INTERVIEW BY: KYLE SKAHILL (HYG) SF

Alec Huxley is the type of artist we all aspire to be. Wickedly talented and entirely unassuming, Alec is someone who toils away on projects, not out of egotistical idiosyncrasy, but out of true passion for his work. He has a desire to perfect his craft by teaching himself each step of the way. After all, an artist of his caliber who decides to pick up a paint brush at 27 with no traditional artistic education is normal, right?

Alec isn’t blind to the circumstances – he knows succeeding in his field requires competition, critique, and composure. But his humble awareness is what makes him so special. It’s as if he is living in a completely different world – a world where envy, manipulative relationships, and greed fail to exist. Instead of competition, he views his peers as others following their own artistic passions. Critiques don’t discourage him; he understands that they’re merely an opinion and that true beauty is in the eye of the beholder. His steady composure illustrates the dedication he puts into each canvas. Rather than rushing to fill a gallery with as many pieces as possible, he instead creates a quality body of work. Although Alec still feels he has years of painting to ‘catch up on’, we believe he is steadily closing the gap between where he is and where he wants to be.

Like many people who have spoken to me about Alec’s pieces, I was initially under the impression that I was looking at a photograph. The piece appeared to depict two women standing side by side in front of a typical LA studio-style white cyclorama infinite space backdrop. This impression lasted a solid twenty minutes as I walked around the gallery space, but upon closer inspection, I realized the truth: these were all painted portraits, not photographs. I expressed my surprise to Alec and all he gave me was a modest and genuinely appreciative ‘thank you’. His humble response was not befitting of the work which had so thoroughly deceived me; unfazed, he just continued installing the exhibit. Alec’s work has been featured in various galleries and multiple cities across the West Coast. His artistic collaborative effort, Adult Flavored Pudding, will certainly continue to catch eyes and raise brows as he diversifies both his talents and his partner network. We at (HY.GEN.IC) felt like it was love at first sight. After a few months holed up in his studio and working tirelessly in anticipation of his upcoming San Francisco shows, Alec was kindly coaxed out of seclusion just long enough for this exclusive interview.

In deference to Mr. Huxley’s passion for fostering innate creativity and to his truly unique path in honing his artistic skills, sometimes it is best to just cut the prologue short and let the artist speak for himself. So here’s to you, Alec, someone who truly embodies doing dirt in order to create a final product that is extra clean.

UNDERSTANDING THE ARTIST

Kyle Skahill: Although you’ve achieved a great deal of success, you started painting much later in life than most. When and why did you decide to pursue art? How did the realization that this was a passion of yours occur?

Alec Huxley: Right before I graduated from college with a business degree, I had no clue what I was going to do for a job. I’d always done creative things and I was taking Studio Art 101 to fill one of my last credits. All the joy that I’d always had doing random art projects sort of came to a head in that class. I was getting completely lost in each assignment, having so much fun with it that I knew it was something I had to pursue. Mentally, I felt like I was just starting school again. So I graduated and started taking classes in graphic design. I learned a lot from those classes, but I also knew that it wasn’t the best fit for me. I just kept experimenting – working on random projects, taking pictures, making little movies – until about five years later when I realized that the stuff I was doing would look really nice on a big canvas. That is what sparked my adventure towards painting.

Kyle Skahill: What does being an artist mean to you? What does it entail? Is there anything that is mutually exclusive of being an artist?

Alec Huxley: I still feel weird identifying myself as an artist because I think anybody has the capacity to be an artist, so I’m not any more special than anyone else. It’s just taking whatever you’re feeling, however you’re reacting to what you see in front of you and then doing something with it. As babies, we all stumble around, poke stuff, and bite on things. I think art is just an extension grown out of that and the “art” part happens when you make a thoughtful action on that question or feeling. The only thing that I think is necessary is you have to be open, inquisitive, and then make something out of that, whether it’s a picture, lyric, or a story. If you’re talking about art as a working profession, then I think it’s combining everything I previously said with discipline and project management. Essentially, the business stuff is what I am still trying to grasp.

