Tag Archives: illustrator

Artist Spotlight: Andrew Luk

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“Worked His Fingers Raw”

Andrew Luk‘s artwork, according to him, “takes a critical view of social, political and cultural issues with philosophical undertones.” His ink work, the stark black contrasting against a pure white background, is bold and striking. The colors in his pieces are regimented and sporadic. Andrew is an artist who seems to transcribe his personal stances on life into each scribble, stroke and smudge. His work is edgy, evocative, fervent and charged. Attempting to decipher the implications of each piece is a welcomed challenge, but simply admiring a skillfully done work of art is a equally satisfying.

ArtVenue reached out to an artist who creates such immensely eye-catching work, and here is what he had to say.

“Take advice and criticism. Always question everything, including yourself.”

"Here's Staring at You"

Home is where the heart is-where is home for you?
“Home” is in Hong Kong, where I grew up, but I don’t really like the concept of home being a place. It’s wherever you feel comfortable.

Favorite movie ever?
Oh man… Office Space, Fight Club and Return of the Jedi are all neck-and-neck for the title of favorite movie.



How and when did you discover yourself to be an artist?

Art was one of the few classes I enjoyed in high school. Over the years, I developed a passion for it – then when college application time came around, I started scaring my parents with art school pamphlets.

“I believe in lots and lots of practice, accepting criticism from people more knowledgeable than myself, and practicing some more.”

Where did you learn the skills and gain the knowledge you, as an artist, possess today?

There’s no such thing as “natural talent.” I believe in lots and lots of practice, accepting criticism from people more knowledgeable than myself, and practicing some more. I’ve had some really phenomenal guidance over the years. Having a short attention span helps a lot, too – I seem to switch mediums every two years or so, which forces me to constantly learn new techniques and add new skills to the arsenal.

"Small town Luxury"

The very first piece of work ever created by you – what/when was it, is it anything like the work you do now, and do you have it in your possession?
Wow…I really can’t remember that far back. I do remember drawing comics with friends in fifth grade. Our recurring character was this guy with spiked hair and a black eye. True to fifth-grade-boy-temperament, the comics involved a lot of stuff blowing up, and copious amounts of toilet humor.

“Take advice and criticism. Always question everything, including yourself. And eventually, you’ll get somewhere.”

"flyover"

Describe your art with 3 adjectives, a genre and a metaphor.
Adjectives:  honest, seductive, enlightening.
Genre:  surrealist.
Metaphor: like lamps blaring up just before the oil is gone.

What is your creative process, typically?
 I usually work better at night. It’s easier to not worry about external stuff knowing that everyone else in the world is asleep. There’s something about a sunny day that begs me to run outside…  Typically, I begin my day making coffee or tea, cleaning my work area, reading, or looking for inspiration on tmblr. When I go to sit down, I’m hell-bent on making something interesting or practicing in a sketchbook. Sleep deprivation is a tough one. I’ve had sleeplessness work with me and against me.

Dali utilized the state between wake and sleep to come up with great imagery, so I’m certain it has its merits…but conversely, it renders irritability, which leads down that very negative and very familiar, “…what the hell am I doing with my life” train of thought.

Music-wise, my ipod is usually on shuffle or im watching some movie or documentary I’ve seen a bajillion times. Films have the effect of preoccupying the left side of my brain, allowing me to be a lot more fluid with mucking around with ideas in sketchbooks. It’s the same calm you get from doodling in math class.

“Art isn’t supposed to make instantaneous revolutionary reforms on a grand scale, but instead awaken discussions of the individual opinion.”

Where/who do you gather and/or seek your inspiration from?
I get most of my inspiration from reading fiction, art by other people, movies, and the news. Al Jazeera and e-flux are both an overflowing source of contemplation. Recently, I’ve been delving into philosophy, and reading up of visual neuroscience.

What kind of art makes you happy from the inside out? What kind makes you wish you were in your happy place?
I am not of the view that art is subjective. Art isn’t supposed to make instantaneous revolutionary reforms on a grand scale, but instead awaken discussions of the individual opinion. It’s a subversive resource of exploring others’ psyche and changing their perspective. It can be as simple as bringing attention to a reflection in a puddle…or as complicated as portraying the intricacies of the human spirit.

