Interviews
Greetings fellow artists! I chose to interview a specific range of artist; those who lived for their art, and/or earned a living from their art. The people I interviewed ranged from gallery curators to self taught “street artists”. Those whom I couldn’t interview for reasons of time, distance, etc, I emailed a list of questions. I had a lot of promises but fewer replies.
As this magazine is called “Back to Basics”, I deliberately have not chosen “big named” artists who typically, or so I have found, paint as I could only dream of, yet can not tell you “how” or “why”.
Some of the artists I interviewed also teach. Others aim their work at a specific audience, eg. tourism. A few have won contracts to supply a specified number of works, based on a theme. Eg. for a particular consortium.
One artist manages a gallery in which he organizes shows for local groups. He refuses to show any of his own work, brilliant as it is, due to a perceived conflict of interest. In the process of interviewing all these artists, I not only gained artistic inspiration, but also learned how subjective art really is.
Since I first started interviewing, I have been struggling with how to present this article. Should I write one question and all artists’ responses, or set out all questions and all responses; or list a few questions and showcase several artists. I finally decided on the last option.
The Artists
said he was brought up in a poor “shanty town” area near Capetown, and admits to a
