THIS IS A WRITTEN INTERVIEW THAT MY FRIEND JOE HART PUT TOGETHER FOR A GREAT CATALOGUE OF A SHOW HE CURATED IN HIS HOME TOWN. (June of 2005) IT IS BIOGRAPHIC IN A RELATIVE WAY...THANKS JOE (Oh I got to make a link to Joe's WEBSite!)
JH: Where are you originally from and where do you live?
KH: Seattle, Washington and Brooklyn, New York, respectively. Although I am trying to set up a life in a more natural setting in Greenville, New York. My new big project is trying to build a habitable environment on an abandoned farm. It is beautiful. I am always happy there.
JH: Was there a particular moment when you decided that you were going to be an artist?
KH: I was a drawing kid. One of the things adults say to drawing kids is “you should be an artist” and since no one else was telling me to be anything else, I came up with the idea that I would be an artist at a pretty early age. I was good at it. I don’t think that idea ever really changed. The reasons change. Now I see this as, not only the best job I could ever ask for, but one that is vital to the health of humanity. I want to be an artist now more than I ever have.
JH: Did you formally study art in school? Describe your educational experience:
KH: I loved studying art in school. It was a great gift to be able to be so privileged to go to school for that. At the age of 18, I sort of jumped right into my ideal life, making and thinking about art full time. I was living in a utopian art world. The only thing that really mattered at that time was what you were making and what you were saying about it. It was really pure in a way that the real world isn't. There was no real hierarchy other than that of who was making interesting art. It was art paradise. After eight years, I'm starting to adjust, but it was a bit terrible to move to New York and start to worry about everything else. I visited a grad school recently and it was easy to be enchanted by the sweet dream of that accademic existence.
JH: How has your work evolved/changed over the years?
KH: I used to want to keep my work very bare and minimal. I think that after all of the theory I had studied in school, I was committed to the idea of speaking in the most direct terms. I didn’t like artists who seemed affected. It was just embarrassing to watch in critiques, like someone speaking with a fake accent. So I was very committed to finding the voice that was most natural to me and I started drawing the way that I had first learned to draw, with cheap pens on pieces of cheap paper. It was my first language. I also liked the idea of devaluing the actual piece of art. I was trying to say: “Pay attention to the idea here. That's all I really have to offer. The drawing is nothing, the paper is crap, but listen to what I am saying.” Over the years I have started to realize that sometimes people are just more willing to listen if the art looks a bit more valuable. You have to sort of lure people into paying attention to what you are saying, by making your voice as appealing as possible. I decorate more now. I feel like I am really just decorating my messages, making them more appealing. It is like singing. I guess I feel like I have become a better singer. My message is more pretty.
JH: What, if any, recurring themes appear in your work and why?
KH: Animals and plants, wizardly/sage/prophet men. All of the work is so text heavy that the job of the drawing is to provide a frame for the content of the text. I want to take people into a world where the words ring with greater truth and for some reason this is a world of nature. I believe that that there is a sense of depth to the natural world that we all can relate to. There are few people who look out across a natural landscape and don't feel this. On some level, we are reminded that we are all animals and there are certain truths revealed once we accept this. The cultures that make the most sense to me and that seem least troubled with the idea of their own existence are those that are most entwined with nature. Since this is no longer part of our real life, I think that it is worthwhile to connect to the ideas of nature through art. The characters that populate these worlds and speak are often animals or more western prophets, drawing on the imagery of Jesus/Shaman/Wisemen. When these men speak, I am acknowledging that the words on the page are preachy, and coming from the perspective of a sort of spiritual guide. There are other characters who say things that come from other perspectives, like that of the Natural Man, or Steve Stanley.
JH: Name some of your influences/inspirations:
KH: I always hate this question and usually try to find a way to dodge it. It seems like picking out sunglasses to me. I hate it. Sunglasses are useful but it has to be such a deliberate choice of style. You can't pick a pair without defining the type of person you want people to think you are and that person is never really quite you. I am not comfortable with it. I never wear them and am always walking around squinting. I want sunglasses, I just don't like picking the category I want to belong to. Aviator style guy. Ray-ban style guy. Extreme sports style. Funky sunglass man. It all seems kind of intolerable.
JH: Do you consider your work to be cartoons/comics?
