Intensity: Indigo talks Art

I was talking about art with a friend. He told me that out of the many creative people he knew there were only a few who stuck out as being truly excellent. Indigo was one of those and after seeing photos, I had to agree.

So far, I’ve only been introduced to you through your work. Your work has a very graphic quality and brings to mind high profile stencil artists such as The Dark. What is your practice like and how do you create?

I guess the best way I can describe my creative practice is intensive and ongoing.  I work every day and every night, and I always have multiple projects overlapping.  I’m in my studio for at least 4 hours a day.  Sometimes if I’m on a tight deadline I end up living here for a few days to get things done on time.  Making stencils is a really time consuming and tedious process, and the way I do them, because I don’t use a computer to do any of the design work – it just makes that process even longer.  If I am making a large-scale piece I spend an average of 15 hours tracing and about 20 hours cutting before I ever touch a can of paint.

What kind of subject matter do you choose and why are you drawn to it?

I mostly work with pictures of people, usually women or children.  The images that I am drawn to most are those that have some element of sadness or melancholy….a mixture of strength and vulnerability.  I like pictures that have a quiet intensity…that hint at a deeper history behind the captured moment.

I rarely make happy art.  It just doesn’t resonate with me as deeply.  At the risk of sounding emo – I’ve lived too much of my life in dark places to feel inspired to paint shiny happy things.  I have spent the last five years sorting through so much baggage I may as well be working at the airport.

Dandelion

What kind of a response are you looking for?

I don’t really make work to elicit a particular response out of the viewer.  Of course it is always nice to know that my work is appreciated, but I do what I do more for me than for anyone else.  This is where I put all of the things that I need to get out of my head.  The act of creating keeps me sane, and the work is always coming from a personal place, even if it that isn’t immediately apparent in the content of a particular piece.  If what I do evokes a response in the viewer, whether that response is a thought or a feeling or some combination of the two – then so much the better.

What kinds of materials do you use and why?

I cut my stencils out of duralar, a clear plastic film.  Because all of my layers are traced by hand, I need to be able to see the lines of previous layers to know where to put the next one.  I also find that I can get cleaner edges with plastic than with card, and it’s more durable.  I cut everything with a #11 exacto blade.  My paint of choice is Montana Gold, because it’s nice and thick and opaque and dries really quickly, and has an extensive selection of greys.

I like to paint on pretty much anything that I can get my hands on…walls are preferable, of course, but I also really love putting up posters…seeing the image degrade and change with time and weather and human intervention is really interesting to me.  Most of my work off the street is on canvas.  And I am always on the lookout for found objects to paint.  I am a bit of a scavenger in that regard…I like taking something that would otherwise be trash and giving it a new purpose.

When you begin creating, do you know where the image is heading?

I am always working directly from a photographic reference, so I usually have an idea in my head of what it will take to go from photo to finished stencil.  It inevitably takes more time and more layers than I expect.  Sometimes I decide things like color and background at the beginning, sometimes after I’m done making the stencil.

What are some milestones or moments in your artistic practice that stand out to you?

In April of 2008 I met Take5 at his studio to buy a poster.  I had just started making stencils about a month prior, little simple things that weren’t any good.  Had gone out and painted them on walls a few times.  That day I ended up hanging out for about four hours helping him make more posters and soaking up inspiration.  After that I switched from painting walls to making stenciled posters and spent the summer getting up as much as possible.  Seems like ages ago.

Ahh, what else…in October of 2008 I moved my art space out of my living space for the first time ever, into a shared studio space in a super sketchy building in Vancouver’s Downtown East Side that was (before we moved in) a squat and a meth lab.  I’d spent quite a bit of time passing through the DTES putting up posters and whatnot, but hadn’t ever occupied a space here before.  It takes some getting used to.  The place was covered in used rigs and junkie trash…luckily most of the rigs were cleaned up by the time I moved in.  The electricity didn’t really work and we had no heat and it was a really fucking cold winter.  Cue 6 months of me taking a break from stencils, getting very little art made and seeing some really intense and disturbing things in the back alley.  I’m still working out of the DTES, on the same block but in a less creepy space.

In June of this year I traveled overseas for the first time, to Bristol for Upfest (www.upfest.co.uk).  It was my first time going anywhere to paint and was super inspiring…met so many rad artists, many of whom have become friends since then.  Shortly after that I ended up quitting my full-time office job and traveling around for a couple months, painting and whatnot…New York, Paris, Berlin, London and Amsterdam.  The trip was so very epic and inspiring, moreso than I ever could have expected.  So much love to everyone I spent time with along the way…the whole adventure was an exercise in going with the flow, in believing that the universe would work itself out, and in trusting in the kindness of strangers.  Quitting my job was one of the best (and scariest) decisions I’ve ever made but I don’t regret it for an instant.  Even when I’ve been eating noodles for days and spending my last $20 on paint and xacto blades.  Being able to spend all of my time and energy doing something that I love is worth it.

Who are five artists you would consider either influential to your practice or ones that you think are important?

There are a few people who I’ve spent a considerable amount of time in dialogue about art and life…Abandonview (http://wetscraps.blogspot.com/) is one, and Finbarr DAC (http://www.flickr.com/photos/dragonarmourycreative/) is another.  I think that surrounding yourself with people who have something positive and honest and constructive to offer is really important.  These kinds of connections are often the most influential to my practice, moreso than just seeing someone’s work and being inspired by it.

As far as stencil artists go, C215 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/c215) and Logan Hicks (http://workhorsevisuals.com/newsite/news.html) are two people whose work I really look up to….technical ability, creative vision, work ethic, artistic evolution, it’s all super inspiring…plus they are both really kind and generous people, and that means a lot.  Meeting up with Logan in New York and with Christian in Vitry this past fall was great.  I am a huge process person so getting to meet artists in person, see their work in progress, watch them paint, talk to them about how and why they do what they do…it’s so important.

Even though the majority of my recent work is with stencils, a lot of the artists that I follow are working in other mediums.  I am most drawn to artwork that is very different from what comes out of my own head and hands.  One of those artists is Ben Tour (http://thetourshow.com/).  The balance that he is able to find between line, strokes of color and drips is really amazing.  And as someone who finds it difficult to leave out any little details, I really appreciate the places where the lines of his figures are merely sketched in and the eye is left to fill in the blanks.  Ben is also a super rad person.  Honestly, someone could be a really brilliant artist but if they’re also a huge asshole then it’s much less likely that I’m going to care as much about what they do

How did you end up getting a stretcher as a present?

Ahh. the stretcher was super random.  This guy Tommy comes by my studio a lot to collect out empty bottles, and he usually has something to sell.  I help him out when I can afford to…he’s an artist and an addict, more addict than artist at this point I think.  Anyways a couple days ago he came by and was super stoked and had a surprise behind his back…pulls it out and it’s an orange medical stretcher, the kind you use in medivac helicopters.  And he’s going on about how I can use it for a bed if I’m working late and end up sleeping here…and that he washed the whole thing down with pine-sol…and so I take the stretcher and he leaves and I’m sitting there looking at it wondering how many people have died on it…

I dunno what the hell I’m gonna do with it but it will most definitely not involve sleeping.  Maybe I’ll paint something onto it.

How can we follow your work?

I have a Facebook fan page, also a blog and a flickr page.  And I’m on twitter as well. My flickr account is updated with new work more frequently than anything else.

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