Adam Neate, self-portrait

Q: When I presented Marc Schiller of the Wooster Collective with your painting he immediately knew that it was your work. After visiting your Web site it became clear you’re a prolific and talented artist. What motivates you to create art and, even more intriguing, give it away by placing it on the street for people like me lucky enough to happen by?

Adam: I paint purely for the love and enjoyment I get from the feeling of creating something, be it a doodle on a piece of cardboard or a 6ft wall. After the process of creating something I lose interest in the final end product. I no longer want to see it. The egotist thrives on completing an acceptable painting. He will stand for hours looking at his own achievment. The egotist will call himself an “artist”… I just paint on stuff. The walls of my home are bare. For me art is not for hanging, but more for experiencing oneself.

Q: I think a lot of people would find your approach to life very romantic…but ya’ have to eat. How do you make money? You sell your art on your Web site…do you also have shows and do you do any commercial art?

Adam: No, I have a regular 9-5 job like most normal people. In modern society to survive as a full-time commercial artist you gotta be more like a business man who can use a paint-brush. I try and keep my art to myself. If I were to attempt to market my creativity, the value of my inner integrity would drop.

Q: Can you tell us a bit about your technigues? Do you do any digital design?

Adam: It all depends on what I can get my hands on. Very recently I have been playing with digital stuff, though you can’t beat a brush or a spraycan when it comes to the fun element.

Q: Are you formally trained in any way?

Adam: I always knew I wanted to paint, so for me I didn’t feel the need to go to college to do something that I naturally had it in me to do. Instead I decided to do a design degree, which for me is kind of like art without the soul, but which used in the right way can help put food in the fridge for you and your family. Design is more of a combination of pre-meditated thought processes, as opposed to the wild abandon of loosing your mind at 2am on 20 canvases on your living room floor. Design for me is kind of my personal “dark-side” in a starwars type of way.

Q: We have readers from all over the world. Any particular cities that readers should keep their eyes peeled for your work?

Adam: I’m afraid it’s mostly confined to my local dwellings of East London. Though hopefully an occasional trip overseas may happen again one day.

Adam Neate website: http://www.adamneate.co.uk/

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 17th, 2006 at 5:57 pm and is filed under Art, Design, Interviews, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.