Looking Stupid: Hey man, is now still a good time?
Andrew Durgin-Barnes: Yup
LS: What’s good? How’s your day been? What are you doing out in NY?
AB: It’s going good thanks. I’m just out here working. Right now I’m doing a painting of dogs playing poker for Scarr’s Pizza
How have you been? Is that part of the interview? Lol
LS: It is haha
Ok dope, a bit of a work trip. Are you putting your own spin on the piece? Or going for a classic vibe?
AB: It’s definitely my own spin but has a lot of the classic dogs playing poker elements. Mines got some more specific things and also includes portraits of the owners dogs and stuff so it’s a little more personalized for Scarr’s.
LS: In your own work you’ve developed a somewhat formal painting style, often times the subject matter is at odds with that style, how do you find the balance between choosing the wild elements in your work and when do you feel the urge to pull back?
AB: I try to focus on just making the subject into a good painting compositionally. Pleasing to look at. The arrangement is what I’m looking for. The subject could be anything and a lot of times it’s something abrasive. But the arrangement is what makes it into something interesting to look at. But I do try to have restraint and keep things subtle. Anyone can paint some shocking thing, but for me I try to keep it subtle and kind of more realistic. Painting something that could technically really happen maybe as opposed to taking it out of that realm into fantasy or something. If that makes any sense.
LS: Also, while we’re here, mind explaining what “plein air painting” is and how it became crucial to your practice?
AB: Plein air painting is just painting outside. It’s a whole other animal. You’re battling the elements, distractions from your surroundings, the sun is constantly moving so the light and shadows are changing. It creates new challenges and you have to approach your painting very differently. It’s very rewarding. Very good practice for painting in general.
LS: What influences the composition of your paintings? How did your style develop out of an initial interest in art and drawing as a kid in the PNW?
AB: There’s a lot that influences how I compose a painting. Aside from just thinking about the subject and how I want to represent it, there are rules that I follow generally. I had always drawn and painted growing up, but when I was 18 I met the painter Jesse Edwards and he really lit the fire for me when I realized he was making a living off of his art. So I began really studying books and the old masters, and in that studying I learned about sacred geometry and how it can be applied to drawing and painting compositions. Studying painters like Raphael, Nicolas Poussin and J.A.D. Ingres. And Leonardo da Vinci have all influenced my style tremendously. Jesse Edwards helped get me into a school in Seattle called Gage academy (then at the time it was Seattle academy of fine arts) where I learned to draw in the traditional methods by Mark Kang-Ohiggin’s. There was a teacher there named Juliette Aristides who published some very good books that I learned a LOT about composition from. I highly recommend her books to anyone who wants to learn how to draw and paint.
LS: Do you think diving head first into formalism helped you take your art and the art world in general more seriously than you otherwise would have?
AB: Honestly I really don’t know. I didn’t know much about art when I started painting. Anything about it really. Representational art is just what I gravitated toward. But as I learned more about art in general I began to really love it and take all forms seriously
LS: What stuck out to you about sacred geometry and what about it has kept it relevant as your work evolves over time?
AB: The fact that sacred geometry is what makes everything beautiful in nature is what stuck with me. If it can be applied to a painting it must help make it more pleasing to look at in ways.
LS: Coming from Skating and Graf, what were your initial impressions of the “art world” and have they changed over time?
AB: I didn’t know anything about the “art world” really. There’s a scene from the Doors movie with Val Kilmer. Where he’s partying with Andy Warhol. I think I always imagined that being the art world when I was young. And no they haven’t really changed over time I’ve just learned more about it.
LS: Do you prefer selling your own work and playing the game that goes with being a gallery artist or is there a degree of freedom that comes with taking (certain) commissions?
AB: I’d prefer both. I like being able to make something for someone, to satisfy their need and also make money. But yeah I have a lot of projects of my own I want to work on but you know.. the commissions are more consistent.
LS: You’re currently preparing to show in a new group show in LA right? How has that been
AB: I am? What show!
LS: It was on your site hahaha
AB: Oh damn I need to have the dude update that then haha! No I don’t have anything coming up right now besides doing another show at Whaam gallery here in New York as sort of a part 2 to the last one I did called “caught in my eye”. But no official dates or anything right now. I’ve got a heavy workload of commission stuff to do that will keep me busy for a bit.
LS: Any that you’re excited about? Commissions I mean. What’s your work flow like with that stuff?
AB: Right now it’s been pretty consistent with the pet portrait stuff but I have a potential album cover that I don’t wanna jinx by talking about, and a couple other specific ones that I’m not particularly excited about but it’s work. When people have me just re create the photo as an oil painting, it’s not that exciting to me. But it keeps food in my belly.
LS: I think making rent off your craft is hugely underrated
AB: That is true. Very thankful to even scrape by doing what I love
LS: Does your commission flow ever affect your personal work? Like if commissions are boring does your personal work get crazier and more vivid?
AB: That’s interesting. I think it does actually. Maybe not more vivid but I’ll make a drastic change in approach. Like if I’m stuck in the studio working on commission stuff for a while, I’ll need to go outside and paint a bunch or do some drawings. It may not seem like it but I switch up my creative outlets a lot. Skateboarding and graf are other artistic outlets for me.
LS: How do you interact with skating and graffiti as you age? Does your “painting” influence your Painting or vice versa ?
AB: I see skateboarding as exercise more than I used to. It’s still expression and a form of play I guess but a big part of what keeps me doing it is the exercise. Keeps me kinda limber. Graffiti is its own thing. But both of them definitely cross over into my work. They’re both just part of my identity. I’ve been skateboarding since I was 12. I’m almost 41.
LS: You’ve been painting for well over a decade now as well, do you ever stop and realize how much that’s become a part of who you are as well?
AB: Definitely. I sold my first painting 20 years ago.
LS: That is a striking thing. How has your relationship to what you paint and why you paint changed during that time? Have your feelings towards your private practice shifted?
AB: I’ve always just wanted to paint whatever I want. I never wanted to box myself in as far as subject matter goes. I usually work within a set of principles that apply to traditional painting, but I don’t think much has changed at all as far as the stuff I’m drawn to painting. There’s so much out there I want to paint still, things I’ve wanted to paint since I was a kid. Like the pyramids in Egypt. Someday I would like to do a plein air painting of the pyramids.
LS: Have your feelings about the way you want your art to be received shifted at all? Do you find yourself caring less about that aspect in general?
AB: I definitely care less in general for sure, but it all depends on my mood. Some days it means a lot to me what people think and other days I don’t give a shit. Haha. But generally no, at the end of the day I’m doing whatever I wanna do in that regard.
LS: Jumping off your comment about the pyramids, what are you excited about making or doing in the near(ish) future?
AB: Nearish future, after I get this workload handled I would really like to travel and do some plein air. Like maybe a series of jungle paintings or something.
LS: Perfect man, thank you for this, is there anything you’d like to add?
AB: Free Palestine