I wouldn't consider myself an outsider artist because I have a university degree in painting.

Marcel Dzama

Categorized in : Artist University Degrees Outsiders

I use dull colors in my drawings because I started out using a root beer base because it seemed like an interesting idea and when it turned out that it worked quite well as an ink I started using other colors that would compliment it.

color beer ideas

I make art primarily for myself and to show my friends so I guess it's important to make art that they can connect to.

important shows art

After finishing art school I was applying to stores like Home Depot and Walmart. You know, places where you have to take a urine test before you get your minimum wage. Even those places wouldn't hire me. So I was lucky when I got included in a group show at the Richard Heller gallery that kind of started my art career.

home art school

I had always loved Joseph Cornell and wanted to do something with dioramas.

Yoko Ono is someone who's music I've discovered more recently. The current cd rereleases of her albums all had bonus tracks recorded just with a tape recorder and I'm really into these at the moment because they have a great intimate feel.

cds albums track

P.I.L. has been a favorite of mine since high school especially there metal box album. The guitarist Keith Levine gets some of the best sounds ever to come out of a guitar. The songs are really free form and experimental and have a heavy dub influence.

guitar song school

I've been very fortunate in my art career. It's something I would never have expected.

expected careers art

I like all kinds of music but some of my all time favorites are P.I.L., Yoko Ono, T-Rex, and Anton Karas.

all-kinds all-time kind

My favorite artists from comics were early ones like Jack Kirby or Steve Ditko who had a real heavy ink style. Captain America, co created by Jack Kirby, was a favorite of mine and I sometimes use an altered version of his costume on some of my characters.

artist real character

When I was a school kid I used to read lots of comics. This started me on drawing, I would make my own comics about my teddy bear whose name happened to be Ted.

drawing kids school

Winnipeg has the largest collection of Inuit art in the world, I believe. They can be quite simple in a great way and often have sparse backgrounds and isolated characters. They often have a really great look to them.

character believe art

I've been very influenced by Inuit art especially some drawings and watercolors I've seen.

inuit drawing art

My main influence are the other members of the Royal Art Lodge, we've drawn together enough that we can't help but influence each other.

royal together art

I actually prefer the silent black and white version of the Wizard Of Oz from the 20's.

wizards silent black-and-white

The muted color scheme allows the occasional brighter yellow or red to pop out on the wall in a show, which I like.

wall color yellow

I made a tin man costume with tin foil and furnace parts because I thought it would help me be more heartless.

heartless tin men

I'm not a trained dancer in the slightest.

The process of the body changing and making a whole human fascinates me.

body humans process

I was always doing films, but the ceramics didn't come until later. I did take ceramics in university, which gave me an appetite for the medium, but I couldn't figure out what I wanted to do with it yet.

ceramics film figures

I don't go digital. I was never good with technology. I didn't have a cellphone until I moved to New York. My gallery was like, 'What? How are we supposed to contact you?'

new good you technology