I was ambitious. I was young and fool. I was thinking that success is money and public recognition. I was wrong.

That evening, I bought my usual local-no-taste-yogurt and went to my room. It was late and I was tired, but had no sleep. I would have been, probably, another night spent worrying, crying and hitting my old radio to make it work couple of minutes more.

But I was carrying a book.

I heated some water in a kettle and washed myself a little. I tried to disinfect a teaspoon of all bugs that might have been crawling on it during the day. I opened the yogurt, stuck the spoon in it and I sat it gently on the chest near the bed. I lit a small lamp and I climbed into bed. I put my clothes under the blanket, too, not to find them frozen in the following morning. I started reading.

The book I read that night was “The Storyteller” of Mario Vargas Llosa. It was the story of Saul Zuratas, a young man passionate about the life and history of a tribe in the Amazonas jungle, the Machiguengas. The novel interweaves two narratives: the present (a Peruvian writer happens upon a photograph of a tribal storyteller deep in the jungles of the Amazon, recognizes him as his old school friend, Saul, and tries to put together the story of his life) and beautiful metaphoric stories told by the Machiguengas people (the one that touched me most was retelling that, once the white people conquered the Amazon tribes and turned free people onto slaves, the latter were committing suicide, as they understood the whites as a tremendous evil that came upon them, cause they were bad and needed to die, to wash all the bed things they might have done)  As the writer goes deeper into his friend past and search for more information on the storytellers, he not only understand his friend’s choices, but makes an unbelievable discovery: the Machiguengas changed their old history and turned the story of the storyteller itself into mystery and great secrecy, as it had never happened before, in order to protect Saul’s true identity.

Discovering along with the writer Saul’s history, I’ve learned the most important lesson of my life: the poverty is only in our souls. Saul’s choice, the incredible richness of his heart, his love and passion, his dedication and decision of letting go all human pride, vanity and greed, and of losing his identity, culture and old collective believes for the Machiguengas’ extraordinary beauty he discovered and turned himself to, the unbelievable strong connection between them, changed me for good. I’ve understood then the power of love, the power of beauty and the power of following your own heart, the power of building yourself and reinventing you out of scratch. The power of choosing your own identity. When the time was right, I choose, too.

I’ll never stop thinking that, if it wasn’t that book, I would still be a poor, ambitious and stupid girl. Gracias, senor Llosa, por cambiar mi vida.

Via Wikipedia

Last evening, I’ve found out that Mario Vargas Llosa won the Nobel Prize for Literature. Congratulations!

No other winning ever made me so happy. No other winning, within the last couple of years, was so-well-deserved – Llosa is actually a writer, who actually writes books that people actually read. And love.

Henson, one of most significant Australian artists, is worldwide renowned. His artwork is held in Guggenheim Museum, New York, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris and many others, not to mention all major Australian collections. However, that day made the world thought of him as a child-exploiting pornographer.

The art of Bill Henson is an unconventional, provocative and challenging one. Deep fascinated by “our sense of ourselves living inside our bodies”, as he confessed many times over the years, the artist explored the transition between childhood and adulthood and its endless possibilities. Henson’s photographs surprise androgynous models in their search for identity, artistically transcribing the turmoil of adolescence in the magical lights and shadows of a nocturnal theatre. They are haunting and beautiful. On that day, they became the hunting.

Couple of hours before the opening, media pushed the trigger. A newspaper column and a radio show with no artistic trademarks but with a conservative moral agenda demonised the exhibition. Politicians in search for votes came along for the ride. Till afternoon, a paedophilic pornography paranoia raged and the opening was cancelled.

“What is Art and What is Porn?”, everyone asked, conveniently forgetting that pornography, by definition, has no artistic value other than to stimulate sexual desire. The beauty and the artistic credits of Henson’s photographs were overlooked for the nudity they exposed. The darkly, mystical looking through foggy glass to nubile Adams and Eves leaving Eden to discover the miracle of being was sexualised. Pubescence was labelled as pornographic. The softness of the bodies’ natural changes was demonised. I don’t think there’s any doubt that Henson’s photographs are confusing the viewers with what is and what is not real and making them question, but the answers and interpretations belong to the viewers, as well. The images are haunting, as they trigger images that no one can see in viewers’ minds. If Henson’s photographs can be hunted, the others cannot be.

