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A Hilarious & informative ANDY LEE interview!

Posted By: MACK!
Date: TUE, 4/24/01, 2:39 p.m.

<< Andy, tell us about your background--where you were born, how you
came to
America, a little about your family.
I was born in Hong Kong April 16, 1974 from families which spanned the
East
and West. There was a lot of travelling back and forth. My mother's
side of
the family populated Hawaii. She was the 13th child in her family of
brothers and sisters, so if you ever visit Hawaii, you're sure to see
one of
my relatives. My father's side of the family populated Chicago and the
surrounding suburbs as restaurant owners. My grandfather was
especially well
read in the ancient secrets of Chinese food, but of course, quality was
sacrificed because no one in Chicago in the 60's could tell anyway.

I have homesick memories of Hong Kong, Chicago and Hawaii. Or should I
say
everyplace feels like a potential birthplace to me now since I've never
stayed in one place for longer than two seasons. Somewhere in the mix
came
my American citizenship and my groovy mixture of Eastern and Western
thought
: )

My family life was your typical Mulan family. All the stereotypes are
true.
But what so many people fail to realize is that because of my Chinese
upbringing in a traditional family, Western thought, especially
Americana and
the "south" is the most stimulating thing to me!!! Just think, from
talk of
dragons and phoenix and egg drop soup to bigfoots and chili con carn.
The
contrasts definitely caught my imagination & since then it has always
been an
uphill battle to convince my family that I am not insane to be an
artist in
America. I tell them, "At least I'm not an artist in China!"

But they are very supportive in the end: )

How did you learn the classic paperbrush style of work? Tell us about
your
training and development as an artist.

My 6th eldest uncle on my Mother's side was a calligraphy teacher all
his
life. He was a master of the Chinese language. He taught me the
proper form
and characters and hand coordination techniques. How to breathe, how
to
maintain consistent pressure on the brush. It was like kung fu for
sissies.
But because of him and my mother who used to crayola-away with me at my
every
request, I developed my tastes further into the liberal arts. It's
really
funny, now that I think about it. My parents and everyone around me
always
attempted to give me the subliminal "doctor/lawyer" occupational
suggestions
as I was growing up, but the whole time this was happening, there were
artists all around me! The only person who wasn't an artist was my
father.
He was more a business, stocks and bonds artist.

So to answer your question, I was always into art, taking different art
in
was natural. One day I'd be reading Frank Miller's Daredevil, the next
day
I'd be learning Chinese characters. It was only a matter of time
before cold
fission would create my style.

Oh, I guess I should say I also graduated from Washington University of
St.
Louis, MO with a B.A. in Fine Arts. Of course I had to have a Biology
minor
too, but that was just for show. (see: Chinese families)

What tools do you use in creating your art?

It started with fingers, then I learned crayons. Then pencil, then
charcoal,
then paints and brushes, then EVERYTHING I could get my hands on...But
lately
I've come back around to fingers again.

Honestly, in the style of 13th century Cha'an Buddhist brush painting,
there
were only horse and rabbit hair brushes with sumi-type ink. But of
course, I
cannot do that with such tempting tools around in 2001. Especially
after
I'm inspired by Jack Pollock and G.G. Allen's free forms of expression
; )

I try to use anything that creates a new feeling or emotion. But I
still
stick to the traditional Chinese brush, rice paper and sumi ink when it
comes
down to it. My private collection is more experimental, but I'll let
that
out once I'm too well known to offend anyone.

What mental and spiritual processes go into creating your pieces?

With the style of splash (or sesshu) painting, you are not creating
pieces
really. Rather, you are letting out an emotion through your physical
motion.
By splashing, scratching, flicking, lobbing, dabbing....whatever, on
the
page, you are transferring energy. Natural energy, untainted by
"rational"
thought which is polluted with egos and second guessing. Whenever you
think,
it is a tainted judgement over what is naturally correct and beautiful.
Look
at moss growing out of rock, or even a rusty electrical box you find at
a
busy intersection. Don't patterns emerging from nature such as
oxidation of
metal, rotting of fruit and growth of fungus look BEAUTIFUL and
complex?
You know why they do? Because there wasn't any time wasted on thinking
about
it. It just happened. Animals work this way. They just happen. Look
how
beautifully they function. I am merely trying to not think. By not
thinking, I am doing something that should look natural. Then the fun
begins.

I would look at this action I've taken on the paper and then
interpretet it
into something that is familiar to me. Sort of like a Rorsharch test.
When
I see the image, I add a minimal amount of lines so that most other
viewers
can recognize what I saw. From nature comes the finished piece.
Depending
on what I saw, I understand how I feel and sometimes I may even
understand
WHY I feel how I feel. Sesshu style painting is more like a diary for
the
artist. But because of its natural process, it also becomes attractive
to
other people besides the artist as well. The reason why is because of
its
natural compostion. Untainted by overthought; just like patterns of
rust and
moss.

ANYONE could create these pieces. Why you would choose my
interpretations of
my thoughts over your interpretations of your own thoughts is a mystery
to
me, but I appreciate it nonetheless.

Go for it and get a brush...I promise if I see you I'll show you the
ropes.
If you need inspiration go to children's fairs and garage sales where
there
is children's art. They are much better at it than I am. Also, check
out
the notepad by your telephone book. You see those swirlies or
squigglies or
geometric patterns? If you just stopped squiggling a few minutes
early, you
would have had a beautiful natural composition. Unfortunately someone
had to
keep you on the phone for too long and you had to overdo your
masterpiece : )

What are your favorite themes in your art, and why? In other words,
what are
you trying to communicate through your art?

