Interview: Spraygraphic

SG: Tell us a little about yourself.

CE: I was born and raised in Canton, Ohio. In 2000, I moved to the Phoenix area and started painting professionally shortly thereafter. In my free time I work at Wet Paint Artist Supply, and play music with the band Slapdash.

SG: Where do you currently live and work?

CE: I live in Tempe with my wife Amanda. My studio is located in our spare bedroom.

SG: Describe your working process when creating a new work.

CE: These days I almost always work from photographs that I manipulate in Photoshop. I transfer the images to canvas and layer several coats of thinned-out acrylic. This process can take anywhere from 40 to 100 hours.

SG: What mediums do you work with?

CE: I work primarily with acrylic, or acrylic and ink on canvas, since these mediums dry very quickly . I like to work with oils when I‘m not on a deadline, or if I have a buyer which prefers oil paint.

SG: What’s your Studio like?

CE: Usually a disaster. I hand mix all of my colors, so there are all of these red plastic cups full of paint everywhere. The walls are covered with paint splattered cardboard, since I paint on the wall instead of on an easel.

SG: What are some of your inspirations influencing your work?

CE: I guess some of my main influences would have to be Peter Max, Andy Warhol, Shepard Fairey, Pablo Picasso, and Salvador Dali.

SG: Where has your work been seen?

CE: In the last few years I’ve shown work at Fate, Monorchid, The Orange Table, Wet Paint, Mood Swings and Pita Jungle.

SG: Where will it be seen next?

CE: I’ll be showing at Windup Gallery in Mesa through the end of July, and B-Side Gallery in downtown Phoenix for the First Friday in July.

SG: What is your dream art assignment?

CE: My dream art assignment would probably be to travel to other countries and create paintings based on what I’ve seen and experienced. This idea really set in for me when I was traveling through Spain and taking pictures of all of the statues and sculptures I wanted to paint portraits of.

SG: You use some interesting colors and combinations. What moved you to work in those color schemes?

CE: I’ve always been drawn to bright, vibrant colors. I started noticing though that every color I was using was bright and that my paintings had very little contrast. So that’s what kind of brought me to where I am now, still using the bright colors, but offsetting them with deeper, richer colors.

SG: What’s your favorite color?

CE: Gray actually, especially in relation to other colors.

SG: What book/magazines are you reading this week?

CE: Rolling Stone and Juxtapoz Magazine.

SG: Ever do a self portrait? Where is it now?

CE: I’ve done three self portraits, one in 2001 that was completely abstract, one in 2003 that was more realistic, and another realistic one last January. I sold the first two a few years ago, and the new one is in my studio right now. I’ve actually been using my self portrait as my logo for the last few years.

SG: So let’s end with your favorite place to hang.

CE: My favorite place to show art was Wet Paint Art Supply’s gallery, which I helped curate until our building was sold to be torn down, in order to make room for more condos. Now, I’m not really sure.

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