Mateo Dineen interview

Mateo takes snapshots of a parallel universe.
He is also an handsome artist. Learn that and more in this nice interview.
More about Mateo.

Mateo Dineen inbread drawing

PLEASE INTRODUCE YOURSELF
If you don’t already know me, I can tell you that I am extremely handsome and charming. However if you DO know me, please don’t tell the others otherwise.
I am an artist living and working in Berlin. I grew up in California, near San Francisco.
Here are some random things about me:

• I carry a pen and a stack of small notecards wherever I go.
• I don’t like mornings.
• I once had a job making balloon animals.
• I used to catch tadpoles and watch them grow legs.
• I love antique shops.
• My middle name is NOT Mud.

Mateo Dineen painting

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR WORK?
Snapshots from a parallel universe. That pretty well captures what it’s about. It’s everyday moments in a world very similar to our own, with characters oddly familiar. They have the same emotions and problems we have, but they are often rather furry, or made of metal.

Mateo Dineen monster character

PLEASE SHARE WITH US YOUR WORKING PROCESS
For me it all begins with a sketch. Sometimes it’s a doodle drawn without much direction. Other times it’s a constructed drawing coming from a direct idea. I have pages and pages of these drawings. Before I begin a painting, I usually flip through my stack of drawing and try to feel a connection to one of them. It needs to make me laugh or feel something, as if I’ve seen it for the first time. If it does, then I know it’s probably an image that others will connect to as well. I then dig through my collection of old boxes and wooden desk drawers. I look for the piece that connects best with the sketch. Once I’ve chosen the piece of wood, I often cover it with collage and do my best to enhance whatever patina the wood already has. Lastly I bring the main figure elements in and marry it all together into the final painting.

Mateo Dineen surreal art

HOW DOES YOUR ENVIRONMENT INFLUENCE YOUR ART?
My environment plays a big role in my work. If you see my work up close, you’ll see that I’m never painting on fresh canvas. My paintings are made on worn-out box lids, wooden suitcases, and rusty tin signs (to name a few examples). These objects come directly from flea markets here in Berlin. These old relics are very inspiring to me. The collage I use for the background is collected from flea markets too. I’m often entranced by the discarded letters, blueprints, and maps that I find. They tell a story of another time. These items enrich my work, and sometimes inform it.

Mateo Dineen artwork

WHO ARE YOUR INFLUENCES?
I have many. Here are few in order of appearance…Van Gogh, N.C. Wyeth, Ray Harryhausen, Edward Gorey, Dr. Seuss, Shel Silverstein, The Muppets, Bugs Bunny, Star Wars, Tim Burton, Brad Holland, Peter De Sève, Joe Sorren, Mark Ryden, Jeff Soto. The list goes on.

ANY LAST WORD?
I think it is important to point out that the creative process is what brings me the most satisfaction. By that I mean to say that the end result is not the primary goal. The finished painting is just the evidence of creation. The main goal is the act of creation itself. It is these moments of creation that I yearn for. I love to lose myself in the process. It’s like magic.

Learn more about Aron Wiesenfeld in this cool interview.

I wish I wasn’t an artist.
Because if I wasn’t an artist, I would probably make way more money, and would love to spend that cash on Aron’s art.
I’m a total fan.
Of course the artworks are more than impressive on a technical level, but it doesn’t even matter because of the emotional feeling that this artist manage to infuse in every piece.
But we are not here to talk about me.
Let’s listen to what the master has to say.
More about the US artist Aron Wiesenfeld.

Aron Wiesenfeld charcoal drawing called David

PLEASE INTRODUCE YOURSELF
My name is Aron Wiesenfeld. I’m an artist, and I work mostly in oil paint and charcoal.

Landfall, another inspiring artwork by Aron Wiesenfeld

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR WORK?
I do a lot of large scale paintings and drawings, usually with one central figure. The relationship between the figure and their environment is important, and the relationship between the figure and the viewer is also important.

Princess, black and white drawing by Aron Wiesenfeld

PLEASE SHARE WITH US YOUR WORKING PROCESS
My inspiration is usually based on something I had an emotional reaction to. The initial idea isn’t even an “idea”, more like an instantaneous flash from something I saw, or read. I usually don’t know the reason why it struck me, only that it hit something down deep. Then I sketch the idea, and mess around with it to try to distill that strong feeling that I had. The subsequent decisions during the process of painting are likewise trying to get closer to that feeling, and to express it. When the painting is finished, I like to think about the stories that could be behind it, and what it’s world is like outside the edges.

Snow bed, colored drawing by the US artist

HOW DOES YOUR ENVIRONMENT INFLUENCE YOUR ART?
Anything I see could be the spark for the next painting, like something in a movie, a person I saw while driving, or a sentence in a magazine.

WHO ARE YOUR INFLUENCES?
I go through phases of loving certain artists. Right now I’m really excited about these small paintings that Goya did of bandits in caves. The is a lot of suggestion of violence, but the details are obscured by the darkness, leaving the worst of it up to the viewer’s imagination. I find it absolutely intoxicating when an artist leaves that opening for the viewer to participate in the telling of the story. Goya did that so well in his later, more personal work. Generally I find I’m very drawn to scenes of twilight and the mystery of near nighttime, by artists like Whistler, Millet and many others.

The Nightingale, gracious girl by Aron Wiesenfeld

ANY LAST WORD?
The paintings are made totally for myself, but hope others will feel something like what I felt while making them.

Interview with the amazing painter Kelsey Brookes.

Kelsey Ross Brookes is an artist of fluorescent contrasts.
Explosive prisms of raucous color, bold imagery and timeless motifs combined in an energetic, sexual and humorous way.
He is represented by Quint Gallery in La Jolla (CA), New Image Art in Los Angeles, and Lazarides Gallery in London.
He lives in San Diego, California.
The painter first worked as a biochemist, but soon abandoned biochemistry when he realized that he was becoming something he didn’t want to be.
His artworks mix abstract and figurative forms with text.
Brookes works have been featured in most of the coolest publications such as Juxtapoz, Beautiful Decay, Dazed and Confused, Re:Up, and much more.
He has also collaborated with brands like RVCA, Vans, or Insight 51.
His paintings have been exhibited in some of the most prestigious galleries around the world.
I exchanged a few words with the talented and mysterious artist.
More about Kelsey.

Unicorn

PLEASE INTRODUCE YOURSELF
Kelsey Brookes, painter.

SOS, artwork on canvas by the painter Kelsey Brookes

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR WORK?
Visual hallucination mixed with a cartoon and a little bit of the fun visual effects brought on by a migraine headache.

Installation by Kelsey

PLEASE SHARE WITH US YOUR WORKING PROCESS
Paint, paint, paint, paint, interesting accident, figure out how to make the accident happen at will, paint, paint, paint.

HOW DOES YOUR ENVIRONMENT INFLUENCE YOUR ART
The warmer it is that easier it is to work up until a point then its just too cold to work.

Indolence, explosive painting by the US artist

WHO ARE YOUR INFLUENCES?
Hallucination, meditation, cartoons

Here Is The Great Thing, artwork by Kelsey Brookes

ANY LAST WORD?
You are as free as you want to be.