Interview with Paul Valadez
TAOB: Where were you born and what do you remember most about your childhood ?
Paul: I was born in San Francisco, California I grew up 80 miles due east in the central valley in the medium sized city of Stockton just south of Sacramento.
My father had a real nice car that he bought used for a song ( a 1951 Jaguar). My father decided to sell the car and that helped him to get the down payment to purchase the home I grew up in.
I remember my family struggling through layoffs and economic down turns to hold on to that house.
We did not have any extra money but we were not poor because we had a house.
I remember my mother making me lunch at home, I could run home have lunch and run back to school and that was wonderful.
I remember taking a ride in a Viking ship an artist friend of my father made.
my childhood memories that are most vivid have to do with visiting relatives and taking day trips to San Francisco. ( I remember staring at hippies from the back seat of Chevys )
TAOB: Describe your art ?
Paul: In a single sentence my art work is what I find interesting at the moment.
To physically describe it I would have to explain that my work is firmly rooted or based in a printmakers practice.
I took a lot of printmaking courses and I considered myself a printmaker for years before I focused on painting. That said I hope that you can see a real graphic quality in my art work.
My aesthetic is one of surface and texture over fool the eye realism. Instead of my paintings functioning as a window you look through It might be better to describe my work as a wall.
And on that wall is a sign, ultimately I guess I am sort of a sign maker.
TAOB: Why do you think art is important and how do you feel your art contributes to that purpose ?
Paul: art enriches peoples lives, art functions like music for the eyes.
Art duz not cloth, feed you, or give you shelter but it can entertain, enrage, bore, scare, disgust , bring joy and a million other things, ultimately it enriches ones’ life.
TAOB: As an artist where do you think success comes from ?
Paul: success comes from the criteria that you as an individual assign to the idea of success.
For example if success is millions of dollars, then there are a great many successful artists to be sure but the vast majority of artists would be failures.
On the other hand if success is pleasing a friend with a work of art that you made, then there are millions of successful artists.
To me I am somewhere in between those two opposite poles.
TAOB: What is one of the struggles you think an artist faces on a daily basis ?
Paul : the same struggles that everyone faces, for many its making a living and paying the bills.
TAOB: What is your favorite type of music and what type of character would you say describes you ?
Paul : it is easier for me to describe the music I dislike, basically any type of music that is over produced and over hyped and or aimed at tweens and teens.
The character that describes me? my wife thinks sluggo from the comics I would think of more in the line a cross between Zorro and Mr. Magoo
TAOB: As an artist what can you say you are afraid of ?
Paul: I have so many fears I used to write them upon my studio wall and before I moved here it was a fear of Texas.
TAOB:Tell us your view on any particular political issue local, state or federal, that is of importance to you?
Paul : I have no views on politics I blissfully skip through life trying not to care.
TAOB:Do you believe in a community of artist to be beneficial, why or why not ?
Paul: I suppose perhaps if we get a enough of them we can entice a larger art supply store or at least some used music/book stores to set up business in the valley.
TAOB:Besides family and art what else is important to you ?
Paul : food and film but not necessarily in that order, food, friends, film and felines.
Paul , Many thanks of your time and reponses on this TAOB Blog Artist Interview....
TAOB READERS... MORE INTERVIEWS TO COME.....Artist Interviews by Gabriel Trevino.
TAOB: Where were you born and what do you remember most about your childhood ?
Paul: I was born in San Francisco, California I grew up 80 miles due east in the central valley in the medium sized city of Stockton just south of Sacramento.
My father had a real nice car that he bought used for a song ( a 1951 Jaguar). My father decided to sell the car and that helped him to get the down payment to purchase the home I grew up in.
I remember my family struggling through layoffs and economic down turns to hold on to that house.
We did not have any extra money but we were not poor because we had a house.
I remember my mother making me lunch at home, I could run home have lunch and run back to school and that was wonderful.
I remember taking a ride in a Viking ship an artist friend of my father made.
my childhood memories that are most vivid have to do with visiting relatives and taking day trips to San Francisco. ( I remember staring at hippies from the back seat of Chevys )
TAOB: Describe your art ?
Paul: In a single sentence my art work is what I find interesting at the moment.
To physically describe it I would have to explain that my work is firmly rooted or based in a printmakers practice.
I took a lot of printmaking courses and I considered myself a printmaker for years before I focused on painting. That said I hope that you can see a real graphic quality in my art work.
My aesthetic is one of surface and texture over fool the eye realism. Instead of my paintings functioning as a window you look through It might be better to describe my work as a wall.
And on that wall is a sign, ultimately I guess I am sort of a sign maker.
TAOB: Why do you think art is important and how do you feel your art contributes to that purpose ?
Paul: art enriches peoples lives, art functions like music for the eyes.
Art duz not cloth, feed you, or give you shelter but it can entertain, enrage, bore, scare, disgust , bring joy and a million other things, ultimately it enriches ones’ life.
TAOB: As an artist where do you think success comes from ?
Paul: success comes from the criteria that you as an individual assign to the idea of success.
For example if success is millions of dollars, then there are a great many successful artists to be sure but the vast majority of artists would be failures.
On the other hand if success is pleasing a friend with a work of art that you made, then there are millions of successful artists.
To me I am somewhere in between those two opposite poles.
TAOB: What is one of the struggles you think an artist faces on a daily basis ?
Paul : the same struggles that everyone faces, for many its making a living and paying the bills.
TAOB: What is your favorite type of music and what type of character would you say describes you ?
Paul : it is easier for me to describe the music I dislike, basically any type of music that is over produced and over hyped and or aimed at tweens and teens.
The character that describes me? my wife thinks sluggo from the comics I would think of more in the line a cross between Zorro and Mr. Magoo
TAOB: As an artist what can you say you are afraid of ?
Paul: I have so many fears I used to write them upon my studio wall and before I moved here it was a fear of Texas.
TAOB:Tell us your view on any particular political issue local, state or federal, that is of importance to you?
Paul : I have no views on politics I blissfully skip through life trying not to care.
TAOB:Do you believe in a community of artist to be beneficial, why or why not ?
Paul: I suppose perhaps if we get a enough of them we can entice a larger art supply store or at least some used music/book stores to set up business in the valley.
TAOB:Besides family and art what else is important to you ?
Paul : food and film but not necessarily in that order, food, friends, film and felines.
Paul , Many thanks of your time and reponses on this TAOB Blog Artist Interview....
TAOB READERS... MORE INTERVIEWS TO COME.....Artist Interviews by Gabriel Trevino.