I'm not trying to communicate anything. I just try to understand
myself.
And because I am human, other humans can empathize with that because we
all
share similar experiences of love, hate and fear. So they buy my art.

I have no favorite theme because I feel different everyday and the
splashes
come out different as a result.

Honestly, I'm the kind of guy who will really annoy you with
"whatever-you-like"
routines before dinners or get togethers. I hate deciding on something
because I like everything. This applies to my painting too. I think
it all
comes down to me never settling down and moving around a lot. Eating
chicken's feet is fine with me as much as grits is. Know what I mean?

You frequently appear at comic book conventions. Tell us about your
interest
in comics, how it developed, and how you often tie your unique style
into
classic comic book themes (as in your popular Batman image).

At night before I fell asleep, my favorite thing to do was pick two
people
in my head. Let's say Wolverine and Batman. They would go through
whole
scenario where eventually fighting HAD to happen. I would always fall
asleep
before I find out who won. I did this from since I could remember
until I
reached puberty. I loved to read comics up until gold- and
silver-foiled
covers started becoming popular in the 90's. Then I started to read
books
and novels without pictures.

Seriously, I met David Mack (Kabuki/Image Comics) in my freshman year
in
college. We have been best friends for almost ten years. He had a
long,
long-term goal to write and paint beautiful and meaningful stories. I
had a
mission and still have a mission to simply paint and make art and
music. My
vision is always in the now, so I guess you can say that Dave and I
have
thoughts that are on the opposite ends of the spectrum. When we get
together, we feel centered. He helps me get my s#$t together so that I
could
think more along the lines of how I can feed myself instead of how
beautiful
rust spots are. On the other hand, I help him get that much needed
wacky
vibe. If you ever need to paint something really interesting, you
really
need a bit of that wacky vibe. I'm not sure how else to explain it.
Giddy
silliness and carefree attitude I guess. It goes a long way in
painting
effective images.

Comics and comic conventions are a way for me to do what I do, enjoy
it, get
honest critiques from non-gallery types and feed myself all at the same
time.
David was very encouraging in the beginning in helping me find my
voice.
Before that I was just splashing paint. Now I'm splashing paint very
very
well.

Comics are all about the imagination. I can't find a better venue for
my
splash style painting which only accepts inspiration from two places;
nature
and the imagination.

What comic conventions will you attend this year and next year?

Lots of them...I think Pittsburgh, Detroit, New York, Charlotte MAYBE,
Chicago, Atlanta, San Diego. Pretty much whatever I can get my hands
on. I
learn so much about the TECHNIQUE of splash painting each time. This
is
because my rate of splashing goes up many notches because of all the
requests. And because they are REQUESTS, my splashes have to come out
a a
certain way. Do you see what I'm getting at? I have to do my artwork
in the
reverse order at conventions, so it sharpens my skill of the brush. At
home
I splash to learn about myself. At conventions, I splash to create the
Bobba
Fett that someone wants. If I don't splash right, it may turn out to
look
more like Gary Shandling. So conventions are a big way for me to hone
my
skills with the brush so that I can be precise when I need to be.

What are your goals as an artist?

I have no goals. I only hope that I can continue to understand myself
through the use of the brush. I guess becoming a person more whole in
the
understanding of everything around me is my goal as an artist.

Are you a collector of original art by other artists? Any
comic-oriented art?
If so, tell us about your collection.

I collect whatever looks good. Sometimes it is art. Sometimes it is
the way
a candle's wax dripped off a table and solidified in a phallic way.
Sometimes I enjoy collecting the art that is the opposite of mine, such
as
technical drawings, and enjoy trying to look for the "soul" behind
those
compositions : )

Are you available to do commissions?

Yup.
Oh, and look for my space rock band Protoculture if you live in the
Atlanta
area. We perform in many venues. An album should be coming by the end
of
this year.

---

Thanks very much, Andy! All the best to you.

Peter Wallace

Hey Peter, edit this how you like and put it through your spellcheck
please...mine is kaput...

Thank you for everything.
>>

-----------------
Forwarded Message:

Subj: Interview
Date: Saturday, April 21, 2001 8:29:41 AM
From: cephas@mindspring.com
To: findandy@aol.com

From: cephas@mindspring.com (Peter Wallace)
Reply-to: cephas@mindspring.com
To: findandy@aol.com

Hello Andy,

At the Atlanta Comicon I asked if you would be interested in doing an
email
interview with me for an upcoming issue of the Comics and Fantasy Art
Amateur
Press Association (CFA-APA). This is an APA style publication with
about 30
members who submit articles which are collated and sent around to
members a
few times a year. Everyone involved loves and collects original art.

Since I'm one of your biggest fans and have three pieces by you now
(including
the stunning one you did for me at the con of Jesus leaping off the
cross--which I am going to frame and hang in my office!), and since
many of
our members have seen you at conventions but may not know a lot about
you, I
thought you'd make a great interview subject.

So if you could add your answers to the questions below and send this
back to
me, I would appreciate it. It would be helpful if you could do this in
the
next few weeks. Also, may I have your permission to include a few of
the
pieces in your online gallery with the interview? Or do you have any
new scans
of your work?

Password:

Messages In This Thread

A Hilarious & informative ANDY LEE interview! -- MACK! -- TUE, 4/24/01, 2:39 p.m.
NEW: Re: A Hilarious & informative ANDY LEE interview! -- real tv guevarra -- WED, 4/25/01, 3:25 p.m.
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