"The truly successful fine artist is willing to let go of
many of the extra things in life to harness the skills to become a success"
As a master manipulator of images from pop culture, the work of Gillean Eaton-Koch is wild, colorful, and outspoken - a few words that could be used to describe the artist himself.
As a master manipulator of images from pop culture, the work of Gillean Eaton-Koch is wild, colorful, and outspoken - a few words that could be used to describe the artist himself.
GE: How long has art been in your blood?
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| Untitled, Digital Print. 2011 |
GE: Do you believe that being a fine artist is a viable career?
GEK: I do believe that being a fine artist is a viable career, however, it’s challenging - you have to be very self aware of your work and aware of your own self. Then, you have to be able to communicate, through your work and other forms, in order to make connections with people so that your name and work will attract attention. Finally, you have to be totally engrossed in your own work, there can be little to no side options - the truly successful fine artist is willing to let go of many of the extra things in life to harness the skills to become a success.
GE: When did you start working with digital collage? (Is that what you would call your digital work?)
GEK: First, I think calling them digital collages is a great idea and I'll be using that for now on. I started working on them in the fall of 2010 in my Digital Photo II class. Because I hadn't studied abroad or have a nice camera, I didn’t have the visual material necessary for the project we were working on, so I needed to find content. I remembered my mother told me to do more work like a piece I had done that merged an image of Godzilla on an old naval painting. So, I started doing work like that. At home over the semester break, I noticed these video game collages that I had made when I was a kid to decorate my room. They were old tack boars about 2' x 4' and they were covered in stuff. That's when the idea hit me to do works with bright colors with modern pop culture as backgrounds.
GEK: I do believe that being a fine artist is a viable career, however, it’s challenging - you have to be very self aware of your work and aware of your own self. Then, you have to be able to communicate, through your work and other forms, in order to make connections with people so that your name and work will attract attention. Finally, you have to be totally engrossed in your own work, there can be little to no side options - the truly successful fine artist is willing to let go of many of the extra things in life to harness the skills to become a success.
GE: When did you start working with digital collage? (Is that what you would call your digital work?)
GEK: First, I think calling them digital collages is a great idea and I'll be using that for now on. I started working on them in the fall of 2010 in my Digital Photo II class. Because I hadn't studied abroad or have a nice camera, I didn’t have the visual material necessary for the project we were working on, so I needed to find content. I remembered my mother told me to do more work like a piece I had done that merged an image of Godzilla on an old naval painting. So, I started doing work like that. At home over the semester break, I noticed these video game collages that I had made when I was a kid to decorate my room. They were old tack boars about 2' x 4' and they were covered in stuff. That's when the idea hit me to do works with bright colors with modern pop culture as backgrounds.
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| Untitled, Digital Print. 2011 |
GE: Can you describe the process of making one of your pieces? Do
you maintain an image library that you work from?
GEK: I start by looking at my image bank which includes different folders containing different types of images. I usually start by finding one image that pops out at me and in my head I say, “Hey, lets work with this one.” That's the image that I base everything else off of. I then will go through looking for images that work well as backgrounds and look for, I guess what I call, “sub-base” images that work with the first image pulled out. From there, I lay them all out in Photoshop making changes to them, cutting parts out, adding things in, changes in colors and shape, along with other effects. Sometimes I’ll go back into the bank to get more images to replace or add in. Once the structure of the image is to my liking, I play around with the colors until I’m happy with a few different options. Usually while working on one image, it starts to give me ideas on what the next image should be.
GE: Do you work on multiple pieces at a time?
GEK: There are times when I find myself stalling out on a work and I’ll put it away, but they usually stay in the back of my mind as I work on others so if I have an idea I can pop it open real fast and see if the changes I've come up with make a difference.
GEK: I start by looking at my image bank which includes different folders containing different types of images. I usually start by finding one image that pops out at me and in my head I say, “Hey, lets work with this one.” That's the image that I base everything else off of. I then will go through looking for images that work well as backgrounds and look for, I guess what I call, “sub-base” images that work with the first image pulled out. From there, I lay them all out in Photoshop making changes to them, cutting parts out, adding things in, changes in colors and shape, along with other effects. Sometimes I’ll go back into the bank to get more images to replace or add in. Once the structure of the image is to my liking, I play around with the colors until I’m happy with a few different options. Usually while working on one image, it starts to give me ideas on what the next image should be.
GE: Do you work on multiple pieces at a time?
GEK: There are times when I find myself stalling out on a work and I’ll put it away, but they usually stay in the back of my mind as I work on others so if I have an idea I can pop it open real fast and see if the changes I've come up with make a difference.
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| Untitled, Digital Print. 2011 |
GEK: I'm sure I can which is why I'm trying to take more pictures myself and I have been talking with people in the art world and asking for their opinion on things. I intend on contacting a few artist I have found over the years, like Dale May whose work has obvious connections to copyrighted material. I'm not selling my work and I still consider myself a student with much to learn, especially about legal restrictions in the art world.
GE: You paint, you draw, and you work in digital (P.S. is there anything else?). What bridges the works that you have created in differing media?
GEK: I also like to work with wire and metal sculpture at times. The biggest bridge I can think of is Graffiti. I love doing my studio work in a large scale because I've always wanted to become a graffiti artist doing mural works on walls. Most the time when I'm working on something studio or digital I'm always thinking about how this would look on a wall on the side of the street.
GE: How would you describe your style?
GEK: My style is Student.... I'm really bad at evaluating where my own work, both digital and studio, belongs in classification. If I had to label my studio work it would be “Graffuturism” since all my works have a strong relation to graffiti and street art. As for my digital works they are more of an abstract collection of possible copyright lawsuits waiting to happen but they help give me the ideas to base studio works off of that are original works in themselves.
GE: What artists do you look at for inspiration?
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| Untitled, Digital Print. 2011 |
GE: How do you feel about cutting art programs out of public
schools? Do you feel art is as important as traditional academics such as
science or history?
GEK: I hate how the arts are always cut from the public school system. Learning and doing art is a way of expressing oneself along with writing and speech. I understand why they are targeted often since people often think of such classes as a free time then actual education. But its these classes that push some kids to develop their skills which are needed today in the digital and business world to help companies make products that appeal to consumers.
To check out Gill's book, "Cause I Stole Your Work" visit: http://bookify-api.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/2133164
GEK: I hate how the arts are always cut from the public school system. Learning and doing art is a way of expressing oneself along with writing and speech. I understand why they are targeted often since people often think of such classes as a free time then actual education. But its these classes that push some kids to develop their skills which are needed today in the digital and business world to help companies make products that appeal to consumers.
To check out Gill's book, "Cause I Stole Your Work" visit: http://bookify-api.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/2133164
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