Interview with an Artist- Van Sprang/ Contemporary Works

D1 studio artist profile: Van Sprang

When did you get involved in the Artworld?

The earliest memory of my interest in Art goes back to when I was in primary school. According to the teachers, I created some incredible pieces, and was totally absorbed with colour. Saint Nicholaas would leave me sketchbooks, felt pens, and colouring pencils on the 5th of December, after I had dutifully left out my shoe with a carrot for his horse, out at the front door. I was devistated to find out later that it had been my mother all along, who was also an artist, and was trying to promote any talent I had!

In primary school and highs chool, my collages stood out and received all sorts of accolades. I used to have a knack for illustrating and decorating my projects to such a level that the teachers loved marking them.

Art classes in highschool were great, but when my favourite teacher left , I lost interest and got more excited about boys.
After school, I became an interior designer, and went through different art modalities in phases.
Photography was a serious passion for a while, and I had my own darkroom. Then I studied ceramics, and ikibana. In the meantime, the business was flourishing and I lost time.


Where do you find your inspiration?

When you are working hard every day , it is difficult to find inspiration, but most of all-time. I lost a decade being rear end up and head down. I had no intention of doing the struggling artist thing, even though, somewhere in the depths of my imagination, I had a secret desire to be a graffiti artist. The computer was the best invention ever! I think I have spent the last 10 years, learning and working with this medium, mostly at night from about 8pm to 12 am. No time for sleep.
Only recently things have changed. The time factor is not so much of an issue and I have embraced the other aspects of the artworld again, including painting.

My inspiration comes from emotion actually, and people, and the concept of beauty. I am fascinated with psychology.
My creative pursuits are the balancing act for my emotional ups and downs. A lot of my works are filled with ' unseen' things, like words behind the paint, or specific colours which I apply in ' mood' and then paint over.
The other thing that realy inspires me is the whole creation issue. Where did we come from. Origin. DNA. Patterns in nature. This subject can totally engage my brain for days! I guess you could say I am a little deep.

Are there any ideals that you have which influence your work?

My favourite saying is that you can't form an opinion about something unless you have experienced it. Happiness, depression, loneliness, all add a new layer to your existance. It all depends what you do with the experiences that counts. I see them as positives, probably not when you are in the moment, but in retrospect. There is only one thing you dont need to experience to form an opinion. Drugs. I can accept that I don't need to know how it feels to be wasted.

What medium do you like to use as a favourite?

I love my computer. I love my camera. I love my acrylics. I like to work with natural light, and I love to see defects.That is the way of the world- evrything is defective in some way. Why do we, as a society need to present everything to the world in a highly unrealistic, airbrushed and unnatural manner? There can be incredible beauty in defects, like paint peeling of a wall, or brushlines showing unexpectedly, or rust on a piece of metal. In total contrast, my business is run on the concept of eliminating defects, and ' making beautiful". It's like a left and right brain battle.

How do you create your works?

I have to be in a " mood'. Whether it is a good mood or a bad mood. But " mood' has to be there. I will go to the studio, put the Ipod in my ears, turn up Tool or some other heavy music, and then think about what I want to paint. Nothing is preplanned, although the " being organized ' idea is always there. I have books of sketches and drawings which I will sit and do whilst watching Tv or eating dinner, but I can never get myself to paint these at the time.
Once a painting is finished, I will set up my trusted Cannon SLR, in a makeshift studio on the front patio, where there is perfect light for about 2 hours in the afternoon. I then go through and photograph my works, arranging collages if the need strikes.
I then load my computer with the images, and either keep them in their original state or do some hefty layering, and manipulation, colouring etc. This process can take days, and this where most of the 8 to 12 am hours are spent.
If I am happy with the image, i print it out, handcolour or draw on the print, to make them original. The original images are stored in an acid free folder, after I rescan and work on the final result. It is a tedious process, but I find it very enjoyable. So please don't ever say to me that a print is ' only a digital print", and take away it's credibility. I know the enormous amount of time it can take, from the painted finish to the printed version.
I hold the originals of all my works, either in print form or in painted form, and one day may sell them. Who knows.

What is your current passion?

The current phase is to create art from satellite images, and a group of artists, worldwide are trying to form a "movement" , to bring this artform to the general public. We aren't realy interested in just art derived from Google Earth, or just any random satellite images. We look for a certain balance and beauty, and then " create" our own vision. When i first discovered Satellite Art, I couldn't pull myself away from the screen. Amazing abstracts are just sitting there, waiting to be discovered, snapped up and manipulated. It is as if we can finally have a hand in the creation, or just see what birds see. The final piecs are all about the art, and then the reproduction and archival ability of the image.

My current collections are heavily influenced by this medium. It is beauty in its most natural form.You can go to " www.earthsgraffiti.blogspot.com and www.satartmovement.blogspot.com for some more insight into this.

I see it as a way of being able to study the DNA of the universe, the psychology behind human culture. If you see native art and view the environment where it comes from, you can see the inspiration the native tribes felt. How? Did they have access to " things' we don't know about?Could they see somehow from km above ground?
You can see the designs of Aboriginal art from the Australian Outback, in the land. And the natives only had the perspective from a mountain view to work with.

What do you hope to gain from being an artist?

Well.. it's not the money, because, as we all know, you either need to be dead to be a successful artist, to live an incredibly seedy and conspicuous life aka Warholl, have some notoriety aka Pollock, or just get involved in full on self promotion and kissing ass, which is not me at all.

I just want some kudos, i guess. Recognition for the ego. Maybe as " I was here' kind of thing. And to get joy out of knowing that I have created something to make people think.
I think art is a very self centered thing. But one time in your life it is ok to be a narcassist.

What other paths have led you here?

About 12 years ago, I had an other phase- fashion design. I had designed a pyjama range under the name ZEDZ. It came within a stonesthrow of being a very marketable enterprise, until I had to fly to China with a Qld business delegation, to set it up. I had a huge fear of flying at that time, and I couldn't do it. Everything was in place, except the setting up of the factory. It all fell apart after I decided not to go, and the actual manufacturing hurdle was too hard. I gave up and diverted my focus on investing in property instead, and that was easy.
I still have all the designs and I am sure some of the Chinese factories have used my specs in their production lines. After we get out of this Financial crisis, who knows, high end Pjs may be the new " comforting" trend once again. If they ever close down the Chinese factories supplying Kmart and Target, I could still be in there with a chance! I won't hold my breath though..

Do you any other insight you would like to share?

Hmm.. I am in love with Graffiti. If I was 20 something, single and not working, I think I would have been part of a crew. It is just the freedom of expression mixed with the sense of rebellion and danger I find profoundly attractive. Some of the Graff kids are unreal. The talent that is wasted is our loss.To me, finding taggs and designs , imprints and textures on the earths surface, is a form of nature's own graffiti, and looking at the footprints that man is leaving behind in a blatant " I was here" fashion, and expressing this in my art, is my way of making a statement.Hence the EARTHS GRAFFITI.

In a way, I guess just taking the time to do this interview is also self promotion, stroking the ego. I don't know yet how far I will go, before it feels like prostitution.


What is your view on art in Life?

Life is an artform in itself. How you use your talent, what you present to others, what colours you emit to your surroundings. We are walking canvasses, of natural patterns and structures.
From an interior design perspective, this is why your living environment is so important and you can tell so much from looking at peoples surroundings.First impressions. You can see where their emotional balance lies, if they are organized or confused, slaphappy, depressed, or if they have an intrinsic sense of balance. The way a person presents their home and environment,overlaps into their personallity. The simple deed of cleaning and tidying your space and placing organization into your life, will transcend positively into your personal life.