Interview with Paul Alexander Thornton

q)Please introduce yourself.

a)Paul Alexander Thornton, 25, from Hastings & Rye in the South East of England.

q)Where do you live and work?

a)I live in Peckham, south London, that’s where I do my work.

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

a)All hand drawn at the moment, very eclectic the drawings come in different series and each series will tend to have a theme or an idea tying it together.

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

a)I’ve always been drawing and I’ve always accepted that I would grow up to be an artist, my teacher’s at school were telling me this even at a young age.

q)What are your favorite art materials and why?

a)I love biro and pencils, I used to use felt-tips a lot which was a little fascination of mine, but I also like permanent marker pens, acrylic paint and fineliners.

q)What/who influences you most?

a)David Hockney was a huge influence on the way I approached my portraits as well as Picasso, Schiele, Klimt. I think one of the greatest artists from my youth is Richard D James who you may know of as Aphex Twin, his music inspires me a lot to draw, as well as some 60’s psychedelia and some styles of tattoo art.

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

a)Get up. Draw. Drink tea. Play music. Draw all day until I’m too tired and then go to sleep.

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

a)Yes I do, I want to be able to apply my ideas to all mediums that interest me, not just drawing, and to be widely acknowledged as having had something to say and something to contribute to society in terms of interesting art works and creative expression.

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

a)I’m very interested in sound art, and experimental electronic music and have an ambition to get involved when I eventually reach some conclusion with my drawings that can allow me to take a fairly decent break to concentrate on other things, but it may be a while before I get to that stage.

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

a)The large drawing of skulls and roses took me a month, others will typically take me a lot less, like maybe a week for a big work or a few days for something smaller.

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

a)I used to lose sleep over selling pieces, nowadays I’m not bothered in fact I’m happy that people want my work however I’m in no particular rush to sell, they are there if people want them and they are willing to pay, if not then they hang on my wall and I can look at them so it’s a happy scenario.

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

a)Music is massively important to me, right now I’m getting really into Fever Ray (the solo album by the woman from the knife) , as well as chumster volume 1 and a top secret electronica compilation a friend made for me.

q)Books?

a)I’m currently reading up on Aubrey Beardsley and also the Arts & Crafts movement.

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

a)I believe that creativity stems from a part of the brain that is in all probability closely linked to insanity, or something that seems like insanity. I think all people are creative and it comes out in many different ways, some people are told from a young age that they are not an artist but creativity is inherent in all people and must come out from somewhere. If you are nurtured in the right way anyone potentially could be like Picasso, but then we all need to have different jobs for society to function, I’m just glad that I enjoy mine.

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

a)Listening to music, socialising with friends, drinking talking, watching films. I’ve become habitual with going to the cinema lately.

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

a)I’ve been asked to exhibit in San Francisco which might be a really good opportunity to go and visit and take in some culture, there’s a few small exhibits in London coming up that should be good. Mostly I’m looking forward to my big solo debut in London but that’s a big project as I’m a perfectionist and it will only happen when everything is perfectly set in place.

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

a)I like to chat to my friends about art and culture and that allows me to hear about things that I’m likely to be into in a natural way, that’s the main way that I keep in touch but I’m not really following any scenes in particular, more like individuals.

q)Any advice for aspiring artists?

a)Work hard, get organized or get a manager. Stick to what you believe in

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

a) http://www.myspace.com/paulalexanderthornton

http://www.paulalexanderthornton.com

Interview with Kev Grey

q) Please introduce yourself.

a)I’m Kev Grey, A 30 year old artist originally

from Miseryside in the North of England.

q) Where do you live and work?

a)Right now I’m living in Leeds, U.K.

where I work from home.

q) How would you describe your work to

someone who has never seen it?

a)Simple, bold, nostalgic black ink drawings

which stink of death, gin and sex with the

occasional squirt of humour, a whiff of

bipolar and a pinch of O.C.D.
It’s all very neat and tidy and

well presented too.

q) How did you start in the arts? How/when

did you realize you were an artist?

a)It’s hard to say. I’ve always made drawings

because I enjoyed doing it and just

naturally became an artist.

q) What are your favourite art

materials and why?

a)Staedtler 0.5 drawing pen, pencil, rubber,

brush, Indian ink and a sheet of A3 230

gsm paper. These are basically all the

materials I need to complete a drawing.

q) What/who influences you most?

a)I am constantly searching for new

influences all the time, it’s difficult to try

and name just a few. If you want to know

one of my very early influences who I really

based my style of drawing on look at the

comic strips on www.harrysadist.com which is the

website of Dom Morris. He had a real clean style

that really smacked me in the mush when I was a teenager.

