Cult Status Gallery Featured Interview - Shawn Hebrank

Shawn Hebrank

Cult Status Gallery featured interview for the exhibit

"Never Quiet, Never Soft"

March 11-12

Reception: Friday March 11, 2011

Shawn Hebrank
City/State: Minneapolis, MN
Email: shawnhebrank@gmail.com
Website: shawnhebrank.com
MNartist.org profile: http://mnartists.org/artistHome.do?rid=284918
Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/shawn.hebrank

Tell me about your work? What are you currently working on? How is this different from past projects?
I’m currently working on a big, two story art installation for a two day show at Cult Status Gallery with my good friend Albie Rock. We do art and collaborations under the name Never Quiet, Never Soft. We’ll have everything there from art dolls to oil paintings to block prints, and even a giant bird house people can climb into. I’ve never done much sculpture other than normal sized birdhouse, and this show has a lots of diversity in the mediums, so it’s all pretty exciting.

Birdhouse 1

"What is Art?" is certainly too big of a question to ask here, but what do you hope your audience takes away from your art? What statement do you hope to make?
I hope that my audience enjoys the little world that I am creating. It’s made up of images and themes I find interesting, everything from animals to brass instruments to acorns and birdhouses. I’ll find something else that I become interested in, and fold it into my And with Never Quiet Never Soft, our individual worlds get combined, and it’s that much more busy/fun/colorful.

What was the best advice given to you as an artist?
I recently did a guest spot with tattoo artist Jeff Gogue (http://www.gogueart.com), and he told me how he takes painting seriously, and paints almost every single day, but that he keeps it fun, and not a chore. I like how tattooing is my job, but that I can do art on the side that’s free from deadline and restrictions. And I don’t need to worry about selling it to pay rent, so I don’t need to market it toward buyers, it can stay just about what I’m looking to create.

Birdhouse Tattoo

Tell me about your working space and your creative process?
My working space is usually my station at Identity Tattoo (identitytattoo.com) in Maple Grove where I tattoo 5 days a week. Otherwise I paint in a room in my house that I use as a studio. However, for this upcoming show, birdhouses in one friend’s basement, clay antlers in different basement, and I’ve just been stealing whatever space in my house that I can, whether it’s the kitchen table or the guest room. I’ve made quite a mess.

Who are some of the Minnesota artists you enjoy?
Tom Strom (http://www.thestromrefinery.com),

Scotty Munster (http://www.scottymunstertattoos.com),

Minnesota Association of Rogue Taxidermists (http://www.roguetaxidermy.com),

Dark Dark Dark has done some amazing installation shows (as well as music, of course) around the world and lives here in MPLS (http://brightbrightbright.com/),

Knitting Cat

If I were to follow you around to see art in Minnesota, which places would we go? What would we see?
I love some of the art around Minneapolis that isn’t in galleries. The bathroom doors of Seward Cafe are so amazing, and I don’t even know who painted them. We’d start there, because their breakfast is awesome, and there’s always new art on the walls as well. Then we’d stop at a few places around town where Broken Crow (http://www.brokencrow.com) has some giant stencils painted on the side of buildings; I love their animals and I love how big they are. Then we’d head to Northern Clay Center (http://www.northernclaycenter.org/) to see what they had on display. Some of their artists are super inspiring, and I always leave impressed.

Dead Bird Painting

Where do you go online for good art resources, whether to find a new artist, or to see what is going on in the art world locally and otherwise?
Fecal Face (http://www.fecalface.com/SF), Empty Kingdom (http://www.emptykingdom.com/main/), but mostly I just follow a ton of art blogs and tumblr pages, and through those I find enough new art/artists for me to satisfy my appetite.

What can we expect to see from you in the future?
After this art show, I’ll be concentrating on oil painting mostly. Oils have captured my attention, and I intend to spend much of my free time with them. I also recently started a small press with my wife, Meryl DePasquale, called Four-Letter Press. Currently we’re sending out monthly letterpressed mail art, but we’ve yet to put up a website about it. Soon.