Luke Chueh studied graphic design and worked as a designer for many years, but he made his name as a painter. Chueh emerged from the Los Angeles art scene as one of the major painters of his generation and a major player in the contemporary lowbrow art movement. His use of simple characters and minimal color schemes may make what he does look easy, but his imagery and the emotions they evoke are incredibly complex. Few artists are able to make something look simple and cute at a distance, but upon closer inspection reveal itself to be a deeply disturbing scenario.
People may know him from the underground art show Cannibal Flower or Gallery 1988 where hes been a major exhibitor. Chuehs work has been transformed into vinyl figures and he created the album art for Fall Out Boy's album Folie Deux. Chueh also regularly posts his new work on his website lukechueh.com. His newest project is The Art of Luke Chueh, published by Titan Books in association with Gallery 1988 and Chueh spoke with SG about his approach, the artwork he loves and hints at a few possibilities for the future.
ALEX DUEBEN: When did you first know that you wanted to be an artist?
LUKE CHUEH: I think I knew I wanted to be involved with the visual arts when I was a child. I remember telling my family that I wanted to illustrate comics.
AD: I know that you went to art school. To what degree was that helpful?
LC: I received my formal arts education in school of graphic design from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. I found the education invaluable. My understanding of color and composition came from that school along with my general style of illustration.
AD: What is it about painting as opposed to a different medium that you find so interesting?
LC: Painting has the potential of expressing with a single gesture. It captures that movement for as long as the painting exists. It's also one of the oldest forms of communication that still has relevancy today.
AD: What first inspired you to use animals in your work and why you continue to use them?
LC: Though I have a degree in Graphic Design, I'm pretty much a self taught painter. And the reason I started with animal characters was because it was, at the time, the limit of my abilities as a painter. I also came to believe that using anthropomorphized animals was the easiest way of illustrating the ideas I had while reaching a wider audience. Human beings are inherently biased and these characters allow me to communicate without the potential hangups that come with racism, sexism, and ageism. I think my audience would react very differently if I replaced my bears and rabbits with a 20-30 year old Asian male character, or in contrast, a older black female.
AD: What do you think people love about bears and rabbits?
LC: I believe we are conditioned to empathize with animal characters. They were the toys we loved and played withteddy bearsand the cartoons we watched and were inspired byDisney and Hannah Barbara.
AD: How has your work evolved since you started creating seriously? Both in terms of your process and what you think about the finished process?
LC: When I think of my evolution as an artist, I see me growing technically as a painter. It's funny, when I look back at my paintings from before 2006, I used to use pencil to help me shade. It wasn't till 2007three years after started painting full timedid buckle down and teach myself how create lighting effects in paint.
As far as conceptually, I feel that there's a certain strategy that's required when "evolving", and that is you want your audience to feel like they're growing with you. The way I do that is by holding on to the popular elements in my work while restructuring my concepts methodically. For instance, in 2010 I had a show I called Contemptorary Art. The show was my attempt at crossing the line between contemporary art and the kind of work I create. I explored painting styles from across the agesRenaissance to cubism to pixelation, incorporated the typographic styling of Barbara Kreuger, and experimented with colorfield painting, while using my bear as the anchor between me and all of these paintings.
AD: How personal do you think your work is?
LC: My work is extremely personal. The characters I create are metaphors for myself. This is the reason why I think my work has the ability to reach and connect to my audience. There's a lot of art out there that employs cute characters as the basis of the image. But most of it is simply a cute character on a canvas. My paintings attempt to illustrate what I'm going through internally, and this is something most people can relate to in one way or another.
AD: You touched on this a little in the book, but I was curious if you could talk a little about the challenge of becoming known for motifs and imagery and then trying to break out of that by doing something different.
LC: It's difficult for me to elaborate on the act of breaking away from my visual style since it's something that I still struggle with. My upcoming shows will feature new characters and new ideas, but these aren't exactly me breaking away from my known "motif's and imagery". Lately I've been participating in group shows, and I've been using these venues to create images that don't feature the 3 or 4 characters I'm known for. I guess look at this as an attempt to expand on my visual style.
AD: Whats it like seeing your work become figures and does it ever tempt you to create sculpture?
LC: When I started painting full time, I discovered the KidRobot website (www.kidrobot.com). At the time their site featured a gallery of designer toys, and I would spend hours pouring through it. I truly believe that this research shaped the way I approached painting and character design. When I was contacted to create a toy, it was like a dream come true.