However, I find ironic that media, an institution which struggled since its beginnings against censorship, asked for it, after it has itself created a climate conducive to child pornography. Bill Henson’s artwork would seem, then, to be the ‘scapegoat’ for a harm already done, but censoring art wouldn’t be a terrific harm by itself? Freedom of art, expression and imagery are fundamental, as main tool for conserving the universal liberty of the humankind. One of the hardest to win freedoms, the freedom of expression is, also, one of the most easily to loose. According to history records, any suppression of such essential freedoms would have lethal consequences on those who allow it.

Of course, the restrictions to the freedom of art and expression in Henson’s case would first affect the artist and those engaged within his works, but the impact would quickly spread to affect anyone who loves and appreciates his art and, ultimately, all art lovers. The simple thinking behind censorship would shadow the richness of emotions that Henson’s photographs offer and would misunderstand his act of artistic communication. Once Henson’s photographs would be censored, the messages of the artist would be lost and trivialized and the concepts standing behind his images would remain unknown and impossible to grasp.  The photographs would no longer depict controversial subject matters, but they would not provoke any response, either. Australian art galleries would be poorer with some worldwide famous artworks and Australian people with whole ranges of emotions.  However, we should call ourselves lucky if these would be the only consequences. Once a single artwork subjected to censorship, this one would spread its tentacles into all that is beautiful and would cripple for good the greatest gift ever offered to man: the gift of imagery.

Henson’s opponents asked for a line to be drawn between art and pornography, but ‘drawing a line’ and censoring an image on the potentiality of its eroticism is the beginning of a very slippery slope that would threaten to affect any artistic manifestation. However, judging the pornographic potential of a image is a very subjective matter that is completely dependant of the intimate understanding and interpretation that are given to it.As potentiality is defined through absence, any photograph could be find guilty of such sin, eventually.

Sydney police seized up to 21 photographs from the gallery. They didn’t stop there, though, and turned upside down any art gallery or museum in Australia, looking for any photograph of adolescents Henson ever took. Detectives, police photographers or Child Protection and Sex Crimes Squad’ representatives carefully searched for genitals’ exposure in each image. They debated for a long time if and what genital organ was represented. And I think they might have had doughnuts.  When the search ended, no charges were laid.

Three of my photographs featured:

Who am I?

Who is She?

Girl with Bathrobe

]]> http://mindtrotter.wordpress.com/2010/09/15/i-heart-art-exhibition-sydney-au/feed/ 0 Cinnamon Who am I - Who is She - My beautiful picture http://mindtrotter.wordpress.com/2010/08/24/more-milk-yvette/ http://mindtrotter.wordpress.com/2010/08/24/more-milk-yvette/#comments Tue, 24 Aug 2010 09:40:41 +0000 The Apprentice http://mindtrotter.wordpress.com/?p=990 ]]> I was researching today Alfredo Jaar’s exhibit, “The Sound of Silence” -  multi-media installation that documents Kevin Carter’s life and work, trying to prove an ethical point (which it fails to, but this is another issue). I’ve found at some moment a pretty nice art blog discussing this exhibit - “More Milk Yvette”. Author’s critics on Jaar’s exhibit were good and the article seemed pretty well written and researched. Except one point: the author keeps calling Kevin Carter – Kevin Clarke! WTF???

“A lot of my work starts with the statement “Wouldn’t it be funny if…”  Strange ideas encouraged by dreams, books, and late night discussions fill my head, and I do my best to express them.  It is my intention to confront my audience with my ideas like a slap in the face.   I want the visuals to be just as exciting as the idea itself.  Whether I’m using bright, vibrant colors or stark, contrasting black and white, I like for my work to really “pop”.  In the end, I’m happy to know that my art caused a stir, and I love hearing everyone’s interpretation of what they think each piece means.  I also have work that is more about my own observations recorded from life, in which the intent is to simply share what I see when I look through these purple glasses of mine.”

Sarah Norman

Interview with Sarah Norman

Me:  How have you discovered art in the first place? Or was art that discovered you?
Sarah: I’ve always enjoyed drawing, as is evidenced by the numerous doodles and comics I drew during class in high school (what can I say?  Economics is boring).  I became more involved with art in college, especially when I took my first painting class.  I totally fell in love with art history; while my classmates struggled to stay awake during lectures about prehistoric sculptures and art nouveau, I eagerly absorbed all the stories and culture connected with art.

