I’m a big fan of Amy Crehore’s art and I have several postcards of Crehore’s paintings surrounding my desk at work, plus I own a Banjo Gal giclee print (#5 of 250). 

I Interviewed Amy Crehore a couple of months ago (part 1, part 2); decided there were more questions – so here’s part 3 of my interview with Amy Crehore. 

Amy Crehore in Palm Springs during the M Modern Gallery Blonde Bombshell show Jan 2006

1. Now that you’ve done the last Blab! Show and are in the “Blab! 17” book, what would you like to do next?

I would like to expand my new Blues Gal series. I had a nice reception for the Blues Gal paintings that were in the Blab! Show (in fact, all 8 paintings of mine sold out -www.blabshow.com).

I have done some new drawings (you can see them on my blog- www.amycrehore.blogspot.com) and I am working on the paintings now. They have vintage musical instruments, woodsy settings and animals.

“Roaming Tomcat Rag” – Amy Crehore – Blues Gal series 

“Blues Gal Drawing # 4″ – Amy Crehore – Blues Gal series

I am also working on putting together an art book of my best paintings and drawings.

I plan to just keep making art, showing, selling. I’m not running out of ideas.

One thing leads to another. Moving forward is the goal. Art is intellectual property and can be expanded upon in many ways and the outlets are varied.

Showing my work in NYC is also a possibility.

2. How did you connect with “Blab!” in the first place? 

I had always admired “Blab!” and I published a comic book myself once (“Boys and Girls Grow Up”), so it seemed like a natural fit.

One day I decided that I was ready, so I found out how to contact Monte Beauchamp and I began to send him jpgs of my Little Pierrot Series paintings.

After some months of doing that, he asked me to try a native girl w/a monkey with a sailor hat in a landscape spread (I had painted those characters before, but not together in one setting).

It took me a while to work it all out and make it entertaining, but I finally finished the painting (“The Banana Eater”) and it was included in the first Blab! art show at Track 16 Gallery. It has just now been published in “Blab! 17”. (BTW, I bought a copy at Forbidden Planet a couple of weeks ago – Marshall)

“The Nibbler” – by Amy Crehore – part of the Monkey Love Series

Monte also asked me to do two more monkeys for the first show and it became my Monkey Love Series (I have painted and shown 15 of them now at different west coast venues- the last 6 appearing for the first time  in the second Blab! show at CoproNason Gallery in Santa Monica).

The Monkey Love Series naturally evolved out of my Little Pierrot Series (below) and now the Blues Gals Series is evolving from those.

“Banjo Gal” – Amy Crehore – Little Pierrot Series  

3. Your work moved more strongly towards painting over illustration in the last 3 years. What spurred this change? 

Given the same subject – how would you execute an illustration differently than a painting?

The illustration profession has gone through many different changes over the last few years. It is not really a viable career anymore, at least not for me.

I was one of those people who always painted anyway and I often used my fine art paintings as samples to land illustration jobs and those jobs, in turn, kept me painting.

Luckily, there is a new trend toward representational painting in galleries and a lot of illustrators are now showing and selling fine art.

I began producing more and more fine art as the jobs dwindled and I saw this new market opening up, mostly on the west coast, but now it is a global art movement.

As a much younger artist, I had some solo fine art shows and showed at a couple of museums and then in the early 90’s, I became a magazine illustrator when Playboy and Esquire gave me spreads to do after seeing samples of my fine art.

My illustrations for magazines were always done in exactly the same way as my fine art  paintings, except that those paintings were “art directed” and the sketches had to be approved by editors.

So, I guess the answer to your question is: for illustrations I would have to take into account what the assignment called for.

I like my paintings better than my illustrations because they are all mine, from start to finish.

I do not make compromises. I paint exactly what I want to without concern for political correctness.

4. You recommend the 1923 book, Robert Henri’s “The Art Spirit”. What are some of his philosophies that you can relate to?  What other art books do you read?

Robert Henri was a great teacher who was very passionate about painting. It was all about the process of painting for him, about the nourishment of the soul through painting as a lifestyle. He considered it a very healthy way of life and a path to happiness. He encouraged the student to put more feeling and personality into his or her art.

He viewed each painting as a “trace” of life lived at the highest state of living and concentration.

Henri said that an art school should really be made up of two rooms: one room where you look at the model and the other room where you draw from your memory of what you saw.

He believed in painting from memory and so do I. Also, he believed  in the painter as an” inventor”.

He said that an artist should not be “attached” to any country or family and must be free in his own mind to pursue his vision. He wrote many more great things in this book and gave lots of wonderful tips about painting techniques.
Here is a good quote from Robert Henri:   “Those who express even a little of themselves never become old-fashioned. The only true modern movement is a frank expression of self.”

I also read biographies of artists such as Remedios Varo, Joseph Cornell, Picasso, Balthus, Van Gogh’s journal and the writings of Matisse, books on Henry Darger and Morton Barlett.

All kinds of art history books.

I enjoy newer art books by Thomas Woodruff, Daniel Clowes, Seth, etc. A magazine called “Comic Art”. A new book called “Art Out of Time”by Dan Nadel which is a collection of vintage unknown comics visionaries.

5. Fast forward 3 years from – where would you like to be showing?  What role does the Internet and communities on the web shape that likely future?

The Internet has opened up a global marketplace to artists like never before. More and more artists are showing and selling around the world. Viral marketing is a powerful thing.

Perhaps I will be showing in NYC, or other countries besides the U.S.A.  (yea! Lets get a show of Amy Crehore here in NYC!) 

Perhaps I will show in a museum setting, but I am already showing my art everywhere because the Internet enables anyone, anywhere to view your art on your own website. Communities such as stumbleupon , myspace, blogs and forums spread the word.

I like to blog about other artists, music, and comics and searches will often send people to my blog and they discover me.

6.Your online presence has enabled you to gather fans from around the world.
What can you tell us about them? 

I have received the nicest emails from people who have seen my art online. Some of the people who have bought my art or prints are in theater, film or the music professions.

Some have never bought art before or really looked at it, yet maybe they saw something I painted on boingboing.net or somewhere such as that and it stuck with them.

They are from all walks of life, all ages and live all over the world. This never would have been possible before the Internet.
 

 End of Interview with Amy Crehore – Part 3

Amy Crehore now has a special offer of Free shipping on prints through feb 28, 2007 now on her signed, limited edition giclee prints. Monkey Love Series Prints can be ordered at Amy Crehore’s Monkey Love Store and Little Pierrot Series Prints can be ordered at her Little Pierrot Store.

Most of Amy Crehore’s recent paintings sold right away – and yet there are some from a couple of years go, like the “Sleeping Gamblers” that remind me of Cezanne’s Card Players.  

I’m a big fan of Paul Cezanne; when I compare an artist to Cezanne, it means I think highly of the artist.

In answering question 5, Amy Crehore follows Chris Anderson’s The Long Tail by  “blogging about other artists, music, and comics and searches will often send people to my blog and they discover me”. 

Following The Long Tail is an approach I also take while writing Webmetricsguru.com - and am rewarded with traffic from all the people I write about.

I’m glad I have the opportunity to publish part 3 of my Interview with Amy Crehore and thank Amy for taking the time to prepare for it (and answer my questions as well as she did).