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

a)It depends what stage of making a

drawing I’m at but once I know what I want

to draw I sketch it up and then just get to

work and start outlining it in black. When

I’m not doing that I also spend time searching

for new ideas and inspiration, which is a

big part of the process.

q) Do you have goals, specific things you

want to achieve with your art or in

your career as an artist?

a)Everything I initially had ambitions to

do like designing skateboards, record sleeves,

posters, T-shirts, tattoo designs, release a

book etc I’ve achieved. I think my attitude

towards making art now is that I just carry

on doing it and the more I work I produce

the more I get asked to work on different projects.

It’s actually really good as sometimes I am

asked to design artwork for a specific project

and it’s something I’d of never dreamed of

wanting to do but it turns out to be cool as fuck.

q) How long does it typically take

you to finish a piece?

a)It can depend. The actual act of sitting

down and making a drawing can take about

a day or two but I also can sometimes spend

weeks thinking about a drawing and planning it

before I sit down and start to make it.

q) Do you enjoy selling your pieces, or are

you emotionally attached to them?

a)If somebody is willing to cough up the

money for one of my drawings then I’m happy

for it to go to a good home where it will be

enjoyed. It’s also really easy for me to document

my artwork using my camera and a scanner so I

always have high quality copies of any

work that I’ve sold anyway.

q) Is music important to you? If so, what

are some things you're listening to now?

a)Music has always been very important to me.

I grew up listening to Heavy Metal with all my

older cousins who used to go to the Monster of Rock

festival from when I was about 8 years old,

then I started skateboarding when I was about

10 and through skate videos from the late

80’s and early 90’s I also really got into punk

rock, then I started going to gigs when I was 12

and watched bands like Silverfish, Cannibal Corpse,

Suicidal Tendencies and Pantera in Liverpool

and Manchester. As long as I can remember I’ve

listened to music just about every day of my life.

I’ve also been a huge fan of old Rock ‘n’ Roll by

the likes of Johnny Burnette, Ronnie Dawson,

Frankie Ford etc for the last 12 years or so,

I listen to this type of music the most now.

It depends what mood I’m in really. I’ve been listening

to the The Cramps quite a lot recently.

Lux Interior R.I.P.!

q) Books?

a)My new book is available to buy now at

www.kevgrey.com!

q) What theories or beliefs do you have

regarding creativity or the creative process?

a)Being creative and productive to me is really

important. I easily get restless and I’ve always

dreaded that feeling of being old and thinking

‘fuck, I’ve wasted my life!’ so to me making art

is my way of having a purpose and gives me a

reason to get out of bed.

q) What do you do (or what do you enjoy doing)

when you're not creating?

a)Nowadays I enjoy drinking beer, playing darts,

watching films and contemporary British comedy

series, listening to Country music, eating good

food and hanging out with my girlfriend Vink.

Did I mention I like drinking beer?

q) Do you have any projects or shows coming

up that you are particularly excited about?

a)After my last exhibition Everlasting Arms in

Bristol I decided to have a break from putting on

exhibitions as they take up a lot of my time. I have

however just agreed to put on an exhibition that

will coincide with a project I’m working on for release

around September of this year which will be

exhibited in a couple of different venues,

but I can’t give away any of the exact details

about who that is with yet sorry mate.
Another project I’m working on is for a burlesque

night in Leeds called The Wet Spot where I

design all the artwork and also paint banners

and stage backdrops. I’m also one of the DJ’s on

the night where I get to play a lot of my old

Rock ‘n’ Roll 7”s.

q) Do you follow contemporary art scenes?

If so, how? What websites, magazines,

galleries do you prefer?

a)Kind of. I like to keep up with what’s going on

but most stuff I like is old and dusty.

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

a)Would you like a cup of tea? Yes please.

q) Any advice for aspiring artists?

a)Yes, if you are a self-employed artist make

sure you pay your tax bill on time.

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

a) www.kevgrey.com is my official website, and

www.kevgrey.blogspot.com is my blog where you can

see what I'm currently working on.