I am pleased to share a recent interview with one of my favorite artists Mati Rose McDonough. See some of her gorgeous work here, read about her work here and buy her work here!

[January 18, 2008]

First off, congratulations on your gorgeous new website. There is a certain delicious, almost edible quality about your work that really comes through in the new site. Tell me a little bit about how that design came to fruition.
Aww, thanks so much Christine! That means a lot to me because I am in love with your new blog! I’ve been checking it daily and it feeds me both intellectual and eye candy inspiration, and of course I’m honored to be part of it. I was dying (dramatic yes!) to make a new website, after 3 years of painting growth reflected on my old site, because as a visual artist it is such an important window to the world. In terms of the process of building the new site I had a lot of hiccups. I went back and fourth about the idea of making it on my own and began to learn various programs and then I hired someone and ultimately it did not work out … so it dragged on. Finally I met my current web site designer, Christine Wong Yap, who was an MFA student at my school and I liked the idea of working with another artist. It was a collaborative process whereby I came up with the look and the feel of the site and she implemented the design and made it better. It took a couple months and she was very professional and I highly recommend her.

Last year was a big year for you - finishing school, getting married - any grand plans for 2008?
Indeed it was! I am in love with 2008 so far because all the growing pains, anxiety and excitement of 2007 catapulted me to a more centered and motivated place. So far, I have a couple shows underway, a magazine article coming out and a great illustration gig underway. I also just started a new part-time job as a textile designer and I’m excited to learn and grow creatively in this role and someday make my own line! It would be dreamy to be able to design my own bedding, wallpaper, apparel… you name it… as a painter I always wish I could paint my own quilts, but imagine they would get crusty. Other than that I would love to travel to Italy for our honeymoon and plan a show or creative retreat while we’re there. I also have these kid’s books I’ve been working on for years that I feel like now is the time to send them out to publishers!

On the homepage of your website, it says 'Hold on tight and don't unravel' - what does this phrase mean to you?
Ha! That homepage came about very intuitively and was a quick collage of patches of colors I like, some of my favorite photos and the sketch of a beehived girl with the accompanying text. It’s cut off, but her arms are wrapped a few times around her body (she’s gumby in the arm department). What does it mean? I suppose I was sketching that as a message from my drawing to myself so go figure! My drawings certainly talk to me and often reassure.

Animals are a recurring theme in your work - birds, deer and your intriguing pink elephants. Is there any specific symbolism you are working with there?
I imagine part of it is living in the city of San Francisco in a very urban pocket and feeling very removed from nature and therefore craving a connection to it and its inhabitants! The real story is that I started my path as an illustrator interested in children’s books and wrote several stories where I anthropomorphized animals for the purpose of the story. Then when I started art school I took an amazing Narrative drawing class from an influential professor and now friend Jason Jagel and began expressing my personal story via animals that tapped into feelings of childhood and loss. I’m not sure if anyone else would gather from looking at my work that I use these stories as a starting point, but it has been a surprising and healing way to explore this emotional territory. Anyway, I hope it adds depth to my paintings that may on first glance come across as light hearted and cute. Yes, so to answer your question the animals are symbolic and a stand in for my feelings and other folks. I had this revelation while writing this that when I was a kid I was trying to navigate the world with these adult emotions, and now that I’m an adult I’m reverting back to childhood to try to understand life through a child’s viewpoint in my paintings!

What do the pink elephants mean to you?
The pink elephants could represent the elephant in the room where you’re not saying the obvious, which was interesting because they were created during a hard time for me towards the end of art school in the midst of the most difficult critiques and friction with the very idea of being in art school… feeling like it was squashing my desire to create. I decided to embrace the thing that was the furthest from what I was being encouraged to do: doily elephants silk-screened in hot pink. It was my inner-rebel saying F*&% off art school. I really identified with them for a while. They reminded me to play, to embrace femininity, childhood and girly colors… debuting at the The Girly Show you organized in LA.

Which artists do you turn to again and again for inspiration and ideas?
The books of artists that I keep in my studio that I consistently turn to are Kiki Smith, Margaret Kilgallen and Beatriz Milhazes. If I could combine the likes of those three disparate artists I would be happy as a clam. Kiki does not have a specific medium, but tells stories with her work using materials that run the gamut from glass to embroidery. Margaret reminds me of using character, line, color and font, while Beatriz is a wild pattern maker and Brazilian painter who reminds me that big paintings can have that lusciousness and be taken seriously by the capital “A” art world. I think the combination of all three equals art that I am currently trying to make which is folky, feminine and decorative with a story running through it.

I have read quite a bit about how art school is supposedly the best gateway to gallery contacts and success...any thoughts on this?
I think everyone’s experience is certainly different, but I do feel more informed and connected having gone to art school. I remember curators walking through the school hallways and occasionally it would lead to a landmark show for someone, but that seemed rare. It calls into question what is your definition of success as an artist: peer approval, the ability to make art regularly, to have a prestigious gallery, to live off your art? These things don’t necessarily go hand in hand. I think the struggle for many artists is to find the balance of these factors and your art niche. Having just been to one of the biggest money making art fairs at Miami Basel I feel simultaneously inspired and cynical about the levels of success and what it takes to get there. For on the one hand it does seem opened up and accessible, and then like any other business it seems a lot about who you know and schmoozing.

Tell me about Compound 21...
Compound 21 is an art studio started by my landlord, upstairs neighbor and artist, Andy Diaz Hope. It’s located behind our home in the former garage that has been converted to studio spaces with gallery quality walls and lighting for about eight artists. There are individual rooms within the studio that we have, which some of us share. For example, My husband Hugh and I share our studio space, where we can shut the door and play our own music with out interfering with the other artists and vice versa. We just added a bridge that connects the apartment to the roof of a studio and have a burgeoning garden and art parties there now too! I feel so lucky to be part of this amazing community of artists and to have a space outside my home to paint.

When do you feel like an ARTIST? (All the time? Only when you are painting?)
Great question. I believe I have finally gotten to the place where I feel like an artist fairly consistently. To the point where I was interviewing for jobs recently and was told that a primary concern was that I was “too heavy on the art”! If I had heard that same thing five years ago when I was working at a law firm I would have been floored! Because at that point I could hardly call myself an artist, I mean I physically could not get the words out of my mouth along with my name! Oh the irony!

Thank you so much for letting me pester you with questions for Sparkletopia. I am fortunate enough to be inspired by your work everyday since two of your paintings are hanging in my studio!!
Thank you Christine! It’s been my pleasure and I’ve honestly learned a lot about myself in the process! I look forward to reading more of your artist interviews here.