As far as sculpture is concerned, it's something I definitely have ambitions for. Whenever I go to events Art Basel, art shows in general, or museums, it's usually sculpture that makes the most immediate impression on me. I'm planning on working on something big and sculptural in the very near future,
AD: Now one question I always loathe asking people is how they describe their work, but I am curious about how you think about it. When I first came across your work at Gallery 1988 a few years ago, I remember thinking that it really felt like something that came out of the lowbrow school but it felt very specific to my generation cause were about the same age.
LC: When I think of this scene, I look at it in terms of "generations". I think of the first generation as artists like Robert Williams, Anthony Ausgang, The Pizz, etc. The second would be artists like Gary Baseman, Mark Ryden, Tim Biskup, and Camille Rose Garcia. And the third would be myself, Audrey Kawasaki, Craola, and Alex Pardee. As far as the work communicating to a specific age group, that make sense since you said it yourself. We belong to a similar age group, therefore we find ourselves concerned about similar events and are effected by certain trends.
AD: What was the challenge of assembling this book?
LC: I'm not sure if I would say the book making process was challenging, but it definitely requires discipline and patience. When I started painting full time, I scanned in almost every single painting I created. I did so with the immediate intention of showing the work online, but I also held onto the hopes that one day I would have a book. I still have to pinch myself when I realize that it's finally here.
AD: What about Los Angeles do you like and why do you think its become arguably, the center of the art world?
LC: Los Angeles has been great to me and I don't think I would have this career if I didn't move here. However, I don't think I would feel right calling it the center of the art world. I would that it's the capital city for the kind of art I create. There are shows almost every weekend and the level of work is across the board in quality.
AD: What kind of contemporary artwork do you enjoy?
LC: I absolutely love Japanese Pop ArtSuperflat: Takashi Murakami, Yoshitomo Nara, Chiho Aoshima, Mr., Makoto Aida, etc. I'm also in love with the recent works of Jeff Koons, and Chris Burden. As long as the work is fun. I loved Damien Hirst's taxidermy stuff, but his poke-dots don't don't do it for me.
But let's not dismisses the fact that what is coming out of LA is also contemporary art, though contemporary art critics haven't seemed to figure it out yet.
AD: Final question: Do you have any advice for the younger you?
LC: I think the best advice I have for young artists is to create things that make you happy. Create art that you would be excited to see on a wallthat isn't a copy of another artists work. Also, it's important to get out into your community, go to shows, and keep an open eye and mind.
I think there's lot of different ways to go about a career in the arts, but what I've noticed in myself and my friends is there a three attributes you need: Talent, Discipline, and Lucknot necessarily in that order. With that, you can do just about anything you want.
People may know him from the underground art show Cannibal Flower or Gallery 1988 where hes been a major exhibitor. Chuehs work has been transformed into vinyl figures and he created the album art for Fall Out Boy's album Folie Deux. Chueh also regularly posts his new work on his website lukechueh.com. His newest project is The Art of Luke Chueh, published by Titan Books in association with Gallery 1988 and Chueh spoke with SG about his approach, the artwork he loves and hints at a few possibilities for the future.
ALEX DUEBEN: When did you first know that you wanted to be an artist?
LUKE CHUEH: I think I knew I wanted to be involved with the visual arts when I was a child. I remember telling my family that I wanted to illustrate comics.
AD: I know that you went to art school. To what degree was that helpful?
LC: I received my formal arts education in school of graphic design from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. I found the education invaluable. My understanding of color and composition came from that school along with my general style of illustration.
AD: What is it about painting as opposed to a different medium that you find so interesting?
LC: Painting has the potential of expressing with a single gesture. It captures that movement for as long as the painting exists. It's also one of the oldest forms of communication that still has relevancy today.
AD: What first inspired you to use animals in your work and why you continue to use them?
LC: Though I have a degree in Graphic Design, I'm pretty much a self taught painter. And the reason I started with animal characters was because it was, at the time, the limit of my abilities as a painter. I also came to believe that using anthropomorphized animals was the easiest way of illustrating the ideas I had while reaching a wider audience. Human beings are inherently biased and these characters allow me to communicate without the potential hangups that come with racism, sexism, and ageism. I think my audience would react very differently if I replaced my bears and rabbits with a 20-30 year old Asian male character, or in contrast, a older black female.
AD: What do you think people love about bears and rabbits?
LC: I believe we are conditioned to empathize with animal characters. They were the toys we loved and played withteddy bearsand the cartoons we watched and were inspired byDisney and Hannah Barbara.
AD: How has your work evolved since you started creating seriously? Both in terms of your process and what you think about the finished process?
