Interview with Artist Yanni Floros
Delighted to present my interview with the talented artist Yanni Floros. I first discovered his brilliant work and i knew that moment he will be my next artist spotlight. His style and detail work fascinated me i had to find more from the creative mastermind. Lucky me, he agreed to do an interview and here is the final result. Enjoy!
Can you please tell readers a bit about yourself.
I was born in Adelaide and moved to Sydney when I
was 16 and finished high school there. When I was 18 I entered art
school. Unfortunately I failed art school the first time round and took a
year off and applied again the year after. I spend the whole year off
by honing my drawing abilities by copying stroke for stroke every master
drawing I could get my hands on. This time I was able to finish my
degree and graduate as a sculpture major. It was at least 5 years before
I did anything with my art and started doing it part time in 2007. In
that time though I was always drawing or doing something involving art
in the background for myself. I moved back to Adelaide in 2010 for a
quieter life and to focus on my art full time.
What was your starting point as an artist, as well as specializing in charcoal drawing.
I've been
into drawing, painting and sculpting since I could remember and decided
to choose that as a way of life over the last few years. Charcoal has
always been something I was interested in doing but didn't focus on it
until 2-3 years ago. I like the way It can go from a deep black all the
way to white. It makes for great tonal range and leaves an excellent
effect on the page.
Artistically how have your grown, how different is it now compared to when you started.
I was always into technique
growing up. As I got better and discovered more things, I realized it
was never about building skill, It was about knowing myself. The more I
drew, the more I found out the way I solved issues. Once I realized that, then building skill became irrelevant and I got better as I knew
more about myself. As skill building has a limit, knowing yourself
doesn't.
Your works are very detail oriented, what is your creation process like
and what is the average time you spend working on a project?
I like detail. We miss a lot of it in a daily
lives because we only use the information that we need at any given
time. When you put even a small percentage of perceived reality on a
page the you realise how much there is to see.
I usually take a photo and work from that but I'm
not a slave to it. If you saw my photos and my drawings side by side,
you'd see the difference. The longest I've ever spent is 6 weeks on my
drawing 'Rescue Me', but usually anything from a week to a month.
How do you pick your subjects to draw.
Anything involving technology and how we use it.
A lot of people view technology as a tangible thing but it's actually a
thought process. You need something to help you, so you think of a way
to achieve that then build it. The DJ girls came about because I wanted
to represent music and it was far more interesting to draw an image of
beautiful long hair with elaborate clothes and high end headphones.
Does Australia influence your work?
That would have to be a yes.
If I wasn't born here and didn't have the experiences and saw the
things I did growing up, then I don't know what my art would be like.
Other countries have heavily influenced my work, like the art of Greece,
France and Italy.
Favorite spot in Australia.
Australia is such a beautiful place, I can't choose. I love all the cities I've been to for different reasons and equally.
What else are you passionate about besides art.
I love music as you could have probably guessed. Collecting books, all kinds including comics...
Where is your perfect working space/station and what is your working mode like?
My studio space isn't big but it's not small.
Just big enough to complete what I need to do. I usually get up in the
morning and start drawing, about 6-10 hours most days of the week.
In your opinion how will you define creativity.
Creativity is something we all have. How you go about using it in your life is all up to the individual and drive.
Top 3 visually inspiring movies.
Definitely the new Tron Legacy movie. Amazing.
The Matrix
The Fountain
I love Science fiction...
What do you like most about what you do.
The fact I get to do something I absolutely love
for a living. If it connects with people as well, then that's a bonus
and it helps push me to continue to produce better work.
