Why art?

I occassionally get these emails from art students having to do an assignment that involves an interview with an active, living artist. My best guess is that they probably catch my website (www.kilatzin.com) from a Google search. I hate to disappoint them; if anything, I go out of my way to make my art an avocation rather than a vocation.

I've had to learn some harsh lessons about how money and business can change or corrupt the thing you love. I do my best, given the current constraints of my lifestyle . . . well, at least I did until the thing with my sister. Now I'm more or less focused on caring for the family. But when baby gets older I will get back to art. Until then, here's a recent list of questions a student sent me, with my corresponding answers.

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1. Why are you an artist?

I’m an artist because:

• I have a talent for it


• I get a kick out of doing it


• It's hard to see myself doing anything else


• I'm weird

The strange thing is that I don't consider myself too artsy-fartsy. I don't have many friends who are into the arts of any kind. I've tried to get into different artist circles/groups, but have always found it a little disappointing/unsatisfying. I'm too "normal" for the artsy-fartsy, avant-garde crowd, but too "artsy-fartsy" for the normal, arts & crafts crowd. It's something I'm still trying to get my head around. I'll probably make another attempt to integrate with some hopefully, like-minded individuals. I need to find some sort of support group out there. We'll see.

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2. Could you tell me some more about your paintings?

Icnonographic, expressionist (verging on the garish) color studies. The older I get, the less garish I paint.

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3. Where do you see painting today?

Painting is whatever the hell you want it be: big business or personal odyssey. For most people, it is a background art form that subtly influences movies, television, graphic design and music.

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4. Do you think that the fine artist will survive as technology replaces our skills?

The fine artist will adapt and use whatever technology is at his/her reach. While the use of older technologies may diminish as new ones are developed, they never completely go away. The philosophies and purposes behind those technologies will change. Part of the fun, for some artists, is exploring how it’ll change. There are artists that are still expressing themselves through woodcuts that are as vibrant as anything else you’d find out there. Formats and tools will always be in flux. Creativity is forever.

For example, I prefer to work in oils, but have adapted to use computers (photoshop in particular) for creating preliminary sketches or compositions. Also, any artist who is not taking advantage of the Internet's promotional opportunities is at doing him/herself a grave disservice.

Look at it another way. The automobile hasn’t obliterated horseback riding. Photography hasn’t obliterated fine painting. Artists have had to respond to the challenge that photography posed: “now that there’s a better way to capturing visual reality, what’s the purpose of painting?”

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5. Which artists have influenced you, and how?

The artists that get to me every time are Matisse and Chagall. At their best, both are marked by their deceptively simple uses of primary colors. I would compare them to blues musicians or haiku poets who work in very constrictive set of rules and somehow manage to pull off something brilliant. I'd like to get there someday.


As far as more modern artists are concerned: I have a liking for Gilbert & George, Clemente and David LaChapelle.

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6. What other interests do have (besides painting)?

I start off as a somewhat normal American male. Watch football, basketball and love grilling steak on the barbeque. Then, after a couple of blocks, I venture "hard right" into geekdom with a predilection for Superman, bacon and Stephen Sondheim. I used to sing, perform and write songs, but lost my taste for it long ago. I try to keep up with pop culture and non-fiction books, but family life precedes everything. And I do mean everything.

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7. What inspires you to paint and how do you keep motivated when things get tough in the studio?

There are always going to be rough patches. You need this blind faith or confidence in your abilities to know that even your failures will be interesting and instructive. Every experience will help you out in the long run. Not only that, the failures will provide depth and context to your body of work. Every musician, every actor, every director, every athlete has faced failure. Why should it be any different for you?

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8. How have you handled the business side of being an artist?

I’ve made a conscious decision to not immerse myself in the business side. I paint for the "kick". When money comes into the picture, then matters muddy quite a bit. Money brings you legitimacy, but it also binds you into certain expectations. If you don't meet those expectations, then there will be hell to pay. I've had good and bad experiences, enough to give myself the luxury to seek out projects that provide a creative "spark" and rule out ones that don't. I also know that to be truly successful, you've got to have someone schlep your wares to the nth degree. Most of the time, that role falls on you. I know it's part of the game, but I have a little distaste for it. That being said, I have no qualms about selling myself out like a cheap two-dollar whore when it comes time to accumulate the several hundreds of dollars I need to attend the San Diego comic con. Daddy needs that $4000 life-sized Superman statue.

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9. Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

In 10 years, I hope to still be a happily married family man. Everything else is in flux.

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10. Could you talk about your latest series of paintings and what you aretrying to achieve with them?

I've been doing commissions for people the last couple of years. No time for anything else really. I do have some sketches I'd like to develop into actual paintings. They revolve around my feelings towards my sister and brother. I want to convey some sense of my relationship with them, without actually calling out anything specific. My style has also been more subtle, more iconic, more abstract, more subdued. Let's see how that plays out.

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11. As an artist, how do you contribute in the society?

Hell, I don't know. I'm just trying to do what I do. If someone likes it, cool. If someone doesn't, oh well. But it's taking all my energy maintaining a normal suburban lifestyle and adding my art on top of it. I don't have the luxury to think about something like that.

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12. How hard/easy it is to organize an exhibit event?

Organizing an event is a damned hard thing to do. If everything works out alright, then it's the most satisfying feeling in the world. If it's a failure, then you feel like a heel. Just know that it'll take a lot of time, smarts, help, luck and elbow grease to organize ANY event . . . whether it's a party, a wedding, a play or an exhibit.

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13. Should arts be used as a tool to address social and political issue?

Sure. Why not? But don't assume that you addressing something is a guarantee that someone will listen. It's not, but at the very least, you've put it out there.

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13. And my last question is what advice would you give to an artist just starting out?

This advice actually applies to everything in life: Anyone who starts any career in the arts must ask themselves if they can picture doing anything else. Do you have the desire to continue when things don’t necessarily work out as planned? Just make sure this is something you really want to do. You can make a very comfortable living for yourself doing something else. Don’t do it for the money. Do it because you NEED to do it. You should also ask yourself how far you want to take this. What are you willing to sacrifice for it: a nice car, a stable family environment, etc? You can have it all, but it’s a tough balancing act.