One of the artists I love is Jason Spencer. Why? Because he is a really nice guy, fun to talk to, because he does fine art, sculpture and digital art, because his paintings would look so out of place in a classic art museum, because his imagination is…well, look at his art, and because he is versatile and doing great in all media that he works in!
Here’s what he answered when I asked:
First of all, why “Killer Napkins”? I love the way it sounds and it’s easy to remember, but why not killer spoons, or killer something, something?
Ahh, I’ve had that name forever since I was probably 14 or something. Back when I was first discovering the Internet I went to this website where this guy named Eric would emote different emotions, and people could suggest different emotions for him to emote, I think I said something stupid like, emote that you are being attacked by flying killer napkins. Then I think when I came around to find AIM I just decided Killer Napkins would be a cool name, and ever since then I have been using it for everything on the Internet because people usually don’t have that name and it’s easy to remember ha. Not really a super cool story behind it, just me being an idiot.
Your art stirs controversy. Yes, no, why, do you like that?
I don’t know really, I haven’t heard any people say “Oh my gosh I can’t believe he just painted a pile of dead babies”, but maybe they have. If people feel creeped out when looking at my art I like that, or if it makes them laugh and say WTF? I like that too, because in all reality I am saying the same thing.
Favorite medium – traditional art or digital art? If you had to choose between these two, one and only one, for the rest of your life, which would you choose?
They both have their pros and cons, but I say if I have to choose one or the other I would say traditional. I can do way more with traditional than with digital art. The positive side to digital for me is that there is less clean up and it seems to go faster. There is no dry time for the paint brush in Photoshop hah.
What inspires you to do art the way you do…what or who is your greatest influence?
I think a lot of things from my childhood inspire me. My uncle Ed gave me DOOM for my computer when I was younger and I think that may have something to do with the things I draw. Also Ren and Stimpy, skateboards, Spawn comics, The Maxx, and many other cartoon creatures. As for inspiring artists, there is almost too many for me to list. For a while I was really getting into concept art and been looking at a lot of people like Peter Konig, The Black Frog, Sparth, Jason Felix, and others. Now just recently I’ve found some other great artists like Alex Pardee, Chet Zar, Atta Boy, and a few others. Joining emptees has gave me lots of inspiration too, so many great artists are on there. I have just now been getting into tee design and seeing people like Godmachine and Shantz has been really inspiring.
Your exposition went really well. Can we expect more of that from you? What are your future prospects/expectations?
Ahh thank you very much, yes actually. Now I am just doing art trying to show as much as possible. I have another solo show next year in July, and I am sure I will find a few group art shows here and there. I will definitely be trying to get out there as much as possible. In the future I just hope to show a lot more, I would love to be able to show alongside some of my favorite artists, so hopefully the chance to do that will come along.
Al I can say is…Damn, this guy actually answered my questions in more than 3 words, and here is another reason why he’s so kickass!
Very nicely answered Napkins, and well asked Liviu! It is nice to see a long answer 🙂