetry should be.

q)How do you keep “fresh” within your industry?

a)One good way to keep "fresh" is to not pay attention to what defines popular culture, or even underground culture for that matter. I observe, merely observe, and do not try to replicate or recreate what has already been done.

q)What are some of your current projects?

a)Lately I've been experimenting with images of mannequins. They are so human-like, so engrained in culture, so present yet mysteriously non-present. I find them kind of scary in the sense they are a crude representation of humans--they're so vacant and soulless.

One of my current projects is designed to take them out of this realm of vacancy. One image in particular, Dreams of Corrosion (http://www.flickr.com/photos/11068262@N00/3625604395/), was created to be a commentary on societal decay.

I continue to experiment with this thought, and how to make this a series without being too redundant.

q)Which of your works are you the most proud of? And why?

a)It would have to be the Graffiti Papyri series I did a while back. mIEKal aND was gracious enough to publish an issue of Xerolage dedicated to these papyric/graffiti images, which, in my mind, took the series to a whole new, exciting level.

In the beginning, I had been toying around with the idea of layering old papyri texts with something modern-day and bold. That's where the graffiti came into play. I believe the melding of two completely different stages in time was most complimentary in an almost eerie way.

q)Are there any areas, techniques, mediums, projects in your field that you have yet to try?

a)There are so many things I've yet to try; it's almost overwhelming! In the future I would like to try my hand at fashion design--something like haut couture for compulsive masturbators. How it relates to my field I am not sure, but there’s always a way to make it relate, or not relate. My art is never truly conscious, so I wouldn’t actually try to force it into a certain mold.

q)What do you do to keep yourself motivated and avoid burn-out?

a)I tend to burn-out a lot, actually. What I do is to not stress out over it. I give myself some time away from the computer, away from books, away from any outlet of creativity, then I go back when I feel the urge to create. Sometimes it takes a little push, sometimes it comes naturally. The best thing to do is to just let it be. Having said that, if things aren’t working the way I want them to work, I scrap the idea and start fresh. I’m really very impatient, so this scrapping of work happens quite a lot.

q)how do you spend most of your free time?

a)I do what one may call “normal” things like play mother, play lover, play underpaid worker, play law-abiding citizen. I play so many things it’s like I’m playing reality.


q)What contemporary artists or developments in art interest you?

a)The works of Theoni Tambaki, Thierry Tillier, and John Moore Williams really interest me. There are others, of course, but each artist is a representation of a completely different artistic style.

Theoni’s work, which graces the cover of my newest chapbook, Metempsychose (Ypolita Press, 2009), will always find a place in my heart. Her drawings are like no other, and I find our works go together nicely without trying--they just be. That’s when you know you have a good pairing, when things just go together without much effort from both parties.

As for Thierry’s work, I think he offers something extraordinary in the way he approaches collage. The out of place eroticism of his work appeals to me on many levels.

John Moore Williams is an amazing vispo illusionist. What he does with words brings vispo to a whole other level. I’ve enjoyed watching his work progress into something quite unique over the years.

q)We really like some of your pictures, how can we get our hands on them? Do you sell them? How?

a)To be honest, I don’t really relish the idea of selling my work. I do have a book, Sensoria, which is a collection of colored digital art I’ve done over the years. The only reason I made this book is because I wanted to see if my art looked as good in print as it does on the screen; it was merely a test of sorts. As far as selling my work, I am at a point in my life where I do not feel it necessary to sell what should be free to access for anyone who is interested. If anyone is interested in obtaining a copy of any of my works, just send me an e-mail with your mailing address, and I’ll send you some work.

Augusto De Luca

http://www.myspace.com/augustodeluca

Interview with Diane Barcelowsy

q)please tell us a brief info about yourself.

a)I live in Brooklyn. I'm an art teacher. 31 years old I have one green eye and one blue eye.

q)Tell us about your humble beginnings, When did you you first realized that you wanted to be an artist?

a)One of my earliest memories is drawing lines on paper and pretending the lines are roads and my pencil is the car. I guess I always found escaping and daydreaming on paper more exciting then other things growing up and I kept drawing so the practice and a strange imagination made me into the artist I am today

q)What are your tools of the trade and why?

a)Dip pen and india ink mostly then a lot of stuff after that.

q)Who or what gives you inspiration on your morbid art?

a)The morbid world. It's easy to want to escape from it all or really look at it straight in the eyes. So I do both when I'm making things.

q)Is your artistic background self-taught or did you go to college to study?

a)I went to college for photography and then switched to fine arts. The school basically gave a space to let loose and I still don't know how to properly gesso a canvas. I think its good that they let us do what we wanted and figure out mistakes and tricks along the way , but it cost to much money.

