Google

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Interview with Jon MacNair





q) What is your name and what do you do?


a)My name is Jon MacNair and I am an artist and freelance illustrator living in Baltimore Maryland. I went to school at the Maryland Institute College of Art and have been living here ever since. When I’m not working on my own projects or doing freelance work, I can be found doing exhibition installation at the Contemporary Museum in Baltimore.


q)When did you really get into art?


a)I’ve always loved drawing and doing creative things. As a child, I distinctly remember doing things like painting rocks to look like animals and making paper-mâché replicas of Tutankhamen’s death mask. My parents used to take my sister and I to art museums pretty often when we were very small and still in our strollers. Somehow I absorbed all that great work and it stuck with me.


q)How did you come to the realization that you should try your luck at art on a more serious level?


a)I began to think more seriously about art as a career in high school. As a senior, I was faced with the same decision as everyone else, what to do after graduation. I had been always been a good student (with the exception of being terrible at math) but never really excelled at anything as much as I did in art, so it was a relatively easy decision to attend art school. Before high school ended I had spent two summers at the Center for Creative Studies in Detroit doing a pre-college art camp sort of thing. It was a valuable experience in that it gave me a good sense of what to expect at art school. The people I met there were great and I knew that I wanted to be surrounded by more of these type of creative individuals.


q)How did you discover the particular style that you have?


a)I think many artists would agree with me when I say that style it is an evolution. Unless you just rip somebody off, it’s not something that just happens overnight. You have to go through those phases of your work looking similar to the work of artists you admire. Eventually, all your influences that you’ve mentally acquired over your lifetime become conglomerated and filtered through your own eyes until they resemble a creation purely original to you. In high school my art began to have a somewhat recognizable style, and that just continued through college and up to now. However, I do remember being somewhat worried about developing a style in college. I was an illustration major and had been told by my teachers of the advantages and disadvantages that having a distinct style could bring. On the one hand it was a crucial part of successfully marketing yourself so clients would know what they were getting when they hired you. On the other hand the danger of being “typecast” so to speak and tied down to your style was also a concern. It’s just an aspect of the business every artist has to deal with.


q)How would you describe your style?


a)A lot of people have used adjectives such as “dark” and “creepy” to describe my work, and I would say I am just now beginning to not mind that so much. I used to think that was a negative description and didn’t like how it sounded so one-dimensional, as if that was all that really stood out about my work. I realized that I was the one who was making it negative by thinking that way, and realized that some people think of “dark” as an appealing or interesting aspect of it. In my own words I would probably used adjectives like narrative, intimate, dreamlike, mythical, and maybe even voyeuristic. I think “weird” can be a very positive word to describe art too.


q)Who or what influences your art?


a)If you just want names, I’d say artists like William Blake, Frida Kahlo. Max Ernst, Giorgio De Chirico, Henri Rousseau, Odd Nerdrum, Hieronymus Bosch, Henry Fuseli and Ernst Haeckel, I also love the look of German Expressionist films (silent era) and 1960’s Japanese cinema. Illuminated manuscripts, medieval tapestries, fairy tales, mythology and music are all strong influences as well.


q)How often do you create a new piece?


a)It’s usually an inconsistent flow when it comes to producing, but I try on average to do a few new pieces a month. The size and level of detail of the work of course plays a big part in that. Having deadlines for shows is always a good motivator too. From 2007-2008 I had a daily art blog that I would post to and that was a great challenge for me. When it ended I felt as if I had really accomplished something.


q)What kind of success have you had with your art?


a)I’m still very much in the beginning stages of getting my art out into the world, but I have participated in a few group shows and sold a couple pieces. I’ve participated in some online zines and various projects I’ve been invited to do. This year has been a very productive one for me and I hope to continue to participate in shows. I am scheduled to hang my work in a local café at the end of February for a month, so right now I am preparing for that. I’ve also had some success with my freelance illustration working with numerous editorial publications.


q)What would be the ultimate goal for you and your art?


a)Like most artists, I would like to be able to live off of my art and avoid the monotony that a real life job could create. While being rich would not be a bad thing, I don’t expect to be and that’s okay. I am most happy when I am making art and right now all I need to be happy is enough money to live on without having to worry about paying bills every month etc. I just want to keep producing. Fame is something that seems so far away right now that it is hard to imagine it, but some kind of recognition is always welcome. I think that if I ever actually became extremely famous one day that would scare me a little and I would end up shying away from it. Like most people I like recognition, but too much attention is a little overwhelming to me.


q)What do you see as an accomplishment in the way of art?


a)Staying true to your own unique vision and continuing to make art; working through the creative droughts.


q)What kind of message, if any, do you try to convey through your art?


