“I post on social media nearly everyday and as a result I am getting opportunities to show in galleries consistently, I’ve sold work through the galleries that represent me, I’ve met hundreds of artists and I’ve been able to be proactive in my own professional development”

AT: Where are you from and how/why you start engaging to art?

CT: I was born in Oregon, raised in Chico, California and started engaging in art in high school. I found that I had some talent and interest and in between my junior and senior year in high school I attended the “Young Artists Program at San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI)”. It was during this time that I decided if I was going to pursue art that I wanted to attend SFAI. I did end up attending SFAI albeit not as directly of a path as I had imagined.

AT: When did it become serious?

CT: I think that there were two times in my life that pursuing a life and career in art became serious.

The first was that despite my strong interest in art and the accolades for it that I received in high school I didn’t start off with a belief that it was really feasible to build and sustain a career as an artist so initially I went to a community college as a business major intending to follow in my father’s footsteps as a stock broker. After about 2 years of general ed and basic business classes my father decided to change careers and that caused me to rethink my own plan. I decided at that moment to switch my major, build a portfolio and apply to SFAI. I did that and was accepted with a scholarship that would allow me to attend the school.

The second time that my career really began to gain some momentum was after grad school. It always takes a bit of time to clear your head and find your feet after graduate school but once I did I haven’t looked back and each year seems to present more opportunities and challenges.

AT: Are there any person that have been significant in your progression as an artist? 

CT: I have been fortunate to have support all along the way from high school through graduate school many many people have supported me. Pursuing my BFA at San Francisco Art Institute and my MFA Claremont Graduate University were really critical periods of tremendous growth and I found that the environments were really a good fit for me and my learning style.

AT: What’s your first approach to the work? Where does your process start?

CT: I’m embedded in a trajectory at this point, each work isn’t starting from a random space in time, they are part of a herd, in that sense, the way I work isn’t linear in a single track way. I am on a many lane freeway and in general all of the lanes are moving forward in a common direction but I often leave the lane that is furthest along to go back and advance the ones that are falling behind. Often times the most advanced track feeds and fuels the others with advancing content and new tactics. The content in each lane overlaps but the approach or materials may be different. So when I approach a new work, I am often taking what I have been learning and thinking about in the previous work and I try to re-articulate the conversation in a new or different way.

Most pieces start with some initial gestures or brush marks. These marks I see as the fundamental element in my painting. They are the stand-in for my signature or writing and have a direct tie to me as the artist. While those marks are still wet, I continue to work around those marks with various methods of painting and then when the paint has partially dried I squeegee the wet marks off. Depending on how long I let the initial marks dry, will determine how much of the mark stays intact. This process of addition and removal results in a series of stacked planes where the negative spaces caused by the removal of the wet paint show the underlying layering.

AT: What are your favourite tools and materials for working?

CT: I use a lot of squeegees and acrylic spray paint in my work.

AT: Do you leave your work open to interpretation? Or do you think the viewer should engage with your work in a specific way? 

CT: I don’t believe the artist is in control of the viewers experience. Even with representational or narrative work, we don’t know what the viewer is getting from the work and I think all work is open to interpretation. Which is not to say that the viewer can’t or won’t have a profound experience with the work, just that as artists I believe my role is to create an object that generates and triggers meaning and unique experience. When I go to a show I never read the writing about the work first. I want to experience the work on my own and then I can read what they intended and often times with even very well known artists my interpretation is not what the artist seemed to be getting at.

AT: How do you feel while you are working? You think of the final result? 

CT: Painting is a performance of balance and timing, choreographing the right sequence of moves the first time every time. It isn’t to say there are no failed paintings or paintings that were resolved in a way that deviated from intention but that each move can change the whole dynamic of the painting. Drying time is a variable that I handle intuitively because temperature and climate changes the drying times which changes how quickly I need to work and how much residue is left when I remove paint. There are other conditions of chance, how much paint leaves a trail when I squeegee, what texture is transferred into my work from the texture of the wall behind. These factors of environment collide with intention forcing adaptation and in the moment decision making. I have a general idea of the colors and the types of marks and the overall feel but I don’t know exactly what the painting will look like. I’ve become familiar enough with the process that I can get the feel and presence I was shooting for, but perhaps the mark making is different than intended.

AT: How do you understand when a work is finished? 

CT: It is cliche but Picasso said “a painting is never finished it just stops at interesting places” I subscribe to this notion that a single canvas can house many paintings, but for me there is a moment where the painting finds a balance between coming together and falling apart where there is tension that builds energy. A “completed” painting according to this definition kills it because it resolves everything parts become overly cleaned up or overpainted on the other hand the painting is together enough that it doesn’t fall apart, crumbling into chaos or formlessness.

AT: Where does the inspiration for the work come from? Do you find inspiration outside or it’s all inside you? 

CT: I find inspiration all over, I am constantly devouring information and visual imagery and am very active in seeing art in person and via social platforms. It is a combination of outside inspiration filtered through the lens of my philosophical and intellectual perspective combined with internal dialogue of what I am thinking about and working on and fixating on.

AT: Do you think art can be learned or it is something innate? 

