Interview with Daniel Sannwald

q)please tell us a brief info about yourself.

a)I turned 30 this year and I was just reading on a ( not sure if trust worth) paper that men start to change there bodysmell at that point of their life. The paper said that men start to smell similar to baked things. I wonder like which bread I would start to smell. I hope like fig & raisin bread. Imagine! That would be wonderful.

q)Tell us about your humble beginnings, When did you you first realized that you wanted to be an artist?

a)I never wanted to be an artist – until now I see everything just as a game and I do it as long as it makes me happy. I am much rather see my self as becoming a gardener at one point of my life. I Really long for nature these days and image how nice it would be to grow huge beetroots.

q) What are your tools of the trade and why?

a)I am very busy in experimenting with photography and in showing errors and mistakes in a society that is busy in creating the perfect image. Especially in, fashion photography, the field I am working.

It makes me happy to see mistakes in my work.

q) Who or what gives you inspiration on your morbid art?

a)I am inspired by a lot of things and then also really little somehow. At the moment I am really into food but I am not sure if I can say that it inspires me but I guess somehow it does. These days I spend a lot of time on all the different food markets in London.

q) Is your artistic background self-taught or did you go to college to study?

a)I did my Master of Arts at the Royal Academy of fine Arts in Antwerp, Belgium. I’ve graduated and was lucky to be in a class with nice people such as Bruna Kazinoti and Albert Folch. It was a beautiful time and I’m so happy I met such nice people – my class really inspired me and gave me new directions.

q) How do you keep “fresh” within your industry?

a)Oh please don’t ask me this. It took me years not to be busy in how to be “fresh” but still I catch myself sometimes not being able to avoid it. I think that in our days of competition thoughts of “zeitgeist”, “being fresh” and so on just makes us “blind” and really unhappy.

It’s better to try and keep busy with more important things.

q) What are some of your current projects?

a)The nicest project for me at the moment is my upcoming book, which will be published soon. I’ve been working now on it for quite a while and I can hardly wait to see it printed now.

q) Which of your works are you the most proud of? And why?

a)That changes from day to day, some moments I’m not proud of anything and then on others of a lot.

I really like one sentence someone said in a video work I did together with some friends, it doesn’t really make me proud but really excited: “Too much to see nothing and too little to see”.

What a good sentence! Don’t you agree?

q) Are there any areas, techniques, mediums and projects in your field that you have yet to try?

a)So many things I still haven’t tried and it’s nice to know that there are so many things still to learn and to try.

q) What do you do to keep yourself motivated and avoid burn-out?

a)I’m still trying to figure that out myself. Maybe enjoying love and forgetting the world for a short time or as I am a huge fan of the universe going to the planetarium is also a good way to regain strength.

q) How do you spend most of your free time?

a)I like to have nice food and I really enjoy reading children books and look at children illustrations.

Some of my friends organized a goodbye dinner for me when I left Belgium for England.

Each meal at the dinner was inspired by a meal out of a children book.

That was a perfect way to spend my free time.

q)What contemporary artists or developments in art interest you?

a)Art created by non artists.

q) We really like some of your pictures, how can we get our hands on them? Do you sell them? How?

a)Yeah some of my work is for sale. Just come by my studio in London and I show you what I have got.

Interview with Rodrigo Level

q)Please introduce yourself.

a)My name is Rodrigo Level, i'm a brasilian urban artist with 26 years old and 13 years dedicated to one of my biggest loves, my art.

q) Where do you live and work?

a)Actually I'm living and working in Brasília - Brasil.

q) How would you describe your work to someone who has never seen it?

a)It’s a mixture of mistic, sensuality, feelings, passion and dreams on simple black and white lines. A free way to show the life around me.

q) How did you start in the arts? How/when did you realize you were an artist?

a)I loved to draw like most of the kids, but time has passed and I just didn’t stop. When I realized I was doing something that other people really liked. That reaction from others makes me feel like an artist must feel.

q) What are your favorite art materials and why?

a)People use to thing that I work with expensive materials, but I liked to explain, here not always we had good materials at hand, so we improvised. My simplicity comes from this material improvise too. Now I work a lot with Latéx an Acrylic paints.

q) What/who influences you most?

a)On the begin most of my influences were other artists like Aubrey Beardsley and his decade for example. But now I created my style of art, I submerge on my own things, and changing from there, again and again. I still have outside influences, but not from other artists.

q) Describe a typical day of art making for you.

a)Don’t understand this one, sorry.

q) Do you have goals, specific things you want to achieve with your art or in your career as an artist?

a)I’m not much ambitious. If a could live of my art.. it would be enough. I always need a normal job, this kind of art isn’t valued here, unfortunately.

q) What contemporary artists or developments in art interest you?

a)The new brasilian street art surprised me, I didn’t expect that much quality from so many brasilian artists, and so fast.

q) How long does it typically take you to finish a piece?

a)Depends, works on the street are more free, take a few hours. Canvas and paper takes a few days...

q) Do you enjoy selling your pieces, or are you emotionally attached to them?

a)I don’t sell them much yet because urban art don’t have a big public in Brasil yet. But I really like to sell them more. I thing that art has no owner, it belongs to nobody. Diffuse my art is what I want most.

q) Is music important to you? If so, what are some things you're listening to now?

a)Music is very very important for me. I love Joy Division, New Order and all post punk.

q) Books?

a)No, I don’t have much time to read, the time a have I like to paint and drink a good beer.

q) What theories or beliefs do you have regarding creativity or the creative process?

a)Creativity is a state of spirit for me, I need to get way sometimes. Stay in a calm ambient, helps a lot.

q) What do you do (or what do you enjoy doing) when you're not creating?

a)I like to photography with my girlfriend, watch my team futebol games.

q) Do you have any projects or shows coming up that you are particularly excited about?

a)I’m excited, and working hard on “Go Get Your Shinebox” on Brooklynite – NY in November this year. I liked to do more shows in other countries.

q) Do you follow contemporary art scenes? If so, how? What websites, magazines, galleries do you prefer?

a)Through websites, mostly.

q) Ask yourself a question you'd like to answer, and answer it.

a)Nothing comes to mind, sorry.

q) Any advice for aspiring artists?

a)Never ever ever stop dreaming.

q) Where can we see more of your work online?

a) flickr.com/rodrigolevel

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