Me: What are you currently expressing through your art?
Sarah: I really just like taking an idea and running with it.  I recently painted a self portrait using only red, yellow, and orange.  When I was getting ready to add my glasses, I decided to make them the focal point by painting them blue, which contrasts beautifully with orange.  If my work is attention grabbing, thought provoking, and a little weird, I have accomplished my goal.

Me: Your art works cover a very wide range of mediums – from acrylics to clay, graphics and DIY projects. What’s the common ground that is behind of all these forms of expression?
Sarah: I have a great fondness for surrealism, most of my work contains some element of this.  I draw inspiration from my environment: dreams, literature, nature, family, job, and so on.  Then I just let my imagination take the wheel after I’ve gotten started.

Me: What means art for you? Job, passion, hobby, a way of living?
Sarah: Art is a way to appreciate life.  I would call it my passion.

Me: What was the most unusual reaction that you art works received?
Sarah: When I was creating sketches for my print “Bedroomize”, I consulted my friend Ashley about one of them.  I asked her, “Does this guy’s nose look phallic to you?”  She responded, “Looks like a dick if you ask me.”  She apparently didn’t know what phallic meant, but gave me the answer I needed anyway!

Me: You have an amazing blog. How would you describe it within Indiana’s blogosphere?
Sarah: Thanks!  I wouldn’t say that I identify myself as an Indiana blogger- more like a blogger who lives in Indiana.  I write posts about artists I enjoy, personal projects I’m working on, fun handmade or vintage goodies from Etsy, and a few other odds and ends.  I am a member of Smaller Indiana, and sometimes I will post entries from my blog on their site.
Sarah Norman’ “Surprise Ending” will be on display at Boxcar Books through Wednesday, June 30, 2010.
Boxcar Books hosted an opening reception for the exhibit on Friday, June the 4th, 2010, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Lauren Younis was born in suburban Chicago and will be graduating IU this spring with degrees in Science Journalism and Comparative Literature.  She started painting consistently during her sophomore year in college and has shown her work in Bloomington and the Chicagoland area.  She sells almost all of her work and much of it is available at her website: aquartzylife.etsy.com.

Artistic Statement:

My artwork is very much a personal exploration of ideas.  Each piece usually begins with a definite meaning or idea that may gradually change shape as its being created, and I like that it does.  The question, “what was the artist thinking when he/she made this?” has always seemed to cross my mind when I look at art.  Now that I have begun creating it myself, I find it has been a helpful thing to keep in mind.  Each piece of artwork I make definitely begins with something important or thought-provoking in my mind, and the translation of that is what you see on paper.  I like the idea that by the time it reaches the viewer, it may no longer “mean” or represent anything at all; or it may represent something entirely different from what I meant it to.  Essentially all I want my art to do is appeal in some way, whether its symbolically or just visually.  I’ve always said that I just want to make things that look nice and make people happy, and that is really my total goal.

INTERVIEW WITH LAUREN YOUNIS:

1. Which is the message of your exhibit?

Tears From Things That Happened is the first exhibit I’ve ever put together with a coherent theme.  By that I just mean that there are overarching aesthetic and symbolic elements running throughout, and that the work was all made around the same time with specific inspiration and ideas in mind.  There is no one particular message, but most of the pieces revolve around the idea of “thoughts  as little microcosms of space,” so to speak—each piece represents a specific, individual thought or idea, on a relatively small piece of paper, and all together they form a visually consistent body of work.  I don’t like my work to have any set or specific message; I’d rather people just look at it and whatever they think it means (or doesn’t mean), that works!

2. What signifies the show’s title: Tears From Things That Happened ?

The title is actually based on the idea that I tore most of the painting surfaces for this exhibit from the same large piece of paper.  I then used each torn piece to represent, quite simply, something that has happened— some idea, experience, thought, etc. that I’ve had.  So every painting you see in the exhibit is literally just a piece of  something that has happened. With thee mixed media work, most of the paper is found, salvaged or reused— just a tear or scrap from something I’ve previously made. Obviously the word “tear” could also be interpreted as having a sad connotation, which is intentional. These pieces are heavily inspired by the ideas of losing things and experiencing big changes, in life, love, and self.  So in a way the pieces are literally just that: tears, things that come out as the result of experiences, be they happy or sad.