"Specimens"

Bukowski said, “You begin saving the world by saving one man at a time; all else is grandiose romanticism or politics.” Art that does this effectively invigorates me from the inside-out. Hackneyed art; everything from pretty pictures, to some Star Wars graphic tee, to a lousy landscape, drives me to wish I was in my happy place consistently: making and experiencing good art.

With that said, I don’t always consistently make good art.

Have you thought about branching out and experimenting with other mediums? What would you get your hands on?
I’ve recently picked up the camera again. I’d like to get my hands on video because it has the ability to bring the viewer closer to a realistic experience, equipped with visual motion and sound.

Where in this world or society would you like to see your art flourishing? What is its intended purpose, who is its intended audience?
I’d like to get into the gallery scene, but I also see some of my work being used as illustrations. My art is intended to make people reconsider who they are and what they want out of life. It has a momento mori aura and reflects what I find life to be about; a constant negotiation of morals, ideals, reality, disappointment and hope.

“I seem to switch mediums every two years or so, which forces me to constantly learn new techniques and add new skills to the arsenal.”

Pick your favorite piece on ArtVenue. What is it of, why is it your favorite and what does it mean to you?
My favorite piece is the piece titled Worked His Fingers Raw. It’s of a hand with bare-bone fingertips. I drew it for my dad. It was when I started my first full time job and was confronted with the true value of money; a lesson well learned. Suddenly, my dear old dad seemed less like that unpleasant jackass of my teen years, and more like a caring father.

What is some advice you could give to budding artists, hopeful to make a name for themselves or looking to build a portfolio?

Practice, practice, practice. Lock yourself up in the studio or bedroom, and just work at it day after day. Then, show it to people who know your venue; your realm. Take advice and criticism. Always question everything, including yourself. And eventually, you’ll get somewhere.

"Iron"

View Andrew Luk’s complete ArtVenue profile!

ArtVenue would like to thank Andrew for allowing us some of his time and thoughts. We are thrilled to have him on ArtVenue – welcome to the family!

Artist Spotlight: Andrew Jerz

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"Matthew"

Andrew Jerz‘s illustrations and paintings are saturated in this vibrant and unmatched awesomeness, and it is clear the artist is as well. During his collegiate stint at Syracuse University, Andrew studied illustration and was introduced to several influential illustrators. Some showed him the serious side of painting and pressed him to take his work seriously; others handed him metaphorical buck-teeth and clown noses, and taught him to “stop being such a serious freaking painter and live a little.” In each of his pieces, you notice artistic skill and technical comprehension, but it’s the cheeky composition and way he constructs a personality with thoughtfulness and paint that leaves a lasting impression.

ArtVenue, prepared with disarming questions, dug into the deepest regions of Andrew’s mind. These are the treasures we unearthed.

Home is where the heart is-where is home for you?
Short answer: I grew up in a place called Cohasset, MA.

Longer, but related answer: I grew up in a two-hundred year old house with a lot of crawl-spaces. If there’s one place that ISN’T home, it’s in clean, newly-rendered and disproportionately boring spaces. I feel comfortable in places with layers and layers of historical grime.

“I go see magazines and websites every day full of illustrators way better than me. Does that have to be hopeless? No. If anything, it’s inspiring.”

How and when did you discover yourself to be an artist?
There’s not a day that’s gone by – no matter how many day-jobs I’ve had to work when art money gets slow – that I don’t look at a group of young, urban, professional pharmacy students about my age (you can actually spot them a mile away) in their “goin’ out” clothes on a Saturday night on the Red-Line and think, “Whew…that’s a bullet dodged.” Not to say there’s anything wrong with what they’re doing, I just can’t believe how “not-for-me” it feels, even after living in general squalor and indebtedness for so long. I guess I always knew…I just never…knew. How esoteric of an answer is that? Proof that I’m an artist.

