Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

Get to Know Visual Artist...
JIMMY KERAST
Jimmy Kerast


NK - You are reluctant to talk about yourself. Why?
JK - It's a very difficult exercise to me, for many reasons. I don't like to talk about myself, I never know what to say, and I also never know which pieces I should select to show my work. I don't like to show my real face without a mask or filters. And to be honest I don't like most of my commissioned work (very often it hasn't been my style at all, and the first digital paintings were very awkward.) Anyway, I am going to try to play this game for once. 
NK- What is your background?
JK- I'm French, 42 years old, born in Bourgogne (the middle of France, where the world's best wine and cheeses are made). I'm a self-taught artist.
First, I started to study laboratory chemistry and then I totally changed my courses and got a degree in 'social and cultural support' (I don't know exactly how to say it in English. My job was to create pedagogic and fun activities for children and teenagers, especially in poor areas.) My art was just a hobby in the beginning.
NK - How did you get started in visual art?
JK - As a teenager, I started doing ink drawings and comic strips for some underground fanzines (mostly about punk rock, horror, Satanism, metal music, witchcraft and some other barely legal stuff.) As an adult, I did a lot of work for comic book projects as a digital colorist.  My art became mostly digital and mixed media: photo collages, digital painting/drawings.  I like dark, weird, nightmare-ish visuals, monsters... 
NK - What are your thoughts about where ideas and inspiration come from that generate your images?
JK - I just do things the way they come to me. I don't know exactly where it comes from: my personal pop culture, my generation, all that I've been through in my life, dreams, and nightmares, deep childhood fears and neurosis maybe...? The only thing I'm sure of is that I like colors, textures, shapes, and lines. It's like an obsession. I've got a weird relationship with my art: I hate it, but it's like dioxygene (oxygen) to me. It's like a constant struggle. I don't know where it comes from and where it goes. I just follow a weird path. We should ask a shrink about that.  hahaha

Artwork and Book Covers







More Artwork here