 |
Gary Taxali Gary Taxali, award-winning Canadian illustrator and co-founder of creative consortium Picture Mechanics, was in London recently promoting the new illustration book Hand to Eye (sequel to Pen & Mouse, an international collection of contemporary illustration), in which his work has been featured. We caught up with him for a chat.
PIXELSURGEON: Congratulations on your inclusion in Hand to Eye. The book suggests that there has recently been a noticeable move towards a more handcrafted style, perhaps a backlash to the digital imagery boom. What are your thoughts about this?
If there was a backlash, it's news to me because (save for 3 or 4 pictures) I've only ever worked non-digitally so I never received the "what's hot and what's not" memo. In the end, I think it's the quality of the picture that counts for art directors. Great work is attractive no matter what the medium. There are some artists who do both well and have no shortage of assignment work.
Your work has always seemed to be based around traditional tools and techniques, with some very interesting choices for your ‘canvases’ (old book covers, etc). What inspired your experimentation with such unusual surfaces?
The inspiration was mostly a result of being bored of my own work so I began cutting apart and collaging old tearsheets of mine to create new pictures. There was a spontaneous, raw and tactile reaction I had... mostly due to frustration at the 'tightness' of my old work. The rawer look of the new pictures was very exciting to me. Soon after, I discovered in my parents' basement some old 40s and 50s Indian math and science textbooks that belonged to my uncles. I started to draw pictures on them and became immediately attracted to working on old, antiquated surfaces. The next step was to hit the antique stores and see what other treasures I could find. Some of these books are absolutely beautiful. It's wonderful what time does to objects and it's impossible to mimic that same look - I know because I've tried with disastrous results. The paper and book covers are so beautiful that I am forced to be as minimal as possible so as not to take away from the awesome textures and natural discolourations. Plus sometimes they have hand-written names, addresses and other notes that also add to the beauty. I also encourage people to send me old books they have lying around so if anybody reading this can oblige me, thanks in advance.
Have you ever been tempted to explore digital media yourself, or do you think your organic approach to image-making will always be at the core of your work?
I try and be open-minded about that kind of thing. I can't imagine refusing to flat out explore any medium; that is shortsightedness. Who knows, I may very well try doing some digital pictures some day. Perhaps even in the realm of motion graphics, which is also an interesting avenue.
You’ve recently taken up representation in the UK with CIA. What led you to decide that it might be the right time to explore possibilities outside of North America?
I was approached by CIA and I liked their thinking. They represent some great illustrators (Steve Guarnaccia, Jeff Fisher, Mick Marston, Paul Slater, Olaf Hajak, etc) which is always a good sign. I thought it would be cool to get some UK and European work (I've done very little so far) so it seemed like a good move. They are very receptive to my ideas and I think they are wonderful people to work with. At first I was a bit insecure because I haven't worked with a rep in six years. I forgot about how nice it is having someone deal with the messy details while I concentrate on making the messy pictures.
There definitely seems to be a Far Eastern influence in some of your work, in terms of packaging references, characters and type. Would you say your East Indian background has played a part in this?
Yes, most certainly.
Tell us about Picture Mechanics, and what led you to putting this group together?
It all began with an innocent phone call. I was chatting with illustrator Richard Downs on the phone one day and talk of our creative businesses came up. But what transpired in that particular phone conversation blossomed into a business venture that eventually involved 38 other artists.
Downs proposed we put together a stock illustration web site with some of our friends. We talked about creating a network that a buyer could access that would be entirely driven by illustrators. I see the industry as dominated by certain elements - whether it's the large directories or stock illustration books - and I really didn't want to support any of that. I thought that there had to be a way to go head to head with big stock agencies without spending a lot of money.
We devised a no-nonsense, apolitical strategy to license a web portal with a group of artists that would link users directly to the illustrators' websites. It was a non-business business plan, of sorts: there would be no administrative umbrella overseeing the site and taking money out of the creatives' pockets. Contact is made directly with the individual artists. It's apolitical in the sense that we will never control where an artist's link goes. If somebody has an agent and the link goes to the agent, that's the artist's choice.
