Interview with David Hochbaum

Hi, Can you introduce yourself for us? (Where you from etc...)

How do you do? My name is David Hochbaum. I was born in NYC in 1972. I grew up just outside the city, around the age of 9 (1981)my father got an apartment in downtown Manhattan and I started to troll around with my Pops, going to his friends parties and clubs. I became enamoured by the city life, all the freaks, queers, junkies, you know, my dad's friends. I was exposed to the music and the art and nonstop movement of the town. It gave me reassurance of acceptance towards lifestyles outside the "norm" which was the majority where I was going to grade school, in a more removed from counter-culture, suburban town 20 miles outside the city.



What's your background? Art school? Self learner? Art for Dummies?

I studied in Boston at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts. I knew that studies in NYC would be way to distracting. SMFA is a small school which did not insist on following a major to study, like having to take all painting or photography classes and in 1991 when I started, I had little to no idea what discipline I was going for. IT was a great time but a dangerous school to go to since it was quite easy to fuck off for 4 years and pass and then..what,? work for an art department for some company? I found very quickly that I had to really, really focus and take full advantage of the facility and faculty.







How will you describe your art for somebody who doesn't know your stuff?

um..muti-disciplinary figurative and textural collage



What are your favourite materials to work with?

I cant say but depending on my mood or project. I love painting and plasters and I love working in the darkroom. I enjoy process sometimes over the result so I cant really pin down a handful..



How long does it take you to produce a piece? Do you start out with a sketchbook or do you freehand all the way?

Sketches very often play a part in the realization of a piece but do not nessaseraly dictate what it will look like or be about. I respond to words, phrases, lyrics a lot so the time it takes to make a piece and how it is work varies very much. Freehand plays a part but really not just one approach dominates my works.







Where do you get your inspiration from?

Music, artists, stories, books, movies, history, dreams



Do you paint/draw/work outside sometimes? Where can we see your stuff?

I do. I like to do sky studies outdoors. I like to build ladders in remote locations. But you not likely to run into any. I doubt any last very long.







Who influence you the most, any favourite artist(s)?

not an easy question to answer but I will mention a few tops..Anslem Kiefer, David Bowie, Alejandro Joderowsky.



Living as an artist is sometimes difficult financially, any part time job?

Well I have been working behind a bar in NYC for 12 years and I do still have a couple of shifts I hold on to just to, you know, make for certain I pay the bills. And It get me out of the studio and forces me to kind of interact, although it can be quite trying, with young drunk self entitled spoiled brats. Did that sound bitter? I do still find some time to enjoy my job.



What do you think of the current "Street Art" movement?

I really like the fellows that paint themselves all gold and stand perfectly still. I just don't want to comment on "street art". Inflection doesn't carry to well on the Internet.







Best Gallery in the world? and why?

not a question to answer for a working artist who want to stay working.



Best City to paint outside? and why?

cant say.



Beer and Fag or Tea and Biscuit?

beer, fag and a tranny with a biscuit







What are your plans in the near future? Any upcoming exhibitions?

I have a show opening at the Corey Helfrod Gallery in Culver City California this Feb 2010, then a group show at Strychnin Gallery, Berlin, a group show in Denmark and then I am going to Japan for a month to collect materials for a show in 2011 regarding Japanese folklore and ghost stories.