TELL US A BIT ABOUT YOURSELF
Animator/illustrator originally from Toronto, living in Montréal & loving it here. a moustache is on my face, dwell with 3 cats & have about a hundred plants. My tongue enjoys different kinds of beer, lemons & really strong coffee. My ears are happiest when they’re listening to stories & passion.
 WHAT INSPIRES YOUR ART
Inspiration is everywhere, I have a hard time not drawing all the time, but mainly my first avenue would be my girl Sylvie. She’s incredible, so inspiring & super encouraging, when I deserve it. Its really important to get criticism on your work, it makes you look at it from a different point of view & understand why someone may or may not like your stuff. She tells me when a drawing is poo, or is boring & has been done, very rare to find someone that will do that intelligently. Secondary inspiration is nature, the most original artist in town. Anytime im stumped I grab any national geographic or collection of some animal/plant/place & browse through it, not too long to get fix on that particular thing, just long enough to steal something from nature & make it my own.
WHAT DO YOU DO OUTSIDE OF THE ART WORLD
I find that everything I do has art in it, I feel very lucky to be like that. Sylvie is very musical, so I end up joining in, we have tons of instruments hanging on out walls. We take capoeira & that is one of the best forms of art & exercise on the planet. I love cooking & when I’m traveling without riding my bike, I feel like I’m missing a limb.
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR STYLE
I don’t have one, & I don’t plan on having one. I don’t want it, you take it, don’t leave it here, it smells stagnant & stale, can’t go anywhere with it, people will want just that & I get too bored with just one way of doing something. I’m drawing a lot now & I love it, so privileged, but there’s so many other things in art that I can’t just stick to one style or even just medium. next year I could be focusing on painting, or move on sculpture, or hell, making furniture. I just love making stuff.
WHAT IS THE MOST ANNOYING/INSPIRING THING ABOUT ONLINE ART COMMUNITIES
 Annoying - Anonymity, people can say or do whatever the hell they want with no real consequences, the internet is a breeding ground for multiple personality disorders.
Inspiring – people love to see art & they’re willing to put so much work into creating environments that allow the not so tech savvy able to display their work for everyone to see.
CAN WE FIND YOU ANYWHERE ELSE ONLINE (WEBSITES, BLOGS ETC.)
http://www.ostrichindustries.blogspot.com/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ostrichindustries/
WHAT DO YOU ASPIRE TO DO WITH YOUR ARTISTIC TALENTS
I’m doing it. I’m growing, developing, having fun, going places, meeting great inspiring people, experiencing life in a much better way than just consuming. But I’d love to make my art stop my hair from falling out, that would be good, it gets in my keyboard.
DO YOU HAVE ANY FORMAL ARTISTIC TRAINING
Went to a classical animation school in Toronto, which had a really heavy formal art training program, a lot of master work copying & life drawing on top of learning animation, so we were always flip-flopping in styles. First job out of school I worked as a stop-motion animator, so that was like learning animation all over again. You really cant stop learning or should. I really would love to go back to school for science or something nature related, I love finding new things about the world & discovering new mysteries that keep slapping humans’ egos in the face.
WHAT'S IN YOUR MP3 PLAYER
I listen to a lot of audiobooks & podcasts, being told a good story is best thing. Books off the top of my head: anything by Chuck Palaniuk especially Rant, Ancestors Tale by Richard Dawkins, anything by Arthur C. Clarke & Kurt Vonnegut, Grapes of Wrath, & Hitchhikers guide (especially the BBC play). Podcasts: Quirks & Quarks, & Mysterious Universe. Music: Jorge Ben, tom waits, radiohead, boards of Canada, brazilian girls, elliot brood, anything from the ninja tune label, & I have a ton of brasilian compilations.
ANY FAV MOVIES/TV SHOWS
Movies: Amelie, matrix, alien, 300, ghost in the shell 2, princess mononoke, & of course lord of the rings.
I haven’t had cable in years, so I do the season rentals: deadwood, carnivale, FLCL, battlestar, paranoia agent (best anime on the planet).
ANY QUOTE YOU'D LIKE TO LEAVE US TO PONDER
“meorarhaa” translated: “I took a dump” – Salem, my cat |
