Interview with Chris Keegan

q)Who are you? Where are you from and where do you live now?

a)I am Chris Keegan, i am from the U.K and i live in London.

q)What is it that you do? What media do you use?

a)I work as an artist, mainly in freelance illustration, i also sell my own prints and hand made artwork.

q)What do you think sets your work apart?

a)Thats very hard to say what exactly, i try my best to have a different perspective on the world around us. Then i depict it in a way that is unique to me and hopefully also to everyone else who sees it for the first time.

q)How long have you been showing your work for? Did you have a “big break?”

a)Ive been working and showing my art around for 13 years now. I have not had any BIG breaks just a few jobs where i could express myself consistently and then that would enable me to develop and refine my style or creative approach. I then realise this a kind of 'break through' if you like and then i would apply this to other jobs and artwork i would create after that. Sometime ever going as far as reworking old work from a few years ago but with this added new style or conceptual approach.

q)What are some things that have inspired you?

a)Yes music, design, science, architecture and nature for example, loads of things.

q)What have you been working on recently?

a)In the last few weeks i have completed a few Magazine editorial jobs

q)Do you listen to music while you create your work? If so, would you give some examples?

a)Yes loads. I listen from anything like Jazz to Drum and Bass, Dub Reggae, hip hop.
I listen to the Hospital podcast. On the BBC iplayer Gilles Peterson and Fabio and Grooverider when im working every week for example.

q)Do you do work in any other media? Other projects not necessarily related to your main body of work?

a)I take photographs in my spare time a bit which i sell a bit. You can see them on my website

q)What advice do you have for artists looking to show their work?

a)Never stop developing ideas and promoting your work you never know what you are capable of. And dont get to stuck into one way of working, diversifying can be a great move.

q)Do you have any upcoming exhibitions of your work that you can mention?

a)No sorry non at the mo.

q)Where can people see more of your work on the internet?

a)My site is: www.chriskeegan.co.uk
And i have a shop on: www.chriskeegan.etsy.com
Also if you wont to keep up with my latest work or ask me any questions in on twitter at: @mrchriskeegan

Interview with Chris von Szombathy

q)Who are you? Where are you from and where do you live now?

a)Chris von Szombathy. I live in Vancouver BC and I was also born here.

q)What is it that you do? What media do you use?

a)I make audio and visual work and I use a lot of different media.

q)What do you think sets your work apart?

a)Hm. I’m not sure if I’m really qualified to answer that question clearly as I don’t really spend a lot of time looking or listening to related works in my “field”. I like what I do, I believe that there’s a certain type of richness in it that I relate to. If anything, I am just working towards a type of clarity in visuals/production and ambiguity and relativity in concept. That’s what I believe is happening at least. I don’t really control it, but I do guide it from time to time.

q)How long have you been showing your work for? Did you have a “big break?”

a)2006 was my big break in the sense that it was the year I started re-showing my work a little bit after disappearing for 5-6 years for health reasons. But perhaps the next “big break” will be when I stop showing my work.

q)What are some things that have inspired you?

a)Being alive is the most inspirational thing. Having ideas is the easiest part of the job, we have them all the time. We tend to just put ideas on a conceptual ladder of value and they don’t develop easily that way.

q)What have you been working on recently?

a)I’ve been working on a couple of sculptures in my sketchbook: prepping ideas for a show that’s coming up closer to the end of the year. It’s the second best part of making something, developing something. The best part is finishing it (for me at least).

q)Do you listen to music while you create your work? If so, would you give some examples?

a)If I’m working on non-musical stuff I will occasionally put music on, but a lot of time if I’m working on producing an album then that album will be on repeat as I need to take notes. In the last month though I was listening a lot to The Harp of New Albion by Terry Riley, Climate of Hunter by Scott Walker, a bunch of Amon Duul II, 10cc, George Michael and UZEB.

q)Do you do work in any other media? Other projects not necessarily related to your main body of work?

a)Well… I have been working on video projects for a bit of time now with a small crew of dedicated professionals: AJ Bond and Amy Belling. It’s very difficult for me to work in video as I don’t have the technical experience and I like to be facile when working with anything. Facility equals flexibility so the more flexible you are, especially with video and camera’s and stuff, the more allowance there is for problem solving and creating on the spot. I consider everything I do to be part of the main body of work. Art is part of the main body of work.

q)What advice do you have for artists looking to show their work?

a)I think it would really depend on why one wanted to show their work in the first place. The drive to make work and the need to show it can occupy two totally different areas and can be the result of two totally different neuroses. A lot of time showing work simply means addressing a bunch of stuff that, personally, you might not care about but have to consider so although you might never have a “real” answer to the questions you will face when showing work you will have to know how to navigate them.

q)Do you have any upcoming exhibitions of your work that you can mention?

a)Yes, I have a solo show in Vancouver at the UNIT/PITT Project in June and am also showing in the massive Cheaper Show here also in Vancouver at the end of June. Those would be the closest ones to today.

q)Where can people see more of your work on the internet?

a)The best place would be my website: www.chrisvonszombathy.com.

