At which age did you start creating art? And why do you feel compelled to create?
For as far back as I can recollect I have tried to be creative in some facet or another. I certainly wouldn’t consider my early adventures into creativity art, more work that allows me to escape into my own reality for a while. I don’t like to throw the word art around lightly. I create because it is the most truthful personal expression I can muster and for some reason personal expression is the only thing that gives me satisfaction.
What are you inspired by? And who do you look up to?
Life, death, and interaction are my inspiration. Also symmetry, I’m a sucker for symmetry. I’m not one to admire, truthfully. I certainly respect people’s work but my mind is my own and it’s hard enough trying to figure that out let alone figure someone else’s out. I find it counter productive to have role models.
Which influential artist would you like to ask for advice?
I wouldn’t ask any artist for advice. If someone asked me for advice artistically I wouldn’t have anything to say. Artistic lessons are best learned through your own eyes, not from someone else’s mouth. I suppose though that I would like to sit down with Dali or Bosch and just watch them create without any kind of conversation. That would be pretty cool.
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?
The third triptych in Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delight. The one dedicated to hell. The detail and symbolism would take at least a year to uncover.
Tell us about your creative process. Do you ever find weird connections between life and art?
Well I’m an actor before a visual artist. So all my training in creative process has come from that. Its all about trust and risk. Grabbing a fleeting feeling and ridding it until its end. For my photography it’s a mixture of this and the right symmetrical balance. I remember when I was in elementary school we had a speaker talk about advertisement and she told us that the eye natural follows a Z pattern when scanning a page, starting with the top left and moving on down to the bottom right. Its always stuck I guess.
As an artist, are you Technical or passionate?
Being an analog photographer it’s a little more technical due to the fact that you are physically working with older technology that can be very temperamental. Sure there is emotion that goes behind each shot otherwise I wouldn’t have pushed the shutter. There is just too much checking, setting and framing going on to say I’m completely passionate. It’s easier to be passionate when technical situations create themselves and I don’t need to work for it, those times are always the most gratifying. I would like to be able to leave the technical stuff behind but then I would just be in the land of digital…and no one likes digital.
How do you determine when a work is finished? Or is it ever finished?
When that roll goes through my scanner. I like to keep the image as truthful to the actual negative as possible. Do the work before the picture so you don’t need to do it after. Keep it truthful.
Do you think there are boundaries you would never cross in your art making?
I don’t consider anything a boundary. Just ideas I haven’t gotten around to trying yet.
What frightens you most about your art?
The fact people would call it art. It puts your work in another realm. When I am taking my shots I don’t do it for the sake of art, or to prove myself artistically. I do photography because it makes me feel and allows me to express in a way that I wouldn’t be able to do otherwise. Also I fear becoming a pretentious artist completely disconnected from actual reality.
Do you have any magic cures for creative blocks?
For Photography: Go somewhere new where you’ve never been. Capture the most horrible or beautiful image around.
Generally: Write on a piece of paper for 15 minutes straight without lifting the pen off the page once. Not once. Just write any series of words or phrases in your head at that time no matter how non-sensical. Under no circumstances are you to stop.
Do you dream about your artwork?
Your dreams are an extension of your mind so in that sense they influence me. Directly my dreams don’t influence my photography though, in that I don’t try to recreate images from my sleep. Most of the images I use from my head are the ones that come to me when I’m awake.
Which of your own works are you most proud of/ is most meaningful to you and why?
This captures a moment in time I could never dream of, the light, the highlights, and the mood, like nothing I could have ever planned. Its like I took a picture of my mind. It’s viewed best in the dark.
Which art mediums and brands do you prefer to use?
Well like I said I am a film junky. I don’t use any specific brand of film on purpose but I do have a preference for expired film. Late 80’s to mid 90’s are the best. I am a pretty big fan of 126mm film as well for its lower quality grain and its high contrasting colours. I like the look of cheap and old looking photography. With that said my favourite cameras are my Rolleiflex SL26 which shoots 126mm, my Pentax SP II which shoots 35mm and my Diana-F 162B which shoots 120mm.
What kind of art education do you have? Do you think it is important?
I have zero visual arts education. I went to a high school that specialized in dramatic performance and I went to a university that also specialized in dramatic performance. This training has certainly shaped me artistically. Being allowed to create as freely and openly as I pleased for so many years has given me my perspective on reality. This has leant itself very well to my photography.
What kind of career do you ultimately want? And what kind of career do you think you'll end up having (or already have) realistically?
Ideally I would like to be a theatre actor as that is the art form I am most passionate about. As far as photography is concerned it is what I do to keep myself sane when I’m off the stage, although, lately it has become more then that and separated into its own entity. Realistically who knows, maybe working in the local Beer Store telling customers about how I almost made it.
Is your family supportive of your art?
100%. My family is full of very artistic people who were never truly able to follow any kind of artistic dream due to family obligations and the simple chore of paying the bills. So because of this I have had nothing but support from all my family, even if they are still a tad bit frightened for my future.
Who influenced and nurtured your creativity most?
My girlfriend is the one who influenced me to start using photography as a creative outlet. Her style and ability has certainly been a great inspiration for what I have been able to produce. I certainly wouldn’t be taking pictures without her.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/whitelightof3/
Check her link out!
Which direction do you see your art heading in the future?
That’s pretty hard to say, as I don’t really have a direction now. I just follow where I am at during that specific moment. My hope is that time permits me to be a little more prolific.
Who are some of your heroes outside of the visual art stream?
Like I said I’m not a huge fan of heroes but I certainly respect the work of, Jim Jarmusch, early German expressionistic directors like Robert Wiene, Mogwai, Do Make Say Think, Holy Sons, Tool, and Pink Floyd to name only a few.
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