Sleep is an Art of Austin artist!
Sleep is Famous
AoA – How long have you been an Austin based artist and how did you find your way here?
Sleep – I came to Austin about four years ago for sunny weather and new adventures. After years of putting up with Seattle gloom it was time for a change.
AoA – When did you realize that you were an artist?
Sleep – I think most children have an artist’s spirit of discovery, but it was during my late teen years when I realized the power of connection that I found in making art. I began with small works on paper, using elements of sketching and collage, and then started playing with conceptual and public art, though I didn’t know to call it that at the time. One of the first conceptual pieces I worked on was what I called the “pink spoon” project. I bought a huge box of spoons at a thrift store, painted them all hot pink and planted them upright in the ground all around my school’s campus. The purpose was simply to introduce an unexpected element into the normal surroundings. Pretty much the same purpose of the Sleep sticker project. I like to shake up the ordinary and create a new diversion.
AoA – Can you speak to your art training?
Sleep – Primarily self-taught through experimentation and online resources, along with a few community art classes and info and techniques gleaned from fellow artists. By the time I graduated college with a business degree I wished I had attended formal art training instead. Looking back, I’m glad I took the path I did. I feel more well-rounded and less limited by art school expectations.
AoA – Where do you find inspiration?
Sleep – I’m inspired by what makes me laugh. Mostly amusing bits of dialogue that I overhear. I’m really just a comedian with a spray can. Also aliens.
AoA – What is your work concerned with?
Sleep – Present, future, past. In that order.
AoA – What are your preferred medium(s)?
Sleep – Ideas are the best medium. I also like screen printing, spray paint and acrylics.
AoA – Do you have any feelings towards Digital Art versus traditional mediums?
Sleep – They’re both important and inescapable.
AoA – Who are some artists that you look to?
Sleep – Duchamp, Rauschenberg, Edison
AoA – If you could own 1 piece from a living artist, who would it be?
Sleep – Christopher Wool
AoA – Big question. What do you feel the role of art is in the world?
Sleep – Art has the power to reshape or reexamine ideas and concepts that we’ve become complacent to. Producing and experiencing art is a critical element of the human condition. It helps to facilitate our evolution as a species.
AoA – What else do you enjoy besides making art?
Sleep – Deep thoughts, travel, sarcasm.
AoA – We almost hate to ask because that’s all we hear about these days, but how have you had to adapt as an artist to the current Covid-19 pandemic? Where can we currently find your work?
Sleep – While Covid has been overwhelmingly negative for humans this year, the forced quarantine has allowed me to sort of reset my goals and expectations for the future. I’ve used the time to begin a new series of abstract paintings, currently showing in Austin at Art for The People and Something Cool Studios.
AoA – Any final advice for all the artists reading out there?
Sleep – Picasso said “Everything you can imagine is real” and I agree with that. Believe in your vision and work hard. Create more opportunities for luck to find you.
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