ARTIST FEATURE~~~~ Matt Cipov

MATTY8080.ETSY.COM

TO DECORATE MY NEW APARTMENT I WAS ON THE HUNT TRYING TO FIND SOME COOL ZOMBIE PRINTS ON ETSY. I FOUND THIS SHOP WITH THE MOST AMAZING AND CREATIVE WORKS OF ART. I AM SO LUCKY THAT MATT OF matty8080.etsy.com AGREDD TO CHAT WITH ME...

WHAT INSPIRES YOU?
Often I am inspired by snippets of concepts. It's almost like they tumble in my brain for a while, ideas for a drawing, or a couple drawings and sometimes the ideas start to stick together... it might be a phrase I read, a bit of a conversation I heard, a dream from the night before, some really good music, a new weird animal I have never seen, a request that someone brings to me for art... and I let these things stay inside of my head... not sketched, not attempted, until I feel ready to put them on paper.

And when I do finally get to drawing, sometimes things that may have been intended to be single concepts merge into one, the lines and words I head and read become little hits of text that weave into my art. Just a bunch of fragments that take a long while sometimes to find a home. I am sure my brain is full of these things I see and hear and a lot of them are patiently waiting to end up in my drawings.

WHAT MEDIUMS DO YOU USE TO CREATE YOUR WORK?
I used to labor over each drawing I worked on so much more than necessary because of the mediums I chose to work in. For instance, I used a lot of watercolor and I was always in danger of ruining a piece of art if I applied too much of something, or not enough, or the wrong colors. A project could end up a water logged mess.

I love mixing color and line work, but I prefer to keep things contained and lacking the chaos of wet mediums. So now I use a combination of ballpoint pen, and various acrylic paint markers. You can do all sorts of painterly things with them... blends, builds, fixes, cover ups... and it is all applied like ink. It helps me get my ideas on paper faster and with the luxury of working from anywhere in my home, or almost anywhere off site.

WHAT ARE YOUR PERSONAL FAVORITE PIECES?
In the last year and a half, or so, I have really been pushing myself to explore more color play, more rendering and more ways to combine the various ways I like to attack a piece of art.

I enjoy working with cut paper, manipulated prints of my work, and stamps. When I was facing the construction of art for a large solo show in the beginning of summer, 2009, I wanted to push myself to use all the methods I enjoy and apply them to subject matter that I love. I ended up making a series called CREATURES of the DEEP... a lot of my favorite animals drawn and hand manipulated without digital tricks, or too much planning. The squid drawing is from that series.

I have also been working on a series called I FEAR THE EIGHTIES. A tribute to characters and icons form my childhood that I think would be fun to warp and make creepy. The Smurfs and Ewoks drawings are from that series.

Also earlier this year I was asked to make the art ad poster for a Christopher O'Riley concert that mainly focused on the music of Radiohead. I love Radiohead and love making with themes based on their music, but for this project, I dangerously only had a day and a half to make art, construct a poster layout and get the whole things approved. I had been working on the concept in my head for a long while and when it came time to make the art I really gave it all the energy I had. The results are one of my best experimental drawings and I am so happy it all worked out.

A FEW WORDS TO DESCRIBE YOUR ART?
Some people write journals, keep diaries, or make bogs and that is their way of clearing their mind of things they need to express. I use my art like that. I like to make immediate expressions of what is going on in my head. Fast paced, not overly inspected blasts of art. Sometimes I have a whole lot of ideas that fit together and I attempt to tend to them all at once over the course of a day, or two and other times I chip away at something in quick sessions until I think it is done.

And when I make art, it is about having fun and committing it to paper. I am not a person who fills his work with symbology and subtext. I just like being playful. I disallow myself to do much, if any prep work before making a drawing. I just jump right to final art with barely any pencil under structure because it creates an adventure. It promises that I will have some mistakes, or come up with some strange experiments, and I love it.

Sorry, that was more than just a few words.

ANY WORDS TO LIVE BY?
If you are an artist and you truly want to let other people into your head, or let them know that you seriously love doing what you do, prove it with art. No snappy statement or adjective ladened text accompaniment is really going to say what you want it to say.

But if you keep at your craft and constantly challenge yourself, you will over time produce a large body of work... hopefully one that you are proud of. And a massive history constructed simply from your art speaks volumes. If you want people to find you, leave them a trail of your art. If it is vast and interesting enough, you will be surprised to see who finds you.

WHERE CAN WE FIND YOUR WORK?
You can go to MATTCIPOV.com to see my current website. Soon enough it is going to be rebuilt and go thru a lot of changes. I hope to accomplish that before the end of '09.

Also you can check out my online store:
matty8080.etsy.com

And my FLICKR:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mattycipov/