Sunday, March 31, 2013

Joseph Arruda (Zeruch)


Name: Joseph Arruda (Zeruch)
Website: http://zeruch.deviantart.com/gallery or http://zeruch.net

What do you do?
By day, I am a “Senior Product Manager” at a software company; I’ve worked largely in technology for the last dozen years, and its something that surprisingly has lead to discoveries about concepts I can apply to creative work.  I’m educated as a political wonk, and even though I’ve rarely used the knowledge professionally, I still am an active consumer of political research materials.  One day I hope to move to something like the Congressional Research Service or the State Department, assuming I can ever get past the idea of DC winters.
Otherwise, I have moonlighted as an illustrator and fine artist.  My sole departure from this was 18 months as a principle conceptual artist for a now defunct video game startup in the early 2000s...and experience that nearly killed my creative spark.

Where can we find your work?
It’s predominantly online, with a few private owners (mostly in the Bay Area, but a few in far afield spots like Washington DC, Portugal, Australia, Netherlands, Scotland and probably a few other spots; people buy my prints, but I know not always where they end up).

What inspires you to create and how do you keep motivated when things get tough?
It’s axiomatically a compulsion, so I just do it.  Motivation rarely factors in since I usually have more ideas than I can ever execute on. If I don’t feel like creating, that’s ok (although that’s an unusual state, I’ve had spells where I’ve walked away for a few months at a time, only to come back and produce at a ridiculous clip) and if I am, I just do.  Different projects have different secondary motivators; some commissions are very pecuniary, others are only labors of love that happen to be paid for.  I generally work the same way regardless in terms of execution -- the only difference is the cathartic effect I get from the activity.
When the muse is there (and she is there often, in a lot of forms, because I am just as apt to get an idea from following the curve of a womans figure as I am from the curve of a teapot design, or the curve of a beach or...yeah, it just works).
Maybe that’s why it works: since I never force it, ideas/motivation mostly self-regulates to the “on” position.  I keep sketchbooks in every room of the house, including the bathrooms. I jot stuff down all the time.

What do you think is more important content/finished product or technique/process?  
I don’t have that type of separation.  The process is the compulsion, so it MUST get done.  But I view works as things that can have many lives; you can “finish” something, and then as your technique or approach changes, you can revisit that as many times as you wish afterward.  The objects one create have lives that can extend well past the initial potential.

Who are some people who influence and/or inspire you?
I’m a fan of the arbitrary top 10 lists, so here is my (un-sorted) top 10 list:

Bill Sienkiewicz
Pablo Picasso
Antonio Lobo Antunes
Kent Williams
Miles Davis
Vernon Reid
Alvaro Siza
Jasper Johns
Akira Kurosawa
Mark Romanek

If you could be any fictional character who would you be?
George Smiley.

When do you get your best ideas?
Because I'm responsive to contexts more than specific triggers, it really could be anywhere and at any time (its why I keep small sketchbooks in every room of the house). That said, there are some times when the good ideas seem to materialize more concretely, and thats usually deep in the night or otherwise very early in themornings when I'm waking up (I sleep minimally and at 6-6:30 when I wake up it strangely can often be a time when at least a lot of big project ideas seem to just "show up" in myhead).


What materials/tools do you use most to create your work?
I use a pretty broad array of items, depending on the size and type (representational or abstract), and I made a small blog post that takes a swipe at laying it out visually:
http://zeruch.net/wordpress/?p=3144

Are you self taught or formally educated? How do you think that has influenced or affected your work?
I have taken some formal courses in college, and was an AP art student in high school, but most of my studies were self directed.  Lots of library visits for books on art history and techniques, and heaps of trial and error in the studio.  I got more out of trying to learn formal rules and ignoring them as I needed than just being indoctrinated from the get go.

What would your creative work taste like?
A multi-course Chef’s tasting menu, with wine pairings.  It would be pretty savory, and hopefully leave you very sated.

When you are not creating what do you like to do?
I play with technology, mostly in the Open Source space.  I probably qualify as having a half-assed “active” lifestyle (I like things like trail running, doing “Tough Mudder” type events, and otherwise fooling around outdoors).  I read lots of really wonkish stuff in terms of international politics, and otherwise am never “bored”...I keep busy every moment I can.  Life simply is too short to sit on your ass.

How did you learn to access your creative talents and gain the confidence to put it out there for everyone to experience?
I didn’t.  It was my negation of confidence that helped me along.  I always am both my own worst critic and biggest egomaniacal advocate.  My work is almost exclusively for my own edification only.  When you feel confident you’ve addressed your own needs, putting it out there regardless of what reaction may come (or the absence thereof) seems pretty easy to handle.
Frankly, I am still amazed when anyone notices my stuff, positive or negative.  It means I in fact have inspired some kind of reaction, which I assume is something that only works on me.  Often the reaction interprets what I’ve done differently than how I experienced it.  But its not my place to correct someone on how they experience/perceive what I’ve done.  Their experience is just as valid.  Its theirs, and based on whatever context they happen to be in.  

