Interview with Britt Ehringer

1)First of all,..can you present yourself..?
1)Hello my name is Britt Ehringer. I live and work on an old chicken ranch in Yucaipa California, which is about 80 miles east of Los Angeles. I don’t kill anything except rattlesnakes and black widows. Sometimes late at night I paint in the nude.

2)Do you think of yourself as an artist,or what?
2)I think of myself as a what.

3)What is creativity?
3)Get up…drink some coffee…go into the studio…work…eat lunch…work…stretch a little…work some more…have some dinner… work until the birds start chirping...go to bed…start over the next day.

4)Does your environment influence your art,either in style/format or interference?
4)Yes, besides surrounding my self with tons of materials that seem to end up in interesting juxtapositions around the studio, I like to go for a long walk everyday where I seem to get a lot of ideas.

5)What are some of your influences and inspirations?
5)Television, Moche Portraits, Comics, Etruscan tomb painters, Nudist Magazines, 70’s porn, Indian Miniatures, Street Art, the Ocean, Cigars. Everything except pigeons..I don’t like pigeons.

6)What’s your favourite mediums(pen,charcoal,paint,canvas,etc…)to work in/on?
6)Oil on canvas, collage and assemblage.

7)Who are some of your favourite painters/artists?
7)Everyone has something I can steal.

8)How long does it normally take you to complete a piece of your artwork?
8)Well, I usually work on about fifteen large paintings at a time, and that usually takes about 1 ½ to 2 years.

9)What else are you interested in besides visual arts?
9)I like making films on my computer and I’m also quite into science …right now I’m fascinated by Nano technology and Quantum computing.

10)Got any new projects planned?
10)I’m currently working on a series of women in bathtubs, and some portraits that are a cross between Francis Bacon and Hans Holbein

11)How would you describe your art to someone who could not see it?
11)They are non-narrative narrative paintings. Photo-realistic and painterly elements are combined into a commingled existence. By synthesizing disparate forms and a cacophony of imagery the mind is forced to make up a “story”.

12)What other talent would most like to have?
12)I’d like to be able to bend spoons with my mind.

13)What are your most beloved items?
13)My books

14)Favourite books?
14)That would be like picking a favourite child!

15)Do you remember the first drawing you made?
15)When I was four I made a painting of a tornado destroying a house.

16)What kind of music do you like and do you listen…And is the music important for your
art…?
16)I like to listen to all kinds of music and when I’m working in the studio I always have music on …so I guess it’s important in that it helps me get into a good groove.

17)Any advice do you have for artists?
17)Always mix blood into your paint...it gives your work “soul”.

18)Your contacts…E-mail….Links…
18)You can contact me at my website…
www.ehringer.com