An interview with e1i
3.15. 2024
What artist inspires you the most? Why?
Claude Cahun, Tavi Gevinson, and Gazelleh Bruder. All three of these artists use art to discuss inequalities, their environment, and gender issues. Each one is equally changing the narrative for non, cis-men, and I love how each artist is provocative in their medium. Cahun’s self-portrait series shifted conversations around trans-artists, Gevinson (who went to my high school!) was 12 when she started her own extremely successful and unique blog, and Bruder is one of Papua New Guinea’s most recognized female artists. I am inspired to utilize tactics that provoke similar discussions of the work from these artists, as I constantly ask myself how I can make a change with my art!
What is your favorite medium?
Watercoloring! Definitely watercolor because I appreciate its fluidity (literally and figuratively). My friend gave me a travel set of watercolors a few years ago, which changed my life. I take it everywhere. Something I love to do is watercolor my doodles in my notebooks from class! The colors change the doodles from, well, doodles, to something more tangible and they pop way more. It’s so fun. I really love getting my hands messy in the mediums I use, and love to rub oil pastels around with charcoal and acrylic paint. Anything to get messy. Also, photography is one of my favorite mediums because it is en endless form of art and has so much potential. There are so many projects you can do with photography, from photoshoots to endless forms of editing. I feel so lucky to be able to experiment with endless forms of visual making.
Where do you think art is headed in the future?
BIG art. I want to make a huge mural that comments on environmental injustices. I want it to be provocative and bring change. I want a lot of people to be involved with the project, too! I think I want to incorporate interactive elements to it, and make it 3-D. While being in Vietnam, I have seen a lot of murals, mostly around pagodas, that use clay or plaster to build out from the mural. For example, there was a mural of a Banyan tree and the leaves were coming out from the wall with plaster, most likely. I loved it so much, and I am determined to create something similar. Also, I want to paint on canvases more to create “finished” pieces. I make a lot of art for my friends and family as gifts, so I don’t have a portfolio, so-to-speak because I give it all away (lol). I want to paint huge things with layers of graffiti like patterns, experimenting with words and big-block colors. BIG, is where I am headed.
What do you call your art style?
Honestly, I think I would call my style “funky and fuzzy” art because I like to break boundaries using different methods of photography (funky) and my art style varies depending on my mood and environment (fuzzy). For example, sometimes I have a lot of energy and time to edit photos, which could possibly be an equation for insanely distorted and messed up images. I especially found this equation to be true after class! Because my brain feels really wired and ready to do something. I would call these images ‘fuzzy’ because the brain struggles to make out the picture. It’s fuzzy! But not cute and fuzzy, like confusing and fuzzy. Also, fuzzy could be a term used to describe not knowing how to fully answer this question because of how my art style shifts. I can paint really weird self portraits of a cartoony-green being, or hyper-realistic drawings of kids hanging in trees. Recently, I have been trying to draw more architecture, which helps me pay attention to more minute details in my daily basis. Overall, my art style reflects my well-rounded nature and curiosity to try new things!
When did you know you were an artist?
This is a great question! I think my artistic sensibility grew with my confidence, something I greatly connect to my queerness. As I grow more comfortable with myself, I have a stronger ability to call myself what I am: a photographer, artist, and musician.
I also greatly contribute the growth of my confidence to my camera…it changed my life. Last year, I went to a lot of shows and events alone in Santa Cruz. I pushed myself to get to the front row and take photos of the bands or whatever was going on. If I ever felt nervous, I would fake ‘confidence’, reminding myself how male-dominated photography is and how great it is for myself to get out of my head and stupid little box I tend to put myself in! Taking photos of bands was a great way to practice taking pictures with my camera, and it helped me improve photos I took at events I throw. My camera is actually pretty shitty, so I have to edit all of my photos, which I think contributes to how my photos vary in style. Anyway, as my photography has increased, I have gotten older and more comfortable with myself. I have always been an artist, and I haven't always been comfortable saying that. And now I am, and I love being able to say that!
How do you see your art impacting or connecting with your audience or the wider world?
Community photoshoots have been a beautiful way I have used methods of photography to bring big groups of people together. This is a more tangible way my art impacts my surrounding community, to ultimately strengthen our bonds to come together in solidarity! This is my mission, and what I love most about art: it’s power to unite us. The community photoshoots have been amazing because they push people to step outside of their comfort zones. It has been really fun to watch people in front of the camera because it can be really scary to model! And I didn’t really realize this before the first shoot I had, or how people would perceive the photoshoot geared/advertised towards queer people. As a side note, the phenomena of perception is a devilish motivator for me. I try to reject what it means to be perceived, though I think it grips me in strange ways. Feelings around this have also been an ‘angelic’ motivator, if you will, to make this website! My Instagram is shaping to be my portfolio, and I hate the app so much. I am slowly transferring the abundance of media I have to this website! Anyway, my intentions behind community-centered art projects is to include and collaborate with as many people as possible. This is also why photography has turned into one of my main mediums because it is easy to collaborate with through documentation.
