Chris DeCoux
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| Nothing wants to suffer. All images are courtesy of the artist. |
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| Chris DeCoux, the artist |
Hey hi Chris! I am thrilled to have this chance to share your story with the readers. Let's jump in-
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ChC - What do you love about making art?
CD- For me, art is about curiosity. It’s about exploration and problem solving. The outcome of a project may end up being light years away from the original concept I began with and in that way, it becomes a living thing. It has its own unexpected back story along with the scars from mistakes and growth just like me. Just like all of us.
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| Unfulfilled Wishes |
Which mediums do you like working with the most? What are some of the more unusual ones you've used?
CD- I have a deep love affair with garbage. At least what others consider to be garbage. Once, when I was 8 or 9, I found the dumpster in the trailer park that I grew up in, filled to the top with bowling trophies. While bowling held little interest to me, the hoard of metal, plastic and marble may as well have been gold. I scavenged whatever I could carry home on my bike and hid my treasure under the porch behind my home. As a kid with only a few participation trophies of my own to show, I could not believe that someone could throw away what seemed like a lifetime’s worth of achievements. At that young age, it called into question how I valued the objects around me and more importantly how other people valued them.
When I paint, I like to use left over house paint and saw dust along with my store-bought acrylics. When I’m sculpting, I’ll dig to the bottom of the scrap pile to find interesting pieces before I go to the steel yard. Plastic shopping bags, glass bottles, rusty bolts; it’s all up for grabs.
Most recently, I've been mixing reclaimed house paint with saw dust and drywall mud to make a thick paste. When applied to a rigid painting surface, it splits and cracks revealing layers underneath.
What do you love about that?
CD- Working in found and reclaimed materials feels like having a secret that no one else has figured out. I think it speaks to the bargain hunter in me. Aside from the joy of rescuing something bound for a landfill, when I come across a unique object or material that sparks an idea, it feels like stumbling across a once in a lifetime bargain.
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| Creature Comforts |
How do you evaluate your work?
CD- When evaluating my work, I’m looking for a lack of intention. If the final piece looks exactly like it did in my head before I started, then I probably didn’t learn anything new. It’s hard for me to do, but by relinquishing control and staying in dialogue with the material, I can be surprised by the outcome. It’s rare that I am ever disappointed by those results.
Where is your studio, and what is your primary work area?
CD- Since graduating, I primarily work from home. Larger projects in the garage and painting in a back bedroom. The hope was that if I could settle on a specific medium or artform, I could then begin looking for a studio space outside the house that best suits my needs, but realistically my practice is all over the place and right now, that’s fine by me.
What clues or questions do you use to select an idea to invest time and resources?
CD- Ideas kind of come and go depending on my mood or what materials are at hand. Those don’t hold my interest for too long, and I may write them down to revisit later. Sometimes, though, an idea comes along that really sticks with me. I have little control over that decision making process and it feels more like a catchy tune that gets stuck in my head. I’ll roll it around for a while just playing with it until it becomes an itch that I have to scratch and that’s when the exploration begins. I’ll do research and sketch out ideas. Think about it before I go to sleep and talk about it with my wife. Then, when I’m ready to execute on that idea, I have built up an excitement for it that will carry me through to the end...hopefully.
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| AloneTogether |
About your work: what do you hope people notice the most?
CD- I hope people view my work with the same curiosity I felt while making it. I don’t fully understand what I'm making all the time, so I don’t expect anyone to come away with a complete picture of my intentions. I think ambiguity is a wonderful tool for the artist. Not to be vague and aloof but, to leave some mystery to revisit over and over.
What is your favorite guilty pleasure? 😉
CD- Audio books. I love a good book (bad ones too), but I’ve never been able to sit still for extended periods of time to enjoy them. With audio books, my hands can stay busy all day.
I’m currently on a horror kick and have worked my way through half the Stephen King catalogue.
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| Honor Thy Mistakes |
How do you define success as a creative? How do you hold yourself accountable?
CD- I’ll know if a piece is successful when I cannot pull myself away from it. I have to make a conscious decision to stop poking at it and let it be. Even then I will steal peeks at it before leaving for work or going to bed like somehow other hands created it and I’m trying to figure it out for myself. If I’m engaged with my own work at that level, then I know it’s a winner.
When do you discuss things with your inner critic?
Always. Everyday. World without end. Amen. 😉
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| American Beauty |
What advice do you have about throwing away work?
CD- Keep everything! You may rediscover something you have forgotten about and once considered a failure. Look at it with new eyes and that may lead you down a path you hadn't considered previously.
If it is an issue of storage space in the studio, at least take the time to document everything before disposing of it. I take pictures of all my finished work along with in-process photos and all the doodles along the way. Who knows how many ideas I’ve lost on the back of receipts or the margins of a notebook over the years?
All your ideas have value and purpose, even the bad ones. Keeping them around to revisit can give you new inspirations or at the very least provide benchmarks to which you can measure your growth as an artist.
"As an artist and a maker, if I am not pushing myself and my work forward, then I am not learning." -- Chris
What would you tell other artists when they get frustrated with a project?
CD- When I feel stuck or painted into a corner, I have to give myself a hard reboot. I completely disengage with what I am stuck on and turn my attention to something unrelated. Sometimes it’s as easy as taking a couple of hours to cook a meal or take a walk. For the really stressful stuff, though, I have to walk away. I’ll give myself as much time as I can afford away from the project, trying to completely put it out of my mind. The idea is that when I return to it in a couple of days or weeks, I’ll see it from the outside, brand new. The flaws become less glaring; the strengths more apparent. I can then re-engage with the work as a series of problems to solve having let the emotions tied to those problems time to cool.
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| Gentlemen Choose Your Weapon |
Who are your creative influences, and whose work are you admiring now?
CD- I have been working with local sculptor Russell Whiting as his assistant since graduating. It’s been energizing working alongside someone whose practice is vastly different from my own. Seeing how dedicated he is to his daily artistic practice and the speed at which he executes an idea has truly inspired me to set aside the mental roadblocks I create for myself and build my own creative routine.
How can people follow you and your work?
CD- I share most of my work on Instagram for now and can be contacted through there:
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| Frenchman's Creek |
What would you like people to know that I haven't asked?
CD- For an exceedingly long time, I spent a lot of energy avoiding failure. Some things came easy to me and instead of seeking out the things that did not, I rested on my skillset. It was unfulfilling and even when I had some financial success, I had the feeling like something was missing. I still have difficulty getting out of my own way sometimes but can recognize it and find a way to move past it. As an artist and a maker, if I am not pushing myself and my work forward, then I am not learning.
I can't thank you enough for taking time out of your schedule to talk with me Chris. I'm cheering for you. Please come back whenever you have something to share with the ChC audience!
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| You'd Be Prettier If You Smiled More |
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| Just Passing Through |
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