3. How would you define your art?

I think it’s always in the process of changing— I haven’t been painting my whole life (I only seriously began about 2 years ago) and it manifests differently depending on my surroundings, influences, and frame of mind.  But I think there are definitely some consistent things that appear most of the time.  One of those things, from what people tell me, seems to be some sense of “familiarity” that resonates universally, some kind of comfort that people connect to, which I’m always happy to hear. I try to make much of my art inspirational, even if only in a subtle, not-so-obvious way, and I think that happens naturally given where it’s coming from and why I create it at all.  Everything I do is certainly intuitive— sometimes I have a hard time even calling myself an “artist” proper because I’m self-taught and I just kind of experiment with what looks good on paper until it I find what workss! I think I pay more attention to ideas than I do to the means of expression, which means my style changes a lot.  It’s definitely all heartfelt, and hopefully inspiring.  And actually, even if it’s none of those things, I’m absolutely fine with people just thinking it’s nice to look at.

4. How have you discovered yourself as a painter?

I didn’t start painting until I was a sophomore in college, and I’m a senior now.  I have always written— poems, stories, short little personal pieces—  and over time those things have definitely surfaced in my visual work.  I love incorporating words into my paintings and using them to complement what I’m doing with the paint.  It’s a constant process.  I’ve always been very observant, and looking back, it seems to make sense that eventually I picked up a paintbrush and started channeling that into making art.

5. What mediums are you currently using and how do you think they support your artistic statement?

It’s funny— I literally walked into Pygmalion’s two years ago and bought the least expensive paint set they had, which was watercolor.  I’ve used it ever since and I love it.  I find it a little more playful and free than other conventional mediums like oil or pastels, which definitely supports my style. I use gouache and acrylic now as well.  Aside from paint, I am very fond of found or saved objects— anything at all, from papers natural objects to letters people have written me.  I’ll cut them up and use them in certain pieces, and they give personality and real meaning to whatever I incorporate them into.  I love the idea that when people buy artwork that uses these elements, I am really giving them something very personal and meaningful, and they might not even realize it.

6. There’re any influences in your art? How do you find your inspiration?

Influences come from anywhere and everywhere.  I think I would almost be embarrassed to say exactly where some of them are from because they’re so incredibly specific!  People are among the biggest influences these days for me, and they don’t even have to be people I know or have talked to; they might just be people I pass on the sidewalk, see at a bar, or sit by in class. There’s a lot you can gather just from observing how people are— that brings out a lot of my artistic ideas.  Inspiration also comes from people, but experience as well.  Things I go through and things I see others go through, things I feel, see, touch, experience… it probably sounds silly or cliché but that’s really how it happens.

7. What do you think it makes one an artist?

I guess it’s different for everyone, but I definitely think persistence is more important than talent.  Talent probably has the least to do with it actually. I think it’s more a matter of how you express whatever ideas you have.  Being open-minded, curious, persistent, willing to experience things that you’re good at, bad at; that you love and that you hate; things that make you happy and sad.  We gravitate naturally toward what seems comfortable or familiar to us, but I think that it’s almost impossible not to become an artist when you really start looking at things outside your comfort zone.  For me, art and life in generally become richer when this happens, although it’s a frightening thing to do.

8. Is there a moment when an artist could say he accomplished his mission?

I don’t think so.  For me the very thing that I’d say “makes me an artist” is actually avoiding any kind of ultimate mission and just being open to the process of creating, and seeing what happens from there.

Her art will be on display at Boxcar Books through Thursday, April 7, 2010.

Boxcar Books is hosting an opening reception for the exhibit on Friday, March the 5th, 2010, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

INTERVIEW WITH LAUREN SCHWEIN:

1. How your affair with art started? When you have first found out you are a painter?

One summer I found some acrylic paints in my basement, and started doodling around. I had never perceived myself to be very artistic, but I really enjoyed it. I kind of let some time pass, and then picked it up again. After a while I developed not only, a love for it, but I started experimenting with different techniques I developed myself. All of my methods have been developed through trial and error, and are all born of the thought, “what’ll happen if I try this?”