Interview with Loretta Gonzalez

q)Who are you? Where are you from and where do you live now?

a)Hello, My name is Loretta G. I was born and raised in El Paso, Texas and currently live in Dallas, Texas

q)What is it that you do? What media do you use?

a)I am a mother, wife, elementary art educator, and an underground artist. My choice of media is oil on panel.

q)What do you think sets your work apart?

a)What sets my work apart from other artist is confronting subject matter most people choose to “sweep under the rug”.

q)How long have you been showing your work for? Did you have a “big break?”

a)I have not been showing my work for too long. I consider myself a fairly new artist.

I returned to school at a later time in my life, where I discovered I could paint.

I have been showing my work for three years after graduation. I have been showing in Dallas,

Texas and Los Angeles, California, but I have yet to get my “big break”.

q)What are some things that have inspired you?

a)Being a mother, my childhood experiences, and giving a voice to children that have no voice.

Artist that inspire me are Henry Darger, Mark Ryden, and Edward Gorey to name a few.

q)What have you been working on recently?

a) I am currently working on a series titled, I LOVE YOU TO DEATH.

These paintings deal with a worldwide epidemic of mothers who kill their children.

A couple of reasons are because mothers believe God has told them to kill their children,

and sometimes it is simply to get rid of what they might consider to be extra baggage, and sometimes for greed.

q)Do you listen to music while you create your work? If so, would you give some examples?

a) Sometimes I listen to music. Alternative music, nothing in particular.

I also work with the television on, or I rent a movie so that I have background noise to keep me company while I am painting.

q)Do you do work in any other media? Other projects not necessarily related to your main body of

work?

a)I also work in acrylic, metal, and clay but have not found the time to develop an idea that calls for alternative mediums.

I need to produce paintings so that I can increase my body of work in oil.

q)What advice do you have for artists looking to show their work?

a)It is important to find your place in the art world. A few questions to ask your self might be…

Who is your target audience? Where do you feel most comfortable? Do your peers inspire you?

Be diligent about keeping up with the art world and continue to submit your work. Don’t give up.

q)Do you have any upcoming exhibitions of your work that you can mention?

a)Dark and Lovely, The Kettle Gallery, Dallas, Texas, May 26 thru June 16.

Austin Comic Con, Austin Convention Center, November 11,12,13

q)Where can people see more of your work on the internet?

a)http://www.facebook.com/loretta.gonzalez2

http://www.bluecanvas.com/lorettagonzalez

http://lorettagonzalez.posterous.com/

Interview with Wojciech Grzanka

q)Who are you? Where are you from and where do you live now?

a)Hello, My name is Wojciech Grzanka also known as “voogee”. I live in a small town Jelcz-Laskowice located in Poland. I work as a webdesigner with friends in Helldesign.net., and after the work I take my camera and take a walk around my neighborhood taking pictures of everything that interests me: people, nature, macro, animals, and even astrophotography... but I feel best in photomontages, where I try to combine all these categories into one, using different techniques to create something unreal, surreal, unusual - something that is only in my mind.

q)What is it that you do? What media do you use?

a)As I have said, I take pictures with different themes - gives me a lot of fun, but the most satisfaction I have when creating a photomontages. My work is very emotional and personal, often surrealistic and “dark”... My works are created by digital technology - now I use a Canon 5D Mark II, from which the images are processed in Photoshop and occasionally in other programs. It all depends on the idea and what and how I want to present.

q)What do you think sets your work apart?

a)I hope that a load of emotions that are contained in my work, makes people like to watch them. I try myself do not to inspire on anyone, even cut off from watching the work of other people, although it is known that it is virtually impossible.

q)How long have you been showing your work for? Did you have a “big break?”

a)I have been showing my photomontages relatively short - about 4 years ago. "Big break"? I hope that everything is still ahead. I create mainly for myself and published only on the Internet, but I would like to organize an exhibition with my photomontages in the future.

q)What are some things that have inspired you?