q)How do you keep "fresh" within your industry?

a)I don't pay attention to whats going on so I never even know if I am fresh or not

q)What are some of your current projects?

a)I was commissioned to do a drawing for "the Sak" to use on an eco -friendly bag line that will be out spring 2010. They all look amazing and each bag that sells donates money to the nature conservatory (plant a billion trees fund) http://www.plantabillion.org/ and I am really excited about a group show in Japan at the Waiting Room Gallery with other cinders artist like Maya Hayuk, and Erika Somogyi (whom i have known for a real long time) opens in nov-jan.

q)Which of your works are you the most proud of? And why?

a)This one of two elephants that got lost in the mail on the way to Beaver Projects Gallery. It took forever and my hand went numb drawing it but it was beautiful and it travelled with me, I worked on it driving up the west coast to my friends farm in northern California. It was so beautiful there I look at the drawing and I think of my friend and her husband and their dog and cat and drawing these elephants outside by their garden. I also love these three drawings that I just donated to a silent auction for the Movember Foundation to help fund research for prostate cancer. I lost my grandfather and Uncle to prostate cancer and my father is a survivor. http://us.movember.com/

q)Are there any areas, techniques, mediums, projects in your field that you have yet to try?

a)There's plenty of things i haven't tried but I am not to interested in things that become more of a technical process, I like drawing and painting because you are more in touch with the collective unconscious

q)What do you do to keep yourself motivated and avoid burn-out?

a)I have been making lists of drawing ideas to make for years, while waiting in lines at the bank or sitting in traffic. I have so many that i still need to start or finish and I work on about 5-8 at a time.

q)how do you spend most of your free time?

a)Ha.. drawing/painting I also play music with my friends Brina Thurston, Quentin Rowin and Mike Woods

q)What contemporary artists or developments in art interest you?

a)I love people like Nils Udo who make art outdoors and go for long quiet walks , who are really in touch with the solitude of nature I can really connect with those feelings. Joseph Beuys for being one of the founding members of the green party, writing pop songs about Reagan, and trying to plant 7,000 trees and always Grandma Moses for creating scenes with so much going on in small towns then giving the paintings as gifts to family and friends on birthdays and weddings. I want to live in one of her towns.

q)We really like some of your pictures, how can we get our hands on them? Do you sell them? How?

a)I sell them through Cinders Gallery in Brooklyn, and Beaver Projects in Copenhagen although sometimes people just e-mail me directly if they live close by it's better to see the art in person.

Interview with Arabella Proffer

q)please tell us some brief info about yourself.

a)I grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan, to academic parents in a big spooky house. I don’t know when I went “bad” exactly, but around age 13 I got into the whole punk thing and was a mild troublemaker. It is also when I started exhibiting my art. At 16, I moved to Laguna Beach, but I was in Los Angeles every moment I could manage. I went to art school, kicked a nasty drug habit, got married, and had a variety of jobs from working at an art gallery, DJing and graphic design, to being a commercial photography assistant. My husband and I started a record label in 2002, and later moved to Cleveland, Ohio, to live somewhere a little less crazy. I’ve been doing freelance illustration, portraiture, and the whole art thing full-time since 2007.

q)Tell us about your humble beginnings, When did you first realize that you wanted to be an artist?

a)It was more my parents deciding for me, supposedly I was drawing with enough aptitude by age two that anything else – other than becoming an actress or filmmaker – was never discussed throughout my life. Their worst fear was that I would become an accountant or civil servant. I was never really good at anything other than art and making films, so that worked out fine for me.

q)What are your tools of the trade and why?

a)For years it was acrylic, because I am by nature impatient, but they do not age well, so in 1999 I started using oils. All my favorite painters used oils, so of course I wanted my work to look as good as theirs. Old Holland paints are my favorite, I wish I could afford to buy them more often; synthetic brushes are best for me as far as the scale of my work, I’ll only use hog’s hair brushes for something large; I don’t use mediums or anything like that, on occasion I use Linseed Oil, but that’s all.

q)Who or what gives you inspiration on your morbid art?

a)I don’t think of my work as morbid really, at least it hasn’t been for many years, but portraiture of the Renaissance has always been the biggest influence on me from a young age. Fashion plays a big part; Elizabethan costume, punk, goth, and anything decadent Christian Lacroix comes up with. I’m also really fascinated by the lives of old socialites, actresses and nobility who led eccentric, fabulous lives – although most didn’t have a good ending. For the most part, I love anything to do with old Hollywood or European tradition of the upper classes.

q)Is your artistic background self-taught or did you go to college to study?

