After chatting for a bit about “Gumby” and video games, old and new, athe interview took place.

Melissa Kowalczyk: So, I looked at your website and I read your bio and all that shiznat, but these questions are for the readers of the magazine for the most part.
Aaron Kraten: Radical. Did you like the art?
MK: Yeah.
AK: Excellent.
MK: It's kind of abstract, but not. And I enjoy abstract art and art that I can just look at and think about.
AK: Yeah, I feel my work is abstract and structured. The layers are important to me. The art is about life and I bring the viewer into that life by my imagery.
MK: That description makes me think of it literally, like a video with someone going inside the paintings. Very cool.
AK: Thanks. I feel when I’m painting that I’m in a sort of trance. I’m not thinking or preplanning. That’s what makes it fresh and new for me. It’s a celebration of humanity and our struggle with society and expression. There is a lot of structure and fashion in my work. The people I’m painting are in a state, most of all in motion and progression.
MK: Have you been interviewed a lot?
AK: Yeah, I’ve seen some action. I just won the peoples choice award at Laguna Art Museum just recently.
MK: Well, congrats on that.
AK: Thanks.
MK: Um, sorry to sound ignorant, but what's that all about?
AK: It’s a museum and they nominate an artist for this award on their work - out of 50 artists of good standing. I received the most prestigious award.
MK: That's awesome. So did you compete with 50 artists from the area? the state? the country?
AK: County. Orange County, California. It’s cool cause I have no education and I’m self-taught.
MK: That's cool. So you've had NO artistic training whatsoever?
AK: Yeah, I just doodled sometimes. No art school. High school dropout, and just worked lame jobs and drew a little at work in these small sketchbooks.
MK: So how did you get into art? From drawing at work?
AK: Yeah, I found some trash at work, old wood, and I started painting when my boss wasn’t around, which was all the time. There was some house paint lying around, so I used it. It was something I just did as kind of a spur of the moment, to kill time. I would work on the painting and put it in the storage closet to dry then add to it later. Then I started hanging them at work when my boss discovered them. He loved it. So I sold some out of work, and made some t-shirts, record covers, etc. Some of my art for magazines and record covers is on the press page of my site.
MK: Yeah, I saw that. Very cool.
AK: Thanks.
MK: How did you get noticed by the magazines and musicians that had you do art for them?
AK: Hmm, I did some shows and got a small following. When people talked is when the opportunity mostly came about. The website helped. People would go to one of my art shows then look me up on the web. I made some t-shirts too. I did a show with Dee Dee Ramone (he painted), and that helped too. He passed away after the opening of his art show with me.
MK: Do you make a living off of your art?
AK: Somewhat. I work as a courier for Fedex. I like working and being around people. I save all my art money. I want to buy a home someday.
MK: Awesome, like one of those kickass ones on those TV shows, or just a nice humble one?
AK: A mellow one, with a pool. Hmm… maybe a half pipe too. That would rule. I still skateboard.
MK: I can't skateboard. I'm not that talented.
AK: It’s a lot of practice. I am getting too old to fall though. (Laughs) There is a lot of great skateboard art.
MK: So would you like to make money solely on your art?
AK: That would be cool. I could do it now, but I like not worrying about selling work to eat.
MK: Yeah, I can understand that.
AK: There is gonna be a point here I will have to quit my job to meet the demand of my art and solely work on shows and merch (shirts , bags , posters, etc.).
MK: I would love to be able to do that
AK: Yeah, me too.
MK: I want to have my own art gallery.
AK: I had one for a year in 2000 in Costa Mesa. It was fun, a lot of work though. Gallery 23. It was fun. I did some awesome shows. It was a good experience and I sold a lot. It was good. Yeah, it is fun for sure. I met the right people and took a chance. I like painting more than working the gallery portion now, it is less stress. It was my dream for a long time too. I remember how badly I wanted it. Then after you do it for a while, it gets to be a lot of work. It was great, though.
MK: Why do you do your art?
AK: Hmm, I love to make art and when I’m not doing it, I’m thinking about it. It’s like a sickness. I have to paint more then anything else. I’m always stoked on what I’m making.
MK: Do you have any artistic influences?
AK: Hmm, mostly old video games, Megaman and old Capcom art, like Section Z. Fashion and mechanics also play a big part.
MK: The photos in your paintings, did you take them?
AK: Some of them. The Polaroids are mine and there is other film I make. Some of the pictures are from scrapbooks.
MK: Ahh, I see. What has the biggest effect on the outcome of your art?
AK: Hmm, women. I love women. Girls rule.
MK: (Laughs) So any kind of woman? Women in your life? Or women in general?
AK: Women in general. My wife is fun and girls I know too. I just like how un-aggressive girls are. They are creative with their look and freer then men. Men work and are more competitive with their income and stuff they own, and not so much what they look like. (All depending on who they are of course, this is general.)
MK: So the fact that women are obsessed with their appearance is why you like women in general?
AK: Hmm, more or less, whatever they wear looks good on them.
MK: Okay, so what did you want to do as a child? Like what kind of a career did you want to pursue when you were little?
AK: A chef. I love to eat. I cook a lot more now then I did when I was young.
MK: That's good. It’s kind of dumb when people can't cook when they're over 18.
AK: Yea, tell me about it.
MK: Is there any artist or movement that has an effect on your art and yourself? If so, who or what movement?
AK: Post-modern expressionism 1958. I would say France Klein. He is rad. I love his work.
MK: (Laughs) That’s awesome. Do you know a lot about art history?
AK: Not to much. I like that movement cause I like Andy Warhol, and found out about Klein through him.
MK: Oh, nice.
AK: Also, I got compared to Basquet and I wondered who he was, so I looked him up at the library. He was associated with that movement [as well].
MK: Have you ever heard of Outsider Art?
AK: What’s that?
MK: It's art that is done by people that aren't affected by the outside world.
AK: Ohh, ok.
MK: Your art looks like that, similar to it anyway.
AK: I like graffiti. Is that outsider art?
MK: I love graffiti and I don’t think so.
AK: Graf rawks.
MK: Yeah, I can't recreate it without it looking too pretty, but I love to look at it.
AK: Me too.
MK: What's your biggest pet peeve and why?
AK: I’m a neat freak, and I was born that way. It’s crazy. I like to have a organized aesthetic.
MK: (Laughs) That's really the most crazy thing I've ever heard.
AK: I am a nutzo.
MK: I don't think I know one artist that's a neat freak.
AK: (Laughs) Well, now you do.
MK: And last question, what do you think of the color blue?
AK: I like it. I used it in paintings. I like the Van Gough blue period. Starry Night and all that. Blue, like water. It’s nice.


Visit Aaron's website at aaronkratenart.com to see more of his works and to hear about his upcoming shows!

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© 2004 Redefine Magazine