---
The Artists
Peter VonDiest
---
William Hundley
---
Paul Moncus
---
Past Collaborating Artists
Stacey Farrar
July 13, 2007
Interview with Art
Stories Magazine on “The World is Making Us Look Bad”
Art Stories: Today we are talking with the artist Peter Van Diest, sometimes known as “Everyman”, about life, art, and everything.”
Peter VonDiest: I’m happy to be here, and thankful for this opportunity.
AS: First, could you tell us when and where you were born?
PVD: I don’t really think that is relevant any more. I don’t think our place of origin or time of conception carry as much importance as people believe they once did anymore, what with the melding of influences of culture and ideas made commonplace by electronic media.
AS: So you would rather not say?
PVD: I’d like to leave some easy work for the readers. They can Google me.
AS: Is that a way to boost your website ratings on Google.com?
PVD: Maybe, just more of a reflex at this point. I assume most people who read this will be reading it on my website already, except for your regular subscribers.
AS: Okay, on to the next question then. You’ve said before that you like to deal with “common man” themes in your work. Could you give us some examples of that?
PVD: Yes, I do try to deal with themes that I feel everyone may be able to relate to. I talk to a lot of people and look at a lot of art and literature. Some recurring themes I come across are confusion, fear, joy, humor, paranoia, which is kind of like a mixture of confusion and fear, anger or disgust, and desire. Some really strong ones I get drawn to are alienation and loneliness, atonement and forgiveness. Really, those last ones are the ones I am focusing on lately.
AS: Do you mean you are focusing on those in “Everyman Versus the World” and “The World is Making Us Look Bad”, your current installations and ongoing projects?
PVD: Yes, those are constantly on my mind when thinking about the Everyman projects. I have particularly been focusing on atonement and forgiveness, and a sub-conscious form of blame shifting, in “The World is Making Us Look Bad”.
AS: I see the concept of blame shifting arise in “The World is Making Us Look Bad” in several ways. One example I like is the installation of the automobile smoking a pack of cigarettes from its tailpipe. It’s like it’s not polluting enough on its own while running, that it needs to smoke a whole pack of cigarettes at a time while at rest. It is also rather humorous.
PVD: It is interesting to me that you said “on its own”, because that is one of the themes of this project. It can’t possible be our fault that the car pollutes as we drive it, or that it, as the cigarettes, were created by us, for us. The world is making us look bad after all. We’re just trying to get by.
AS: I like that you used a compact car instead of say, a Hummer.
PVD: I couldn’t afford a Hummer, or fit it in a gallery. Why use a sword when a knife will do? In addition, your average person doesn’t drive a Hummer.
AS: How do you arrive at these ideas? I know you once worked pretty much in isolation. Is that still the case?
PVD: Well, as you know I used to work more on my own. I found it to eventually be a bit limiting. I examined how I was working and found I tended to moralize and judge a bit more than I wanted to. I wanted to be more of the “Everyman”. I wanted to participate in the worlds I described. I needed to move from a third person perspective to a first person perspective.
AS: So did you start collaborating with other artists?
PVD: I did and still do, but not just artists, everyone. I talk to all the people I know about ideas I am kicking around. I try to distill an idea. I filter work through non-artists as much as artists, trying to get it to relate to as many people as possible. It is a tough battle, to create work that is interesting and challenging, yet still relates to a larger audience. It is called “Everyman” after all. At least that is what I want to do. I am not certain I have that yet, but I keep trying.
AS: That is a bit of a tall order for a conceptual artist.
PVD: I think we are all conceptual artists on a certain level. I mean we all start with a concept. I am definitely not an Impressionist, I suppose, but I love to draw, paint, photograph, whatever. I really use whatever I feel is appropriate to express a given concept. I also try to make the art as strong as possible technically whenever possible. If there is a medium I feel needs to be used, and I can’t execute it to the level I feel appropriate, I won’t hesitate to ask someone else to do it.
AS: Having more than just you execute the work actually adds to the “Everyman” concept of the piece, for me anyway.
PVD: That is the idea.
AS: You mentioned electronic media earlier. I assume you mean the internet and television and all. Do you get a lot of ideas and inspiration from the internet?
PVD: It is probably one of the most useful things in existence for me. I love that I can have an idea, get online, and see what else someone has thought about it. It doesn’t replace the real world, especially when experiencing some forms of art, but it does have its own unique way of representing art. It is sort of like how cheap art book printing in the early half of the 20th century made artwork visible to artists who would otherwise have no way of seeing it. Then those artists were influenced by the work they saw in books, and how they were printed was actually different from real life, so the way the artists that looked at those representations were influenced is different from how they would be influenced from the actual work. Not worse, just different. That is how I see the internet influencing us now. Not worse, just different.
AS: Do you see yourself developing artwork specifically for the internet.
PVD: I already do. I sometimes develop ideas that live natively online. I also like how my drawings look online. I don’t have to worry as much about color correctness, so they don’t lose as much.
AS: I have seen some of the drawings and photographs you use to plan out your ideas. Will there be any chance of seeing these in a gallery any time soon, alongside a piece?
PVD: I hope so. I approach every stage as its own independent work.
AS: Well, I need to catch a flight soon, so we will have to wrap this up. It has been a real pleasure talking to you today. Are there any last things you would like to add?
PVD: Just that I hope people will read this interview and send me ideas of how the world is making them, and all of us look bad. We are all in this together.