Once we fleshed out the idea, we started calling our friends and other artists whose work we admire. One of the things I said when I called people is that we're not reps. I don't want to be a rep - I have enough of a schedule handling my own career. Initially, we thought it would be a small group of about 15 people, but once the word got out and our friends started calling their friends, the interest swelled.
When we hit 40 it was time to blow the whistle. It's small enough that everyone gets visibility but it's a large enough group of people that it's feasible to share costs on promotions and advertising.
The next step for Picture Mechanics is setting up an e-commerce site for the artists to sell their products such as posters, fine art prints, and books, and we are looking to develop a Picture Mechanics sourcebook. When you look at our group, we can make a lot of things happen with our various connections in the industry. This has a bright future and it's operating exactly as we intended.
You have participated in quite a few exhibitions during your career. Do you feel there is less resistance towards appreciating “illustration as art” in North America than perhaps is the case to some degree here in the UK?
I don't know yet because I've only just entered the UK market. However, I do think illustrators in general have a natural insecurity about their fine artist counterparts. Labels are unimportant. Do the work you love and that is what counts. Look, we all started out drawing pictures as children and we were naturally uninhibited. We never thought, "someday I'm going to draw spot illustrations for Used Car Parts Digest!" We made art because we all have the souls of artists. Like Dr. Seuss said, "Adults are obsolete children". We are brainwashed (mostly in art school) and there needs to be some serious de-programming done. When we start focusing on our own personal, creative expression those labels vanish. I do lots of gallery shows and sell lots of prints, posters and originals from my site in addition to my illustration career. I promote my gallery work as illustration and I re-use illustrations to make personal pictures for gallery shows. A picture is a picture. I do so much personal work that it only makes me a better illustrator. I try and put something special in each illustration job and doing lots of personal work naturally facilitates that.
I understand you are working on your first children’s book. Can you tell us a bit about it?
I had a weird experience a few years ago when Harcourt asked me to illustrate a kid's book. The writer, after seeing my first draft, started having nightmares about my work. She called my work, "archetypically horrific". She lives on a farm in Maryland with no electricity and she's into the occult trip - go figure. The editor was upset and didn't know what to do. I thought it best that we end the thing and they find another illustrator. Preferably one whose work didn’t cause the writer to wake up in the middle of the night in cold sweats would be a good first start. After that experience, I decided to try my own hand at writing. So I wrote a story and it became my personal project. Soon after, I was approached by Scholastic and they wanted to know if I was interested in illustrating kids’ books. I said no because I had my own story so they me asked to send it to them. They liked my story so much that they gave me a publishing deal, with me illustrating it of course.
I know you probably get asked this more than anything else, but it’s always one of the things that people want to know! What inspires you? What types of things do you think have played the biggest part in creating your very unique style?
I am a type junkie. I love old fonts. I also like to look at the work of non-illustrators so I don't think in a visual vacuum. Graphic designers, photographers, graffiti artists and even my friends in rock bands offer that inspiration. I also make a concerted effort to not dwell on particular things that interest me because other sources of inspiration are infinite and being artistically stagnant is my worse fear. As well, I don't own a TV. I pitched it three years ago and I haven't looked back since. When I was a kid, my father told me, "TV sucks creativity". He is absolutely right without question.
Finally, do you feel as though you have ‘found your niche’ so to speak, and are quietly content with the work you are doing, or do you feel there will always be a process of development that you will be going through, keen to try new things and take your work and style in new and different directions?
I hope I haven't found a niche! I hope I never find one. That's a scary thought. Quick, let's change the topic...
Anything else you’d like to tell us about your plans and aspirations for the future?
I'd like to try and do more printmaking. Also, animation interests me so I'd like to do that also. I've flirted with some of that (my work was animated for a Coke commercial) so I hope to do more.
|
