OrlandoCamacho

As a huge admirer of your work, I’ve

always been curious to know where you

draw your inspiration from.

I have always loved art so I pull inspiration from things like Saturday morning cartoons and comic books to more academic sources like, novels and art theories. Lately, I have really been enamored by Gustav Klimt, Keith Haring, Egon Shields, Bernini and Karl Wirsume, to name a few.

How did you develop your

artistic style?

It has been a life long development;it keeps changing and hopefully will continue to change. The worst thing that could happen to an artist is to become stagnant. It all started with doodle in class as a kid and has developed with a greater understanding of art history, the world. The concepts just keep on transforming as time passes by.

What concepts or beliefs do you try to

accomplish within your work? Do you

have a message of any kind?

I have been making art with the idea of what makes an art piece an abstraction YV�LOOXVWUDWLRQ�RU��´ÀQHµ�YV�´ORZEURZµ�art. I have been trying to bind my classical training with crazy amounts of characters, patterns, and faces, that I’m quite known for. Originally, I started to add faces that I saw in patterns and then from there, I started to add expressions. I drew a correlation to the different emotions we suppress to be functional members of society, but I’m not sure anyone really thinks about it as much as I do; they are usually ÁDEEHUJDVWHG�E\�WKH�DPRXQW�RI�GHWDLOV�in my drawings.

How has your practice changed

over time?

My practice is, I think, just now starting to develop into a professional direction which I still don’t know what that means at the moment. I really want to share my art with people. I also want to push my art from just a good looking piece to something that speaks to all audiences. I believe the biggest change in the last couple of years is seeing the need to learn how to market myself. I really don’t want to do this, but do know if I don’t learn how to market myself, my art will not have a voice.

Why art? Why do what you do?

I wanted to be an artist from as early as I could remember. I started painting murals with Francisco Mendoza in WKH�ÀUVW�JUDGH��DQG�WKHQ�QRWKLQJ�HOVH�mattered. My parents where super supportive and found classes that I could attend all throughout my childhood. Without that exposure at such a young age, I don’t event know what I would be except unhappy.

What is your dream project?

My dream project was something like Theaster Gates house projects, but since it has been done, I don’t know about that dream anymore. Another project that I would like to do is to create a space for young adults to make art, like an open studio or in a school.

Are you working on any

current work now? What

was the last piece you’ve

created?

I always work on multiple things at the same time, but the last thing I did was a large drawing with my characters with tiny characters within. It was part of a show I had in the Little Village neighborhood.

Describe your

creative process.

My process is sitting down and drawing whatever comes out of the marks I make, usually in my sketchbook. When I’m creating art outside of my pages, it’s usually one of two processes which includes either a totally improved piece or something planned that I then add value with corrected characters and patterns.

Besides drawing, what other

media/mediums do you

enjoy using?

All my siblings and I where taught to use manual cameras as kids and I have a great love of the photographic process, I teach a digital photo class and take photographs that I like but haven’t found a way to marry it to my artistic process except as reference. I also love to watercolor.

Do you have any advice for those

wanting to pursue the arts?

My advice is to keep doing what you love. Who cares about what people have to say about it. My style may not make sense to others, but it makes sense to me, and sometimes that’s all that really matters.