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mercoledì 16 settembre 2009

Interview with Miguel Paredes





q) Please tell us a brief info about yourself.


a)New Yorker, now live in Miami.


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


a)Dad was an Artist, and I’ve been painting my entire life as long as I can remember.


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


a)Brushes.


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


a)Dali, Ron English


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


a)Fiorello La Guardia Of Music and Art and then a year in here and there in college

I did an apprenticeship for 5yrs with Paul Kus learned everything with him.


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


a)Open minded and I stick to my style.


q) What are some of your current projects?


a)Art Basel 2010 in Miami Beach


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


a)Los Niño’s 2008 all portraits of my children


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


a)I am looking into doing monumental size mural and sculptures.


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


a)I take a break and put the brushes when I need to, I haven’t painted in 2 months

I start tomorrow.


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


a)With the wife and kids.


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


a)I admire all artists and respect their work, I like public projects.


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


a) www.miguelparedes.com or my manager sam@paredespublishing.com

And yes I sell my art I have only a few originals available @ the moment everything else is sold

That’s why I start painting again tomorrow.

venerdì 11 settembre 2009

Interview with Adam Zeek





q)Please introduce yourself.



a)My name is Adam Zeek.


q) Where do you live and work?


a)I live in Oregon on the West Coast of the United States. Right now I work construction and carpentry.


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


a)I might tell them it is really colorful or really dark, usually not at the same time. I would tell them it uses familiar imagery but plays it off of unfamiliar settings or surroundings. Geeez, that is a tough question. If they were blind I might suggest listening to some noise music supplemented by some cheech and chong stand up comedy.


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


a)My mother has been an active Potter and Artist for over 40 years. Since I was a little child I've been making stuff with her. But only since the age of 20 have I been putting it out into public view.


q) What are your favorite art materials and why?


a) Ooohhh, I love anything recycled. Looking through the trash or going to second hand stores is very inspiring to me. I love looking around at stuff and have it transform into the next project of mine.


q) What/who influences you most?


a) I am very influenced by popular culture. The very concept behind famous people is halarious to me. I love using their images and stories in my work. I am also very inspired by my surroundings. The NorthWest United States has a very prolific and interesting neighborhood of artists.


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


a) I guess I don't really have a "typical" day. I like to have a sketch pad or computer handy so whenever the opportunity arises I can jam something out. I think I end up doing most art work at night after I have taken care of all the days activities.


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


a) Through art I would like to meet interesting and creative people. Someday I would like the opportunity to travel to another country and have an art show or something. I regularly tell my girlfriend that through all this silly art stuff I spend my time on that someday it will get us a vacation somewhere.


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


a) I am very interested in artists that make and produce their own work. People that put on their own art shows or book their own tours. People that print their own zines or release their own music. I love artists with a DIY asthetic. I love artists that don't care where they fit in, they just keep making art because they have to. As for developments in art, I have been interested in intelectual property. I am interested in people owning the rights to music and images. Maybe I just keep up on that topic because I don't wanna get sued for using someone's picture in a collage or some dumb thing like that.


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


a) It typically takes me less than an hour to finish something.


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


a) I don't think I have ever sold an original piece of art. I make little art zines and sell those all the time.


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


a) Music is very important to me. I've been listening to Prince Rama of Ayodhya, Meth Teeth, Natural Bridges, Jeffrey Jerusalem, Breakfast Mountain, and ofcourse Dead Moon.


q) Books?


a) I'm reading "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" It is great soo far.


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


a) You gotta be true to yourself and create whatever your heart desires. Sometimes people are trying soo hard to do something that they lose who they really are. Create from within, don't worry about what others are doing.


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


a) I love playing with my dogs or watching live music. Drinking with friends or joking around and laughing about dumb stuff.


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


a) I've been putting out allot of friends music on my little record label, Oregan Records. I love working on packaging for music releases. I want to keep concentrating on this for a couple moments.


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


a) I like going to Together Gallery and Grass Hut in Portland. They are nice galleries run by nice people.


q) Any advice for aspiring artists?


a) Believe in yourself and just keep creating. Make stuff everyday.

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


a) www.NorthWestoftheNation.com


Thanks Claudio

sabato 5 settembre 2009

Interview with Paolo Giardi





q)Please introduce yourself.


a) My name is Paolo Giardi and i'm an artist. Well, i'm a bit of a factotum really... I can be many other things on demand: illustrator, window display designer, stylist for photo shoots, printmaker. Whatever involves creativity and a bit of fun. I've never done photography though, but i am working on it...


q) Where do you live and work?


a) I'm originally from Florence, Italy, but i have been living in London for the past 12 years. Currently based in Battersea. There is one room in my house dedicated to art, as a thinking/working little pad. I have tried working in a proper studio, somewhere outside, but it did not work for me.... i like having access to my things day and night since i'm not a 9 to 5 kind of person.


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


a) I like the word absurd. Maybe evocative, slightly unsettling. I tend to use, in my montages, lots of images taken from magazines and books. I select the ones that most stand out for me, and maybe have colt the imagination of other people too. I combine them using familiar languages, i don't know, sometimes Modernism and propaganda posters, sometimes illustration, sometimes using more classical kind of compositions. I want my work to have the emotional quality of a picture in someone's family album, a forgotten family album. Or in some instances, of a photograph that was never taken. A play on memory and perception.


