Do you want to have kids?
I do. Someday. I think all men want kids somewhere in their psyche. I want to have children with the woman I marry and I only intend to get married one time, however. As of right now there is no woman in my life that I am looking to marry though.
My question for you is, what does your artwork “say” to you personally?
I’ve never really thought of that. I see loss in all of my artwork. There are exceptions of course, but when I look at my work I often see loss. At least all of my favorite pieces have an element of loss to them in my eyes. There is an undercurrent of strength with the loss though; often times, I don’t depict people as broken but rather triumphing over said loss. So maybe hope or strength would be a better answer than loss? I’m not sure.
you should design posters, ads, billboards! Using your style of art, of course. would you ever take a job doing that?
I’ve had jobs doing that! My first art job involved designing pages for a magazine along with the cover of the magazine. After that I started working as the only artist for an international coffee franchise (Cuppy’s Coffee) where I designed hundreds of posters, ads, billboards, etc. It took awhile to build my style and the confidence to use said style in that environment but it did happen. Sadly it was near the end of my tenure there but some cool stuff did come from it. For example, this is a shirt I designed for chain. This shirt design was meant to show how the Cuppy’s Coffee product was different than Starbucks or other “machine” based coffee chains. Internally we had been tossing around a catch phrase similar to “Grind it. Tamp it. Pull it. Drink it.” in reference to an espresso drink. This shirt was meant to convey that.
It was never produced as far as I know.
Shortly before I left, we were pushing an initiative to redesign the look of the company and give it a more youthful feel. This was really the first time my style was used completely unfiltered at the franchise. I worked in the marketing office and most of the time when we had to design it had to be approved by every person in the office. This drove me insane because getting 9 people to agree on anything is impossible. They all want their favorite colors or their own personal touch on it. Eventually the owner of the company at the time (Robert Morgan) had me design some stuff the way I wanted to; without my bosses final word on it.
The result was stuff like this. My boss actually did like them as well. I think I just needed to be given the freedom to do it on my own because before I would always try to cater to people and anticipate what they would and wouldn’t like. My boss loved these designs though and all was well in the world. Well, until I got fired and the company was exposed for being incredibly shady.
Pyro over spy? REALLY?!
Ha! A Team Fortress 2 question! In short… yes. =)
Team Fortress is my favorite FPS of all time. In middle school my next door neighbor Mike Droz (of Davis and Droz) turned me on to the Quake mod called Team Fortress. I played the SHIT out of it. Later he and I switched to Quake 2 and then Starcraft but once Half Life came out with a TF mod I went back into it hardcore. I would play for hours every single day.
I stopped eventually and then they announced Team Fortress 2: the first standalone TF game. I of course bought it on day one and loved it.
I still play it. I take breaks every now and then but I am in a period now where I am playing it so add me on steam. My name is the_brandon_ks (KS stands for Kill Shot, a sniping clan I was in during the Half Life Team Fortress days). I often play as either a sniper or a pyro.
I don’t like playing as a spy. It’s fun but I’m just not good at it. I will go spy sometimes just for one round if I need to get a revenge kill on a sniper though =D
Where did you get the idea to use glass in your artwork (kudos, btw….looks amazing!)
I didn’t really get the idea from anywhere in particular. I have always had a fondness for broken glass. Glass in general demands a ton of respect in art because it’s hard to simulate. How do you simulate something that’s clear? I have used glass in a few of my pieces before but the idea of using broken glass for the cross was the only thing I could think of that would convey the message I wanted conveyed.
I wanted to show how mankind ruins religious beliefs for me. I have no problems with the Christian faith but I do have problems with Christians (well, people who call themselves that but then don’t follow the word of God). The broken glass was a way to visually say “broken” that most people would get.
I didn’t really think about it long though. Literally one of the first things that came to my mind when Mercedes Rodgers (owner of the Full Circle Gallery) asked if I wanted to do a solo exhibit was “Hey! I can build a cross out of broken glass!” It was in my mind within the first 2 minutes of her discussing it with me. We were still sitting on the bench outside of the Full Circle Gallery when I thought of it but I had to sort out the logistics in my mind before I could tell anyone. I think Marcus Ranum was one of the first people I told. He helped me sort out some of the more complicated logistics and helped me realize that my vision was attainable.
whats your favorite drink?
Period? Uhm… I’m going to go with a shot I had this weekend that was called a “White Gummybear.” That was incredibly delicious. My normal alcoholic drink is a tequila sunrise. My normal beer is Pabts Blue Ribbon. My normal non-alcoholic drink is either lemonade or water. I used to drink coca-cola and sprite but I haven’t had a soda in about 4-5 months now. I have noticed a huge change in not only my body but my mind since I stopped drinking soda so I don’t think I will ever go back to it, honestly.
what do you normally wear when you make art?
Whatever I wore to sleep. Normally some pajama pants and a t-shirt. I don’t really get dressed up to work on art. Art is more of a mental thing.
do you like video games?
I do. I don’t play them too much anymore though. I used to be very hardcore into games but nowadays I have so much going on that it is hard to find time to play them. I recently cancelled my World of Warcraft account for that reason. I had a totally geared, level 80 Rogue that was like, #8 on the server or something and I never played. I went 3 months without playing so I figured fuck it.
Right now I am playing Fable 3 (thanks again, Lindz!) and I occasionally play Team Fortress 2.
When you were in school, did you get any negative comments from teachers that didn’t understand your style of art?
No. I never showed my artwork to teachers in school. I never cared what they thought so there was no reason to show them honestly. It took me a long time to build the confidence to show my artwork to people. It was very personal for me for a long time and I would make it just for me. I still make my work for me but now I am a lot more open with it.
would you ever publish your artwork in a book form?
I’ve thought about it a lot, actually. A few of my friends keep pushing me to write a book. Maybe I will one day. I am thinking of buying a laptop soon so if I do that, maybe I will write some and see how it goes. I don’t consider my story that interesting but other people do. If you know any details on how to get something like that printed or published, please email me at brandonpence@gmail.com
