BLAINE FONTANA
Interview by Katya Guseva
What was the very first creative act you can remember yourself being engaged in?
Drawing storyboards and action sequences of stunts we would do as kids for home movies. We used refrigerator boxes and mattresses to create homemade airbags to jump off our houses.
Is there one ultimate message you’re trying to convey with your art?
Humanity and it’s relationship with nature, or the lack there of. I don’t feel my work needs to portray an ultimate message, I paint literal elements juxtaposed together to create an ambiguous story that can invoke a range of emotions. It seems I never consider the consequences of how the work will be perceived, it’s more important to create how I feel, and to share my artwork with humanity. After a piece is finished, I have my moment with it, but it no longer belongs to me. It’s better appreciated by the masses than for me to let it collect dust and be proud of what I created.
How did the term “Templing” come about and what does it mean to you personally?
Its a marriage of two words, temple and being. I needed a word to classify my creatures or the mythtalkers in my paintings. I felt it was necessary to paint humanesque characters so that the viewer and I can have an engaging discussion with the painting and feel alienated from the surreal nature of my work. Commonly, they act as 2D shamans performing the narrative of the piece.
