In Pictures: Eric Tan's Show in Melrose 2

 

One fan buying Eric's work.

 

I had to wait for three hours before we were able to shoot this photograph.

The gallery was just too crowded...a lot of people like Eric's art.

He sold a lot of his work that night!

 

Copyright 2013 RG Los Angeles Stories

Dan Castle's New Song; Check out my July 2013 posts for the complete story.

 

Dan Castle's new song that he is working on. I used my Iphone to video him, should I dare say that I directed this gifted director!

For the complete story on this dynamic artist please see my July 2013 posts.

 

Copyright 2013 RG Los Angeles Stories



Q and A with Eric Tan

 

Eric Tan. The Creative Mind behind the Work

 

 

I waited an hour before I was able to get in. The place was packed.

 

Fans of his work buying up his art like hot pancakes.

 

 

 

 

Eric Tan

Graphic Designer/Illustrator

www.erictanart.blogspot.com

www.tannerairlines.com

I am very fortunate to have met Eric. It was actually a complete happenstance. I was following a lead for my next article next door the gallery the day he had his show. I happen to chat with his friend April and she told me about him and my interest immediately peaked. There are three compelling reasons to chase him for an interview. First and foremost, even before I saw his work I couldn’t help but notice the line of people buying his art. Second, he is my Kababayan, my countryman from the Philippines. Third, his work rocks!

His work on display at that time in Gallery 1988 in Los Angeles, that went on in June 28th  through July 20^th, are his travel posters, his unique take on the places he has been. To give you a better understanding on what I am talking about here is an excerpt from his blog:

 “Let me dust this crazy blog off! I haven't posted in forever because I've been hard at work on a solo show which debuts this June at Gallery1988 in Los Angeles. When the fine folks at the gallery approached me a few years ago for a show, I never really could fathom committing to one because: A) my day job saps up too much creative energy (in a good way) rendering me sleepy after 6pm, and B) I just didn't have any exciting ideas that I could sustain over a series of pieces. Over the past few years, I've been fortunate enough to travel to a number of cool places around the globe. I would always have my sketchbook in hand to capture what I saw and write down funny observations I noticed about each place that was uniquely theirs. Whether it be some food everyone went crazy over, or an iconic something that everyone took pictures of, I'd either jot it down or do some weird sketch of what I witnessed. A few years ago, at one of Gallery1988's Crazy4Cult shows I had created a 'travel poster' based on my favorite movie of all time 'Back to the Future'. I've also gotten to create travels posters at Disney for films like Up and Cars - and for characters like Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and the rest of the gang. The graphic designer in me loves the structure and typography of these types of posters and the illustrator in me loves drawing each element within them. When it came to coming up with an idea that could work as a series for a solo show, my travel sketchbooks and all the travel posters I had created for other things came to mind. Instead of creating film-inspired posters, like the Back to the Future one, I decided to use the actual cities I visited. Cities new to me like Hong Kong, Paris, Barcelona, and London - and ones that were very familiar to me like Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, and San Diego. Hopefully everyone who either lives in these cities or has visited them will relate to the humor I tried to convey with each one.”

It was a really brilliant, and pretty bold, pieces of artwork. The thing is, at least from my point of view, an ultra-sensitive person from the country that his travel posters had featured could have easily accused him of stereotyping his country. One example is his poster about London featuring a pint of beer front and center. But, and this is a very big “but”, I think only people that don’t have a good sense of humor are the ones who are at risk of being ridiculed because Eric’s work carries truth and are nothing offensive. Besides, Eric’s, work, especially the “Travel Poster” series are very tastefully done. It is really hard to explain it but for some reason his works kind of reminds me of the brilliant pop artist Roy Lichtenstein. Since I love Lichtenstein’s work it goes without saying I love Eric’s work as well. I could see Eric’s original prints going as high as $5000 in a year’s time. Well I don’t know…I’m really not an art speculator but I could really see big things happening for him.