Kyle Skahill: Tell us more about the Adult Flavored Pudding collective that you’ve founded. How did it evolve into what it is today and what is the collective’s mission/goal?

Alec Huxley: It was something I created so that I could allow myself to pursue different creative avenues. At the time, I was trying to figure out how to turn what I love doing into a business. Based on the body of work that I had, I developed a website and marketing materials that I thought would accomplish that goal. I also quickly realized that my interests went beyond the landscape paintings I had created. I knew that sending out press packets to interior designers with paintings of naked women and animal heads was not an option, and I didn’t think putting a bunch of street scenes on t-shirts was going to be a revelation. So I created a new website, called it “Adult Flavored Pudding” and started posting all this other work under my own name. I tried to be a little bit more focused with regards to creating art that could also be functional and using a few of the skills that I learned in design school. Honestly, it’s been in a holding pattern for a little while, but I’ve been revamping it and hope to have that online before the end of the year. It’s still going to be a place for experimentation, but it will be more focused on affordable and functional art design. 

Kyle Skahill: What are the various artistic methods, mediums and subjects that you have worked with? Is there a preferred medium that you like to use when creating your art?

Alec Huxley: It’s been almost all acrylic painting the last few years, most of which has some basis in photos that I’ve taken. There’s bursts of film photography when I can afford the developing. Lately, I’ve been trying to improve my drawing skills, so I’ve worked with pen, ink, and charcoal for my next show. As far as subjects, I’ve always been fascinated with buildings and architecture, so my first paintings were cityscapes. After I started Adult Flavored Pudding, I knew that the sky was the limit… and you can never go wrong with naked women.

Kyle Skahill: Are there any artistic modes (e.g. welding, pottery, clothing design, typography, textile fabrication, etc.) that pique your interest but you haven’t yet had the opportunity to explore? 

Alec Huxley: I would like to experiment with all of that and more. When I get a bigger workspace I’d love to try some metal working, larger scale screen printing, sculpting. I do some rudimentary carpentry now – with building canvas and framing paintings – but I’d like to get more into woodworking.

Kyle Shakill: When we met, you were using a running theme of the space helmet and the monkey. What is the significance of these images to you, and is your recurring use of images intentional or coincidental? If it is intentional, how do you decide what will be reiterated through multiple pieces?

Alec Huxley: The initial significance was that I bought a Soviet space helmet off the Internet; it was the best purchase of my life. I had an inkling that I’d use it in some sort of art project, but mainly I just wanted to have it in my living room and wear it around once in a while. When I was trying to figure out what to do for my first show at D-Structure, I started playing around with different imagery associated with space travel and I decided that would be the theme – so yeah, it was all very intentional. I’ve always loved that stuff; I don’t think there’s anyone that doesn’t. It represents the ultimate fantasy: to think that your job, or maybe in a few hundred years even your daily life, would involve putting on a helmet, strapping into a rocket and looking down on Earth or wherever. Fantasies are all about escape and to lift off and levitate above the planet is both insane and possible.

All that stuff is just cool to paint, so that’s why I carried them through multiple pieces. The monkey is obviously the closest substitute for a human. I read the book Packing for Mars while I was preparing for the show;  it goes into a lot of the history behind the technical aspects of the space programs, including all the testing they did with animals, mainly monkeys, back in the 1950′s. They were the only reason humans were eventually allowed to be launched up in rockets. So I guess you could say it’s a little tribute to that history.

Kyle Skahill: Would you say there is an underlying message or theme unifying the body of your work?

Alec Huxley: I jump around so much now that I can’t say there is a single theme to everything. Maybe the theme is that I get bored focusing too much on any one thing, but I think that’s true of anyone born after 1980. I think a lot of art, music, and literature has something to do with “escape” and I know I gravitate to that pretty frequently. A lot of the stuff I’m working on now relates to the imprints people leave on spaces – pieces of their energy they leave behind in rooms, on streets, and on trains.