a)I can’t say there is any one particular message that I try to convey in my work, but I do want to encourage the viewer to apply their own ideas and experiences to the open-ended narratives I present.


q)Sum up your art in one word.


a)Personal


q)Any additional comments?


a)Just because artists enjoy what they do doesn’t mean it doesn’t qualify as “work.” Making art takes a lot of time and effort and self-discipline. Artists are a valuable part of society and culture and people shouldn’t always expect them to work for free.


q)…your contacts…


a) www.jonmacnair.com


www.flickr.com/photos/jonmacnair/


http://scritchyscraps.blogspot.com/

Monday, December 22, 2008

Interview with RT Vegas






q) What is your name and what do you do?

a)My name is RT Vegas and I am a mixed media visual artist.

q)When did you really get into art?

a)I have created art, off and on, for many years. I really got into creating and displaying my art about 3 years ago. I discovered artists selling their original art on eBay and I realized I could do the same. Now instead of having a show at a local gallery once or twice a year I can have folks from around the world see and possibly purchase my work year round. I set up my own web site and post new work weekly. I still exhibit in local gallerys but now, through connections that I have made on the Internet with other artists, I can show my work at other venues in other parts of the USA.

q)How did you come to the realization that you should try your luck at art on a more serious level?

a)After I sold my first piece on the eBay to someone who had never met me. In the old days you might sell a work to a friend and/or a person who saw your work live at a gallery opening. That patron talked to you face to face. Selling your art through the Internet and via mail takes a hell of lot of blind trust on both the seller and the buyers end. I think you have to really make a point of good communication with your customers. I know if I buy something on the Internet I want to know when the item has been mailed and when can I expect to receive it.
I give as much information to my customers as possible to make it a good experience. I want and usually get return customers.

q)How did you discover the particular style that you have?

a)I have always liked cartoons and was first motivated to try art as a youngster back in the 1960's after seeing the work of Norman Saunders, a great pulp artist and featured artist of Topps 'Wacky Packs'. I was also influenced by the 'Underground' comic artists, Pop art and later by the Graffiti/Urban artists. In more recent years I have added elements of abstract art to my style.

q)How would you describe your style?

a)Just to simplify matters I call it "Outsider Folk Art"...but who knows (or cares) what it really is.

q)Who or what influences your art?

a)Most of the time I will start a new work without any concrete plan. Sometimes I have fleeting thoughts in my head and decide to make a painting out of that thought. Some of these thoughts are strange, twisted, funny (to me at least) or just plain wrong. That is the fun part of not having to make a certain type of art...I can just make a work without any worry of selling it or not. Of course it is a lot more satisfying when they are purchased...

q)How often do you create a new piece?

a)I usually create 3 or 4 pieces a week...on the average.
Normally I will have 5 or more paintings going at the same time.
It is more fun that way...you do not get bored or frustrated that way.
If you get stuck for direction in one painting, drop it and go to the next one. Come back to the
first painting a few hours or days later...no pressure.
I do not have any formal art training and am not very skilled in any kind of finesse techniques.
I CAN NOT do photo realism. I do not have the patience to work on a piece for hours and days. I have tried it before and I end up hating the work in the end. I want to have fun when I paint and be able to smile with the end results. Most of my smaller pieces only take a couple of hours of combined time to complete.

q)What kind of success have you had with your art?

a)Since I started a 'full time' commitment to my art 3 years ago (listing on my web site, promoting, selling, creating on a regular shedule, gallery shows, etc.) I have sold several hundered pieces to patrons around the globe. That being said the averager selling price is about $50. If I step up my prices my sales slow down. The art does not take me that long
to do so...why should I let it pile up in my home. Get it out and let others enjoy it. Some artists charge far too much for their work. They get emotionaly attached to it. They will end up being burried with it. That is their choice. Mine is to sell it at affordable prices and make more of it the next day.

q)What would be the ultimate goal for you and your art?

a)The ultimate goal would be to have my art on the wrapper of Chinese bubblegum.

q)What do you see as an accomplishment in the way of art?

a)That anyone would want to buy my work and look at it every day...That's huge to me!
In my eyes, THAT is an accomplishment for me and my art.

q)What kind of message, if any, do you try to convey through your art?

a)Although some people have tried to see some hidden meaning, there is none...My art is meant to be interesting to look at and that's about it. It is whatever you want it to be because I am not going to tell you that it isn't.
My art is meant to be

q)Sum up your art in one word.

a)FUNKINDOFWEIRD

q)Any additional comments?

a)Everyone can do art but not everyone has to like it.

q)…your contacts…

a) www.rtvegas.com

arty142@optonline.net

www.myspace.com/rtvegas