I grew up in Belle
Plaine, Iowa --
Hi, Sandy!
-- where I'm sitting now.
There's Mr. Hoske.
And I live in Los Angeles.
Steve Mangler.
I'm an artist.
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♪♪
It was
just always a creative
environment.
My mom was really good
about pushing art
activities on me.
Sit down and use these
watercolors because it's
raining outside or here's
some oil paint to play
around with.
All of my family members
went to Iowa so that was
kind of an easy choice.
But I hadn't really
thought about being an
artist as a profession,
it wasn't necessarily
something I had
experienced first-hand or
knew any working artist.
Part of the pursuit is
finding ways to buy
yourself time.
That's a real thing.
If I can make a little
money here, buy myself
some time in the studio,
that's part of the
creativity.
The cool thing about being
in a small town is your
imagination has no limits.
You can ride your bike to
the other side of town,
out of town.
The experience of freedom
like that, imaginative
freedom is crucial, it's
just a huge part of my
life.
As an artist you have
to have some level of
confidence to try certain
things, not be in a
comfort zone.
Growing up in a place
where you can explore,
wander, adventure, that
was maybe good preparation
for that sort
of mentality.
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♪♪
The show
is called Eatchewalive, or
eat you alive.
It's kind of a
play on words.
John and I started talking
probably two years ago.
He said his paintings
were 7x7 and I went, 7x7
inches?
He goes no, 7
feet by 7 feet.
Then I realized we had to
do some thinking on how we
were going to
make this work.
♪♪
And it just
happened that a friend of
the museum said, if you
guys are ever looking to
do a specific exhibit
I'll help fund it.
And he said, I'm talking
about something on a
bigger scale than what
you guys normally do.
So I said, we're funded.
♪♪
This work
especially is really best
to be seen in person.
It's fun to like put
yourself in front of a
painting that's
7 feet tall.
The reactions have
been really cool.
I mean, nobody has thrown
up or passed out or
started convulsing
or anything.
So it's a little
disappointing.
♪♪
As an artist it's my job
to try to stop and be
still and see what can I
use in my dialogue, in my
language that can talk
about what I observe.
Pixilation is a huge
part of my language.
Our phones, our TVs, our
computer screens, once you
go in so deep it's just
these little, you know, boxes.
And oddly enough the
felt pieces become
brushstrokes.
There's this great
connection between the
two, this like digital
representation but also
this classic idea
of paint stroke.
We want kids really to see
that growing up in a small
town is not a limitation.
Coming back to Iowa in the
context of being an artist
and showing work is a
dream, it's awesome.
It's a great escape from
one side of the sword of
being an artist is
market value and stuff I
personally can't
really control.
It was just all about
presentation, like here's
a body of work,
and chew on it.
♪♪
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(typewriter ding)
