Who are you?

I was born in Chicago and grew up in the city and then the suburbs. Probably, as has been the case with many artists, as a child I was given positive encouragement about what I did creatively. Whether it was true or not, at a young age if an adult tells you you are good at something you tend to believe it. So when teachers and family members would tell me how much they thought of my work I was convinced that I was an artist. I confirmed it to myself when around this impressionable age of 5, I drew a picture of my father that looked exactly like him. I couldn’t believe it, I must be an artist, or at least someone who could transfer what I saw in reality to a 2 dimensional surface. As I got older I became more skilled, with an increasing desire to make stuff. This trait was obviously innate in my DNA. I instinctively enjoyed creating things, inventing, building, drawing, whatever – I liked to make things, it didn’t matter what. 

Can you describe the creation process of your art?

I think about the making of art in a number of different ways. There is the element of nature, what you are born with in both the physical and mental aspects of life. Then as you age you need to decide what to do with those abilities to make sense and purpose out of your life. I always try to make sense out of reality, to see things clearly and not shy away from the truth of things, to make sense of things so life works. In a way for me my art is like personal psychotherapy, a way to understand my own contrarian personality.

As I developed my skills I always found myself trying to tell a story. A lot of it was sort of a running narration of my own existence. But I would always try to make the story have some sort of metaphorical meaning. I want the viewer to be encouraged to ponder the image and have it impart some value of thought regardless of whether that thought was what I as the artist intended.

What mediums do you use for your artwork?

Over the years I have experimented with many types of material besides just oil paint in my paintings such as tar, paper, wood, maps, glass, enamel, and acrylic paint.

I have played with photoshop as a way to manipulate source images for my paintings but recently I have been creating digital images as a finished product. I don’t use any particular brand of products - just whatever I can get my hands on. I still use oil paints that I have had for 40 years.

How do you overcome a creative block?

Whenever I run into a creative block I just keep working with my hands and mind on SOMETHING. When I was younger I would turn to the renovation of buildings as an outlet for my need to create. Sometimes that transition lasted for years but I always worked with the concept that whatever I was doing would lead back to the studio. I have never been an academic in the sense that I did not pursue a teaching career. Since painting is an isolated endeavor I involve myself with the community organizations in my neighborhood as a means to stay connected. Those experiences have a value all their own in helping shape the community environment in which I live.

What advice would you give to other artists that you’ve learned in your own practice?

The only advise I would offer is to always move forward, keep working at something, and embrace it 100%. Try anything and everything that comes to mind because eventually it all starts to make sense. It’s a marathon not a sprint.  

How do you enable people to connect to your work?

Singular and unique story telling, not illustrations of the famous or the currently topical newsie subject matter. That’s what makes for a powerful, timeless, and important narrative. There is a narrative tightrope to be walked. With less common storylines that connect collective understanding, it is more difficult now to find easily recognizable imagery that carries metaphorical power that most people would understand with out becoming hokey or glib. 

To view more of Ira Upin’s work

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