a)I graduated from CalArts, but at the time it was more about installation art and theory -- not painting. I was taking a lot of film and animation courses while there, so I would say in many ways that despite going to art school I am self-taught; I was painting before I went to art school, and became more serious about painting after art school.

q)How do you keep “fresh” within your industry?

a)I do a new painting every few weeks, so it isn’t really an issue for me. I get bored so easily that halfway through a painting I already want to get started on the next one.

q)What are some of your current projects?

a)I just came off doing three large shows, so for now it is a variety of group shows taking place in Philadelphia, Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, and Art Basel Miami. Since I don’t have a solo show scheduled anytime soon, I may start a new body of work, I’m still not sure.

q)Which of your works are you the most proud of? And why?

a)There are a few simply for the happy accidents and technical reasons.

q)Are there any areas, techniques, mediums, projects in your field that you have yet to try?

a)Print making. I have tried it a little bit years and years ago, just nothing too ambitious. It sounds odd coming from an oil painter, but I actually don’t have the patience for it.

q)What do you do to keep yourself motivated and avoid burn-out?

a)There is no such thing as burning out for me, and if it does, I’m sure champagne can fix it.

q)how do you spend most of your free time?

a)Boozing with friends, reading, watching old movies, and snuggling with the husband.

q)What contemporary artists or developments in art interest you?

a)The Italian and Flemish Old Masters were my first love, and for some reason Albrecht Durer has always been a favorite; maybe because I think he was really hot as well as a great painter! I went through a Pre-Raphaelite phase as well as an Art Nouveau phase; Tamara de Lempicka was a huge influence on me for a very long time, as well as Erte and Christian Schad. It is funny how with every artist, I don’t necessarily like everything they do, but a few key pieces are enough to do it for me. There are so many today that might fall into the realms of Neo –Realism and Pop Surrealism -- or whatever you want to call it -- I really like, John Currin, Alex Gross, Nancy Baker and Sara Bereza.

q)We really like some of your pictures, how can we get our hands on them? Do you sell them? How?

a)If not through the galleries that represent me, I sell direct and do commissions through www.arabellaproffer.com, as well as sell prints.

Interview with Baysan Yuksel

q)Please introduce yourself.

a)Hi, I’m Baysan Yuksel. I am an artist and illustrator based in İstanbul, Turkey

q)Where do you live and work?

a)I live and work in Turkey (but I travel a lot). And most of the time I live and work at home.

q)How would you describe your work to someone who has never seen it?

a)I’m not sure but I think I can describe it as drawings about many things in life and those drawings mainly focuses on personal interpretations of this life with some delusions of impossible creatures.

q)How did you start in the arts? How/when did you realize you were an artist?

a)I started art at a very young age but it took time to discover the right medium.

q)What are your favorite art materials and why?

a)Many many things I guess. I use everything except oil paints. But mostly I like drawing on papers, I also use painting materials since I do some painting as well. Pens, pencils, ink, crayons, acrylics, tempera, watercolors, glue, junk papers, scissors, spray paints, coffee, tea… I really don’t have any special and favorite material. I use them all. I don’t use oil paints because they don’t dry easily and I usually don’t have the temper to wait.

q)What/who influences you most?

a)Well, other people’s trash mostly influences me. From time to time I go to junk sales and flee markets to find stuffs that were once belong to some other people. Some interesting stuff comes out from those places. I like creating an imaginary life through those belongings of other people and this leads me to create something. And I feed myself with the uncertainties of everyday life. Also children’s drawings influence me the most.

q)Describe a typical day of art making for you.

a)I would woke up, think about my dream lying on the bad for another half an hour, than I really woke up, make myself a cup of coffee, than I would go downstairs to my studio, than I would sit down and start to work, than later I would probably forgot to eat something while working and got out of the studio at a very late hour starving.

q)Do you have goals, specific things you want to achieve with your art or in your career as an artist?

a)Similar to most artists wants I guess. And also one other thing: one day I want to have a huge house to live in and to design it as a museum.

q)What contemporary artists or developments in art interest you?

a)I’m mostly interested in contemporary illustration and/or contemporary drawing. Nowadays I find Jockum Nordström’s work very inspiring.

q)How long does it typically take you to finish a piece?

a)It changes up to 5 minutes to a year. But I try to finish a piece on the same day. When I don’t finish the piece on the same day, it took me to finish it up to one year.

q)Do you enjoy selling your pieces, or are you emotionally attached to them?

a)I can’t say I enjoy selling my work, but I do sell. I am emotionally attached to some works which I don’t think I would ever sell.

q)Is music important to you? If so, what are some things you're listening to now?