CT: Art can be learned and taught, maybe some people are talented in certain ways, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t find a way to make work that is your own and relevant and important. I do think though that people dabble in art and devote very little time and energy to it and then have high expectations. I have been working on art, looking at art, thinking about art since I was 15 years old. I’ve shown work on four continents and in many different countries and all over the US and I am still learning and building. I have taught and mentored students who want a quick fix, who want to be making great work after ten paintings or want to be supporting themselves with their work with only a year or two of pursuing art. It doesn’t typically work that way, there is no substitute for time, experience and deep involvement.

AT: There are any artists that influenced your works? Why? 

CT: I am influenced all the time, but not usually by a handful of artists, rather hundreds. I love seeing art and going to shows and I support my peers. I am constantly on the prowl for new and innovative artists that I haven’t found before.

AT: How important is for you the role of social media?

CT: Social media is huge, it is a game changer for so many reasons. Since the mid 90s Art fairs have for better or worse had the biggest impact on the artworld, more people would see the artwork that a gallery brought to an art fair than all year from shows and to a much wider audience. So the galleries with the resources and reputation to get into the fairs increased their visibility and sales potential. The problem is that the fair model kept expanding to the point that there are now too many galleries going to too many fairs and not nearly enough collectors to support the quantity of art offered and the expense of participation has become prohibitive for many galleries. In the last few years I have seen most mid level galleries pulling out of the fairs or focusing on a few relevant regional fairs or focusing on their immediate region. While I don’t think Social media has the same ability to get in front of the same quantity of high level buyers as an art fair yet, it cost far far less and it somewhat levels the playing field. At the time of this interview, I have 11,000 followers on instagram, I post nearly everyday and as a result I am getting opportunities to show in galleries consistently, I’ve sold work through the galleries that represent me, I’ve met hundreds of artists and I’ve been able to be proactive in my own professional development. What I predict is that the artists with established social media presences in general will get more and more visible and desirable to galleries and institutions who are looking for ways to connect to their communities and audiences. I’ve seen young artists with good social media followings get institutional shows because the institution or gallery wants to leverage the artist’s social media visibility it is a win win to show them. On top of that, when I have a show in another region in the world I won’t be a totally unfamiliar name, I will likely already have some followers in that region and many of the social media active curators and collectors in that region will have at least a familiarity with my work. I have also had artists from other parts of the country come to visit my studio when they are in town and in January I have an intern coming from Paris to work with me. I love the interconnectivity it provides.

AT: What’s your opinion about the contemporary art system nowadays from your point of view as an artist?

CT: I see the art world operating in a much more pragmatic way than many people might, by that I mean that it seems naive to me to think of the artworld and the art market as two different arenas. The intersection of the market means in large that the artists that get the big shows in the premier institutions are often their because of a board that consists of collectors with relationships to certain galleries and artists. This concept trickles down to the mid level galleries who are more likely to give shows to the artists that sell and are more likely to take them to art fairs. So what we see when we look at the art world is mostly what is selling. Would I choose it to be this way? No, I think there are a ton of great artists who are getting little to no action because their work is tough to sell, from a gallery perspective, I understand, it is increasingly more and more expensive to operate a gallery and many of them are not actually making money. As an artist I’m lucky because I make the work I want to make and it happens to be something that people want to own, so sales have been good and I have been able to get plenty of opportunity to show my work. I also really like that Instagram in particular has taken off as a way to gain exposure and find artists and art. That gives me greater control over my career. I can build and interact with people outside of the gallery show model which allows for sustained and constant growth. I do believe that the gallery system is really important and I don’t advocate for the internet to replace galleries, I think that the web and social should supplement in the way that art fairs supplemented the ability of a gallery to get viewers in front of their artists work.

AT: What do you find to be the most challenging or daunting thing about pursuing art? What is the most rewarding part of working as an artist?

CT: I think the most challenging thing is that you have to wear so many hats. it isn’t enough to just make work these days, you have to get out there and build a community of support, find opportunities to show the work, market the work, be your own PR and social media manager. You have to establish good suppliers for your materials and work with various framers and shippers. You have to speak about your work and write about your work. You have to make enough money to fund your studio and the projects and shows you want to do and to traveling to these shows and other regions. I photograph most of my work and spend nights responding to image requests and updating my website. I often work all week and then go to shows on many Saturdays and some Sundays. Pursuing a career in art isn’t something to take lightly, you have to love it and have to completely believe in it or it becomes too tough and too much to deal with. I love being an artist, working in the studio, making paintings, showing, traveling is all a lot of fun. I love going to other artists shows and meeting with fellow artists and talking about art and the art world. It is really rewarding to support my family financially from art sales and to take on large commissions that will be out in the public to see.

AT: What do you do outside of painting?

CT: Outside of painting I love exploring food and wine and l love how the artworld and food and wine world have so much crossover. I’ve shared wonderful meals and bottles of wine with collectors, dealers and fellow artists and whenever I travel for shows I try to see what the local food and wine specialties are. I have always loved to travel, more recently my travel has been primarily art related but in the past my wife and I were able to travel fairly extensively abroad.

AT: What are your goals and expectations for the future?

CT: As for the future, each year that passes I’m getting more and more opportunities, a bigger network of support and I continue to build on some great partnerships with galleries who support me and I will move my work forward in productive ways and hopefully find some venues to show in places that I’ve never been or that I would like to return to.

“New Works”, exhibition view at Edward Cella Art & Architecture, Los Angeles