ARTSPROJEKT - Freedom of Expression

Take us through one day in the life of artist Joshua Krause

I live on a few different schedules depending on what’s going on, but here’s the one I’m about to get back onto: get up early and hit the gym, listen to Adam Carolla on the radio, eat my body weight in protein, surf the web for good and brutal metal, paint the days away while baseball is on TV. I just got the baseball package and it makes sitting and painting even more enjoyable…I find a lot of correlation between sport and art.

Describe the start of your creative process from the point of inspiration to the first stroke of paint.

I just kinda stew a lot, if that makes any sense. I seem to do a lot of my best work while I’m ruminating, sleeping, running, driving, and not really conscious of myself, or giving much thought to the art I’m gonna make. Learning to just be, ya know? Letting the world penetrate, and filtering it as it runs through you. I know this sound counter-productive, but I get a lot of “work” done when I’m not in my studio…all of this seems to prepare me when I settle down to actual picture making: I go back and forth with the painting, collaging and then resin stages of the work until its finished…I add a lot of elements, take a lot away, and let it form itself. I just kinda guide it along. I’m pretty hardcore when I get down to it and seem to fall into somewhat meditative stretches, so I don’t always know why or what I’m doing. I’ve learned that some parts are controllable and some aren’t. I like losing myself. Sometimes I have conversations or scenarios going on in my head, and that usually devolves to a steady hum…The stupid movie on in the background becomes my friend and partner in the process most of the time…its not that deep, its really just art therapy. I get asked this question a lot, and never really know how to answer it, cause I just kinda go for it-and most art I like is this way…I do get ideas and imagery in my head, but I mostly work intuitively…it works better for me that way. I actually hate art that seems too controlled, calculated, planned-out and processed. I like metal for a lot of the same reasons—the best stuff is very technical and deliberate, but there is somewhat of a euphoric moment created by the sum of all the parts.

Is there an ongoing narrative to the pieces you have featured here?

I’m trying to spit out all that’s inside me. Ultimately, I’m just trying to express hope and humor. To that end, I like artists that share a philosophy and expose their vulnerabilities without hitting you over the head with it. I’m not trying to say anything new, and am fine if my work does different things for different people. I’ve been feeling more unleashed and think art can be aggro, gentle, brutal, and funny all at the same time. And recently, a notion of forgiveness has crept in, but I’m still working thru what that means in my life and work. I guess my “narrative” sounds more like motivational blowhardism, but I truly believe in mind, body and spirit and following your own path, cause thats all we got. And laughing through it all…

Your art has been described as contemporary, lowbrow, underground, etc. If you were forced to live in a box, how would you label yourself?

Dood paints.

What is the most inspirational moment in your life?

Not to talk in circles, but I am inspired by the fact that one day I won’t be alive. Like everyone, I’ve had so many said defining moments, but often the subtleties stir me up and have had equally lasting effects. I think we spend way too much time seeking out those “eureka” moments that most of us don’t do jack shit. Its a romanticized notion of how art or music or anything creative is made…but I just don’t look at life that way. When most people think of “artist”, they see some frail, tortured eccentric rocking in a corner or flinging paint from his ding-dong, ya know? I think people spend a life-time asking themselves “what’s my motivation” , “why are we here”, yada yada, instead of just finding their bliss through action. I just make art all the time, and the artists I like are just as obsessive and possessed. Just taking everything in thru chronic observation, poking around inside, and being on a lifelong spirit quest inspires me all the time…

You can see Joshua’s new work in Los Angeles at the Cerasoli Gallery. His new show, “Convince Me I’m On Fire”, runs May 10 -June 7. You can see more of Joshua online at www.krauseart.com

click on thumbnails for larger images

An expat of the “day job” since 2005, Squindo makes 2D art, sculpture, tattoos, and builds and modifies classic cars in a secluded North East Pennsylvania studio and log cabin home that keeps him always within and eye shot of the wife and pups. Squindo cites fellow artists Porkchop and Jenn Hampton of Crybaby Gallery in Asbury Park as the friends that got him started in the gallery exhibition world. Now his work is exhibited in galleries across the country and in Europe, with the growing popularity of his patented his patented use of wood and working man’s mediums auto body filler, acrylics and waterbase stains (living in a log cabin, you tend to work with wood A LOT).

The wild ride of the Squindo train continues to rocket down the tracks, as the artist is caught designing merchandise and countless show posters for bands and venues like Asbury Lanes, skis for Rossignol project Seven Deadly Sins and leather jackets for Schott Brothers.

His work’s recently graced the walls of Gasoline Gallery, Motorcult, Bully Dog, and he’s continuously showing up in mags including Car Kulture Deluxe, Iron Horse and Rolls and Pleats, among others. Squindo designed skateboards for skater legend and brother-in-law Tom Groholski and other skate industry companies like Danger Skateboards, Ghosttown, CutThroat, Wreckroom, Poolside and Juice Magazine. At the same time, painting, sculpting, playing with the dogs, tattooing and working on the 54 Chevy, 60 chevy panel and 35 sedan. Oh, and melting the ice off his driveway with an industrial welder .

Squindo is a much welcomed edition to the growing ARTSPROJEKT family. You can see more about Squindo here and here.