Interview with Julian Kimmings

q)please tell us a brief info about yourself.

a)My name is Julian Kimmings, I'm an artist and illustrator. I live in Chester in the UK.

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

a)It sounds cliche but I always wanted to be an artist. I started painting at a very early age and explored oils, acrylics, water colours and various printing techniques before I started high school. I studied art all way through school. Then progressed to graphics and Illustration at College and later at University, graduating with a 2:1 in Graphic Design/Illustration from Linconshire University back in 1997. After which I started working in the design industry, became disenchanted with my profession and started painting again at the end of 2008. 2009 has been a year of re-birth for me as an artist, it's been a lot of fun and I've met a lot of very nice people in the process.

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

a)I have been using acrylic paints, aerosols (Montana, Belton and Ironlak) and acrylic inks most recently. I like the texture and vibrant colour aerosol paint give me, it's feels instant and drys quickly. I'm an impatient artist and don't like waiting around for paint to dry. If I get an idea of how something should look or feel, I need to apply those thoughts immediately or they'll be gone.

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

a)Life - Life is hard, it holds no punches and is not very forgiving, maybe in someway I'm exorcising my demons through my artwork. My mind is constantly racing with new images, vague ideas and I think without the art, I'd go mad.

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

a)I went to college, but art college in the UK is basically a three year party, so I consider myself 'self-taught'. I'm constantly learning, studying other artists and new techniques, working further with the ones that feel right for me.

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

a)The Internet is great for research, talking to other artists and basically keeping an ear to the ground. I find Flickr very helpful because I can go to art exhibitions and shows via my laptop, rather than having to be there and because of this I can see work from all over the world that I'd never have had the opportunity to see before.

q)What are some of your current projects?

a)I'm working on a skate deck for an exhibition in Italy for early 2010 and I have a handful of commissions to complete also in the new year. I would like to update my website sometime soon when I get the chance.

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

a)'Rain'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kimmings/3603579356/in/set-72157614389826733/
is the piece I did at Upfest 2009 and the piece that really changed the way I worked for quite sometime. It came about by accident, the space I had planned to paint was much larger so I had to think quickly and adapt with a few hundred people watching on.

'Cardboard Shelter'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kimmings/4126229766/in/photostream/
This is the piece I made for the Cardboard Shelter exhibition in Newcastle at the end of 2009 - all the proceeds went to charity. It's also one of the smallest pieces of artwork I've painted since I picked up the brushes again. Before hand all my work was on canvases - this was 210cmx297cm cardboard and was a challenge to paint using aerosols.

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

a)I want to get some screen printing and patterns into my artwork. I've asked Santa for a set of oils for Christmas too. :)

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

a)I spend as much time as I can with my children and exercise regularly, having time to clear my mind is important.

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

a)(see above)

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

a)I'm a huge fan of Herakut, Bestever Crew, Hush, Antony Lister, Charlie Isoe + Tamara Muller... pretty much all art/design/music is inspirational to me.

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

a)Thanks - You can purchase some originals online at kimmings.co.uk - I'm planning to release some more prints early in 2010 also.

Interview with Joana Coccarelli

q)Please tell us a brief info about yourself.


a)I was born and raised in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and have been living here my hole life. I´m 33 years old and part of my family came from Italy to work and live in Brazil during the 1st World War. I´m single and got four cats. I´m also a Marketing Coordinator for an IT company focused on healthcare. Besides my interest in Arts, I´m also a free-lancer journalist for the internet, fashion consultant and a sitar player.


q)Tell us about your humble beginnings. When did you first realized that you wanted to be an artist?


a)I´ve never thought about being an artist. Instead I was always aware that I would become a journalist or a writer, because of my curiosity and good text. But I was raised on an “artistic” environment: my father is an architect and an artist himself. His main subject is the naked female body. I built him a website to show his works online (www.coccarelli.art.br). My mother used to work as a fashion producer and consultant and today she is an interior designer. As a child, I´d love to draw. I won a prize at school´s Art class. When I was a teenager, I used to cut photographs from my mother´s fashion magazines in order to illustrate my diary. I would write down what happened in my life and put an image that could translate the general idea and so on. My interest on collage started to show because of a friend of mine that is an awesome collage artist, Iuri Kothe. I published an interview about him and asked for some tips so I could start to make collages myself – it seemed a fun thing to spend time doing. I never really started until April 2008. That month I wasn´t able to attend my shrink and then instinctively started to cut magazines and create those random compositions. Later I felt like showing them to my shrink and she was able to relate them to my inner self. I couldn´t stop making collages since then. It´s a inner necessity, so sometimes I have a hard time recognizing me as an artist. I understand that this is Art, but for me my work has a bit of a different meaning.