LC: When I think of my evolution as an artist, I see me growing technically as a painter. It's funny, when I look back at my paintings from before 2006, I used to use pencil to help me shade. It wasn't till 2007three years after started painting full timedid buckle down and teach myself how create lighting effects in paint.
As far as conceptually, I feel that there's a certain strategy that's required when "evolving", and that is you want your audience to feel like they're growing with you. The way I do that is by holding on to the popular elements in my work while restructuring my concepts methodically. For instance, in 2010 I had a show I called Contemptorary Art. The show was my attempt at crossing the line between contemporary art and the kind of work I create. I explored painting styles from across the agesRenaissance to cubism to pixelation, incorporated the typographic styling of Barbara Kreuger, and experimented with colorfield painting, while using my bear as the anchor between me and all of these paintings.
AD: How personal do you think your work is?
LC: My work is extremely personal. The characters I create are metaphors for myself. This is the reason why I think my work has the ability to reach and connect to my audience. There's a lot of art out there that employs cute characters as the basis of the image. But most of it is simply a cute character on a canvas. My paintings attempt to illustrate what I'm going through internally, and this is something most people can relate to in one way or another.
AD: You touched on this a little in the book, but I was curious if you could talk a little about the challenge of becoming known for motifs and imagery and then trying to break out of that by doing something different.
LC: It's difficult for me to elaborate on the act of breaking away from my visual style since it's something that I still struggle with. My upcoming shows will feature new characters and new ideas, but these aren't exactly me breaking away from my known "motif's and imagery". Lately I've been participating in group shows, and I've been using these venues to create images that don't feature the 3 or 4 characters I'm known for. I guess look at this as an attempt to expand on my visual style.
AD: Whats it like seeing your work become figures and does it ever tempt you to create sculpture?
LC: When I started painting full time, I discovered the KidRobot website (www.kidrobot.com). At the time their site featured a gallery of designer toys, and I would spend hours pouring through it. I truly believe that this research shaped the way I approached painting and character design. When I was contacted to create a toy, it was like a dream come true.
As far as sculpture is concerned, it's something I definitely have ambitions for. Whenever I go to events Art Basel, art shows in general, or museums, it's usually sculpture that makes the most immediate impression on me. I'm planning on working on something big and sculptural in the very near future,
AD: Now one question I always loathe asking people is how they describe their work, but I am curious about how you think about it. When I first came across your work at Gallery 1988 a few years ago, I remember thinking that it really felt like something that came out of the lowbrow school but it felt very specific to my generation cause were about the same age.
LC: When I think of this scene, I look at it in terms of "generations". I think of the first generation as artists like Robert Williams, Anthony Ausgang, The Pizz, etc. The second would be artists like Gary Baseman, Mark Ryden, Tim Biskup, and Camille Rose Garcia. And the third would be myself, Audrey Kawasaki, Craola, and Alex Pardee. As far as the work communicating to a specific age group, that make sense since you said it yourself. We belong to a similar age group, therefore we find ourselves concerned about similar events and are effected by certain trends.
AD: What was the challenge of assembling this book?
LC: I'm not sure if I would say the book making process was challenging, but it definitely requires discipline and patience. When I started painting full time, I scanned in almost every single painting I created. I did so with the immediate intention of showing the work online, but I also held onto the hopes that one day I would have a book. I still have to pinch myself when I realize that it's finally here.
AD: What about Los Angeles do you like and why do you think its become arguably, the center of the art world?
LC: Los Angeles has been great to me and I don't think I would have this career if I didn't move here. However, I don't think I would feel right calling it the center of the art world. I would that it's the capital city for the kind of art I create. There are shows almost every weekend and the level of work is across the board in quality.
AD: What kind of contemporary artwork do you enjoy?
LC: I absolutely love Japanese Pop ArtSuperflat: Takashi Murakami, Yoshitomo Nara, Chiho Aoshima, Mr., Makoto Aida, etc. I'm also in love with the recent works of Jeff Koons, and Chris Burden. As long as the work is fun. I loved Damien Hirst's taxidermy stuff, but his poke-dots don't don't do it for me.
But let's not dismisses the fact that what is coming out of LA is also contemporary art, though contemporary art critics haven't seemed to figure it out yet.
AD: Final question: Do you have any advice for the younger you?
LC: I think the best advice I have for young artists is to create things that make you happy. Create art that you would be excited to see on a wallthat isn't a copy of another artists work. Also, it's important to get out into your community, go to shows, and keep an open eye and mind.
I think there's lot of different ways to go about a career in the arts, but what I've noticed in myself and my friends is there a three attributes you need: Talent, Discipline, and Lucknot necessarily in that order. With that, you can do just about anything you want.