Interview with Lucas Simões

q)Who are you? Where are you from and

where do you live now?

a)My name is Lucas Simões I’m Brasilian,

artist and also architect, I

live and work in São Paulo

q)What is it that you do?

What media do you use?

a)in my work i use many different media,

I interfere in these media,

creating new meaning and sensations.

Lately I have been working with

books and photographs, but I`m

not a photographer.

I also have a lot of works using maps,

and other using mirrors.

q)What do you think sets your work

apart?

a)Maybe the easy way I move from one

media to another…

q)How long have you been showing your work for?  

Did you have a “big break?”

a)Well, actually I`ve been interested in art

and producing art since I

was very young, I made my fist solo

exhibition when I was 17, It was

absolutely another kind of work,

but I never stopped trying new things

since then.

Studying architecture was really inspiring

and made my work grow a lot.

I usually take a break between my fase

of creation, that’s why work as

an architect is also important for me,

it catalysis the mind, gives

time for my imagination to breathe.

q)What are some things that have inspired

you?

a)Life inspires me, music, friends, places,

ideas, mainly ideas I guess.

I like to study philosophy

( I wish I have more time for that)

q)What have you been working

on recently?

a)My latest work are portraits of really

close friends of mine, which I

invited to tell me a secret while I photograph

them, but I didn’t

listen to the secret, I asked them to choose

a song for me to listen

in my headphone while they were telling it.

the idea is to capture

this expression of telling a secret .

from this shooting session I

chose 10 different pictures which I

cut-out and overlay, creating a

"secret" portrait, with depth and different

patterns of cut. I also

asked them if the secret has any color,

and these are the color in the

portraits.

there are also the quasi-cinema works

(almost-cinema) that are made

with pictures I took from everyday-life or travels,

and for me some of

them would be a piece of a movie.

So I developed repeated frames with

a little move and sewed them on wood and

fabric, creating a stripe

that remembers cinema

the works with book are mainly a play

with the idea of culture and the

fetish knowledge, and what a book

represents with it

q)Do you listen to music while you create your work?  

If so, would you give some examples?

a)I always listen to music when im working,

lately I have been listening

a lot of Caetano Veloso, many different

albumns from him, also

brazlian music from the 60`s and 70`s,

and Coco Rosie.

q)Do you do work in any other media?

Other projects not necessarily related to your

main body of work?

a)For me it’s hard to say that my work has

a “body”, it’s easy to

realize the idea and connect them, but the

media are always changing.

q)What advice do you have for artists looking

to show their work?

a)To connect with people that like to share

opinions and ideas and

search engines no make exhibitons,

it’s important do participate

concourses and make exhibitions, and

think about the work.

q)Do you have any upcoming exhibitions of

your work that you can mention?

a)My next exhibition will be in New York,

a collective exhibition at

Josée Beinvenu gallery. I will show the works

from the research with

portraits and books

q)Where can people see more of your work

on the internet?

a)All my works are in my flickr

www.flickr.com/lucsa

Interview with David Bayus

q)Who are you? Where are you from and where do you live now?

a)My Name is David Bayus, Im originally from Detroit, Michigan but currently reside in San Francisco, California.

q)What is it that you do? What media do you use?

a)I think the easiest way to define my work would be mixed media. I utilize elements of sculpture, photography, digital art, and painting.

q)What do you think sets your work apart?

a)Im always trying to create a tension in the work by blurring the lines between different visual languages. The excessive nature of our visual culture implies that everything we see is reproduced countless times, and is disconnected and disassociated with its creators. from photography, to our clothes, even our food. Im fascinated by the ambiguity and anonymity of excess. I want to mash everything together.

q)How long have you been showing your work for? Did you have a “big break?”

a)Ive been showing my work professionally for 2 years now, I don't think Ive had a "big break" yet, but Ive had great opportunities so far, hopefully it will lead to a big one.

q)What are some things that have inspired you?

a)like I said earlier, excess inspires me. nothing is just one thing anymore. its all ambiguous. I love the abstract visuals of mundane waste. I love the disconnected nature of the digital processes. I love the idea of turning all those ideas on thier heads.

q)What have you been working on recently?

a)lots! I recently saved up for an amazing new digital camera, and that has completely blown everything wide open. so im excited to be focusing on a new body of work.

q)Do you listen to music while you create your work? If so, would you give some examples?

a)yes, honestly i cant work without music. Ive been listening to alot of different stuff. Girls- a band from San Francisco, Weekend, Ariel Pink, Arcade Fire. So far this week, Ive been listening to alot of great stuff from the 90's. Sonic youth, radiohead, etc.

q)Do you do work in any other media? Other projects not necessarily related to your main body of work?

a)Ive been quietly working on a series of photographs, but almost all my time is spent working on this new body of work.

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

a)Get your work out to as many blogs, websites, whatever, as possible. and go to local shows whenever you can.

q)Do you have any upcoming exhibitions of your work that you can mention?

a)yes, I have a solo exhibition here in San Francisco in June at Gallery Hijinks. If your not in the SF area, go to their website: http://www.galleryhijinks.com/ . and you'll be able to check out all the new work.

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

a)http://www.monsterandmidget.com/
http://beautifuldecay.com/
http://svartkonst.net/

Interview with Cezar Berger aka Berje

q)Who are you? Where are you from and where do you live now?

a)My real name is Cezar Berger, better known as Berje. I'm from Brazil, currently I live in a town called Guararema. I’m 20 years and I try to improve my artwork!

q)What is it that you do? What media do you use?

a)I'm an illustrator and a student of Graphic Design. I work with mixed media, my artwork is with Indian ink and coloring is digital.

q)What do you think sets your work apart?

a)The concept of new meanings to the symbols.

q)How long have you been showing your work for? Did you have a “big break?”

a)My work began about a year, but I had a break of at least seven months. I resumed these illustrations for about six months ago. So far my "big break" was to have participated in an interview on MTV Brazil.

q)What are some things that have inspired you?

a)Literature (George Orwell, Jorge Luis Borges, Paul Leminski), alchemy, religion, medieval engravings, thrash metal, skateboard culture, science fiction, anthropology ...

q)What have you been working on recently?

a)Recently I've worked with some commercial designs, but rather invest in collaborative works, these are the major determinants of personal and artistic growth.

q)Do you listen to music while you create your work? If so, would you give some examples?

a)Yes, music is the first element in my creative process. I hear a lot of different music: thrash metal, hardcore, dub, reggae, ska, experimental... But the band with the biggest influence in my illustrations is The Mars Volta. Their lyrics reflect many concepts that I use in my works.

q)Do you do work in any other media? Other projects not necessarily related to your main body of work?

a)When I became involved with art, a few years ago, I started with stickers and stencils. Spray cans are great tools to work! I have projects to take my drawing to the streets. I can also say that writing is another project that is not linked to illustration, but that's part of me.

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

a)My advice is simple: to disseminate his art as much as you can! At this point it is important to believe in their ability to show the world that you exist.

q)Do you have any upcoming exhibitions of your work that you can mention?

a)Unfortunately having an own exhibition is still a dream!

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

a)At the moment only on Flickr: www.flickr.com/berjeee