“I draw everything I feel.”
When did art switch from a hobby to a career? Was there any noticeable transition?
I always knew in the back of my mind that it would eventually happen, even though it didn’t seem to be realistic until my late 20s. I had been working random labor jobs, my longest being a window washer role that constituted the majority of my twenties.There was a lot of daydreaming on a ladder, all while working on my paintings and screen prints in my basement. I quit once to try and survive on the art, but it didn’t work out very well and then I got a job back there again.
Around 27 or 28, I flew to Oslo to do a mural which was my first time on a plane — a surreal moment. Things started to pick up slowly from there, such as music cover commissions, which brought a lot of people to my page. Through that, I started to get a lot more opportunities and people looking to buy my screen prints and paintings.
Your work spans a range of human emotions, such as love and rudimental tasks, like mowing the lawn, to animals, fruit and insects — all created in a vibrant and surreal pastiche. How did this inclination begin?
My art represents my life, so I draw everything I feel. It’s how I’ve gotten through life almost as kind of a coping mechanism in a way and just documenting everything which ranges from happy to sad to melancholic, anger and frustration.
Just like everyone else, I strive to be content. The more rudimentary stuff is just finding happiness in small things and being grateful for everything. At times, I think I can be kind of manic in my head, but when i’m at peace I can truly just enjoy anything, which is why I try to capture those feelings…but I also just try to capture my ideas when I’m at the opposite end too.
The more simple studies also came from me focusing on just one aspect of
famous paintings that I love, along with my own work. I mentally crop out the majority of the piece I didn’t care for as much and dial in these parts that I love. Now I feel like I’m at a point where I’ve really sharpened that aspect that I want to start zooming out again.