What advice would you give others just beginning their creative adventures?
This is one of those questions thats just hard to even wrap ones head around.  You have to be open enough with yourself to look for the path you need to take to get where you want to go.  Maybe thats bunkering in a basement for weeks at a time, maybe thats putting yourself out there in the public eye every moment you can. Maybe you work with a mentor. You have to be honest enough with yourself to define what that is...then take steps to do just that.
There are no cookie-cutter steps.  You make your own adventure.  You can be scared or unsure of yourself, but you just keep at it.  To grossly mis-paraphrase my favorite Henry Rollins-ism, “Get Up, Go Again”.



Sunday, March 17, 2013

Nicolas Caesar


Name: Nicolas Caesar
What do you do? I’m primarily a painter and cartoonist.
Where can we find your work? Primarily at my web site www.scary-art.com, locally at Psycho-Donuts in Campbell, CA, On the Corner Music also in Campbell and I’m a regular at Kaleid Gallery in downtown San Jose. You can also find my work at Hyaena Gallery in Burbank, CA, Sideshow Studios in Sacramento, CA, Gallery Sev Ven in Huntington Beach, CA, and The Funhouse Gallery in Michigan,. Outside of the regular spots – I’m kind of the girl who can’t say no when it comes to shows and you can find my work from Norway to Afghanistan.

What inspires you to create and how do you keep motivated when things get tough?
I have this rabid need to create. It’s obsessive. To date I’ve sold over 3,000 pieces and still hammer out volumes. It’s kind of like straining a nuclear bomb through your mind. Just this pushing, drumming thing that even when all I had was Ramen and chocolate syrup in my refrigerator I was still creating.
I think it’s important that ever artist know that some months you’re rich and others you’re poor. This is not the vocation to get into for the money. You get into it because it’s everything you are and there’s little choice in that. There’s no happy ending but a journey and your art is the journal. You really have to be a fighter, a mad ship captain, and trudge through it. It’s hard, it’s unforgiving, but beyond your successes and failures – you just have to look forward.
Be you first and foremost. Too often people measure themselves against Warhol, Giger, Ernst, Picasso, and that’s a horrible life plan. You will always lose. You will be crippled with depression. In the low times remind yourself that this is your path and it’s uncharted and if you have a solid foundation nothing will draw you down.

What do you think is more important content/finished product or technique/process?  
Definitely it’s the process. It’s my therapy. It’s thinking in the shower. It’s the trance I go to to makes sense of life, death, existence, and this orchestra of brain chemicals in overdrive. When it’s finished it’s no longer mine, it’s someone else’s journey. No matter what was in my head as I was creating it someone else will buy it because it has a cat in it, because it’s blue, or because they have an overpowering emotional response to it. My job is done.

Who are some people who influence and/or inspire you?
When I was growing up I loved Edward Gorey, Parsonovich, Ralph Steadman, Gerald Scarfe, Charles Addams, Johnny Rotten and Screamin’ Mad George. As I got older it was Alex Toth, John K and Jim Smith of Ren and Stimpy and Bob Clampet. Throw them all in a cocktail and you have the best friend I could ever have growing up.

If you could be any fictional character who would you be?
I think I’d be Beetlejuice, I always seem to be taking the piss out of the people around me. I have this cartoonish look on the world. If I was ever able to manipulate reality it’d be full of my monsters.

When do you get your best ideas?
I go on eBay an do random searches for ‘rubber jiggler’ or ‘unknown monster’. I look at a lot of old toys and I’m big into cryptozoology. I like folklore, urban legends and anything that can conjure up something otherworldly in my mind. I even look at Dungeons and Dragon’s Monster Manual every now and then.

What materials/tools do you use most to create your work?
I use a sponge brush, acrylic pain and Sharpie paint pens.
Are you self taught or formally educated? How do you think that has influenced or affected your work?
I’m self taught. I think it allows me to put in more chaos. I think when you’re trained it gets really hard to color outside the lines. As Self taught you run with the challenge and you’re always learning, there’s more development and evolution. I appreciate both but I think there’s something about holding your breath and taking the plunge that’s too exciting to give up.

