Monday's artists profile: Drew Davis

Drew Davis, 22, is a local artist who has lived on the Central Coast his entire life. His vividly-colored paintings, as well as drawings, photographs and animations, can be found on his Web site, idrew.typepad.com.

Mustang Daily: What type of art do you do and what medium do you use for your art?

Drew Davis: I do representational and also non-representational (art). Abstract, kind of expressionistic. I mostly use acrylic and oil. Lately I’ve been using oil more often. Sometimes I combine the two like (using) oil over acrylic.

MD: Are you working on anything specific right now?

DD: I always have a bunch of paintings going at the same time. One popular theme of mine is Ferris wheels and fairs. I’m considering exploring that a little bit more. I definitely work on a lot of pieces all at the same time really quickly. And jump ar ound, kind of scatterbrained.

MD: Is there anything in particular that inspires you and/or your art?

DD: Not really. My drawing style is pretty loose. I’ve been incorporating figures into my work. I tend to draw more cartoon (like) kind of characters. With my painting, if I’m doing an abstract painting, I’ll normally start freely and just loosely. And then I’ll slowly turn it into something else, go in a different direction, like a figure or a landscape or a life, so it has an abstract feel to it. When I’m painting fair stuff, I’ll generally work from a photograph and work pretty specifically.

MD: Have you always known you wanted to be an artist?

DD: Both my grandparents are artists and my aunt (is) so it’s in my family. I grew up doing art. I was home-schooled so I graduated when I was 16 and then got into my first gallery when I was 17 and started showing (my art). I’ve been showing since then. There’s music in my family too; I play piano. I have a lot of creative interests. My dad’s an architect and I think I can see that that’s had an impact on my art.

MD: Do you ever work outside your traditional mediums?

DD: I like to paint on different things like plywood and I also had a series I was painting on copper. I kind of have a compulsive art supply-buying habit. I try to expand my tools. I’ll use wax or house paint. I’ve been all over the map as far as medium and subject matter. It’s a lot of fun and I enjoy it.

MD: Do you have plans for the future concerning your art?

DD: I think I eventually want to have my own gallery. Maybe in San Francisco or L.A. because there’s a bigger art scene. I was even thinking maybe Austin, Texas because I’ve heard good things about it.

MD: At your shows, do you talk to people who come to see your art? What kind of reaction do you get from them?

DD: I think it’s really interesting to talk to people (about my art). I can never tell what someone will like so it’s always something different. When something sells, it’s always what I least expect to sell. I like to get other artists’ opinions because they see different things than what I see. I like to talk to people about what makes the piece interesting to them.

MD: How would you describe your art?

DD: I paint, I guess, emotionally, how I’m feeling at the moment. Free form, especially in my abstracts. I can’t really describe it, but it’s very personal in a way.

MD: What artists have inspired you?

DD: (Salvador) Dali used to be my favorite when I was younger. He’s one that sticks out, but I like a lot of other artists too like Robert Motherwell. There’s one piece that I remember of Dali’s that I saw when I was young that I thought was really cool. It think it’s called “Two ladies find a piano skin on the beach” but I just like the way he plays with words in the titles. It reminds me of how I think, a little bit bizarre.

MD: Has anything unusual ever happened concerning your art?

DD: I’ve been conned before. I had a guy as a mentor for a couple years and he ended up being a conman and stealing 10 of my paintings and then disappearing. He was more of a business mentor. He claimed to be an artist too, but his work was really bad. He claimed to have business connections and said he would hook me up with his connections. I was pretty young, I had just turned 18. I ran into him once about two years later. I went up to him and confronted him. He started with this whole story, but I told him he owed me money. He pulled out this envelope full of $100 bills and he gave me $1200. He left and I haven’t heard from him again. It wasn’t everything he owed me but it was pretty cool nonetheless.