Interview with Jeremy Enecio
q)Lets start with the basics; what’s your full name, where do you live, and how old are you?
a)My full name is Jeremy Enecio, I live in Cockeysville, Maryland, and I’m 20 years old, but I have the soul of a five thousand year old chinchilla.
q) Do you have any formal training?
a)I just finished my Junior year of college at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore. Which I guess makes me a senior? Wow, I’m still getting used to the fact that I’m a college kid now.
q) Did the place you grew up in influence your image making?
a)I think everyone’s surroundings influence their artwork in one way or another. For me, it was the social interactions and traditions that brought out my joys and frustrations, some of them being pretty extreme. A lot of the “moods” in my work are blatantly influenced by the emotions I was experiencing throughout a certain time in my life. Some people see them as creepy.
As for family, I didn’t really get much of my creative juices from them. Most of my family is very academic, and have jobs in the medical field. Therefore I think a lot of my influences came from comics, film, and artbooks. However, there was my cousin and grandfather on my mom’s side. They were artists that I shamelessly admired, and although I rarely saw them or their work, in a way, they sort of paved the road for me to become an artist.
q) How do you come up with your concepts?
a)Personally I don’t think my concepts are that far out. I tend to incorporate things that I am deeply interested in into my work. Often, I later go back and analyse why exactly I have such an interest in those things, and push it further when/if I figure it out. For example, my obsession with albinos seems to stem from my life-long interest in race, culture, and evolution. And the ways I go about portraying the narratives in that “concept” come from my own personal imagery, which is a little harder to explain.
q) Describe your creations in a clear, concise and understandable sentence. What do you call them?
a)Wow that’s hard…ok here goes:
Human embodiments of my personal, subconscious feelings set in a classical dream-like environment or void. Hope that makes sense.
q)What other mediums would you like to explore in your image making?
a)I’d really like to explore some 3-D mediums like clay or wood. I’ve done 3-D work before, but I’d one day like to delve deeper into it and incorporate my imagery and characters. Also, animation is something I’m really interested in. I took a 2D animation course last year and I absolutely fell in love with it. I’m excited to pick it back up in the near future.
q)What is the best time in the day for you to work on a project? Is there one, or is it more about the environment — maybe the right mood?
a)As a student I tend to work best under pressure. And I guess even after college it might be a good thing for me with illustration deadlines constantly on my back. I thrive in the pressure of having to complete an assignment on time, and most often, you can get your first instinct down on paper, rather than second-guessing yourself and your materials with a lot of time on your hands. That’s just me though, a lot of people would disagree.
q) What are your artistic influences?…and …generally who or what influences you the most?
a)I am really influenced by old masters like Rembrandt and Whistler. As for non-artist related influences, it would have to be tribal cultures. I love Leni Riefenstahl’s photographs of Africa, and any of those tribal society documentaries on the Discovery Channel. They really make me think.
q) Who are some of your favourite artists/designers/photographers?
a)Right now I’m really into illustrators like Phile Hale, James Jean, Kent Williams, Sam Weber, Jillian Tamaki, Ashley Wood, Tomer Hanuka, Hermann Mejia and countless others. And my favorite director is Chris Cunningham.
q) What is your next project?Exhibition?Collaboration?
a)Well, it’s summer, and I’m getting ready for senior thesis this coming fall. Basically I’m just honing in on a few ideas I’ve been dwelling on. Right now I’m doing an art internship with Big Huge Games, doing concept work and interface stuff. I’ve also got a few freelance gigs lined up, and a somewhat major one I don’t think I’m allowed to say yet. So, no major, major projects as of now, but who knows, something could come up.
q)What are your plans for the future?
a)I’m slowly edging more and more towards wanting to be a freelance illustrator. That’s a goal that’s pretty far down the road though. I want to experience a lot of things, like making movies, animations, comics, etc. etc. Hopefully I’ll get to experience some of them….NO NO, all of them. Yes.
q)Are there some web sites that You would like to recomend? Artists, art communities, xxx,…!?
a)Just google the names I listed above, and if you have the slightest bit of interest in my work, you will be blown into little bite sized bits by their beautiful work. As for art communities, I really like eatpoo.com . That’s where I started off years ago when I was a wee little illustrator who’s dad just bought him a new scanner, and went scan crazy with all of his (embarrassingly bad) drawings. If you’re young and interested in art, you should definitely join up with as many art communities as possible.
q)What sort of music do you listen to?
a)I like most kinds of music. My current obsession is definitely Daniel Johnston. And also the beautiful voice of Lata Mangeshkar. As you can see it’s a pretty big range.
q)Do you collect anything?If so what?
a)I am a born-again art book collector. I want to make my small collection into a gigantic library that rivals…a really big library. I’m also into collecting vintage photographs and souls of undead demon children.
q)What do you do for fun?
q)Any advice you can pass onto aspiring artists/designers?
a)I don’t think I have the authority to give any advice at this point because I am currently an aspiring artist myself. But I’d like to say, be open and flexible to new things and work harder than you’ve ever worked in your life (I’m a hypocrite). Mostly, I’d say pay very close attention to your favorite artists. Sometimes the things you learn from studying people you admire can be worth much more than a classroom experience.
q)Your contacts…