a)My personal experiences are the main factor that have inspired me. Emotions that I feel reflecting on life, trying to understand it... The impact on what I make are also people who surround me, the music I listen to and even the weather ...

q)What have you been working on recently?

a)Recently, I have been experimenting with lights and night photos... I always wait for the right moment, trying to do not force myself, so I leave my ideas in sketchbook, where they are waiting for “materialization”.

q)Do you listen to music while you create your work? If so, would you give some examples?

a)I love to work when TOOL or Archive are playing... I like also Clint Mansell, System Of A Down / Serj Tankian, Porcupine Tree and many, many others ...

q)Do you do work in any other media? Other projects not necessarily related to your main body of work?

a)Not really. Sometimes I made short movies, but it is a derivative of what I do, so it's not a completely different media. I once loved to draw with a pencil, but that was before I had my first computer :)

q)What advice do you have for artists looking to show their work?

a)Well, do not force people to watch your works. First of all, you need to focus to open up for the world around us. Sensitivity helps in perceiving things that others do not see. So keep your eyes around the head and draw inspiration from everything that surrounds us and then your works will say for you – let's people judge them. That's the best way.

q)Do you have any upcoming exhibitions of your work that you can mention?

a)Yes, but it will be not connected with my photomontages. At April 1, 2011 in Jelcz-Laskowice will be an exhibition of panoramic images of my city, which I am the author.

q)Where can people see more of your work on the internet?

a)In addition to my portfolio: http://grzanka.pl I have my own blog: http://wojciech.grzanka.pl , sometimes I do a panoramic photos: http://jelcz-laskowice.grzanka.pl , also have an account at: http://www.photodom.com/member/voogee , http://www.flickr.com/photos/wojciech_grzanka , http://voogee.deviantart.com

Interview with Vahge

q)Who are you? Where are you from and where do you live now?

a)My name is Vahge. It’s a nickname I’ve had since I was little. I was born and raised in the Maryland suburbs, and spent several years in Santa Fe, NM before moving to Brooklyn, NY, where I am now.

q)What is it that you do? What media do you use?

a)I collage. I mainly use magazine clippings, adhesive, and tiny mustache scissors. I feel most connected to what people are calling the lowbrow, new brow, pop surreal movement. There’s an acceptance within that community of weirdness and imagination, things with which I feel most connected.

q)What do you think sets your work apart?

a)I think being a lowbrow collagist is kind of odd. I’ve also been told that my work is highly detailed.

q)How long have you been showing your work for? Did you have a “big break?”

a)I’ve been showing for about six years. It hasn’t been so much a big break, as many small breaks and a lot of hard work. I’ve definitely had a few exciting moments, jumping up and down on the sofa, and I love those times. But I think most artists would say the same thing, it’s mostly work, work, and more work.

q)What are some things that have inspired you?

a)I recently found a copy of Der Struwwelpeter, an old German children’s book from the 1840s that has inspired a lot of the music and theater I listen to and love. The stories in the book are meant to be lessons for children, but they are all fairly gruesome and depressing. There’s one about a boy who was told not to suck his thumbs or else a man would come out of the wall and cut them off. There’s another about a child who slowly starves to death because he refuses to eat. That book was an amazing find.

q)What have you been working on recently?

a)I’ve been collaging a 40 ounce bottle for a group show in March. I’ve started work on a large piece on wood panel, and have been making more small portraits. One of my friends, an incredible writer, is working with me on a children’s book. And I’m trying to write a grant.

q)Do you listen to music while you create your work? If so, would you give some examples?

a)I definitely listen to music, but I also love NPR, and I’ve recently started putting on episodes of Bones and Lie To Me while I cut out tiny tree branches. If I’m listening to music, it might be Tom Waits, old French pop, Nina Hagen, jazz, or Antony and the Johnsons. It kind of depends on what I’m doing that day.

q)Do you do work in any other media? Other projects not necessarily related to your main body of work?

a)I sometimes make yeti dolls out of clay, wire, paint, and fake fur. I love making homemade gifts for friends and family. I rarely draw, but I’ll occasionally do large portraits of my beau.

q)What advice do you have for artists looking to show their work?

a)Work hard and keep sharing.

q)Do you have any upcoming exhibitions of your work that you can mention?

a)I’m in a group show in March at MF Gallery in New York. That’s where the bottle will be.

q)Where can people see more of your work on the internet?

a)www.vahge.com

Interview with Dean McDowel

q)Who are you? Where are you from and where do you live now?

a)Dean McDowell, a Northern Irish born artist currently living in small grey city that is commonly known as Belfast.

q)What is it that you do? What media do you use?

