Blake Byers Interview
Your art is pretty rad and quite inspiring. You seem to really capture something from the subject you are drawing. The ones you did of Martin Luther King and Robin Williams were really incredible, does it mean something to you to choose someone in history that truly stood for something?
People are the most important part of this life, and I've found the direction mine has taken in a large way has been influenced by those I've met and those who inspire me. I'm not saying the level of inspiration comes from how famous someone is, I don't believe that. What I know to be true is how hard someone works directly affects my thought process and how I want to live my life. There are times, for everyone, where we slow down, for this reason or that reason, but when someone is truly hustlin' you can feel their energy and see the cause and effect. In other words the proof is in the pudding...
You have a very particular look to your work, where did this come from? Were you just messing around on a blank page one day and discovered your favorite style or medium? Well, for me I'm not the greatest illustrator. I think the area I excel in most is the choice in mediums, and how I execute one of the oldest forms of art, which is portrait making by using those materials and concepts. I do everything I can to look at the act of creating with a open mind. I tend to look into solving those kinds of problems like they are a cube. Growing up I heard many people say "think outside the box" and I always equated that to be a one dimensional four lined object connected to each other at their vertical and horizontal A and B points. Those lines are no longer infinite, but restricted to their meeting points. Either way, in my mind, it was a box drawn on a piece of paper. After years of thinking about that saying, I thought to myself, it's really a cube we should be trying to think outside of. It was that reality of a physical, tangible cube with no open sides that made the impression on me to literally take myself out of the cube so I could see it, analyze it, redesign it. To me that's art. That explains my choice of medium usage.
It seems like you put a lot of emphasis on the eyes in all of your portraits, that’s really cool. It gives your work a sense of depth, like you can almost understand that person. Are eyes a big thing for you? A favorite characteristic of someone, that is? I suppose I am fixated on the eyes. The only woman I've loved in this life, so far, had eyes that could hypnotize me. Maybe I see her eyes in all the pieces I've created. Either way, I do find the eyes on human beings ultra interesting. Vision is my favorite sense, so in that way I suppose I have spent more time on them, however I do know that it was unintentional. Thank you for bringing that to my attention though. Now I feel like I need to see all the pieces I've made on one wall to compare them.
What were you like as a kid?
Well I can tell you this, I was always imagining I was someone else, pretending to live this incredible life based on my imagination developed primarily due to my location, but not always. I was a mommas boy but still tough enough to kick it with my two older brothers and keep them pressing forward. My life as a child was wonderful, mostly based on what I made of it.
Where do you go to make your art?
Well for the past four years or so I have not had a permanent residence, which has made making art rather difficult However, I have been blessed with different people in my life who have helped me get to a point in this life where I am looking for a home base. But to answer the question, I've made art at friends houses, in their spare bedrooms, living rooms, and basements for example. I've worked in a warehouse, where I've also slept, for quite a long time. That was a crucial time in my career. The LIE Show, Blest Brando, really came through for me there. I miss those days. I've also made art in hostels, hotels, out on the street, and in garages. All in all, my bones are getting tired of traveling so much. But I have nothing to complain about regarding these past years after I sold everything I owned and hit the road.