2. How do you perceive the evolution of your artistic work in time?

In the beginning, my paintings were on printer paper, or cut up old cardboard boxes. I was mostly just playing around, but it was always abstract. The first painting I did that I did on actual canvas board was a finger painting.  It was just a mass of color and swirls and finger marks, but it didn’t look messy, it looked expressive, and much more so than anything else I had ever made. So I just kept going. I go through months at a time where I don’t paint at all, and then it always comes back to me, and for three solid weeks or more, I’ll paint and experiment. I never know how a painting will look when I start, and sometimes in the middle of it, I’ll just want to throw it away, and then one more brush stroke, and it’s finished.

3. Which are the best and worse parts about being a painter?

The best part is definitely the act of painting itself. There’s something so rewarding about creating something. There are so many parts of my day; TV, computer, internet, cell phone use, that are digital, that it is really nice to have a hands on creative outlet. My art is abstract, therefore subtlety and precision aren’t part of the process. I like to mix paint with my hands or cut shapes into the canvas, and it’s really very grounding. There really aren’t too many bad parts of being a painter. Sometimes a piece won’t turn out exactly how you would like, and additionally it can be really aggravating when someone comes up to me and likes what I’ve done, but I know that it isn’t near finished yet.

4. Which are your expectations as an artist? What about your artistic mission? When you’d feel you have accomplished it?

I find that if I don’t like my paintings, or if they don’t portray the emotion that I was hoping to capture, then I’m not as excited if other people like it. For me, painting is a way to express myself.  I hope that my paintings will make people think or cringe or laugh. So long as it evokes some kind of emotion, then my paintings will have been perceived properly.

5. What others interests do you have besides painting? They are related with your art?

It seems like all of my interests interconnect with each other. I love photography, and I’ve been doing it since I was very young. My photography is as important to me as my paintings. They’re a way to capture moments, and the great thing about photographs is they’re so precise. They reproduce the type of accuracy that my paintings can’t.

6. Is there anything else that you would you like to transmit to our readers and to the public’s exhibit?

I think that there tends to be a misconception about abstract art, that it is easy or lazy or messy. What I love about it, and what I hope people will perceive when they see my work, is an emotionally driven art form that is easily accessible. These paintings aren’t meant to be hung up and ignored.  They are to be experienced, in any way possible. If my work makes you think or even experiment more artistically yourself, then I am pleased.

“When I first started painting it was simply out of boredom, something to pass the time on a rainy day.  As the years went on it became more of a give and take between me and the painting.  I would paint as a way to deal with everyday frustrations, ideas, and boredom.  In turn I began to understand more about myself.   Analyzing the work and understanding what meanings it has for me, I am able to create a reflection of myself in a time and place.
When creating a piece I don’t just set down with a canvas and dive right in, I let the piece come to me.  Whether it is some old tiles I find in a basement or the way wood grain can create and inspire an idea. I like to use my surroundings to create more of a connection to the now.  Though I don’t like to be confined by one medium, I tend to use acrylics on most of my new work, but free is the magic word.  If I come across free paint or surface of any sort, best believe I’m going to use to its fullest.
I am currently working on an acrylic abstract series that revolves around the different theories of life and death.  In the past my work consisted of individual pieces that had their own meaning, but not much of a connection to the whole body of work.  So with the life and death series I want to create a greater impression by using the same medium and introducing theme. Instead  of a fragmented body of work based on the in’s and out’s of my daily life, I hope to create unified bodies of work that not only reflect myself but reflect back to you the audience.”

Lucas Sowders

“Struggle for the Soul” will be on display at Boxcar Books through Wednesday, March 3, 2010. Boxcar Books is hosting an opening reception for the exhibit on Saturday, February the 6th, 2010, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Interview with Lucas Sowders

Me: How you have started painting?
Lucas: It started out of boredom. It was Christmas, I was snowed in for three days and one of my friends got an art kit as a present. It was a basic kit with water colors and some paper board. I started playing with it, taking some newspaper sections, sticking them into water colors and pulling them off, creating a new texture on the paper board. I really liked the way it came out. When my buddy got back home, I showed the piece and told him I bought it from the store, to see if he’d believe it. He did and said how cool it was. Finally, I broke it to him and told it was me. He was very enthusiastic about it. All my friends were and gave me compliments and encouraged me to keep doing stuff.

Me: Interesting beginning! How would you relate to painting now?
Lucas: It’s started out of boredom but now it’s a obligation to myself, it’s not a hobby or a nice way to spend my free time. I need to get to work, I need to start a new piece, to continue painting, no matter if I’ll get successful or not, no matter if my pieces will get recognition or not. I just feel I have to do it.

