Artist Interview: David Grigorian

What is your name: David Grigorian

Do you have a formal art education or are you a self taught artist: I self taught myself as I was growing up, I had no mentors, or art teachers. My imagination was the main motivator for me to make art. After I graduated from high school in 2000, I went to Reds Rocks community College for Associate’s Degree in the arts. In 2005 I enrolled in small private Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design studying for Bachelor’s Degree in Art. I’m studying illustration, I want to write and publish books for children. I graduate in December 2010.

What is the style of your pieces: Imaginative, abstract, dream like, surreal, repetitive and with lots of movement. I use bright colors and stand out with lost of contrast. I’m fascinated by colors and how they stand out from one another. I strive to paint the brightest and most vibrant pieces. Some of my art style captures movement of life, energy, and emotions. I try to capture grand things like space, galaxies, and other worlds erupting from me. My art doesn’t capture what is around me such as people, landscapes, animals, or environment. I try to explore something beyond the realms of real world.

What is the medium in which you work: I started out with color pencils, markers, and water colors. Then I started painting in Acrylics and upgraded to Oil paintings. Oil painting is also my favorite medium. But for the illustrations I still use color pencils.

What started you on your path as an artist: I was born hearing impaired, as a result I often felt lonely and isolated. I turned to my imagination for escape, and in return my imagination had motivated me to pick up some pencils and paper. I enjoyed filling in the white paper with shapes and colors. The compelling worlds of my imagination fueled me to draw them on paper to better visualize these places and creatures. I started to tell stories with my art.

I received a lot of compliments and encouragements from family and teachers regarding my artwork. Upon noticing that my art helps me with my loneliness, I continued to pursue art even when my family and I moved to Japan. In USA, I became more involved with art by taking art clubs in the summer, entering art contests. I still want to tell stories with my art or things that lay beyond five senses of this real world.

What is one of the most important things that art has brought to your life: The purpose of life, I understand why I’m on this planet. My inner world is trying to fuse with this one, and through my art it’s able to do so. Art made my otherwise mundane, boring, lonely, and insignificant life brighter, more colorful, meaningful, and magical. I strive to tell stories of visions I had in the other worlds and maybe make this one a better and more colorful place.

What is your favorite genre of art besides the one you work in: As I like to tell stories, sometimes it is better for me to express my idea by working with any kind of clay, or anything I can build with. I work with Photo-Shop when I need to achieve something I can’t in painting or sculpture. Occasionally, I’ll be inspired to tell a story by making a movie, or musical video. Sometime I build with snow. I make large snowballs and stack them until I have an eight feet tall tower made of snow.

Do you have art showings, and if so what are they typically like: I had solo art shows and group art shows. In coffee shops, art centers, Salons, and schools where my paintings hang on the walls. They usually stand out from the other paintings because of how different they are.

Do you have a certain set of clothes you make art in: No, I paint in the clothes I happen to wear at the moment. As a result most of my clothes and pants are somewhat stained with paint. If I get paint on my shirt, I rush off to the sink and wash it out with soap. Sometimes I don’t notice the stain, so it dries out and stays there forever.

What has been the most frustrating part of being an artist? Finding the art shows for my artwork. Because I don’t have artwork with traditional themes such as people or landscapes, it is hard to know if viewers will like it or understand it. I can never be sure how to price my paintings, I make it too expensive and no one will buy it. I don’t want to make it too cheap and not make a profit. How can I be sure that my sold piece will be taken care of? Will they still have it in ten, twenty years or throw it out? And finally making of art doesn’t come cheap.

What is your favorite sandwich of all time: Chicken Bacon cheese burger.

Has this year brought about any changes in your work, and if so what are they: At my art classes I learned how to handle color better, how to paint forms and shapes. I understood light and shadow changes, and how that affects the color, what colors look like in light or shadow. How to mix colors to get the hues I have in mind, how to make colors more vibrant and make more contrast

Who is your favorite artist alive or dead: Salvador Dali, Van Gogh, Monet, Frank Frazetta, and Alex Bear.

What is the most moving piece of artwork that you have seen in person: There are many paintings I find moving, such a bright and contrasting landscapes, children, nature, and abstract.

Do you have any animals, and what do they think of your work: I don’t have pets, nor do I paint animals. Never really practiced and can’t.

Do you have any upcoming exhibitions you would like to share with us: Wish I did, but no.

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