I am very happy to share the work of Scott Warren, our September Artist of the Month! Scott is a friend, and the husband of our daughter's art teacher, Jewly. Jewly and Scott are also creating a local non-profit arts organization, called the Morningstar Center for Creative Expression - we're on the board of directors there. Thanks to Scott and Jewly, the local arts community in our area is thriving. Scott's commitment to the arts is impressive. However, his OWN art is definitely exciting and so very creative. Scott draws, plays and composes music, and creates the most incredible collages. His creative genius is unsurpassed. Look closely at his collages - he's got a great sense of humor, as well.

We were lucky enough to sit down and talk with Scott about his art, inspiration, music, and more. Here's what he had to say...

WE:  Please tell us about your art...

SW: The main focus on my art these days is in collage techniques. I enjoy creating surrealist images by manipulating objects, rearranging them into new contexts to convey new emotions or concepts. I find that you can really get subversive with your messages... you can put your own spin on a topic if your sly about it. It's really a natural outlet for my sarcastic sense of humor.  I have sort of found my visual equivalent of what Bob Dylan called his "finger pointing songs" in a way. I really exploited that concept in pieces i previously created on topics about religion, politics, guns in our culture, sexuality in our culture...unfortunately I have lost the majority of my pieces so a lot of those don’t exist anymore. These days I tend to steer clear of a lot of those hot point issues. I'm trying more to focus on pieces with themes that are a little more universal in their appeal. That's not to say that I won't go back to those issues again later, I think the job of an artist is to point out the things going on around us, to instigate diverse thought, to be the match that lit the fuse, so to speak. But for the meantime, i am really just focused on creating visual images for the enjoyment of it, for stimulating people on an existential level rather than the socio-political level. I also enjoy scribbling wierd little sketches with charcoals,graphite pencils, oil  pastels, markers...whatever i can get my hands on really. I'm not any good at it, but it really gives me a good opportunity to just practice being creative, being wierd in my own little way. I have a few artist's pads lying around for that type of thing. We love to drag them to our favorite 24 hour coffee house in Grand Rapids for late night caffeine-induced art frenzies. I like to sketch things inside books for other peole to find as well. I recently finished a book on Lincoln and scratched out a pastel of him in the back of the book. I plan on leaving it where somebody else will pick it up and take it home.

WE:  How/when did you start becoming an artist?

SW: I would say that my evolution as an artist began way back in 1st grade, really. I was always scribbling things on my desk, inside the desk, inside my locker, inside my school books. I was never paying attention in school because i was always doodling in my math book during social studies, or scribbling things in my science book during geography. I was always all about doing anything but what they wanted me to be doing. I think that it was really a coping mechanism for me. The constant preoccupation with creating an alternate form of expression to combat the boredom. I think the breaking point for me was when i was in high school. I had an assignment that was to create a newspaper, complete with multiple columns, articles, editorials etc. We had to choose our topic and we had 2 weeks to create a full size paper complete with all of these requirements we had to fulfill. I asked the teacher if i could make a graphic novel instead, maintaing the majority of the requirements and innovating a few new ones along the way. I had a format, main characters, several short stories were plotted out.  In the end i stirred up a great deal of excitement, and even a little jealous rivalry within the class, all because i simply wanted a way out of the boring assignment and its stifling restrictions. It made me realize that you can make waves by doing your own thing, redefining the rules to my own liking and have it end up in a positive outcome.

WE:  What do you draw inspiration from?

SW: Conflict. The constant struggle i have trying to make sense out of the world around me,  that incessant inner dialogue in my head. I'd say that's where a lot of it comes from.  Trying to make people react to my art is a big motivator for me. Love me or hate me, you  will definately know where you stand with me. I always joke that as long as they keep  talking about me, i know i must be doing something right.I find that conflict really is a major source of inspiration in my songwriting also. Most of my best songs were written when i was really upset about something. If you're going to sing songs about broken hearts and desperate times, then it helps to have really lived it, to really know your subject matter intimately. I have a really hard time sitting down to write a song in a nuetral state of mind. If i am really agitated emotionally, positively or negatively, then i find that it just comes out on its own.

WE:  Where are your favorite places to create art?

SW: I love The Bitter End in Grand Rapids MI. It's a swank little 24/7 coffee house my wife Jewly and I regularly hit late at night. We've played there a few times, and love to  sit and scribble silly things or just read the New Yorker while getting seriously warped on espresso!
At home is the other natural place for it. Our sanctuary naturally! We set up studio  space in our basement for art and music. But really our living room and kitchen are  starting to look less "domesticated" and more "bohemian" lately... much to my poor wife's dismay. I finally told her the other day to just accept it; we are artists, musicians!  The studio is our "living room", we need to get this stupid couch out of the middle of all this valuable studio space!"... that didn't go over as well as i had hoped...

WE:  What do you enjoy creating most?

SW: A mess. Whether it's rice all over the floor when i'm making vegetarian sushi, guitars and cables all over the living room when i record songs, or thousands of scraps of paper in  the studio when i make collages, everything I do creates chaos. When my studio is clean  you know i am bored.
If i had to pick something productive to call my favorite? I would say music. Something  about the manipulation of sound, the primordial resonance of emotion. The reaction a  truly good song extracts from people is amazing. It realy is one of the few universal experiences we all share in this life. I always thought that if i met someone who didn't  like music, that i wouldn't be able to trust that person.

WE:  Is there anything else you'd like to share with us?

SW: Jewly and I have begun pursuing our dream of starting up a NON PROFIT called Morningstar Center for Creative Expression in Greenville. It will focus on bringing creative arts, music, and culture to the community. We hope to have art shows, concerts, cooking demonstrations, and a bunch of fun events within the community. We want to emphasize a greener lifestyle, and creative outlets for personal expression, as well as helping young people realize a greater inner potential than what our disposable, pop-culture mass consumption culture is filling their heads with.
After i finish recording the album, i plan on doing a little mini-tour in the spring. I want to hit a few fun venues in other major cities and see what is going on with the scene in other parts of the country. I will be looking for other people to network with, do some shows and just generally make new friends with common interests.
Anybody that wants to contact us in regards to our non-profit, our art or music should most definately do so. we are always looking for new opportunities to make friends, create new art or music, host shows in our home town, and have new experiences in life
In June 2009, I submitted 4 pieces to Gallery 213 in Greenville. This was my first gallery experience and i have sold 2 of these pieces, as well as a piece i created during a gallery appearance. I had my 2nd AOM at Greenville Area Community Center in August 2009. I am now begining to focus on getting my work into other galleries as well in the future.

WE: Thanks so much, Scott - I love your work and am happy to share it with our readers.

For more information, please see:

youtube.com/analogmutant
myspace.com/houseofthemorningstar

myspace.com/nomrbobo is my alter ego, kind of an inside joke gone too far.
twitter @mrbobothechimp
 

All photos courtesy and copyright Scott Warren.