What would your creative work taste like?
I think Fruit Stripe gum lol

When you are not creating what do you like to do?
I watch a lot of movies! I’m a crazy cinephile! I have hundreds on top of hundreds of dvds from video mix tapes to the Pokemon episode that caused seizures. I’m always digging in mom and pop video stores for forgotten treasure.
I also play a lot of Left 4 Dead 2. As an artist I think it’s important to build a tolerance to hecklers and at the same time have an arsenal of retorts. Batman practiced on criminals, I practice on the angry gaming community. If you’re too raw as an artist people will say “My kid could do that” and if your technique is too good people will say “Well, why not just take a picture?”, and of course “Well, what do you do for money?”. Having pre-set retorts can save you a lot of time on the soapbox justifying yourself to people who talk out of their asses.
I also chase my wife around the house like Pepe Le Pew

How did you learn to access your creative talents and gain the confidence to put it out there for everyone to experience?
It was really the school of hard knocks. I had always been an artist, doodling this or that, and when I was in grade school I really started to feel the difference. I had asthma so I had to stay indoors most of the time so I could, well, breath. I think having all that time to myself and this runaway imagination really sculpted me. In High School I was the weird one which was great because I was mostly ignored as other kids got beat up. When you’re on your own Gilligan’s Island and you have no limits to how you express yourself you find great power in that. I just pushed more and more out of the rabbit hole. The stranger the better.
Putting it out there was the first challenge. I didn’t know what to do. I was one of those artists that didn’t show outside of their room. That was until I started going to The Cactus Club in Downtown San Jose. I saw a connection to my art and the visual backdrops of bands like Diatribe and My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult. I got my first band, they were a Christian industrial band called God Dog. They weren’t Skinny Puppy but seeing how people reacted to my sculptures – I think the world made sense. After that I showed my art in a lot of Goth / Industrial / Bondage Clubs in the San Francisco. I didn’t get my 1st real Gallery show ‘til years later but while others were going the gallery route I was showing art at everywhere from Adult Boutiques to Halloween parks. Later the internet leveled the playing field, you didn’t have to go to a gallery to find art, you had a search engine. It was empowering because showing outside the galleries I was getting more traffic and at the same time it was less intimidating for collectors. When at first – people would leave the space because I didn’t paint landscapes – then people started coming in and were happy because I wasn’t painting landscapes. My stuff was quirky and weird but most of all affordable.  

What advice would you give others just beginning their creative adventures? 
Don’t watch Basquiat, Pollock or and of the heavy handed movies about dead artists. They’re commercials. Just like He-Man was made so you’d buy the toys. Most were poor and are no different than you or me. You’re just seeing their A Roll.

Kill your inner critics. All critics are useless.

If all else fails paint cats.

Network. Be genuine and nice to people.

Think outside the gallery box. Restaurants, hotels and bars need art too.

Dismiss ideas about being a success or failure and just be you.


Don’t give up.

Sunday, March 3, 2013

Sean Boyles

Name: Sean Boyles
Website: seanboyles.com thearsenalsj.com

What do you do?
I paint, draw, make prints, teach others how to do the same, own an art store, drink out of a ninja cup, BBQ, play soccer, play video games, publish books, feed cats, paint murals for tons of cash, paint murals for free, paint custom jobs, paint commissions, paint what I want, illustrate, design, stay up late, wake up early, fall asleep at work, print tshirts, make stickers, make panels...handle business

Where can we find your work?
All over, but mostly around the US. Right now in San Jose, over at Current Tattooing, and on the walls in The Arsenal

What inspires you to create and how do you keep motivated when things get tough?
I take on as much work as possible, so if one project starts to become more work than fun, I can just work on something else for a little. 

What do you think is more important content/finished product or technique/process?
Neither, or both. Each piece has two lives. The creation, or process is probably more important to me, than a viewer, but once it leaves my hands it's more important what it means to the viewer, than how I feel about it. Usually by the time the work is out there in the world I'm over it, but for others it's brand new, and hopefully there's something in the piece that the viewer can connect with. 

Who are some people who influence and/or inspire you?
Close friends who also make art, old timers who are still at it perfecting their craft, generally anyone passionate about their work. 

If you could be any fictional character who would you be?
Bigfoot, unless he's real, then I would be the next closest thing-Chewbacca, or maybe The Incredible Hulk. 

When do you get your best ideas?
While doing things I hate, or working a shit job. 

What materials/tools do you use most to create your work?
Mostly two dimensional tools: paints, inks, pens, drawing tools

Are you self taught or formally educated? How do you think that has influenced or affected your work?
Some of both. In school I got to be around some amazingly talented professors and peers, but I also put in a ton of work by myself figuring things out, and discovering techniques. 

What would your creative work taste like?
Probably something horrible. 

When you are not creating what do you like to do?
Destroy

How did you learn to access your creative talents and gain the confidence to put it out there for everyone to experience?
Just making the type of work I enjoy, and I think when it comes to showing it's a combination of working hard, being persistent, and getting lucky. 

What advice would you give others just beginning their creative adventures?
Make stuff you like, and become the best at doing it