a)I walk a fine dark line between lowbrow and fine art. My preferred medium is oil on canvas but for deadline reason acrylics can be used extensively.

q)What do you think sets your work apart?

a)That's a hard question that might be better answered by someone who has stumbled across my work for he first time however, if you had to pin me down on the subject, I would say the emotion I try to put into every painting I produce regardless of subject matter.

q)How long have you been showing your work for? Did you have a “big break?”

a)Probably around the 10 year mark. I wish I could say a 'big break' just happened on a certain date or event, the reality is I struggle emotionally with my work to the point I only produce a very limited number of paintings each year. Rather than grasping opportunities or 'breaks' I generally shy away from them... I hope and am currently trying to change break that cycle....

q)What are some things that have inspired you?

a)Life, it's that simple. I know that is a common answer I give in most interviews but it is a simple truth, to watch life's goings on whether that be through the media, web or simply lifecasts you really can't get away from the inspiration good or bad that surrounds us on a daily basis.

q)What have you been working on recently?

a)Having recently taken a 2 year break from art for purely personal reasons I'm just now getting back into things for 2011. At present I'm working towards supplying galleries both in theUK and US and working towards upcoming shows in 2012. The current works are a mixture of lowbrow and fine arts depending on the mood, I've picked up on my old style but throughout 2011 people should start to see something a little different.

q)Do you listen to music while you create your work? If so, would you give some examples?

a)It's not often I work without music in the background, it's become a bit of a necessity. I'll listen everything from the kidney thieves to suede, I guess my preference is for music with an alternative edge.

q)Do you do work in any other media? Other projects not necessarily related to your main body of work?

a)I do but under an Alis, maybe one day I'll come clean....

q)What advice do you have for artists looking to show their work?

a)Art is fickle, and the art world can be extremely fickle... Simply believe in your work and not the almighty dollar, once you produce work for monetary value alone your art will have lost it's soul.

q)Do you have any upcoming exhibitions of your work that you can mention?

a)I have just accepted my first show in March 2012, the work will be on show in the Rothick Art Haus, California.

q)Where can people see more of your work on the internet?

a)www.deanmcdowellartist.com

http://en-gb.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001196652149&sk=info

Interview with David Orfé

q)Who are you? Where are you from and where do you live now?

a)I am David Orfé. I'm from Lille, north of France. It's pretty hard to say where I live cause I've been travelling a lot this last 4 years. Ireland, Australia, New-Zealand and Canada now. I'm in Montreal at this time and I'm not sure where will be my next address?

q)What is it that you do? What media do you use?

a)I mostly paint and draw. Little stuffs with simple media on paper while I'm travelling in my "studio house" car. Bigger stuffs with paints on canvas when I'm not moving. I use acrylic, water colors, indian ink, sharpie, pencil, found papers, canvas... Sometimes I like to do prints on Lino as well.

q)What do you think sets your work apart?

a)Wow, That's not my role neither my place to give you an answer. I just try to be true and honest with what I'm creating, let the people talk about that.

q)How long have you been showing your work for? Did you have a “big break?”

a) Showing is a pretty new concept for me, I didn't make lots of show cause I was constantly on the move.

q)What are some things that have inspired you?

a)A big mix. Primitive art, ethnic and folk culture, mysticism, mythological, natural and spiritual theme meet colorful psyché patterns in a geometrical world.

q)What have you been working on recently?

a) Finishing a serie of portraits and a large canvas.

q)Do you listen to music while you create your work? If so, would you give some examples?

a) It all depends of the day! Sometimes everything and anything in my playlist and some days I don't want any noise at all. But I have to admit that I love Rock'n' Roll!

q)Do you do work in any other media? Other projects not necessarily related to your main body of work?

a) Yes, I do some kind of outdoor installation with wool, cardboard, paint and trees. I try to find a beautiful natural spot and have fun. when I've got the opportunity, I love screenprinting.

q)What advice do you have for artists looking to show their work?

a) Pretty hard to answer that cause I don't have a lot of experiences. I should say don't be afraid to accept small stuff, cause you're learning everyday. Never adjust what you're doing for somebody, stay true to your vision, see big, be brave and move your ass!

q)Do you have any upcoming exhibitions of your work that you can mention?

a) I've got a show at the beginning of march at "Maison Kasini" and a group show for April at "Usine 106U". You can find some of my prints at "Monastiraki" too. All this places are in Montreal.

q)Where can people see more of your work on the internet?

a)Most of the photos of new work will be found on my flickr: www.flickr.com/orfe_art or on facebook at David Orfé