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


a) I left school really early in life. At one point i thought i could have a great career as an accountant, despite the fact i never really understood math at all... That is when the epiphany occurred, and i started signing up to all these short courses: fashion illustration, still life drawing, etching ecc. I ended up at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Florence studying painting. Great times. It felt like finding my purpose in life again. Somehow, as it often happens, at one point i seem to have forgotten the fact that i spent all my childhood drawing lovely pictures of glamourous 1920's actresses. And making home made paper dolls. And my love affair with cut and paste.....


q) What are your favorite art materials and why?


a) As i said before, scissors, glue, magazine cuttings and paper are the materials i always go back to when i need a bit of inspiration and a quick artistic fix. I use montage as a starting point for paintings, for mood boards, to make intricate artist books. I like the sense of fragility and precariousness of paper. And i also like the unexpected and unintentional analogies that comes with collage making. My imagination would never be as prolific and witty without the helping hand of pure chance....On the other hand, i am still quite fond of painting and often to go back to unnecessarily complicated techniques of canvas preparation and oil mixes. I suppose i still have that old romantic vision of the artist/alchemist... dangerous territory...


q) What/who influences you most?


a) Personal experiences and memories. Collective phenomena and traumas. And a lot of history of Art. Dada has always been a great love of mine. Marcel Duchamp. All the jokes he was playing to his friends and to his audience. One of the best memories i have: a Dada exhibition at Tate Modern in London, this guy, all by himself, laughing his head off in front of Duchamp's "Roulette de Monte Carlo". Total genius. Laughter is always a great starting point, in art as in life. Charlie Chaplin, Lauren and Hardy. Everything that makes people smile. A smile and a cringe. Make someone feel at ease, and then stab him with a knife. Artistically speaking, of course.


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


a) My typical day would be: think, read a bit, think a bit more, write down a couple of notes, tear some cuttings out of magazines, file them in catalogued order, have a rest.... tomorrow i will start on that life changing project... and quit smoking...


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


a) Keep working, i suppose. And keep doing work that is somehow relevant. In art as in any other creative field. I would hate to end up getting lost in my little own world, you know, repeating myself endlessly. Recognition is great, but is not the driving force. The act of making something, whatever that will be, is enlightening for the human soul. (or maybe not)


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


a) Paul McCarthy, Raymond Pettibon, Thomas Hirschhorn. I don't know... so many. When i work, i try not to look around too much, it confuses me a bit. My attention span is quite limited as well, so, what i thought was magnificent today, tomorrow i will probably dismiss it as boring.


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


a) For montages, really quick. For paintings, ages...


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


a) No emotional attachment whatsoever. A finished work is an object, a product. Selling a piece is as good for your self-esteem as it is for your bank balance.


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


a) My taste in music is totally postmodern. I listen to opera, jazz, pop (remember my short attention span?). Lately i've been listening to some old David Bowie, as well as some new british groups like Golden Silvers and The xx, a scarily young group from south-west London. My i-pod compilation is a real eclectic mix though...


q) Books?


a) Books tend to collect dust. They give you itchy eyes... still they are extremely important. Lots of Chuck Palahniuk. So many different ideas all packed together. He writes in a very visual style, with funny yet disturbing stories. Great reading. The book i tend to go back to, when i need some comfort reading, is Marcel Proust's Recherche. It sounds a bit old fashion, but you will be surprised how much of everybody's life, friends and yourself, you will find in there. Real life changing (for the best and the worst) reading.


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


a) Everybody is an artist sounds incredibly cliche' yet full of promises at the same time.


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


a) Watching movies, surfing the net (and not always for pedagogical purposes), looking at trees, talking to people, flipping through magazines, looking at my new wedding ring. And dreaming of a better life on a beach in some exotic island... you know, Paul Gauguin style...


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


a) At the moment i am working with a couple of very good friends on the official launch of Less is More projects, a non profit art organization based in Paris. It will be launched with a curated show, held at the Slick Art Fair 2009 in Paris, at the end of october. I can't wait to see the end result. You can find more infos on the website www.lessismoreprojects.com.


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


a) I am really lazy when it comes to visiting shows... all that effort for a little reward... i'm always afraid of wasting my time. But i like attending BIG Art Fairs, like Frieze and Zoo in London, the Biennale, Documenta. Being bombarded with all those different artistic universes. That's a real buzz. One of the websites i visit for some fun visuals and new music is www.nuevosricos.com. The graphics belong to great mexican artist Carlos Amorales. I am not too keen on art magazines...


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


a) Your favorite quote? "I wanted to be a tap dancer", Andy Warhol.


q) Any advice for aspiring artists?


a) I wish there was a recipe that everyone could follow. Keep your feet firmly on the ground, and let your imagination do the rest. Maybe start with sleeping with a curator?...


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


a) My website is www.paologiardi.com.

Also check www.lessismoreprojects.com and

www.whitecrossgallery.com.