Lucas Sowders' Exhibit- up all February!

Struggle for Soul

Featured Artist for February 2010

Lucas Sowders


He is in a band, he fixes TV's, and he thinks that one can do right what he did wrong. At some moment, art discovered him and now Boxcar Books is going to host his first show: Struggle for the Soul.

 

“When I first started painting it was simply out of boredom, something to pass the time on a rainy day.  As the years went on it became more of a give and take between me and the painting.  I would paint as a way to deal with everyday frustrations, ideas, and boredom.  In turn I began to understand more about myself.   Analyzing the work and understanding what meanings it has for me, I am able to create a reflection of myself in a time and place.

When creating a piece I don’t just set down with a canvas and dive right in, I let the piece come to me.  Whether it is some old tiles I find in a basement or the way wood grain can create and inspire an idea. I like to use my surroundings to create more of a connection to the now.  Though I don’t like to be confined by one medium, I tend to use acrylics on most of my new work, but free is the magic word.  If I come across free paint or surface of any sort, best believe I’m going to use to its fullest.

I am currently working on an acrylic abstract series that revolves around the different theories of life and death.  In the past my work consisted of individual pieces that had their own meaning, but not much of a connection to the whole body of work.  So with the life and death series I want to create a greater impression by using the same medium and introducing theme. Instead  of a fragmented body of work based on the in’s and out’s of my daily life, I hope to create unified bodies of work that not only reflect myself but reflect back to you the audience.”

Lucas Sowders

Struggle for the Soul will be on display at Boxcar Books through Wednesday, March 3, 2010. Boxcar Books is hosting an opening reception for the exhibit on Saturday, February the 6th, 2010, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Interview with Lucas Sowders

Crisia: How you have started painting?

Lucas: It started out of boredom. It was Christmas, I was snowed in for three days and one of my friends got an art kit as a present. It was a basic kit with water colors and some paper board. I started playing with it, taking some newspaper sections, sticking them into water colors and pulling them off, creating a new texture on the paper board. I really liked the way it came out. When my buddy got back home, I showed the piece and told him I bought it from the store, to see if he’d believe it. He did and said how cool it was. Finally, I broke it to him and told it was me. He was very enthusiastic about it. All my friends were and gave me compliments and encouraged me to keep doing stuff.

Crisia: Interesting beginning! How would you relate to painting now?

Lucas: It’s started out of boredom but now it’s a obligation to myself, it’s not a hobby or a nice way to spend my free time. I need to get to work, I need to start a new piece, to continue painting, no matter if I’ll get successful or not, no matter if my pieces will get recognition or not. I just feel I have to do it.

Crisia: What kind of art are you doing?

Lucas: I do mainly acrylics, but also different mediums, as water colors, mixed mediums, fitting various techniques, using markers sometimes – I’ve seen once some graffiti that I really liked and thought I could convey that into my work. However, acrylic is my favorite, as is very bold and creates a wonderful texture. I don’t know if I’m using it right, I don’t have any formal education as far as the art goes, but I’m a self-taught artist. I go for it and I’m wide open to the things I like and I’m attracted to. I feel I don’t have great artistic abilities but I lot of self-expression that needs to get out through some medium. Art helps me with that – it’s a release and I do believe it’s amazing to be able to express yourself other than speaking or writing.

Crisia: What are you currently expressing through your art works?

Lucas: My paintings hide a lot of individual meanings. A lot of them are related to the stuff I was going through while I was painting them, to the things I had in mind and preoccupied me then. Every piece has a special, distinct meaning for me, anyway. The series that will be on display at Boxcar Books represents my efforts to find out my identity and to retrospect my soul. Instead of falling into the cliché of what people understand by “soul”, I tried to let aside what I was told and taught and to figure out what my soul meant to me. It’s a series that I’ve worked the last couple of years and represents my path through life, my own reflection as a man struggling for his soul (not in a religious sense).

Crisia: Which criteria have your works to accomplish to be satisfied with them?

Lucas: The piece has to be visually appealing to myself, to be intriguing, to attire my eye towards, to make me analyze different parts. A successful piece, for me, means a piece from which one can take away a tree by three square, but, still, it would be as visually appealing as the whole.

Crisia: Are you currently working on another art project?

Lucas: Yes, it’s a new series that will feature various ideas and theories on life and death that different cultures have. It’s is not such a personal theme for me as the previous, it is not reflect my intimate thoughts, but a researched one. Working on my first series, I felt I was doing something for myself. Now, I feel doing something for others, as well.

Crisia: Is there any artist whose work are you admiring?

Lucas: I love Salvador Dali, but it may sound pretty common. I like many artists that are not really in the debut catalogue, but well known ones, as Andy Warhol, or some Czech and Polish artist. I always look for a connection between one’s art and his personal story, because I like the people as well as I like their art. For truly admire one’s art, I need to admire something about him as an individual, as well. I need to admire his art, but it’s always something more.

Crisia: Isn’t art above everything else?

Lucas: You can say that, but it won’t be true. Everything you do, it has a connection with your art. Even if you try to hide it, it would eventually come up and prove itself.

Crisia: How would you define art?
Lucas: Art is a thing of beauty. Not all art is people self expression, I think, as often one can see art in nature.

Crisia: Here’s a dummy question: Do you have any favorite color?

Lucas: Green. My mom says it looks good with my eye. Don’t put that there. It would make me sound sissy :)

Crisia: What do you feel about being a painter?

Lucas: I take a lot of pride painting and I feel the sense of accomplishments when I finish a new piece. Hanging it on the wall is a prize for my by itself. I strongly like what I do and hope this would transfer to the public. I hope they will enjoy it as much as I do!

ART IS UP ALL OF FEBRUARY AT BOXCAR BOOKS.