Me: What kind of art are you doing?
Lucas: I do mainly acrylics, but also different mediums, as water colors, mixed mediums, fitting various techniques, using markers sometimes – I’ve seen once some graffiti that I really liked and thought I could convey that into my work. However, acrylic is my favorite, as is very bold and creates a wonderful texture. I don’t know if I’m using it right, I don’t have any formal education as far as the art goes, but I’m a self-taught artist. I go for it and I’m wide open to the things I like and I’m attracted to. I feel I don’t have great artistic abilities but I lot of self-expression that needs to get out through some medium. Art helps me with that – it’s a release and I do believe it’s amazing to be able to express yourself other than speaking or writing.

Me: What are you currently expressing through your art works?
Lucas: My paintings hide a lot of individual meanings. A lot of them are related to the stuff I was going through while I was painting them, to the things I had in mind and preoccupied me then. Every piece has a special, distinct meaning for me, anyway. The series that will be on display at Boxcar Books represents my efforts to find out my identity and to retrospect my soul. Instead of falling into the cliché of what people understand by “soul”, I tried to let aside what I was told and taught and to figure out what my soul meant to me. It’s a series that I’ve worked the last couple of years and represents my path through life, my own reflection as a man struggling for his soul (not in a religious sense).

Me: Which criteria have your works to accomplish to be satisfied with them?
Lucas: The piece has to be visually appealing to myself, to be intriguing, to attire my eye towards, to make me analyze different parts. A successful piece, for me, means a piece from which one can take away a tree by three square, but, still, it would be as visually appealing as the whole.

Me: Are you currently working on another art project?
Lucas: Yes, it’s a new series that will feature various ideas and theories on life and death that different cultures have. It’s is not such a personal theme for me as the previous, it is not reflect my intimate thoughts, but a researched one. Working on my first series, I felt I was doing something for myself. Now, I feel doing something for others, as well.

Me: Is there any artist whose work are you admiring?
Lucas: I love Salvador Dali, but it may sound pretty common. I like many artists that are not really in the debut catalogue, but well known ones, as Andy Warhol, or some Czech and Polish artist. I always look for a connection between one’s art and his personal story, because I like the people as well as I like their art. For truly admire one’s art, I need to admire something about him as an individual, as well. I need to admire his art, but it’s always something more.

Me: Isn’t art above everything else?
Lucas: You can say that, but it won’t be true. Everything you do, it has a connection with your art. Even if you try to hide it, it would eventually come up and prove itself.

Me: How would you define art?
Lucas: Art is a thing of beauty. Not all art is people self expression, I think, as often one can see art in nature.

Me: Here’s a dummy question: Do you have any favorite color?
Lucas: Green. My mom says it looks good with my eye. Don’t put that there. It would make me sound sissy

Me: What do you feel about being a painter?
Lucas: I take a lot of pride painting and I feel the sense of accomplishments when I finish a new piece. Hanging it on the wall is a prize for my by itself. I strongly like what I do and hope this would transfer to the public. I hope they will enjoy it as much as I do!

Evolution: A show of comic art is one of Hughes’ first exhibits, representing the fruits of one of her long time passions and interest, superheroes, featured artistically from new perspectives: Hughes’ characters are often inspired from real life personages and act in real life circumstances:

“These illustrations are intended to display superheroes and other characters in real life situations as well as those imaginary. Influences are taken from Bloomington , comic books, and other story lines. Works are intended to be like splash pages, showing a detailed scene on one page.”

Lauren Hughes

Evolution: “A show of comic art” will be on display at Boxcar Books through Wednesday, February 3, 2010. Boxcar Books is hosting an opening reception for the exhibit on Friday, January the 8th, 2010, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Interview with Lauren Hughes

Crisia: Who is your favorite comic character? Is he a source of inspiration for your drawings?
Lauren: Werewolf, he was my favorite. It was so cool the way this character was when I was growing up. He was some kind of a bad ass, didn’t take anything from anybody, no one really liked him…When I grew up, I liked Superman, I don’t know why, now I think he is pretty lame. It’s not really that much to him, an alien guy and that’s it, he has no genetic mutation as X-Man. I loved X-Man as a teen! Also, I liked Wild Cats, Ninja Turtles – the graphic novel (I discovered them in a book store, way before they came out as a cartoon, I instantly said: “Awesome!”) Spiderman – I don’t like him as a character, but I like to draw him. It’s easy to draw him because of the suit. If you make a mistake, the suit is kind of hiding it.