a)Music is really important to me but for some time something has happened to me that I can’t listen to music. I became sensitive to sound. I can’t listen to music because when I listen to music I became obsessed with a sound from the song, than I can’t concentrate on anything else. So I started to listen to foreign movies (the ones I am not familiar with their language) lately as a background music. When someone else is talking in some other language I can’t understand it relaxes me especially when I’m working. So lately I’ve been listening to Swedish movies.

q)Books?

a)I read books, yes. I read any kind of fiction and some non-fiction about science; I still enjoy reading children’s books, collecting zines and picture books. But my interest is mostly on science fiction and fantasy fiction. Some of my favorite writers are Philip K. Dick, Ursula Leguin, Douglas Adams, Neil Gaiman, Roald Dahl, Michael Ende and so the list goes on. Right now I’m reading Inkheart by Cornelia Funke.

q)What theories or beliefs do you have regarding creativity or the creative process?

a)Just create that’s enough when you believe it.

q)What do you do (or what do you enjoy doing) when you're not creating?

a)Reading, writing, internet, movies(watching movies, talking about movies, making movies, long discussions about movies or long discussions about making movies), sound editing, coloring coloring books, spending time with children, being a child, talking boringly about as if theories, dreaming, talking about dreams, writing dreams, talking over and over about projects that would take a lot of time to come true, wandering around. Also I like traveling.

q)Do you have any projects or shows coming up that you are particularly excited about?

a)I put all the news about upcoming shows to my blog here: http://bayananderson.wordpress.com/ And about projects I’ve got hell a lot of them. I’m particularly excited about all of them. But too soon to tell, before I complete any of them.

q)Do you follow contemporary art scenes? If so, how? What websites, magazines, galleries do you prefer?

a)I don’t follow particularly any contemporary art scene. However sooner or later I come across to this contemporary art scene so I know about it.

q)Ask yourself a question you'd like to answer, and answer it.

a)How old are you and when are you going to make your own money?

I’m 25 and God knows when.

q)Any advice for aspiring artists?

a)Well it may seem like a cliché advice but never give up and work hard. Sorry for that!

q)Where can we see more of your work online?

a) http://www.bayananderson.com/

http://bayananderson.wordpress.com/

http://www.society6.com/baysanyuksel/

Interview with Signý Kolbeinsdóttir

q)Please introduce yourself.

a)My name is Signý Kolbeinsdóttir

q) Where do you live and work?

a)I live and work in Reykjavik, Iceland

q) How would you describe your work to someone who has never seen it?

a)Round, colorful, cute, surreal, japanese manga and fairy tail style illustrations with a darker side.

q) How did you start in the arts? How/when did you realize you were an artist?

a)I always new I would work in this area. My mother is an artist and she had a huge influence on me.

q) What are your favorite art materials and why?

a)it depends on what I´m doing at the time.

I use a pen and paper alot and also my computer off course.

q) What/who influences you most?

a)Nature, food, colors, other great artists and illustrators....

q) Describe a typical day of art making for you.

a)I go to my studio around 9 in the morning with a short stop at a coffeehouse to get a take away latte and I work until 4 pm with a lunch brake.

q) Do you have goals, specific things you want to achieve with your art or in your career as an artist?

a)I want to be able to live of my work, my own design and creation

q) What contemporary artists or developments in art interest you?

a)Takashi Murakami, Jeff Koons, Matthew Barney, The Chapman Brothers, Nagi Noda...Hello Kitty?....and more

q) How long does it typically take you to finish a piece?

a)it varies...

q) Do you enjoy selling your pieces, or are you emotionally attached to them?

a)Yes I enjoy it very much. I´m very happy if other people like my work.

q) Is music important to you? If so, what are some things you're listening to now?

a)Sure , these days I´m listening to Bat for Lashes, Gus Gus, Michael Jackson, Kate Bush....

q) Books?

a)Right now I´m reading The Girl with the dragon tattoo by Stieg Larsson.

q) What theories or beliefs do you have regarding creativity or the creative process?

a)work work work...don´t give up

q) What do you do (or what do you enjoy doing) when you're not creating?

a)Spending time with my family

q) Do you have any projects or shows coming up that you are particularly excited about?

a)I´m going to decorate one of the coolest shoe stores in Reykjavik and I´m doing some vinyl wall stickers and wallpaper soon.

q) Do you follow contemporary art scenes? If so, how? What websites, magazines, galleries do you prefer?

a)I subscribe to Computer Arts Projects which I like very much.

q) Any advice for aspiring artists?

a).....think positive and be yourself.

q) Where can we see more of your work online?

a)www.signy.net