–Meet the Artist:Barry Chesser–
Q: I know you as a Graphic Designer, but I know that’s not all you do! Tell us a bit about your background, and the different mediums you work with.
A: Sketching and drawing comes first for me. If am creating anything other than text based work, it starts with a sketch. When I draw I can come pretty close to what I am trying to get down on paper. When I paint I would say it is about a 40% success rate. So I have made drawing the back bone of everything I do. Ink work, scratchboard, pencils, anything drawing based I love to dive into. When I paint I prefer watercolor because of it’s transparency you never lose the drawing underneath.
Q: What inspires you to create?
A: I like originality. Doing something original is the hardest thing to achieve. It could be likely that it is impossible to achieve. I will take an original idea over a well made finished piece. Usually what inspires me to create is when I come across something that is good but not quite what I would of done with it. Then I want to go do exactly what I would of done with it. I think successful art answers some kind of creative question. Sometimes I will come across something that opens the door to a concept that the original piece did not explore and might of opened the door accidentally. Then I want to go explore that unaddressed areas because it became an artistically asked question that was not answered or addressed. I guess I am trying to say what inspired me is seeing a glimpse of unexplored territory and then going to see what I can do with it.
Q: Name an artist you are wow’d by?
A: There are two ways to wow me. One is to be incredible in something I like and then it is inspires me to try to be better. The second way to wow me is to do something I can’t do. I am not really a sculptor if you are a good sculptor I am wow’d because it is something outside of my wheelhouse. My background is Illustration, so an easy answer is Norman Rockwell. A more fun answer is a guy like Sam Kieth or Simon Bisley (comic book artists) or Ralph Steadman (illustrator) both very unique voices in their field although no one would ever call them the best technical craftsman in their own skill they just are off the beaten path.
Q: When you create, do you typically listen to music, and if so what?
A: Nick Cave, Tom Waits, Johnny Cash, various Mike Patton projects, Primus, Clutch, Melvins, I don’t know…. a lot of stuff. Although when you are really sucked into what you are doing you kind of lose track of the music and don’t hear it anyway. News or Podcasts also work. Sometimes music makes me feel the time going by because songs are usually 3 mins and you know an album is 45 or so… the news or a podcast is not broken up or structured that way, so it is easier not to hear the seconds click.
Q: Any recommended reading?
A: I kinda dropped out of the reading circuit. I am not against the idea of it, it just means I would have to carve out time to do it and that is hard to do. It is not new by any means, but Caleb Carr’s The Alienist is pretty damn good. It’s historical fiction. William S. Burroughs has some amazingly descriptive stuff that is worth looking into. I hate to say it, but a book on tape while traveling is probably the best bet for me currently being able to get through some literature.
Q: Are you an action, comedy or romance movie lover, and what film would you then recommend? Of course you could also prefer documentaries?
A: I like The Departed. The Big Lebowski gets better every time you watch it. I don’t care what the genre it is as long as the movie is good. David Fincher is making solid movies these days. Michael Mann, David Lynch, Cohen Brothers, Stanley Kubrick I would say I am less into following movie genres and more into following Directors that do good work. If I ever come across Big Trouble in Little China on cable, I am going to watch it, it is just the way it is.
Q: We know being an artist is a lot of work, so what drives you to keep going?
A: Maybe it is being unsuccessful? Not that I have not had some success along the way, but I am not where I want to be career wise. I think being any kind of artist is signing onto the idea that you are going to try to explore whatever it is your thing is and trying to get better at it. I guess I am just assuming I am going to keep going forever. A better question would be what might come along that would make me think pursuing arts is not rewarding or a bad idea. Yes, many things have come up that make art seem like a bad idea, but i am still doing it so who knows…
Q: As an artist, have you faced any challenges or barriers in response to who you are as a person? Had to overcome any obstacles?
A: I honestly do not know if I have faced any challenges because I am who I am. If someone did not hire me for a project because I don’t look like what they had in the mind an artist should look like I don’t know. Nobody would tell you that was their reason if that truly was their reason. Art is so challenging and nearly impossible as it is, the whole thing is an unrecommended uphill battle, everything that doesn’t work out has it’s own individual reason. If who I am as a person is holding me back, I have not overcome it yet to tell you about it.
Q: How do you think the Internet has changed art?
A: It would take a book to write all the ways the internet has changed art. The positive ones I like is that it is a huge research library at your fingertips, I do almost all my freelance work through email, and it is much easier to show a portfolio from a website or to get your work out there.
Q: Now for the most important question, are you a cat person or a dog person?
A: Well, you know when you are watching the news and they get into all the stories about rescue cats, seeing-eye cats… cats that help find bombs and cats that help rescue little Timmy who fell into the well? You can see what I am getting at. I am a dog person. Dogs can help you do what you are into. A well trained cat still shits inside your house.
Want to be our next featured artist? Send us a message with some info (links, who you are, what you do) to theteam [at] allwegotrecords [dot] com