Anyway after a brief email exchanges I was able to forward him some questions and here are his answers for our Q and A:

1. Where did you study?

I went to art school at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena where I studied Graphic Design & Branding.

2. Where are you currently working?

I currently work at Disney Consumer Products in Glendale as a Designer/Artist. I've been there for almost 14 years now.

3. What inspires your artwork?

I'm inspired by many things including artwork from my favorite artists, websites I'll come across, and especially the coworkers I see almost every day. The talent level at Disney is amazing and I learn new things from those people every day.

4. What tools do you use with your artwork?

I usually sketch ideas out with a pen in a notebook. Then I'll do the final art in programs like Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop. I also sculpt quite a bit.

5. What advice can you give to other artists?

My advice would be to create art because it's fun and it's something you love, don't get into this career to get fame or make an excessive amount of money. If you're good and original, then those things will probably come but I just feel very fortunate to be able to create art and pay my bills. I'm always trying to get better too, I never feel like I'm actually good or have everything figured out. If you're self-motivated and always pushing yourself to improve, it really does help to sustain this as a career.

6. Do you have a website where my readers can follow you?

My instagram is erictanart. I also have a blog (erictanart.blogspot.com) and a site (www.tannerairlines.com)

Listen to Eric. Create your art because you love it. There shouldn’t be any other main reason but that alone. And always remember what he says about “pushing yourself”…there should always be room for improvements and do not let your ego get in the way of your work. Eric is a very gentle and humble man. A man of his talent could’ve easily turned into an art prima donna.  Our brief conversation during his show left an indelible impression on me for the rest of my life.

 

All Photos and Article are copyrighted.

Copyright 2013 RG Los Angeles Stories

                                    

Note: Pardon for any typo. I had been seating on this piece for a while now since I got caught up with my other works and I suddenly felt the urge to get Eric’s story out as soon as possible.

 



Dan Castle: his thoughts about his movie The Visitor

 

 

Copyright 2013 RG Los Angeles Stories

Dan Castle Interview Part III of III

 

Dan's book about a compilation of his paintings

 

Dan and his "Money Book"

 

FAUVE's Album "Blizzard"

 

Dan mentioned by FAUVE in their acknowldegements. Dan is currently pursuing a project with FAUVE.

 

Another of Dan's painting hanging in his kitcken.

 



 

 

 

Dan Castle's film "Newcastle"

 

 

 

DAN CASTLE Part III of III

Writer/Director, Musician, Painter, Photographer

www.dancastle.com

I have no idea how Dan can keep up with all his inspirations. I have a difficult time writing about it because it appears like he is doing so much in a given time. I don’t know how to put his stories in one smooth flowing narrative. I am actually making it sound like his works, in film and painting, overwhelming which is not the case, they are all there to enrich the soul not suffocate it—His paintings are excellent examples of it.

He has a book out, aptly entitled “Sunflower Days”, a collection of his Impressionistic oil paintings, and is available on Itunes. While I’m no art connoisseur and could not give you an authoritative opinion of it, I can confidently tell you that his artwork, to me, evokes serenity and quiet joy. His paintings appear to personify his inner self, since his persona looks hard-as-nails rock star yet his paintings are as sunny and uplifting as a sunflower (Dan please don’t kill me for describing you as “Sunny”). On his website he cited Vincent van Gogh as one of his favorite painters. I read Van Gogh was also bad-ass, apparently he lost his ear in a knife-fight, look up one of his self-portraits and you would understand what I’m talking about.

Working on your art doesn’t necessarily mean creating it. There are a lot of actions to take to get to the end product. Fundraising campaigns, going to school, going places…those are small steps but one had just to move towards the creation process. That I think is what Dan meant about placing importance on the “process”. “A man gets to be immortal with his work and like other artists I just want to leave something behind long after I am gone…I just want to create beauty…so all the steps I took (learning book keeping, fund raising campaigns, going to school, travelling) are all the process to materialize my work”.

