Mark-making: From Underpasses to Matchboxes - 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

Included in your gallery is one lonely sculpture. How did this weave its way into the mix?

The sculpture section is pretty lonely. My plan for graduation was to build fifteen red ninjas attacking one black ninja. I couldn't get that done in time, but managed to finish five red ninjas and three lamp dolls.
The process was just too long; about two weeks per doll, building the frame with pipes, sewing the clothes then sculpting the hands and face. I bought so many pipes that Home Depot was tempted to call the police fearing I was creating a pipe bomb. The dolls are about the size of a six-year old, so having eight of them takes up a lot of space; I can't image what I would have done if I’d completed sixteen. I haven't taken the time to shoot the dolls and put them up on my site, but I plan to.

What are you currently working on? Any new pieces that might be unveiled to the public?

Right now I’m just painting on a lot of matchboxes. I don't know why it's so fun to paint on a matchbox. I guess it’s kinda like eating potato chips: You can’t just stop at one. I’ve done over 200 matchboxes now and have no plan in stopping. I used to collect them, but by accident spilled paint on my favorite 1920 Cuba matchbox. I was so upset, but by the next day I’d decided to paint a face on it.

I've been getting a lot of good feedback on them and they’re selling really fast, so I'll produce them until I get sick of it. I’ve also been collecting matchboxes by many different artists. I’d approach an artist I look up to and ask them to bust a face on one. It really sucks when you get shut down, but you can't really blame them. In the graffiti game, it's like a rule to do something in another's sketchbook. It’s unheard of when someone turns down a quick sketch but I guess painters don't know about that rule.

Right now my favorite matchboxes are from Kent Williams, Kaeleen O'Neill, David Jien, and Patrick Leung. I plan on selling my matchboxes on my website, so I'll update pretty soon.

As “less mainstream” as you'd care to be, I can see matchboxes becoming some sort of craze.

Yeah, I think you’re right about that. On several occasions people would come up to me and ask me if I was the matchbox guy. I don't want to be known for a guy who paints matchboxes, but for some strange reason people relate with it more than some of my paintings. My friend saw the matchboxes and he came up with something genius. He painted on cigarette boxes. He used the flap as the mouth; I thought that idea was pretty clever.

Do you think when it comes to commercializing art, bite-size -- like small chocolates -- may appeal more to the public?

I had a talk with one underground gallery in L.A. He basically told me he's so sick of these big galleries recycling the same artist over and over again. He said every big gallery in L.A shows the same people, making them overexposed.

I didn't even like it when Mobb Deep signed with G-unit. But then again you have to realize that these guys have to eat. So I have mixed feelings about this question. I do think that it's great to see bite-sized art now and then. Less becomes more in certain situations. But there are days when I need some big-sized chocolates.

Long story short: You just got to be true to yourself.

 

 

Guu Magazine at GuuPress.com

---------------

Related Links:
> Andrew Hem's official website

 

 Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
 Return to all articles