"02134"

What are a few things on your artistic bucket list?
Getting consistent calls from Rolling Stone magazine, which will probably never happen, because by the time the art directors at Rolling Stone stop throwing my unsolicited post-card promos in the trash, the magazine will probably have abandoned its print-publication - reduced to merely an iPad app that repeatedly notifies you several times throughout the day of how awesome Bob Dylan used to be. So, apart from that? Honestly? I’d love to do a mural. Like, a really big one. In a public place. I think murals are great, there should be more of them everywhere.

 ”Read about the way a hand works. That’s art. That’s real art. I’m just fascinated by it.”

What is your creative process, typically? ( Mood, time of day, rituals, duration of work, surroundings, caffeine intake, sleep-deprivation levels, etc…)
It’s funny that you mention caffeine intake, because I’ve been experimenting with this for a very, very long time. It’s an almost impossible, perfect balance to reach. Too much and you have no fine motor control over your furiously frenzied fingers; an old professor of mine, John Thompson, once told me, “whatever you do in your career, if you get swamped with too many fast turnaround assignments — don’t do speed! It doesn’t make you do ART faster, it just makes your HAND move faster!” Best advice I was ever given.

When I wake up on my day off, it takes about two to three cups of coffee and EXACTLY TWO slices of left over pizza from the night before to obtain the correct caffeine buzz; around five, when the tighter parts of the work have finished, I’m really sick of noodling with a pencil and a chisel-tipped brush on the darks, and a midtone wash is down and dried, switching to beer is essential for broad looser lay-ins of the lights and highlights.

Late night re-noodling to correct any drunkenly dramatic brushstrokes occurs to tighten these areas up when the threatened cerebrum kicks into primordial survival mode with some kind of weird, mostly inexplicable energy boost around midnight or one in the morning, depending on how much beer is involved. Gin and tonics and or whiskey will have you passed out on your drafting table at seven, and should be avoided unless absolutely necessary. Punctuate the slow points in this process by watering the plants out back or calling your girlfriend/significant other to plead on deaf ears as to the reason you can’t come over tonight (you’re “in the middle of something!”)

"Raz"

Describe your art with 3 adjectives, a genre and a metaphor.

  1. “Inebriated,” “wily,” and “vaguely-smelling-of-salami.”
  2. Is ”the barnacle on the whale of fine art” an acceptable genre?
  3. There’s a song by a band that goes, “if money’s all you want, then money’s what you’ll get; I’d rather be drunk and in love.”

What is art to you?
Go find an anatomy book – not, you know, an artist’s anatomy-drawing book, I’m talking about something a medical student would study – and read about the way a hand works. That’s art. That’s real art. I’m just fascinated by it.

"Juicy"

Pick your favorite piece on ArtVenue. What is it of, why is it your favorite and what does it mean to you?
Right now there’s a piece on there called “Matthew.” Matthew was an acquaintance of mine who ran a “Free Store” from the basement of a derelict apartment building in central New York state.  A friend of mine brought me to him because I needed a replacement wheel and sprockets for my bike (the old wheel had become warped and useless), but I didn’t have any spare change to buy a new one with.

Matthew found me the exact right size wheel and sprocket set in his expansive, basement Free Store, but I had to hang out with Matthew for three or four hours in a dark basement to get it. I didn’t really remember what Matthew looked like when I painted this, but this picture is definitely what hanging out with Matthew was like. I like this piece because I love portraits that tell more of a story than just the likeness…think George Grosz.

“The barnacle on the whale of fine art.”

What is some advice you could give to budding artists, hopeful to make a name for themselves or looking to build a portfolio?
You think you’re good now? You could probably be better. Do I think everything I do sucks? No. But that doesn’t keep me from stepping back after I finish a project and thinking, “ok, this could have been done faster; this could have been executed better; next time, I’ll plan my time better to make that deadline.” You can be self-aware of your condition without being self-deprecating.

I go see magazines and websites every day full of illustrators way better than me. Does that have to be hopeless? No. If anything, it’s inspiring. If they can do it, so can you – you just have to want it enough.

You’re creative, right!? Find yourself a way to set yourself apart from those [other] nincompoops!

"Downtown Crossing"

View Andrew Jerz’s complete ArtVenue profile!

ArtVenue would like to thank Andrew Jerz for letting us pick his brain a bit. We are so happy to have him on ArtVenue – welcome to the family!