And so he does, create beauty and leave it for us to marvel with—like his paintings and drawings, photographs, films and music in the soundtracks in his film—to inspire us. That’s really the legacy he is after—since he himself was inspired by others before him—such as Pro Hart. Actually he and his partner Corey Page are co-producing a biographical film, with lead producer Philippa Pomeranz and scriptwriter Richard Burman called “Chasing Dragonflies”, about this visionary Australian artist (Dan is currently working on the theme song for the film and that they had just finished a fundraising campaign this June. Check it out on www.facebook.com/ProHart‎ ).

Speaking of inspiring, while Dan was in Paris studying art, he met the band members of “Fauve” in a pub called Frog and Rosbif. They must’ve had one invigorating and interesting discussion since Fauve wrote a song stemming from that chat. The song’s title is “Cock Music Smart Music”. The band is very big in France, they are an eclectic group who plays electronica and punk/rock/rap music; and even though I can’t understand their lyrics, I can understand why they are big. I’m listening to it, for the fifth time, as I work on this piece and I can’t stop bobbing my head to it.

Right now Dan is focused on his music and he can be usually seen in Canter’s Deli Kibitz Room where he sometimes performs during Open Mic night. The Kibitz Room is a Rock and Roll mecca here in Los Angeles where band members of the Doors, Guns N’ Roses, Red Hot Chili Peppers, just to name a few, used to hang out before they no longer able do so upon reaching their rock-stardom status and fear of being mobbed by hysterical fans (I am making sure to stay in contact with Dan since I want to see his performance again, and so that I can brag that I get to chat with him in the legendary bar).

Henri Matisse, the great expressionist artist (or impressionist, depends on who you talk to), once said “Creativity Takes Courage”. I see a lot of courage in Dan. His short film “The Visitor” is a gay-themed film created in the time when there wasn’t so many films created in that genre.

His latest endeavor with his friends, a biographical film about Pro Hart, the father of Australian Outback painting, sure won’t be hitting the summer box office bonanza here in the US—but he does it. It appears that he doesn’t care if he is directly responsible for bringing beauty or helping bringing the beauty as long as it’s materialized for all of us to enjoy and find ourselves in.

Over and over again Dan says to me “materialize it…create it…take the step…do the process…” now I understand that what he is saying is Take Courage, Create Beauty.

 

End of Part III

 

Note: there are so many things that Dan and I talked about and I have particular quotes from him that I find enriching but unable to coalesce into the articles. One of these days I will post them.

 

All photos and article are copyrighted.

Copyright 2013 RG Los Angeles Stories



 

 

 

Dan Castle's Movie Newcastle

Trailer of Dan Castle's Movie Newcastle I am currently working on the final piece on Dan Castle. Please check out this trailer.

Dan Castle Interview part II of III

 

Dan's painting of St. Tropez

 

 

Dan's "Money Book"

 

Dan's Photos of Newcastle

 

Dan's Oil Painting

 

 

DAN CASTLE  (part II of III)

Writer/Director, Musician, Painter, Photographer

www.dancastle.com

 

“As I was floating around on my surfboard waiting for the waves…alone…I thought how risky this is, that at any given moment an accident can occur. It’s so easy a surfboard hitting you on the head leaving you messed up…then the story just came to me” He says recalling on how the script of the short film “The Visitor” came about.

The concept was simple, a surfer in a wipe out, waking up all confused, entering a home that he thought is his…the problem is that the house already has a lonely man, a writer, living in it. The presence of the surfer forces the writer to confront his emotions that he is trying to bury. Again I’ve only seen the trailers (Netflix is such a let-down) and also since I am not a movie critic, I am not the best person to give any review about it. But what I have seen in those several minutes is a work of a confident director. Barry Otto’s performance was brilliant and Dan catches the raw emotions splendidly. There is a reason why this short film has been critically acclaimed, and there are better persons out there who can give you an insight about it, but what I can tell you is that the scenes in and out of the water are breathtakingly beautiful.