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


a)I use books and magazines to get the pictures. I call it the “research and edition” step: I go through the publication and choose what images are interesting, cut them and keep them on my file. I usually don´t have a previous idea of composition when I do that: I simply choose an image that I find inspiring and keep it with the others. Then I eventually sit down, open my file, grab some cuts and start to create a composition. I use actual scissor and glue to make them. I don´t know how to use Photoshop so nothing is digital. Everything is handmade. Because of that, I say I work with limits: limits of size of the cuts, their colour, quantity, quality. I actually find it exciting.


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


a)My inner demons, for sure! I think it´s a great way to know them and deal with them. I try to make them look good so they bother me less! q)Is your artistic background self-taught or did you go to college to study? a)It is instinctive, self-taught. My Art lessons at school have some influence, though.


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


a)I visit around 70 Art, Design and Science/ Technology blogs and websites daily. The Art and Design pages have images that say a lot about the moment we are living, what´s about to change, what´s next. The same with Science and Technology pages, I am completely thrilled about the latest discoveries on space, robots, our bodies, nature. They have an amazing impact on my collages.


q)What are some of your current projects?


a)Well, I just extracted one of my wisdom teeth and I am using it along with collage, a computer circuit and canvas. It has a cavity, so that´s its name. I´ll extract two more wisdom teeth next month and will use them on two more pieces, and then make a triptic with the first one. I´m also finishing The Zodiac Attack series, which brings collages that represent each one of the 12 zodiacal signs. You can see it on my Flickr page.


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


a)I have a special feeling for Uterus. I hanged it on my bedroom wall. It´s the only abstract collage I made and I think it shows a strong aspect of the female subjectivity. It is not one of my most popular works, though.


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


a)I´m starting to introduce computer pieces and canvas on my collages. I´m also getting the calculus (stone) my mom extracted from her bladder and will use it on a future work.


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


a)I only start a collage session when I have a need and plenty of time, and I stop it as soon as I recognize the work is done, or that I should wait an idea to mature.


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


a)Reading and writing on the internet, talking to and meeting friends, watching movies at home, listening to music, smoking shisha, buying fabric to make new clothes for myself, playing with my cats, reading magazines.


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


a)I love Yoko Ono so much. Her life is art itself. I´m a lot into street art as well, from graffiti to flash mobs. As the situationists used to say, “La beauté est dans la rue” – beauty is on the streets. I also like artists that defy the copyright notions as Shepard Fairey. As a collage artist, I´m dealing with copyright limits all the time. On my early works I didn´t mind them, but as I started to be part of exhibitions and more public projects, I started to be careful on the way I use an image.


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


a)E-mail me and say what picture you are interest in. If it doesn´t have possible copyright implications, I´ll be very glad to sell it.

Interview with Andrew Perry Davis

q)please tell us a brief info about yourself.

a)I grew up in Greenville, South Carolina.  I have always felt the urge

to express myself through art.  It is a way for me to communicate

ideas that are hard to express in words.  I studied art in South

Carolina and Pennsylvania.  Since then I have taught art in Michigan

and Indiana.  I am currently living in Bloomington Indiana with my

wife and cats.

q)Tell us about your humble beginnings, When did you you first

realized that you wanted to be an artist?

a)I realized early on that I find myself and loose myself with art.

Creating makes me vulnerable.  I share my brokenness in my art and I

think that is what people connect with, since we are all broken in

some way.

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

a)I usually have a sketchbook with me.  It is an immediate way to record

ideas.  Some ideas would be best suited for a painting; others would

be better to develop as a sculpture or performance.  But there are

themes running through each.  Some ideas can be expressed in multiple

media.  While there are implied narratives in most of my work, I also

draw comics.  In these I explore some narrative with a specific

character.

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

a)Running through all of my work is an interest in psychology, the

supernatural, loss of identity, and dreams.  I keep a dream journal

and those sometimes show up in my work in one form or another.

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

a)In art school the institution enforces certain criteria.  There is a

separate creative energy within the students. The students must work

toward their own goals within those criteria.  The teacher is in a

position to influence the student toward growth, or to stifle them.

It is a sticky position to be in.  As a teacher, I must be able to

detect the creative potential in the student and lead them toward

better expressing their ideas.

