2 beards are better than one! My interview with Aaron Smith (…and art is back on lepillolledistefano)

Can you tell us when you decided art was your life and could become also a work?
Art was something you always wanted to do?
Art was always important in my life. I have a twin brother named Owen and we were always making things; drawing and painting. As we grew up, I think my parents got concerned that we BOTH might become artists. (We did) I was encouraged to try something else. I wouldn’t have it. I pushed to go to art school for college. We both attended Art Center College of Design to study Illustration. After graduation and living  in New York City for two years, it became clear to me that Fine Art was my thing.

 Where do you find inspirations for your work? Is art something that follows you everyday?
I’m definitely an art nerd: art history, painting, collecting and teaching….  I’m inspired by Modernism, Post-Impressionism, early photography, folk art and primitive art. Oh, I’m inspired by daily life as well.

 Tell us something about your latest works. 
Well, I’ve been collecting early photography, particularly of men, for many years. I finally decided to incorporate these images into my work. I’m interested in masculinity as a social construct. How does culture and it’s rituals affect men’s self perception and presentation? Tribal culture formalizes these rituals in beautiful and dramatic ways. I want to draw parallels between tribal ritual and western male customs by painting Victorian/Edwardian gentlemen with exotic colors and expressionistic brushwork.

 You have a very huge fan base thanks to all the portraits of bearded people. Is it flattering for an artist knowing of having such a huge following? How much important has the web been for you? I’m asking ‘cos I discovered you thanks to tumblr…
The web has been a very important way for me to connect with an audience. I just passed 5000 followers on my http://mucksnipe.tumblr.com/ site! Beards and contemporary dandyism are in the public’s consciousness right now. I guess my work has struck a cord with those scenes as well as fans of expressionistic painting. It has been so fun to connect with people both inside and outside of the art world.

If you think back at your career which do you think are your most important moments?
Wow, I haven’t really thought back in those terms. Well, besides the decisive moments I’ve mentioned, I suppose it was a few years ago when I took time from exhibiting to spend three solitary years in the studio without showing. My work evolved, become much more colorful and aggressive in surface than before. The time away really allowed me to experiment. Other than that, I’m looking for tiny important moments each day in the studio.

Which are the main problems that an artist can meet in our times?
There are more artist today than ever. The primacy of the gallery system is being shaken up by the internet. If artists don’t embrace the net, they are in danger of becoming lost in the din. There is a lot of grumbling about these new realities. I personally think these developments are exciting.

How is the art world today? We think about art as something very sacred, not as commercial as other worlds. But lots of critics are underlining the commercial side that art has nowadays. What do you think about it?
I suppose we must deal with the commercial side of the art world in order to survive. My studio practice is sacred. The “market” doesn’t enter my mind while I’m painting. The pluralism of the art world and the power of communication today allow people to discover and follow all kinds of artist’s work. If an artist consistently shares his/her work online while participating in social networks, an audience will develop. That can take some of the pressure off of an artist. If one treats the art “career” as an interesting evolving game, it can feel like a natural extension of the creative process rather than a burden.

 Where can we find your works?
My gallery in New York, Sloan Fine Art (http://www.sloanfineart.com/ ) is my primary representation. The best way to keep track of my upcoming shows is my website http://aaronsmithart.com/.

Since my blog is based on style and fashion. Tell us something about your style. How is your wardrobe? Favourite item of clothing?
I’m a fan of dapper, traditional menswear with a modern edge. As you might expect, I have a bit of a fetish for nineteenth century inspired style. Being a somewhat distracted and busy artist, I may be in jeans, work boots and plaid shirts more often than the neo-dandies that are so inspiring to me. I’m featuring some vintage hats lately. I’ll occasionally sport a bow tie… 

Your definition of elegance?
Elegance is clarity and confidence.

In which way do you think art and fashion are related?
For me they are always linked. Being a figurative artist, I’m primarily interested in people’s faces and bodies. Besides those things, fashion can be very revealing about a person. I suppose the way we dress, because it involves choices, reveals more about us than our physiognomy,

Project for the future? Are there any dreams left that you still want to realize?
Oh many I suppose. I don’t project too far in the future though. It’s important to be present in the now. Having said that, I want to expand my communication, keep painting, and strive to discover new things in the studio.

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