April Art Attack! Artist Profile: David LaMorte
April 16, 2009
1. What is your definition of art?
Art is a way of communicating thoughts and ideas.
2. What medium do you use?
I use everything necessary.
3. What is your art about?
My art is about expressing my ideas and what I’m working out in my mind at the time. Sometimes there is a theme (or thesmes) that may run through a series of works, but so far nothing has stuck.
4. How would you describe your artwork?
Messy and over worked.
5. How has your artistic practice changed since you first began making art?
I am a lot more critical of what I am doing. Maybe it is because I have less time and more ideas, so I don’t want to work on anything that could turn out to be a waste of time.
6. What influences your art?
Everything I am thinking about and feeling influences my art. If I am trying to figure out something in my head I’ll often use my work to sort out my thoughts.
7. Who are your favorite artists?
Jeff Soto, Willie Cole, Pepon Osorio, Liam Lynch, Barry McGee, Kaws, Tom Sachs, Tim Hawkinson, Kerry James Marshall, Do-Ho Suh, Jason Scott Musson
8. What is your favorite artwork by another artist?
It’s a toss up between Pepon Osorio’s “No crying in the barber shop” and Tom Sach’s “Nutsy’s McDonald’s”.
9. How do you title your work?
I try not to be all that clever so I use titles that are descriptive or are straight forward.
10. Do you have formal training?
Yes, I received my BFA and I recently finished my masters in Art Ed.
11. Where do you show your artwork?
No where right now.
12. Describe one challenge you constantly face in your practice.
Time, I don’t do a lot of planning so I spend way too much time figuring everything out by trial and error.
13. When are you most creative?
I’m most creative during the day while I’m at work. I’m a teacher and I find kids and their ideas inspiring.
14. How do you know when an artwork is complete?
When I’m either too upset with it to go on or too upset with the idea of changing anything.
15. What is one discovery you have made while working?
Art doesn’t lead to answers, but it can help you find the right questions.
16. How separate are you from your art?
My art reflects a lot of how I feel while I’m working on it but I try to leave as much of my frustrations and emotions on the work. So hopefully I’m nothing like the guy I was when I was working on a project.
17. What is the role of the artist in society?
The artist is there to point out what everyone is thinking but can’t yet articulate.
18. What artistic trend are you seeing a lot of lately?
I’m seeing a lot of hipster art and artists being apart of a tight knit scene. Whenever a bunch of people figure out a style that works for them they start to circle the wagons and try to keep others out of their scene. I’m 25 and I’m too old to try to be one of the cool kids.
19. What is your least favorite occupational hazard?
I don’t use a lot of dangerous stuff in my work anymore, so I find all of the little annoyances of being an artist an important part of being an artist.
20. What is the strangest comment someone has said about your work?
I’ve had a lot of strange and disturbing comments about my work that I don’t want to repeat or have linked to my name on the Internet.
21. Do you consider yourself the next Michelangelo?
No, I barely consider myself the next Dave LaMorte.
22. What else do you do besides make art?
It’s hard to say because everything I do influences or effects my work. I work out ideas at the gym, I talk about ideas with my wife, and I read to make me better informed.
23. Are you an alcoholic?
No, I’m not really a drinker.
24. What advice would you give to a young artist?
Try something new everyday, a good artist has an open mind.
25. “My kid could do that,” has become the ultimate diss on a piece of art. Give a new one for the ages.
“Didn’t someone else do that?” We seemed to be obsessed with making everything an unprecedented spectacle. Why can’t we just do something someone else did and see what we can do with it?
Artist:
David LaMorte (aka Dave LaMorte)
davelamorte@gmail.com
www.davidlamorte.com
blog.davidlamorte.com
twitter: @DaveLaMorte
April Art Attack! is a month-long online art festival dedicated to giving creative individuals a new platform for conversation. Organized by Gus23, the festival will bring together remarkable voices throughout the Web into one blog for one month. This collection of artistic ideas will highlight the importance of the Internet as a tool for necessary and meaningful communication.
