Interview with Graham Dolphin

q)So, can you tell me a little about yourself? Full name, age, some background info, etc?

a)Graham Dolphin, 34, live and work in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.
Studied Fine Art Painting at Bath College, UK

q)How did you get started making art?

a)Like many artists I was told at school I was good at drawing, as I wasn’t very good at any other school subject I concentrated on art.

q)How would you describe your art?

a)I would prefer to leave that to others.

q)Where do you get the inspiration for your art?

a)Popular culture.

q)What are you working on now?

a)Work for a solo exhibition called Thirty Three and a Third at SEVENTEEN Gallery, London. These work use vinyl records, album sleeves, and other music industry ephemera that I draw directly onto.

q)What's your favorite medium to work in, and why?

a)The ready-made in all forms- drawing, object, film and sound. I prefer to shift culturally loaded sources than create new forms.

q)What advice would you give to younger up and coming artist?

a)Keep practicing.

q) What is your personal definition of life and art and everything else in between?

a)Do the things that make you happy, if you are able.

q)Take us inside your process a little bit. How do you begin a piece? What inspires the concept?

a)Looking, listening, watching a lot of culture, high, low which ever.
Certain images/sounds/sequences become clearer that I want to shift into a different area.

q)What are your artistic influences?

a)Things I have been looking/watching/listening to recently;
Murakami, Akron Family, Half Japanese, Colleen, The Devil and Daniel Johnston, Gloria (John Cassavetes), Female Convict Scorpion – Jailhouse 51 (Shunya Ito), Curb Your Enthusiasm, Christian Marclay, Henry Darger, 45-Bill Drummond, Devendra Banhart, Extras.

q)How are the reactions on your work in general?

a)The fashion works divide people – some are offended, the music works most people seem to like. All the works rely on he viewer already having a relationship with the objects I choose to work onto.

q)What are you doing when you are not creating art?

a)Thinking, eating, sleeping, reading, watching, cycling.

q)What are some of the greatest challenges that you think artists face today?

a)I have no idea

q)What is freedom to you as an artist?

a)The odd moments when I hear/see something that makes me forget who I am.

q)Are there any particular works you've done that stand out as your favorites?

a)Always the next thing I want to make. The idea is always perfect, the realization not.

q)Last Books you read?

a)45 - Bill Drummond
Lunar Park – Bret Easton Ellis
Saint Maybe – Anne Tyler
Rough Trade – Rob Young

q)Last records you bought?

a)Akron/Family – Meek Warrior
Swell Maps – Train Out Of It

q)Who are your favourite artists & Your favourite galleries?

a)Palais De Tokyo, Mattress Factory, BALTIC, Serpentine, SEVENTEEN, Vardy Gallery Sunderland, mima,

q)Which do you think make good art good? originality, or style? And, why?

a)I have no idea, maybe a mix of both.

q)Do you get emotionally attached to your work and do you miss your work when it is sold?

a)No attachment, it’s dead as soon as I draw the mark. I like seeing it in new places, when it becomes removed from me.

q)Your contacts….E-mail…links

a)www.grahamdolphin.co.uk
www.seventeengallery.com
www.vane.org.uk