Kyle Skahill: When you begin a piece, do you always start in the same way or do you tackle each piece in a different way? 

Alec Huxley: Each one starts pretty fresh. I may take something from a previous piece and work off that, but I have a requirement that each piece be different or at least have an element that I’ve never tackled before. Generally, I spend so much time on each one that I need to extend my energy and attention to the end, but also I’m still learning and I know I need to challenge myself to build the necessary skills.

Kyle Skahill: As a self taught artist, are there any aspects of the painting process that you find either easier or more difficult than you would’ve thought had you been taught formally in an academic setting? In other words, how has being self-taught helped and/or hindered your development as an artist?

Alec Huxley: There was a huge learning curve. I can’t say anything has come easier [by being self-taught] – I mean, it always easier when someone presents something to you. On the other hand, you lose out on all the magic that happens with self discovery and firing your own synapses. I think there’s huge value in just messing around with something on your own time with no pressure and no one looking over your shoulder critiquing you. You may lose out on exposure to that catalogue of academic knowledge, but you also just focus on figuring out exactly what you need. So it could be a benefit by not being distracted by a bunch of techniques that don’t apply to your situation. However, I don’t consider myself completely self-taught. Graphic design classes certainly helped me understand the design fundamentals, and I’ve taken a few art history classes. I just had to teach myself how to apply paint to a surface.

Kyle Skahill: What is your greatest inspiration in times of duress?

Alec Huxley: Music. In good times and bad, I can always find something to connect with what I’m feeling. Even if I’m feeling shitty I can get lost in a song and embrace that feeling so it inspires. That inspiration may be dark, but at least it’s not self destructive. I’m inspired by music and just knowing that life is short. There’s no time to not be moving forward.

Kyle Skahill: Who is your favorite artist?

Alec Huxley: It would be impossible to name just one. For starters – David Lynch, Trent Reznor, Dali, M.C. Escher. When referring to painters, I keep coming back to people like Eric Fischl, Edward Hopper, Gilles Marrey, Francis Bacon. As of lately, I’ve been blown away by Eric White, Jean-Pierre Roy, Damian Loeb, and Lee Harvey Roswell. I’ve always really admired Jeremy Fish for his work ethic as an artist. I’m always finding people that I connect with at different times.

Kyle Skahill: You’ve been active in a few different art scenes. How would you say they relate to each other or how would you categorize different artistic hubs?

Alec Huxley: I still feel so fresh to all of this that I can’t say I’ve been hugely involved in any one scene. I lived in Seattle for 12 years, but I only started to seriously focus on making art the last few years before I moved to San Francisco. Seattle has some great art, and I was certainly inspired by the environment there, but it seems like there’s a dearth of collectors. The art community in San Francisco is incredibly supportive and it just feels a lot more established. I know there’s a lot of cross-pollination between here and Los Angeles and that’s a place I’ve only just started to explore art-wise.

Kyle Skahill: What is the greatest success you have experienced as a growing artist and how has it affected the rest of your career?

Alec Huxley: When I sold my first painting. That validation, knowing that someone liked what I’d created so much that they were willing to pay to have it in their home was truly amazing.

Kyle Skahill: What about the biggest failure?

Alec Huxley: No such thing. I can’t see looking at anything as a failure if I learn something from it.

Kyle Skahill: Where do you hope to see Adult Flavored Pudding by this time next year?

Alec Huxley: I’m hoping it’ll be refined with a wide selection of functional art and design – there’s a couple of collaborations that I’d love to have up there too. I love that people like my work, but I know not everyone can afford an original painting. I don’t think that art is something that should only be available for people with disposable income.

Kyle Skahill: Care to tell us about any upcoming shows, pieces, or events you will be involved with?

