Lyrois

The Lyrois Questionary

Let me suggest you tweet this:

I put together this questionary based on conversations, discussions, and the occasional rant from my Twitter stream of the last couple of months, kind of straight from the shop.

18 questions: Topics include inspiration, the ongoing art vs. design debate, business, and obsessions --

How do you work?

Creating ideas through cross-pollinating multiple streams of input and refining incubation through repeated destruction & creation. Sitting over dozens of versions of a work in progress. Balancing visual effect vs. carried message. After about 50 pencil drafts and 34 vector drawings for a particular project, they're all great and none is. Off for the next round, back to the drawing board, refining the vision. Create, create, create, create, design, create, create, create, Lyrois, Lyrois, Lyrois, create, eat, sleep, repeat... Several projects culminating with new ones in pre-production. Working like the Lawnmower Man and loving it.

What's your inspiration and what are your artistic influences?

ART is almost never an INSPIRATION for me. Intelligence is, personality is, and natural phenomena are INSPIRATION. I like to read artist's writings and study their art. Being a fan of an artist is not necessarily the same as being a fan of their work. Most often, it correlates inversely.

Why do you do what you do?

Acting "out of character" is harder than it sounds -- talk about CHASING SHADOWS or tails. Whatever, you are what you are.

What do you obsess about?

IN GENERAL, I don't care -- but IN PARTICULAR, I do care obsessively. Perfectionism, details, research, expression.

What are the rules of the game?

Once the ACTUAL rules are known, it may be possible to perform "miracles" -- things which violate the PERCEIVED rules.

What's your opinion of the art world and of its business aspects?

MY art business doesn't follow the rules of THE art business. Quite the opposite. To me, art is the cake and business is the icing. Or vice versa. I love both. As for art = cake or whatever; I still plan & execute my projects military commando-operation style. And it's STILL a game. Over the years, I got to like documenting my work. Apart from the track record, it generates great potential for insights. Continually updated business plans are important: Unfolding events mean more clarity and lead to more precise and efficient action.

What's your take on collaborations or mashups?

Combining styles creates something new. Multiplying genes. It's hard to collaborate and NOT succeed in creating something greater than the sum of ingredients.

What's integral to the work of an artist?

Expression, combined with excellence in something, of some sort.

What's your take on art vs. design?

I'm thinking along art as expression of self and design as expression of other peoples ideas. It's the overlap where it gets interesting. With design, I have to care about feedback, while with art, I don't (in a way). Then again, being an artist is a moniker you earn, more so than labeling yourself with, neither is it some kind of lifestyle.

What about hackers vs. artists?

Artist's, as well as hacker's "research" is rooted in insatiable, raw curiosity and the urge to create SOMETHING. That's the thing with shortcuts: There are none, but through hacking you can find them anyway. Continually sorting out ACTUAL vs. PERCEIVED RULES -- It's an ongoing effort for hackers as well as for artists. For the longest time, I felt more confident being a hacker than an artist. Hacking is -- often -- dabbling, while art is striving. Hacking may become a tool to create art.

What's your subject matter?

Making stuff that looks the way I envision it. Or, to put it more deeply: It is the guilt of contemporary superficiality, the struggle with lightness, and the conflict of art and design, which fuels the notoriety of LYROIS. Whatever.

What are your artistic fundamentals and principles of design?

Literally clear-cut, bold shapes. Contrast. Planting frozen vectors in hot-blooded surroundings. Incorporating the environment, the dialogue with the canvas, into the work.

What are your various art techniques and styles?

Light and shadows, papercutting, vinyl, graffiti, typography, street-art, vectors, repeating patterns (rapports). Exploring repetitive patterns, mind-bending and soul-soothing -- why DRAW the same lines twice? A production approach.

What's your past and current development?

Andy Warhol is quoted saying: I think, at the time, I started repeating the same image because I liked the way the repetition changed the same image. Repetition changes.

What are you trying to do to people with your art?

Going full circle: ARTIST striving for sanity meets COLLECTOR longing for -- at least a glimpse of -- insanity.

What are your future projects?

Even less brick and mortar, more mobile everything, NOMADIC! Then again, I have no clue how this whole art thing is going down -- and I don't care. I just keep going, delusionally confident.

How do you roll? Some rants or musings?

There are so MANY people -- and so FEW TRUE personalities. BE REAL.

ONLY comply when complying is NOT an option.

Arrogance is not a sin. Hubris is.

IDEAS are cheap, conception itself isn't hard; execution is. Therefore: EXECUTE!

Most people don't want change -- they want justification.

Excellence in leadership starts with assuming responsibility for your staff.

When people say something doesn't work, they either have no clue or no motivation.

As long as you do everything you ever do, everything will be as it ever was.

Planning is an ART. And the competition is sparse.

What's so funny?

Taking names: I'm so accustomed to Google suggesting LYRICS for LYROIS that I keep seeing LYROIS in place of LYRICS.

For more information, read the Lyrois Story, see a list of selected works, and follow Lyrois on Twitter.

Labels: 2009, about, interview, lyrois, press