Crisia: How have you started drawing comics in the first place?
Lauren: I’ve started when I was kid. In high school, I wanted to pursue art, but my mum talked me out of it because she wanted me to do music. As I had no art lessons, but music ones in high school it was more realistic, too. After high school, I took a break from drawing, being swamped in school and everything. For a while I drew only cards for my friends but, at some moment, it just came to me, started drawing again and rediscovered how fun it was.

Crisia: How have you regained your inspiration when you started drawing again?
Lauren: At the beginning, when I started drawing again, I let myself inspired either by old characters, either by something I liked and I tried to draw, too. Because now I have more time, I try to develop new characters. However, I don’t focus on a certain power, for me it’s more about the way I’d like him to look, the different techniques I might use.

Crisia: You comics are only about art, or about lines, to?
Lauren: I focus only on the drawing part, I don’t do text. I thought about it but it’s hard developing a story. Also, I’m not very much into drawing a series of some character. Usually, if I drew them once, I try afterward drawing something new, to do new things.

Crisia: How are you usually representing your characters?
Lauren: I try to show them doing things. When you are drawing, and don’t have a line, people cannot say much about your characters, so I try to show what my characters can do, without using writing for that. I focus on poses of the body that can suggest an epic happening. I do minimum costumes ‘cause I like them when they look very simple.

Crisia: What’s inspiring you now?
Lauren: Stuff I’ve seen around town, but only stuff I like or I think it’s hilarious. I’m sometimes inspired by my roommates and I start drawing them and making them looking like superheroes. I love the drawing I made inspired by one of my roommates – the one with the guy with a dog holding a beer on a cliff with a funny face – he’s my roommate. He always makes that face, he loves beer, he loves his dog. I think the drawing catches very well his personality. It came out well, I had time, I didn’t feel rushed or stressed.

Crisia: Have your drawings changed in time?
Lauren: I didn’t do backgrounds, now I actually like doing them, I think it tells more a story that only a character. Generally, my drawing got more complex, in high school I didn’t pay a lot of attention, I was figuring it out somehow, now I put more thinking into it, I’m concerned about different things, different expressions. I’m not interested in only drawing a character, I want more, I look for something behind the picture, a story to make it interesting. It became more than just drawing a superhero. As I’m drawing different innovative things come to me that are just great to set up a cool situation!

Crisia: Do you read or collect comics? What kind of comics arouse your interest?
Lauren: I’m reading comics, I collect a little bit, too. I buy only things I really like, things I can use for my own drawings. Now I have around 100 comic books, ‘cause I’m sort of choosy. When I read comics I’m very picky about the way they look. I like them to look as realistic as possible, I like detailed comic books. I had a huge collection back in high school, when I was living in Miami, but the hurricane came and spread all my comics over the lawn. I was discouraged, but I started again.

Crisia: How do you think comic books changed over time?
Lauren: I think the story in lime is a lot more complex, art works came a long way, too, they are more detailed now, instead of using marker or paint, they do them in Photoshop, also. Also, I have the feeling they are more adult, I’m not sure if kids should read them, they are more violent, it’s so much blood in graphic!

Crisia: Is there any connection between your music and your art?
Lauren: I don’t mix music with comic – music is academic, the art thing is something fun I do to get away of everything else. It’s a hobby I don’t have expectations, I just and sit and draw. I do it usually to calm down, to express myself in another way than implies all the professional expectations. About drawing, I have only my own expectations. If I mess up, I don’t have to worry about it, it’s only mine, I can start over again.

Crisia: Are you part of a comics club? Is there such group in the town?
Lauren: In high school we had a comics group, we got together, we draw, exchanged opinions and advises, talked about it a lot, what we were drawing and how we were drawing, how we did that and that. Being around people with same interest is a lot of help, you have the chance to see what other people and to learn new stuff. It’s hard when you look at some pics, we don’t understand how some things are done. It’s inspiring.. You don’t know how it got there, it’s just a picture on a page. It’s also important to get feedback from people who are doing it, not from your friends who don’t know a lot about that and who don’t do it actually. It’s really helpful. I miss a lot having the chance to talk to someone about my drawings. But now I don’t know a lot of people doing drawing comics anymore.