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

a)I went to the dumpster to throw out some large sculptures that had

been sitting around too long to find four raccoons huddled in the

bottom of the dumpster.  They had jumped in thinking it was full, but

it was empty and the walls were too slick for them to climb out.  I

found some more old sculptures and piled them up.  I waited for the

raccoons and watched them climb the sculptures to get out one by one.

The sculptures had gotten stale but serving this purpose gave them new

life.  Sometimes the little things are the positive affirmation from

the universe I need.

q)What are some of your current projects?

a)I am currently drawing back from the more concept driven work and

concentrating more on throwing pottery on the wheel.  I am energized

by the technical challenges and gratified by the user interaction of

functional ceramics.

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

a)I really enjoy collaborating with other artists.  I my work I am

striving for a connection with others, but while creating it I am

usually totally isolated.  In collaboration there is a definite felt

connection.  This is the work I find most creatively gratifying.

q)Are there any areas, techniques, mediums, projects in your field

that you have yet to try?

a)I would like to have my own gallery or art space.

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

a)Life is not linear.  It is loopy, like a settler blazing a trail

through a dense forest, displaced and wandering.  There is no sense of

direction, no real way home.  I try to avoid sticky webs that will

bind me.  I develop some kind of pattern to my behavior.  In

repetition of habit we forget the random nature of our existence.

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

a)I enjoy reading, writing, going for walks, watching movies and hanging

out with my wife and cats.

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

a)My paintings are influenced by the work of self-taught artist Henry

Darger.  A ceramic artist whose work I admire is Kim Simonsson.  I am

also always deeply affected by the works of Paul McCarthy, writer

Thomas Pynchon, and director David Lynch.

q)We really like some of your pictures, how can we get our hands

on them? Do you sell them? How?

a)Thank you for your interest in my work.  If you would like to contact

me about availability feel free to email me.

Interview with Ralf Obergfell

q)please tell us a brief info about yourself.

a)I was born in Freiburg, Germany and grew up in Staufen, a small town 20km south of Freiburg. First picked up a camera at the age of 15 and documented my friends at school. Confused and curious about my sexuality, I decided to move to London age 20 to explore what's out there...personally and creatively.

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

a)As teenager I was very much into the music of  80's British bands like The Cure, Duran Duran, Depeche Mode and Eurythmics and was transfixed by London's New Romantic fashion. This, together with my passion for photography as well as my sexual curiosity, made me think 'I think I'm a bit different from my mates at school'. 

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

a)A lot of my work is based around my immediate surroundings, like my friends, where I live and the GutterSlut club parties that I put on with the Dalston Gay Mafia. Tools of the trade? Perhaps personal relationships and a love for the crazy, weird and wonderful. 

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

a)My boyhusband and friends, GutterSlut, other artists whose work I admire. Greenpeace, music, magazines, books, films.... Fantasy and desires, every day happenings really.

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

a)My dad was an enthusiastic amateur photographer. When I was little he would teach me a few basic elements of photography in terms of exposure and lighting. From there on I taught myself. Later I studied and graduated at London College of Printing, however not in a photography relating context.

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

a)I look into other artists, friends and areas of photography and art that I find fascinating. Though generally I just keep shooting whatever catches my eye and inspires me at a specific moment of time. 

q)What are some of your current projects?

a)My new show 'Beautiful Freaks'  (a collaboration with artist and set designer Tony Hornecker) opens in London on 24 September. The body of work that makes up Beautiful Freaks finds its origins specifically back in 2005, at the time when East London's Electro scene started to gain real momentum.

Beautiful Freaks is a celebration on the new generation of exotic creatures at a new wave of events including Gay Bingo, GutterSlut, Trailer Trash, Horse Meat Discos NYC Downlow and the Pale Blue Door.

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

a)I've been shooting for over 20 years, so to pin point specific proud moments is a hard one. 'Thomas and Marc frolicking in the bath' is a memorable picture as it was one of the very first photographs I ever took. The 'Beautiful Freaks' and 'Last Stop' works have been labour of love projects. As well as some individual images of my friends and lovers. 

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

a)I've been working on some new ideas. Watch this space. ..

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

a)Exercising, nature, traveling, Berlin, a healthy diet, plenty of sleep, regular breaks, reading and quality time with my friends, boyhusband and Lucky (the dog).

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

see question above

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

a)Per QX, Tony Hornecker, Antonio Urquillo de Simon, Ryan McGinley, Slava Mogutin, Alexey Kiselef, David Lynch, Larry Clark...are all very exciting artists that keep re-inventing and push boundaries, I'm very much into that... 

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

a)Just  shoot@ralfobergfell.com