Saturday, March 24, 2012

Interview with Viktor Hachmang






q)Introduce yourself, name, age, location.

a)My name is Viktor Hachmang, I'm 23 years old and I'm based in The Hague, The Netherlands.

q)Can you describe your path to being an artist? When did you really get into it?

a)I'm not sure if I see myself as an artist, since I work in the grey area between art, illustration, graphic and product design. But I started out being obsessed by drawing and comics when I was young which gradually grew into a love for graphic design and (more recently) also a strong interest for the rest of the applied arts field.

q)Describe your ideals and how they manifest in your work.

a)I'm not attracted to any ideology, really. I try to avoid political commentary in my work. To me, the most valuable thing about art is the fact that it doesn't have anything to do with "real life", it's the realm of imagination and illusion.

q)Is music a part of your studio time? What do you listen to?

a)Music plays a big role in my creative process. When I'm working I tend to listen to one song continuously, mostly very long winding pieces or post-punk tracks with a lot of repetition. I guess music helps me focus.

q)How would you describe your work to someone?

a)Maximalist and very heavy on patterns.

q)Influences?

a)My main influences are Italian postmodern design from the 80s (Sottsass/Memphis/Alchimia) and 60s Japanese psychedelic art (Tadanori Yokoo/Keiichi Tanaami). But also Pablo Picasso, Hergé, Joost Swarte, Swip Stolk and Yuichi Yokoyama, among many others.

q)Describe your process for creating new work.

a)I'm interested in a lot of different aesthetics and in my work I like to reference famous artworks. So when I'm creating new work I mostly do a lot of research and then combine all these references and styles and try to make it look somewhat cohesive.

q)What advice do you have for artists looking to show their work?

a)The internet.

q)What are you really excited about right now?

a)Excited to see what the ceramic plate and textile I designed for Landfill Editions look like printed.

q)What do you love most about where you live?

a)That it's a big but quiet city.

q)Best way to spend a day off?

a)Museum, bookshop or the zoo.

q)Upcoming shows/projects?

a)I'm in a traveling group show called Power Redux together with Michael Willis, Hugh Frost, Øivin Horvei and Espen Friberg. It will be shown in Oslo and London this summer.

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

a)My website www.viktorhachmang.nl.