"I am a full time artist and live off my creations, it has taken a while to achieve this but now i am here it is wonderful and i am humble and never take it for granted, nothing is definite in this world anymore."
NesoArt: How are you today Loui?
Loui: Im 100% fine, thank you
NesoArt: Can you tell us a little bit about your daily routine?
Loui: My daily routine would be specific to my creative work I gather...otherwise the answer would be too long and tedious...lol
NesoArt: Hehe, for sure. We got to generalize it.
Loui: such as for example- i wake up - i make coffee - shower -...so on... thus i will limit my answer to the daily routine of my creative practice which i am sure you will agree is wise :)
NesoArt: yeah, it's definitely good idea :)
Loui: So as follows - i draw every single day unless there is an abstracted reasoning as to why i can not such as being hospitalized in a coma or falling down a cliff or some such thing otherwise i draw almost every single day or more to the point night (i like to work at night better for it is quite and still) I will prepare for drawing during the day by making some paper form old books and researching and sketching ideas for finished drawings,
NesoArt: Do you have any specific place you create in ?
Loui: I do all this in a small wooden studio that i have in my own back yard, this place is my sanctuary and i like the intimacy and the privacy, i am very private in my work practice and unless i am specifically drawing someone i like to work totally alone for i am too easily distracted.
NesoArt: So the "wooden sanctuary" seems to be good idea ;) Loui, correct me if Im wrong; you're full time artist and it's your main activity, right?
Loui: Yes, I am a full time artist and live off my creations, it has taken a while to achieve this but now i am here it is wonderful and i am humble and never take it for granted, nothing is definite in this world anymore.
Loui: It is of a sub tropical climate so has its pluses and its minuses for example i hate summer here and usually go for trips to other places at this time or suffer in silent fanned sweat however winters here are idyllic for they are of a very favorable temperature, one need never shiver here, i do miss a good cold front though. I live in a small house i own with a big yard where my tiny studio sits.
NesoArt: Let's talk about your technique...
Loui: My technique is to work on old book pages in sumi ink
NesoArt: Do you need to have any special conditions around you while you create?
Loui: The only real condition i need is to be left alone and the ability to have time to quietly contemplate, this is why i work on finished drawings late at night usually.
NesoArt: You’ve said once: “I have drawn since childhood and as other children stop at some point in their development i never did”
How do you challnege yourself in order to become a better artist and develop your technical skills?
Loui: I am forever venturing into new realms of drawing, i truly think this can be an endless adventure, it is like playing the violin or guitar or piano the discoveries never ever end one can draw and improve on small nuances for ever as i love to do, this hunger for new definitions of line keeps me challenged and satiated.
NesoArt: You worked for the Australian Army as an 'illustrator reprographic'. Tell us a little bit about that period.
Loui: I liked working in this area for the military but in all truth i am a total pacifist and would have run off if there was ever any danger...lol...i guess i am an artist and a coward i will leave the action stuff to the professionals.
NesoArt: Hehe, I totally understand :)I imagine, the huge plus of that period was the opportunity to travel a lot... :)
Loui:Yes, I traveled to some wonderful places in the army like to Borneo and other South East Asian countries i may not have visited on my own accord so it really was great while it lasted though i never ever considered the military as my true career it just gave me as a young man some action and thrills.
NesoArt: Did it also develop your artistic skills somehow?
Loui: Definitely. They paid me to draw and to learn more about working in art as they paid for many courses and training such as screen printing, terrain model building, etching, computer graphics, map making, photographic procedures and so on and on.
NesoArt: Let's talk about your artistic inspirations...Do you follow currently any other artists?
Loui: I am afraid i am selfish yet interested funny this seems a paradox of sorts but what i mean is i do not follow any one particular artist however love to see many and discover artists all the time, i am forever poking in the art section of the library or book shop flicking through book after book, my appetite for this is veracious and i do not have the one style or aspect i like, i truly think i can appreciate any form of visual art from street art to miniature folk bark paintings and all between :) my own particual aspiration is to just keep drawing and to make a living form it, this to me is freedom.
NesoArt: Wow! Very interesting definition of freedom. Got to note it down ;)
NesoArt: Music also can be very inspiring... Do you have any favourite genres or bands?
Loui: I do love listening to music when i work and read poetry or interesting radio journalism, like the art i follow i have no particualr style or era that i like above the other except to clearly say i do not seem to be able to appreciate modern commercial pop music. To me it seems to formulated and flaccid seemingly created to churn money for the soulless corporate sector and using young pretty people as pawns.
NesoArt: Yes, but fortunately there's also brighter side of music. Let's stay with it. Did you listen to something interesting lately?
Loui: Currently i like listening to - the albums 'Freewheelin' Bob Dylan' (so raw and pure street poetry), 'Wagners Die Valkure' (wonderful epic music) - 'Miles Davis - Bitches Brew' (brilliant) - 'Radio heads - ok computer' (always fresh and inventive) and anything tribal and drum beat propelled, finally i like the modern work of a band called 'Arcade Fire' who are doing some interesting alternative pop sounds on their new album 'Reflektor'.
NesoArt: Hehe, on of the greatest part of making interviews is that you can geto to know with some interesting pieces ;) Im launching Arcade Fire
NesoArt: Do you have any advice for beginning artists?
Loui: Any advice?...really i am not so great giving it, I am trying to find more myself...haha...but seriously if i have to say anything it would be:
To be true to yourself and vision and be brave, there is always some
critic hiding around every bramble grow a good strong skin and make your
work regardless of others views ...after all art really has no rules
and if someone is not hurt then one can do anything.
NesoArt: Sound like good advice...
NesoArt: Ok, we're leaving art. Do you have any interests beside it?
Loui: hmmmmm I am very boring and do not have many other interests, i like to visit cities other than my own, I kind of like walking around sometimes and watching interesting movies, other then that "nope" just drawing...lol...sorry...see boring.
NesoArt: Hehe, can't agree with you. We're doing this interview for some reason :D
The place you'll never forget...
Loui: Paris....it is so cliched and typical, but i really like that city, it is just sublime.
NesoArt: Last thing... What is the Universe to you?
Loui: a universe to be drawn in ink.
NesoArt: yeah, thank you very much once again.
To see more Loui's art visit his:
and
See you soon
TH&Stary Van Dam Starry
