MIKE LAY

Name: Mike Lay
Age: 30
Country: The United Fate of America
Website: www.padlaversusmoij.net

At which age did you start creating art? And why do you feel compelled
to create?
Really young but really not. I don't know. I mean all kids
draw pictures... It's not really until you get to like 12 that you
start to try and live up to other people expectations and get
frustrated and stop. So I guess I started at like 17. I heard a Sunny
Day Real Estate song and everything kind of clicked. So unclever but
true.

I think its a bad habit at this point. Before that it was trying to not
just be a consumer. I mean like, back in the old days(or so I'm told),
people would hang out and play the piano and sing along with each
other. Now we just turn on the radio or play a song we downloaded. It
was about participating I guess. Make something. Even if it wasn't
great. At least I wasn't just waiting for someone else to do something
to entertain me.


What are you inspired by? And who do you look up to?
E V E R Y T H I N G. Seriously. I'm not specific. You can make
something beautiful from anything. It's much more about figuring out
what makes people feel something. I try really hard these days to not
let my snob bone kick in. I mean for shout outs... I can't even do it
without 40 pages and still feeling bad about leaving someone out. And I
listen and watch soooo much crap that I have no respect for.

Look up to is actually pretty tough cause my mom's dead.
 
Which influential artist would you like to ask for advice?
I don't know. Most influential artists are downright terrible. These
days they're really just designers. Back then they were just drug
addicts. I don't know. I used to really care about icons and public
figures. Nowadays I really just care about the people I met the other
day.


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? 
Oh no. This is like that 10 album desert island question. By the way,
desert is with one 's' and dessert is with two 's's cause you would
want two desserts. Damn, the things you remember from 3rd grade. But
ya, back on track. Fuck... after that last comment this one is gonna
sound bad... ok goddammit... i'm gonna regret this in the morning. Ok,
Max Beckmann's Departure. It really is just as close to classic and
perfect and universal as I've ever seen and I've never seen it in
person. It's narrative, vague, strong, soft, crazy... its as close as
I've ever seen to doing everything. although it's kind of a cheat by
being a triptych.


Tell us about your creative process.
There's really two main parts.
Research:
Get really really drunk with my laptop. Listen to absolute crap on
last.fm and myspace and fish for hours on the internet and indulge
every guilty impulse I have while drawing overreaching and unqualified
conclusions related to the personal thoughts of everyone in the world.

Production:
Get half drunk and hopped up on whatever
uppers I have around and listen to music as loud as my headphones will
go. Then I look for pictures/people I've never met that I like. Then I
just kind of start making something and try really hard not to qualify
anything that I'm doing.

Do you ever find weird connections between life and art?
ummmm.... or do you ever find anything that isn't connected. They are
pretty much the same thing as far as i'm concerned.

As an artist, are you Technical or passionate?
I don't know if passionate is a good word. I don't know if technical
is the right word. But there is very little precision and i'm most
definitely lost while working.

How do you determine when a work is finished? Or is it ever finished?
I usually get tired or scared. Sometimes a little of both.
 
Do you think there are boundaries you would never cross in your art
making?
I think this question is more about like kiddie porn or violence
or something like that. But the boundaries I deal with are usually
about doing things that I think work good in the context of what I'm
doing but are really fucking square. I think I'm getting better at it,
but it's a really hard line to work with.

What frightens you most about your art?
Delusions of grandeur or being a creeper.


Do you have any magic cures for creative blocks?
ya, move to a new town and start your life over every 2 years.
 
Do you dream about your artwork?
Nope... never really have many dreams.
 
Which of your own works are you most proud of/ is most meaningful to
you and why?
The last one I did. I've learned to ignore everything I've done before
that because I'll just see it and think it's crap and then lose all
confidence and never want to make anything again.

Which art mediums and brands do you prefer to use?
Oh shit... Let's talk shop!!! I love doing this. I'm such a boy. Ok...
For my bright color stuff... Most of the color is Stabilo point 88's
although before you go out and buy them they are kind of shit.
Staedlers are better. I have a really light touch so I can deal with
them. Your mileage may vary. Also use colored pencils. Doesn't really
matter. Prismacolor's are tops but crayola's will get you by unless
you're a blender. Ink is Microns(005 for the little lines) although I
hate microns. I have a ZIG Writer that I don't hate, but its pretty much
crap and that's really why I like it. A few Le Plume's. Also, Gel
metallics... I think they're Sakura. I can't remember. For ballpoint's
its bic crystal all the way. Although you have to search around for the
old USA made ones. No offense intended to Mexico, but the housing for
the ball is too big and they bleed after like 2 minutes and they scrape
too. For pencils(oh it's graphite these days... haha)... For the #2's
its Mirado. You can get them everywhere. For the 8B's and 9B's its
Faber-Castell 9000's. They don't seem to break as much. But other's are
ok too. For erasers its pink pearls and any old white plastic for the
light stuff. Oh ya, paper is Strathmore 400 off-white and regular
white. Also bristol, doesn't matter which.

What kind of art education do you have? Do you think it is
important?
don't know if it's important cause I've never been.

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?
I want to live alone in a field Nebraska with my dog. I don't really
care what I do for a living as long as it doesn't hurt any people or
animals.

Is your family supportive of your art? Who influenced and
nurtured your creativity most?
My mom used to buy me paint and pencils sometimes. No one nurtured it
really. It just kept happening.

Which direction do you see your art
heading in the future?
Short term... getting less imaginative. More direct. Can probably get
away with being more narrative than I could before. Less color. Or less
shine would be more accurate. Everything is more aggressive and
hopeless at the same time. Guess I'll be working on bottling that.

Who are some of your heroes outside
of the visual art stream?
Heroes are for zeroes.