Nov. 2008 - ArtSlant visited with Scott Mickelson, an emerging artist working in San Francisco, while he was preparing for upcoming exhibitions.  The following conversation was conducted afterward.

Scott Mickelson in his studio, 2008; Courtesy of thr artist

ArtSlant:  Scott, you come from a music background and have only recently taken up the brush (so to speak).  Can you talk about the similarities and differences between these two lives?

Scott Mickelson:  Conceptually, the ideas are coming from the same place. As a songwriter I always began with a phrase or title and built it from there. The stories weren't really premeditated. When I got out of art school I wanted to immerse myself in a series of figurative paintings and in looking for a theme or "title" I settled on the words coal miner. The research from there on lead to the ideas of darkness, lightness, living above and below.

When I am producing records and something isn't working right, I learned to shift gears and focus on another aspect of the song. Maybe it's the groove, or arrangement or song structure that's the issue. On a painting, I refer to it as moving around the canvas. If a part of an image isn't working and I've redone it to death and it still doesn't work, I might reevaluate the background, composition or the palette of color for example.

Scott Mickelson, Canary; Courtesy of the artist

Until this year, I had stopped making music since 2002. Now having been a visual artist over these years and returning to music again I find that the two are nearly interchangeable. With the plastic pieces I am willing to do or try anything to make a piece work even at the risk of literally ruining it. With digital recording and its editing capabilities, I can deconstruct anything at anytime. All this makes the arts more liberating and hopefully more exciting.

The differences between making art or music are easier to state. I enjoy creating music with other musicians and have always had a band instead of being solo. I like the collaboration and feedback. With my art I prefer to be alone in the process without any interference whatsoever.

The reasons why I left music are many and personal but I will say that after having been completely immersed in it from age 17 to 35 I found that it had become all burden and no joy-with the exception of the great relationships I had garnered over those years.

AS:  What drives your creativity?  What are your influences, both in terms of art and in terms of your creative vision?

SM:  I honestly don't really know what drives me per se. I do need to always be constantly producing stuff otherwise I get depressed. It's not romantic or anything. Just ask my wife.  I don't know if I have direct influences but I gravitate to stuff that is not so obviously derivative and watered down. I tend to go for the pioneers regardless of whether it's music, visual art, etc. I listened to a lot of Brian Wilson last year and a lot of 50's rock right now. I always liked Thiebauld's color.  I don't have a particular "creative vision." I make something and go onto the next one. If it adds up somehow and if it's good then I'll say "I meant to do that."

Scott Mickelsono, Alemany Exit; Courtesy of the artist

AS:  "Horror" stories from the news play a significant part in your new work: road rage, child abuse, etc.  What is your attraction to these stories and images?

SM:  I'm interested in creating work that is editorial in nature. I honestly don't seek out horrible things and make shocking images. In fact, I try to make beautiful images regardless of the subject matter. I do not search the internet for atrocities. I simply read the paper every day and there is always some unfortunate story where someone is being abused. Unfortunately, the victims are usually women and children who are the most defenseless of all. It disturbs me greatly as a father and husband and human being. I have a file filled with all kinds of stories I'd like to work with, some of which are funny or just strange.  When it is time to start a new piece, somehow a story grabs my focus.

For example, my piece entitled Alemany Exit was not going to be about road rage. In fact, I had been designing a very large work that had several adults in bumper cars stuck in traffic behaving like children. By the time I began this piece, there were three freeway shootings over two weeks in the Bay Area. The third involved a father picking up his two kids from school and evidently cutting someone off while taking the Alemany Exit.  He was shot and killed.  This story became the basis of Alemany Exit.

AS:  You did a whole series of coal miner paintings.  How did you come upon this?  What part of you is in the mines with them?

SM:  I downloaded around 100 images of miners. I then mixed and matched body parts, clothing, tools, etc. From those I did fairly detailed charcoal drawings for composition and values. These were scanned and then I did very loose colorizations of them as a reference for when I began the paintings. To paint the final piece, I projected the drawing onto the canvas which is a technique I learned while working as a muralist at Mural Arts in SF. At times, the "models" were replaced with all kinds of faces including my wife's and myself. 

Scott Mickelson, Four Miners; Courtesy of the artist

I don't think that I consciously thought of myself as being in the mines so to speak. Physically speaking, my studio at the time was really a little cave-like space downstairs next to a washing machine that vibrated so much I had to keep pushing it back against the wall. It had a dirt floor, one light, no windows and the wall I hung the canvas on was actually the wall of our next door neighbor's house. I don't know if these conditions had any influence.

AS: Recently, your work has changed and you have begun using plastics and shaped canvases.  How did this come about?

SM:  My miner series was about the paint, light, temperature and technique with oil. The surface and tactile feel of the canvas. After I finished this series, I did a painting entitled PRIVATE SCHOOL, which I consider the first in my plastic series. In this painting, I wanted to dictate where the viewer first looks, to unfold the story. I did this by making circles in certain areas and then lightening all the color outside of those circles, thus lowering the contrast. This got me thinking about how I could work with the circles and regulate the opacities more easily.

I bought power tools and wood and a built a canvas box type thing, painted on it and through lots of experimentation found plastic lids that I could lay on the painting to mask out where I wanted the paint to be intact and rich. I settled on a resin and white pigment as a way to make the art outside of the circles less vibrant. I poured it on, pulled out the lids, poured into the masked area where the paint was untouched with more resin and a tiny bit of cobalt blue pigment filling them up like little cups. Then did a third pour with clear resin to cover the entire thing. 

Scott Mickelson, Oh! The Burden; Courtesy of the artist

This first piece, Oh! The Burden, was a challenge but it worked well.  I have continued to refine the technique.  Now I can make my painting any shape imaginable, cut them into pieces, do anything with them. I also have the potential to completely ruin them.

I by no means feel subsumed by process. The process is more fun, more inventive and I can convey my message much more imaginatively. It feels like I'm sculpting the work and I like that.

ArtSlant would like to thank Scott Mickelson and Matt McKinley for their assistance in making this interview possible.

-ArtSlant Team