I am very impressed on how Dan shot some of the scenes. It’s terribly difficult to create scenes that are sensual yet so beautiful and poetic. I am doubly impressed by how he got the venerable Australian actor Barry Otto to play a leading role in it. Barry Otto is the father of Miranda Otto, yes that Miranda Otto from the “The Lord of the Rings” (I bit my lip and didn’t tell Dan how much I fancy Miranda). Mr. Barry Otto appeared in the films “Rogue” 2007, “Australia” 2008, “The Great Gatsby” 2013, just to name a few.

I actually had the nerve to ask Dan how he felt in directing Barry Otto as if I am eager to find out if Dan gets nervous (haven’t I mentioned already how supremely cool Dan looks). Dan said that he and Barry just got along so quickly and he was amazed how he found it too easy to work with an actor of that caliber.

“The Visitor” was shot in Tamarama Beach, two hours north of Sydney, Australia. Dan went to see the Sydney Film Festival in 2001, and with the script already written, decided to film it in Tamarama Beach after seeing the place. At that time funding the film wasn’t too big of a problem, since his collaboration with Mike Thomas on Jour de Fete Films has been paying off, and that his friends from Australia did not hesitate to produce.

This is the point of Dan’s story that I really found out how passionate he is with his art. See, any other man would probably just secure his monetary gain and hand it to Morgan Stanley and let them handle his wealth. Not Dan. He wanted to make his scripts a reality and so he did (he co-produced in “Newcastle”). I know to what purpose short films serve (well I presume to know)…they collect accolades and build portfolios for directors (and actors, editors, etc.)…that’s it. It’s not going to be grabbed by the bigwigs in Hollywood and make tons of cash. This was all about great art—creating the shots and capturing incredible acting. No matter the purpose, it is still an expensive undertaking.

From there several years later, Dan worked on the film “Newcastle”, after seeing the place. “I get my inspiration from the places I see…I take photos, paint and write the script…then the music follows...all of those things feed on each other and my inspirations just grow…I just let it, I don’t sulk when I don’t get to write for a week, nor paint, I just have a lot of outlet for my inspirations” Dan said humbly.

If it’s another artist I would think it arrogant for a man to claim that he has such talent it just oozes out of him. But Dan is not that way because what he wants is for people to understand the courage that it takes to create from your inspiration and not focus on the end product of an artwork. “You need to create…work on it…it’s the process that is important” he says wisely.

Let me talk a bit about Dan’s photography, since it plays a big part on his creative process and research. His photographs of “Newcastle”, prior film production, are so surreal—imagine a perfect beach community, laidback, beautiful sand and ocean, a peaceful place yet with tons of young people, he somehow manage to capture all those—and he have it all catalogued in his notebook (he calls it money book as he uses it as a visual aid when he approach investors to fund his film). Abercrombie and Fitch once had a syndicated magazine catalogue and for a second I thought I was looking at photos from those. One has to have an eye and quick wits about him to capture great stills and Dan has it. In Newcastle he saw a cloud that is illuminating in different wonderful colors, he photographed it, then drew a pastel of it. What purpose did the pastel drawing serve the film, I don’t know, but Dan likes beauty and he likes the process of creating and materializing. He calls his art “expressionistic” by producing the mood and feeling as opposed to objective reality.

I agree with Dan. One has to get out of the house go to places, take photos, paint or write (if one can), and just work on your creativity. Don’t worry if it’s good enough since Dan himself has pointed out it’s the process that counts (practice makes perfect right?). Act on your inspiration, express your feelings, don’t let it go to waste.

Dan himself has said over and over again during the interview that “Not all of us are Mozarts, most of us has to work on our talent”. He went to Paris for Art School and he traveled a lot collecting inspiration. He has a painting of St. Tropez hanging in his bedroom and he admitted that a script was already inspired by that trip (his painting of the St. Tropez skyline is one of my favorites).

End of Part II

 

 

 

All Photos and article are copyrighted.

COPYRIGHT 2013 RG Los Angeles Stories