Alec Huxley: On December 9th, I’ve got a show called “Strangers on a Train” that opens at D-Structure in San Francisco. After that, I’ve got my first big solo show this upcoming April at 111 Minna in San Francisco as well.

Kyle Skahill: Last chance to say anything! Any closing thoughts or comments?

Alec Huxley: If I could quote Hunter Thompson, “Life has become immeasurably better since I have been forced to stop taking it seriously.”

IN.ALEC’S.MIND

Success is only as good as your next idea.

When I want my favorite go-to meal, I head straight to a non-chain burger joint.

I’m motivated to get out of bed every morning so I don’t feel guilty about getting out of bed after noon.

Police represent a noble profession ripe with opportunity for megalomaniacs.

2011 is coming to a close faster than ever. I’ll look back on New Year’s Eve fondly, cheers my lady for everything we’ve accomplished, and get ready for 2012. This feels like the most productive year of my life, but I’m gonna try to double up on it next year.

Music means a lot to almost everyone; it really keeps my life going. I have a constantly revolving soundtrack and I have so much respect for people with musical talent because I cannot play a goddamn note.

Purple Haze was one of my favorite songs when I was 13, but I didn’t experience it until I was in college.

San Francisco microclimates are something I could probably appreciate more if I lived in the Mission. If it’s foggy anywhere, I’ll be able to look out our window and see thick chunks of it flying down Oak Street like fluffy white cars.

The funniest thing that’s ever happened would sound incredibly lame if I tried to describe it and you hadn’t been there.

Climate change worries are probably valid, (not all of them, I’m sure), but you’ve got to be nuts or being paid to think that all the shit we’ve been pumping into the air since the industrial revolution hasn’t affected the planet.

Smart phones are amazing and a little scary. Right now, for every ten amazing features there is one scary hidden Orwellian feature and those are only going to increase with time. I love my iPhone, but some of this stuff is straight out of the horror scenarios that sci-fi writers were dreaming up 50 years ago. For instance, someone can find out where I am this exact second to within a few feet… really? We just sort of brush it off because it has been gradually implemented in our society and only the benefits of these devices are marketed towards us.

Overrated athletes should be dismissed from their respective professional sports in America at the rate of one per year from each league. Fans should vote at the end of each season. Proof for each game ticket purchased gives you one vote, no-per person limits, no voting by employees of the respective leagues. If you’re not performing on par with your pay and you act like and asshole, you should be reminded how big a privilege that is. One year, no pay, and you watch the shit on TV like the rest of us.

No rest for the weary, so give me some coffee, I can’t do this naturally.

The greatest achievement in my life has yet to come.

The most disappointing moment I have ever had was when I took a hard look and realized my whole plan for college and beyond was unrealistic – and I was still in my first semester. But I’m glad I was honest with myself because knowing that I didn’t know what I should do freed myself to try different things; and I’m sure it ultimately eliminated a lot of future misery.

I find inspiration all over the place. I make note of it, and then I never look at the note again. I guess the act of taking the note implants it in my mind or I wasn’t meant to remember it. Either that or my whole system is just flawed.

Perfect weather is whatever fits your mood. I love the heat but sometimes a cool rainy day just works.

If the apocalypse hits, I head to the airport and try to steal a plane. I want to have a cool view as it all goes down. I’ve heard landing is the hardest part of flying, but that won’t really be an issue.

If I was offered a free flight, I’m headed straight to Tokyo. That’s probably the most expensive ticket on my shortlist of trips and I want to get my free money’s worth.

The most inspirational person in my life doesn’t know that I think that about them.

The first camera I purchased was a little red plastic deal that took 110 film cartridges. Totally analog – just a shutter button, film advance wheel, and the viewfinder was a square piece of plastic on top that flipped up and down. I got it when I was 8, right before we moved to Scotland, and the first pictures I took were of the little church and cemetery that were in the middle of the tiny village we moved to. I’m still bummed that I haven’t been able to find any of those pictures in years.