Interview

What is your background and how did you start your journey in the art world?

“I went to school for architecture. I also grew up playing in punk bands and drawing a lot of merch designs and album covers and lately I got into tattooing.”

What inspires you?

“The first two years when I moved to United States, I was traveling all backroads and crossed country back and forth multiple times in an old 1976 dodge. The landscapes I saw and people I saw or met is the biggest inspiration. Old blues songs I’ve heard on the radio and at the bars. Merl Haggard, Woodie Guthrie, Lightnin Hopkins. Dive bars, boozers, chainsmokers, hitchhikers, rugged ramblers, old motorcycles, classic cars, highways and horses - it all left a big impact on my art.”

What themes do you pursue? Is there an underlying message in your work?

“I’m drawing these characters called ‘rugged ramblers’ and ‘American landscape.’ Story of rugged ramblers is a story of struggles and triumphs of a common man. We all want live free and exciting lives with more cash, more gasoline in our tanks and more bullets in our revolvers. We all walked the hard roads and paid the price, faced hard times and came out on the other side little stronger and little tougher. I hope story of rugged ramblers can inspire to walk your own path no matter what and and stand so tall, sing loud and never back down.”

How would you describe your work?

“Mostly, I would describe my work as ‘highway notes’ or ‘American landscape.’”

Which artists influence you most?

“Cheyenne Sawyer is my biggest inspiration, really glad I got to spend a lot of time working next to him. Very grateful for the opportunity.”

What is your creative process like?

“I always right notes down and I safe all little sketches, that I at some point put together in a bigger painting. I was trying to achieve more like a symbolic look of my characters, less details, that can be copied and multiplied and be repeatable. Like if I’m drawing a highway, I’ll draw all motorcycles exactly the same and all cars exactly the same. I like how I can make them less important by keeping details down to the minimum. And give more details to the main characters.”