Interview with JOHAN KLEINJAN

q)Walk us through an intimate day in your life

a)Get up and wish I got up a bit earlier. Take a shower and have breakfast while listening to dutch talk radio. Go to my studio to work on new drawings or paintings and get distracted by internet. Recieve a call from a friend about stressful work, find out music people think i'm a teacher and accidentally get a great new idea for a new hip hop project.

Go to the other side of the city on my bicycle to get a roll of film developed, return to the studio and overhear someone in an other studio talking very loudly about pregnant prostitutes. Work some more and return home to cook or eat out with my girlfriend. Work some more at night and maybe watch a motorcycle gang series before going to sleep.,

q) Where did you grow up/where do you live now and how does that contribute to your art?

a)I grew up in a village called Zuid-Beijerland, close to Rotterdam in The Netherlands. Because my village and the surrounding villages were so small, all the kids from those places were put in the same class in high school. That's why there were lots of trashy, strange kids in my class who were very nice to draw. But somehow I was too stupid to finish high school and ended up in a technical school in Rotterdam. There I met more strange characters, like young moroccan drug dealers trying to sell me tasers, guys making their own guns, and a part-time croupier with a big sword. This all seemed very nice until I had to actually start working. Then I tried to escape to whatever art school that was willing to accept me, so I ended up in Rotterdam, where I still live.

q) What is your earliest memory that propelled you to create?

a)Lego propelled me to create and wanting to become a car designer, so I did more constructing then drawing. I only started drawing in my observational style when I met my superkrisis classmates in high school.

q) Tell us a little bit about your creative process.

a)If there is something or someone interesting around I start drawing in a cheap notebook. (At the moment I use notebooks made of blank yellow papers, because that kind of paper sucks up the in very nicely.) If its gone too fast or whatever I take a picture. In the studio it take more time to start working, because most of the time I combine various source-pictures in one drawing.

q) How do you wish for your art to be perceived?

a)I hope people will see the world around them a bit different after viewing my krisis people and skewed environments.

q) What do your internal dialogues sound like?

a)Ok, I'll finish this painting., Mmm what's happening on facebook,, ah! I should work on.,  …..................  Ai , there is still one drawing  to upload on tumblr,. Ok , work on … …..... . .. .  . Mmm, interesting race-bike wheels, buy new tires as well? How much are the shipping costs compared to this other shop?... stop! work on! ..Maybe it's easier to start with dark colors first and add lighter ones on top instead of the other way around.. Should I make this next one on paper or panel...?  Can I still find the pictures I need? , , , Aah, It's already 14:00. Aaagh, this gouache stinks, why do some colors start rotting while others stay fresh? Maybe if I let them dry they will stop stinking... 

q) Do you feel that there are limitations to what you want to create?

a)It's mostly a lack of time and an abundance of distractions that limit me.

q) Do you feel art is vital to survival and if so, why?

Mmm, for survival maybe only food and shelter are vital. But for me it's an important part of my life, as I'm always drawing of making things.,

q) Describe a world without art.

a)It probably won't look so different, only museums and art schools would be shopping malls or hotels, and galleries would be shops. But if all art is gone, people will immediately start making new work, except maybe when there is a worldwide dictatorship and all art is banned, but then artists can always go underground..

q) Tell us a secret, and obsession.

a)I am an otaku of everything

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

On my website, and new drawings and other small stuff on my tumblr

www.johankleinjan.com

http://johankleinjan.tumblr.com/