Jeremiah Maddock On Using Book Covers As Canvas March 08, 2010

Jeremiah Maddock is a painter and illustrator based in Brooklyn, NY. His preferred canvas is an old book cover, and he makes his own inks from dried up markers, but his magically intricate style is anything but recycled. We got the chance to ask him some choice questions. Do you start a new piece with a fully formed idea of what it will look like? Never. I've tried, but it seems like once I have had a scene or an idea go through my head, it's already over with. I can't hold interest in the piece if it's not happening right in front of me. Sometimes I wish I could; the stuff I see in my head blows anything I have ever done right out of the water. Can you tell us something about the mediums you work with? Markers and pens are probably my favorite things to use because they are instant and allow me to keep up with myself. When they start to die, I take them apart and mix the leftovers with alcohol and/or xylene to create new inks and pens. Ink, pens, markers, watercolor, gouache, oil paint, acrylic paint, paper, wood, wood stain, metal engraving -- pretty much anything that is readily available to me. Paper is probably my favorite surface to use. I love watching the ink seep in, and it is also cheap and easy to come by. All over Brooklyn, people throw stacks of books out into the street. I like to take the covers off them (except the ones I think are worth a read). Book covers are easy to display and have a nice sort of relic quality. Also, when something is meant to be trash, I feel like I can't go wrong. All I can do is make it better, or it would just take up space in a landfill. It's a very freeing thought and allows me to play more. Do you think there is a key to artistic success without the hustle? If you really love what you're doing, keep doing it. I think the love of doing something does shine through in any art form. I don't have time to think about promotion and making contacts or projects. Maybe I'm naïve in thinking that everything is going to go the way it ought to if I just focus on what's important to me: my people and my art. But doing interviews for blogs or magazines seems to open new doors every time, as does every show I have. Each door comes with a new set of keys, I suppose. What things, people, places in your life motivate and inspire you creatively? I'm living in a letterpress studio at the moment and the guy who runs it offered to let me stay here for 6 months rent-free. He inspires me in subtle ways. He is kind and funny, humble and thoughtful. My friend Dave Schubert motivates me a lot as well. He calls me out on a lot of things and gives me perspective when he thinks I need it, and more often than not he is right. I hope he doesn't read this. I'm not sure if snow-capped mountains inspire me creatively, but I am awestruck by them, whether from an airplane window, from a distance, or climbing all over them. How have your travels affected the way you make art? So far, South East Asia is my favorite place that I have visited. Cambodia, more specifically. Everything I encounter affects me and my work, but I am very curious about the world and all of its different cultures. People are fascinating to me. Traveling is the closest thing to being a child again, in a way. Pick a direction and walk in it. See what happens, see who you meet. Somehow it's easier for me to converse with strangers when I'm far from home. Maybe just "not knowing" brings your senses to a higher level. I guess anytime I'm moving from place to place and finding new things and new people is when I feel the most inspired. The farther from home I am, the more at home I feel. Currently Jeremiah is working a show with SF Electric Works that will open on March 10th and a solo show in Brooklyn in September 2010 at the gallery Factory Fresh. He is also involved in several group shows, and a few commissions including "5 Easy Pieces" in London: Each artist will make 5 works based on 5 pieces of music selected by the artist. Jeremiah will be interpreting "A Rainbow in Curved Air," composed by Terry Riley, among other songs.