RAPID FIRE QUESTIONS WITH ~ ELIOT GREENWALD BY PABLO G. VILLAZAN
Hey guys! This week in “Rapid Fire Questions”, our good friend Pablo G. Villazan interviews self-taught visual artist, Eliot Greenwald. We find Eliot’s sculptures and paintings to be eye pleasing especially his Night Car drawings. You are drawn into his world that leaves you visioning yourself animated driving on that road staring into the sky screaming shit this is sick! - League
So, Ready! Set! Gooooooo!
Who is Eliot Greenwald?
A Human!
Did you always want to be an artist?
I’ve always been very inquisitive.
Where does your inspiration come from?
Continual approach with cautious optimism and quiet observation towards the kaleidoscopic variations within all things. Every facet of our reality is endowed with lessons and revelations that can lead to action or creation. Inspiration is in the spirit of all things. It takes a willingness to accept your imagination's power as a meaningful and relevant part of yourself to be inspired.
Which artists have the greatest influence on your work?
Margot Bird, Mike Taylor, Ryan Michael Ford, Matthew Wong, Huma Bhabha, David Altmejd, Bruegel, Stephen Shearer, Sarah Bramen.
What is your process to create your work?
My process is tangential. New series’ of work are often the result of an anomaly from a previous series. As for the creation of a single piece, the process is not unlike the view from your seat in a car at night. I know where I am going as far as the headlights can reach. I never know when the road is going to turn until I am turning on the road. And then, at some point, it’s over.
Is there something you can’t live without in your studio?
Water and food
What is the meaning behind your artwork?I thought these were rapid fire questions?
I guess that doesn’t necessarily mean rapid response, or entirely comprehensive for that matter. So here is an incomplete list of words and phrases: Transference of energy, phenomena, regeneration of life, endless bifurcation, paradox, mystery, and a car at night.
Imagine that your paintings could talk, what would they say about you?
(Whispers in an undefined language can be heard. Subtitles appear below paintings on the wall) “Hey Carl, why does it sometimes seem like amongst chaos, patterns appear? Isn’t the very nature of chaos non-patterned?” “Nigel, chaos over long enough periods of time can... oh wait, shhh, hang on a second. Here comes that pale entity with the curious smell.”
What advice would you give to your younger self?
I trust you, I love you, you will get where you are going.
Do you find the social channel’s influence Positive or Negative?
The result of participating in Instagram ( the only social media outlet I use) has been beneficial to my career as an artist, however, the damage social media outlets do to our collective unity and ability to communicate heart to heart is undeniably detrimental. I welcome the coming time when the fad of social media as we know it today is swallowed up.
Describe in 3 words how social channels affect you as an artist.
Look over there!
What is your dream project?
I am envisioning a life sized sculpture of Night Car. It will be an outdoor sculpture of the car from my recent paintings. The sculpture will be installed in between two trees on a gently sloping hill. The front left wheel will be on the ground and the rest of the car will elevate up towards the back, coming off of the ground, mimicking the perspective it is often seen in in many of my paintings. The windshield will be reflective. Two nearly identical planets will be visible in the windshield but they are subtle. The piece will be made of a steel frame, wooden body, and glass windows. The car will be hand painted.
