Section 5:  Artistic Philosophy/Preferences

As I look through your portfolio, I listen for the "feelings" that I get. (I know that probably sounds kinda weird) I definitely get more emotion from your drawings. What's your favorite medium to work with?  (ii)

Oils poses an element of danger so it's immediately sexy. I use acrylics in my sketchbook, and I like photoshop as well, but I really don't have a favorite. So it is really up to the imagery and the design of the picture to tug at your heart strings and stir up a melody of "feelings."

If you're just creating something for yourself, (as opposed to commissioned work) where do you get your ideas from? How do you begin?  (ii)

There are so many things that are visually incredible, like the bright colors of kids running around, beating each other up in the park, or that indecipherable white in the clouds in a dry, night sky. So the hardest part, for me, is getting over a sense of smallness I feel in the face of the beauty we are confronted with everyday, and mustering up the nerve to do something halfway meaningful. I believe that limitations are liberating in a way, that one choice or mark can sort of guide you along the way to finishing a picture. What ends up happening is frustrating, suprising, disgusting, and rapturous.

Your art is pretty different from what’s out there today.  How would you describe your current style?  (xii)

I’ve heard it described as a future retro-narrative style, but you know it keeps changing.  I don’t really like to talk about style, especially nowadays with the internet and people “borrowing” from each other.  I guess having gone to art school, it really stressed a certain way of solving an illustration.  There are a few people working right now who have a similar approach to making art as opposed to (a similar) style.  People like Tomer Hanuka and Yuko Shimizu who are top illustrators, and it’s funny that people don’t realize that we all went to school together and now we’re all this small circle of illustrators who are doing a lot of work right now.  This approach has roots in comics.  It’s very figurative, it creates a psychological space, it has characters.  And all of this is opposed to a very symbolist approach you also see in illustration.  Drawing is also very important in our approach to making a picture. 

Looking through your personal work, I see many references to different religions. How does religion affect your artwork, and what do you hope to gain from investigating it artistically?  (i)

I wasn’t raised to be religious, although the imagery and symbolism of Buddhist and Christian art still fill me with dread and awe. And illuminated manuscripts and silk scroll paintings are a constant source of inspiration.

What makes a successful cover? Do you follow a certain philosophy?  (xi)

I try to attempt something new with every cover. Other than that, there are no rules; I try  to follow my intuition. Naturally, there are patterns to my behavior, but I don't have a standardized method for creating a picture.

How do you feel about the term 'photo-realistic' in relation to your art? Not only do you do highly detailed sketches but your oil paintings are also very accurate.  (v)

"Photo-realistic" might a misleading term, since I am interested in the process of observation rather than mimicking nature. The oil paintings and highly rendered drawings were done during school when I was trying to learn the craft. My travel drawings, which are more expressionistic and spare, are probably closest to the sensibilities that I wish to develop now.

Your skills with oils is just incredibly strong, your "K" painting was what really brought to mind the 'photo-realistic' term simply because the detail is spot on and the "TWINS" painting with the detail around the folds of leather in the shoes and even accenting the light source with the glimmers as the folds curve - that just takes A LOT of skill.  (v)

Thanks! Of course, skill is one thing, and taste is another. There are plenty of people out there who are virtuosos, but I don't count myself one among them.

Working with both traditional and digital mediums how do you feel each affects your creative process? Does working with a computer screen instead of a paintbrush seem to hold a stigma in certain circles?  (v)

The computer might be anathema in certain circles, but none in which I travel. There's no denying the importance of digital media in the arts--I've even heard of people bringing their laptops instead of oil paints to life painting workshops. But drawing on paper is the basis for everything that I do, whether or not it's finished in oils or photoshop. I love drawing and erasing and refining a drawing with real, physical tools-it's a feeling close to sculpting.

What’s difficult or challenging for you?  (xii)

Everything’s difficult and challenging!  I’d have to say that the hardest part is the beginning drawing stages.  The painting/finishing stage is more pleasant because I don’t have to think as much.  Starting the image is definitely the most difficult part.  Starting is the gauntlet that is thrown down before you to make yourself worthy for fate, your destiny. 

How do you know when a piece is finished?  (xii)

You’re finished when you can’t push it any further.  Sometimes you push it so far that you’ve ruined what you’ve done.  I guess through experience you just sort of know.  Sometimes you’re never done, but I like to move on rather than rework things…cut my ties from the past.