Describe your style.
It’s a long night of drinking whiskey.
Tell us about your New York piece. How was it conceived?
I wanted to recreate the streets of New York City. I wanted to make it feel like it was a piece that thousands of people would walk by daily. I wanted to feel like the wall itself was held together by the lines of graffiti and the tattered posters. How much paint does it take to keep a wall together? How many posters have been wheat pasted to that wall. How many are still there remaining on a wall? How long have they been there making up the composition.
What does New York mean to you?
I wanted to live in New York for as long as I could remember. I got the chance to live there briefly, but I wasn’t ready for all the endless possibilities of inspiration. It began to stress me out so I moved away. It was a great time; a dream that I got to live. A dream that I will go back to again and again, just in small increments. The city is like a tsunami that hits all my sensors too strong at once.
Describe your most memorable New York experience.
July 3rd, two weeks after I arrived, I partied with friends from the afternoon ‘til the morning. I maybe slept for thirty minutes of the 4th. I woke up, got coffee, and went with some friends to see Sonic Youth in a park. That was nice.
Who/what are your creative influences?
Some artists that inspire me are: James Jean, Stuntkid,Bryoglyphics, Matthew Woodson, Antony Micallef, Katharina Grosse, Haluk Akakce. Music inspires me a lot, too, such as: Brand New, Damien Rice, Sonic Youth, mewithoutYou, Cursive, A Messenger, Medford Kinniburgh, Saul Williams, Mono, Sigur Ros, Muddy Waters, Miles Davis, and John Coltrane.
What’s the most unusual thing that’s ever inspired a piece of your art?
When I moved to New York from California I had an interesting journey. I was moving with two other people in a giant U-Haul going 60 mph (way to slow). So when we got to my home town of Oklahoma City, I decided to stay and just fly out to New York later. I went out that night, partied a little, and met a girl that was moving to New York from California. She was traveling alone (it’s crazy how it all works sometimes), and we talked for the remainder of the night. A couple of hours later with our hangovers kicking in faster than the morning sun through her hotel room, we left and drove to New York together. That was pretty crazy driving cross country with a stranger filled with the excitement that is about unfold for me once I got to Brooklyn. It was fun.
What’s the first picture you can remember drawing as a child?
I remember making books when I was little. The first one I made was “Roger Rabbit Goes to the Fair.”
If your art was music, what would it sound like?
A mixture between M83, Animal Collective, Ryan Adams and a sprinkle or two of John Coltrane’s Alabama or Chuck Berry’s Johnny Be Good.
What have you experienced recently that is going to inspire a piece of art?
Driving with the right music is always inspiring. I was listening to M83’s Lower your Eyelids to Die With the Sun and I was driving down the highway into a giant dark thunderstorm.The music matched up perfectly with the rain coming towards me.
What’s the best compliment/most extreme reaction you’ve had to your art?
I do performance art where I set my hands on fire and paint with my hands. It’s an intense show- very extreme and painful for me because the only protection I use is the latex paint I’m painting with. Kind of like a Pollock. Anyway, a girl began to cry hysterically at a show once. I talked to her afterwards and found out that she had lost a family member in a fire a couple months prior.
Could you share three unique things in your work space that inspire you?
Scotch tape, my fiancées laugh, and a clean work space (I have to get it dirty).
What websites do you check out regularly?
FFFFOUND, James Jean, Stuntkid,
What are your vices/guilty pleasures?
Shoes (I have more shoes than my fiancée), cigarettes and coffee, new music, traveling to new places or living in new places for short periods of time.
If you had to change careers, what would be next?
Marine biologists… The underwater world of the unknown…
Are there any upcoming shows or projects you’d like to share?
I am currently trying to put together a freelance team and trying to create three new shows for this summer.