KH: Comic-drawing guy. People love to categorize things, dividing the world up so it makes sense to them, and I think that, because of my drawing style and the large amount of text on the surface of my work, it is easy to push me into the comic category. While I think that the comic format is a great format, I don’t necessarily like how the comic category has come to be defined. If I tell people that I draw comics, it just gives them an excuse to immediately define my work in their mind and to probably take me less seriously than they would if I were to tell them I make ‘art’. It seems like the comic world is so small for that reason. Most people see that comic collector character on the Simpson’s who is really the ultimate geek and (while they’re watching and loving a show which is basically from the comic world), they make a mental note to themselves, never to go to a comic store and to always tell other people that they don’t read comics.
It doesn’t make any sense to me that things are defined like this. If you are an artist who is interested in talking about things in your work and you want your viewers to understand what you are trying to talk about, I think it makes a lot of sense to use the formal language, which, as humans, is our primary method of communication. Pictures are great and I obviously love them, but words are so incredibly useful. 99% of the time words are the tool we use to relate to one another, and it doesn’t make sense to me to throw them out when it comes to making art. Put them on the page. Make the people say things. Make the animals say things. I know that the moment I do this my drawing starts to look like a comic, but how can I resist? Words are just too useful.
JH: What is the best thing about making art?
KH: The freedom. There aren’t really rules. Your job, as an artist, is to do whatever you feel is the most important thing to do. In a way, being an artist is just being a human who is completely free. Whatever humans do when they are free to do absolutely anything, is art. That said, as a free man, I have made the decision that I want my art to be a force of good in the world, to address social problems, to help people see things they might not see. To help people deal with their lives. What do I feel is the most important thing to do in the world? Help people survive, get along, and be happy.
JH: What is the worst thing about making art?
KH: The money. Money is a terrible system we use to control other people and it has infected the art world. Art is a huge luxury and it is made by and for the people who can afford to be luxurious. It is not really available to people who struggle through life. This is more of a world problem than an art problem, but, nonetheless, it is the worst thing about art.
JH: Is art important? What might you say to someone who thinks that art is frivolous?
KH: I don’t think that people have to think that art is important. I think that the world of art is much more frivolous than it pretends to be and I can understand how people can be turned off by this. But even if you find the whole gallery scene laughable, there are elements of art everywhere in the world and I think that the human artistic impulse is important, if only because it is part of who we all are.
JH: Ask yourself a question and answer it:
KH: How can we make the worst thing about art better?
I think that, in general, we need to reduce the inequalities in our culture. The rich shouldn’t be so rich and the poor shouldn’t be so poor. The art stars shouldn’t be such stars and the unknown artists should at least be a known by some. I guess I’m an art socialist. Support poor artist. Buy cheap art for more than it costs. Steal expensive art, and sell it cheap. Throw out our money. Share art with each other. We need to change our way of thinking. Acknowledge that each person on earth is an artist of great value.
JH: Is there anything important/specific you want people to see in your work?
KH: I love it when someone tells me something that they like about my work and I can say, “Yes. You got it. That is exactly what I meant when I made that.” But it’s also interesting when someone sees something that I never meant to be seen. This has to do with how I am evolving as an artist. I am becoming more open-minded to people understanding my work in different ways and I am starting to draw some things which are not meant to be so clearly understood. The visual language is not necessarily precise.
JH: What is the best career advice you have ever received that you would like to pass along?
KH: Keep making art. Even if nobody buys it or even wants to see it, keep making it. You will start to discover what is important about what you are doing. Time answers all questions. It is hard work though, especially when you factor in the financial struggle. I hate to think of all the artists who are crushed by the burdens of our financial world. I walk with that weight and it is responsible for almost all of the problems in my life.
JH: What are your future goals?
KH: I would love to shed the load. I would love to make art and survive. I took 4500 pictures of plates and silverware last year to make money. In the future, I hope not to do this ever again. It was terrible.
JH: Why do you make art?
KH: In the most simple sense, because I enjoy it. Why do I enjoy it? The freedom is great. I love the freedom. Also there is a certain reward to the acts of creation and communication. The act of creation makes us feel like our effect on the world is real, like we are real. The act of communication makes us feel less alone. I want to feel free, like I am real, and less alone.