REBECCA HARTSTEIN

Name: Rebecca Hartstein
Age: 18
Country: Australia
At which age did you start creating art? And why do you feel compelled to create?
Since I was really young I did drawings. I mean since I was a toddler or something. Course, back then I would paint whole sheets of paper in one colour. I was a minimalist. I think I started drawing obsessively when I was about 10 though, because we all started watching pokemon and I wanted to draw pokemon, I guess like most kids that age. Only I forgot to get bored and go do something else. I don't know about the second part. Does anyone have an answer for why they create stuff? I'd like to hear it if they do.

What are you inspired by? And who do you look up to?
I'm inspired by great illustrators and comic book artists, and trashy vampire movies, soda cans, nature documentaries and folk art, the bush, hot air balloons, music of all sorts. Everything in general. I admire people who can pick just one thing and go for it! Someone like Li Wei who just has one really really good idea, and feeds a career on variations of the one thing. I also look up to people like Matt Furie, who, despite having ideas that make honest, god fearing people cringe, don't tuck them away in some dark corner of their brains and feel guilty about them.

Which influential artist would you like to ask for advice?
Dear Klimt, how can I make indie girls love me unconditionally?

If you had to put up one piece of artwork on your wall and stare at it for a year, who would it be by and why?
Something by Ben Quilty, because it would be massive, amazingly good
and the paint would be so thick that you could watch the shadows of
the brush strokes change through the days. You'd never get bored!

Tell us about your creative process.
Process makes it sound so well organized! For a complicated drawing
I'd not necessarily plan it ahead, but as I did it I would stop and go
to some scrap paper and work something out then get back to it. I
sometimes start in coloured pen and go over it in pencil or charcoal,
you'd be surprised how few mistakes I make that way actually. Doing it
in pen is a great incentive to be careful and pay attention to what
you're doing, otherwise I just make about about a billion smudgy
pencil lines and end up with very gray, beat up drawings. When all
else fails I do a bright and exciting background to distract from how
bad the drawing is.

For a painting though it's different, I'd just do it. No process at
all, look, apply paint, look again.

Do you ever find weird connections between life and art?
One time I did a quick drawing of a plane crashing before I went to
sleep, just because. That was the day before the airbus crashed in
France. Not saying I predicted it or something, but good coincidence,
yeah?
As an artist, are you Technical or passionate?
Passionate, definitely. I don't throw paint around or do acid or
anything, but it's still not a rational process.
How do you determine when a work is finished? Or is it ever finished?
When anything I changed or added would just screw it up, that's when
it's finished. it's pretty hard to judge that point though, usually I
err on the side of leaving it underdone.
Do you think there are boundaries you would never cross in your art making?
For a while I thought I would be free like a bird and go wherever the
muse took me and blah blah blah, then I heard that Guillermo Vargas
had tied up a dog in a gallery with no food or water, until it starved
to death. So yeah, there are boundaries. I'm not going to hurt
anything. Also, I'm not going to steal random bits of culture, like
some people do with Aboriginal dot painting.
What frightens you most about your art?
That someone might see it!

Do you have any magic cures for creative blocks?
Yep, play the trumpet.

Do you dream about your artwork?
Yeah, but more often I dream that I'm watching another artist doing an
amaaaazzzinnng painting, then I wake up and steal all their ideas.
Sucked in!

Which of your own works are you most proud of/ is most meaningful to you and why?
I like 'Vampires!' because, y'know, I like vampires. I don't think my
art is very deep.
Which art mediums and brands do you prefer to use?
Do I get paid for this? Ok, favourite thing without a doubt is my
stabilo colour pen set, there's 20 or so fineliners in every colour
and they are goddamn fantastic, wonderful pens. Get yours today!
What kind of art education do you have? Do you think it is important?
I'm in the second year of an art degree. No it's not important, but
what else am I doing with myself? Painting? yeah right.


Is your family supportive of your art? Who influenced and nurtured your creativity most?
Everyone! I can't even choose someone over the others, everyone was so
positive from the start.

Which direction do you see your art heading in the future?
Long term? dunno. I'm going to start screening some tshirts soon
though, so we'll see how that goes. I'm liking this design sorta stuff
it makes me feel useful.
Who are some of your heroes outside of the visual art stream?
Tom Cruise.