THESIS INTERVIEW
JACOB MANDEL (J)
WILL COMER (W)
W) So Iʼll start with my influences. I like Dali a lot to start off with, I used to really be into
surrealism... I still am, but I donʼt see myself doing that as much as I used to. Iʼm very
much into creating narratives, Iʼm interested in character studies, and I always make
humor in my work. Like this one here is me making fun of “guido” culture and sort of
melding animalistic qualities with humans. So two bro-y guys are toasting... So I really
like to do funny things, and Iʼm really interested in portraying society and culture.... With
people, for instance this is a painting I did, itʼs an homage to byzantine icon painting. I
purposefully wanted it to be bright and colorful... I was thinking along the lines of Jesus
if underwater creatures worshipped Jesus Christ. So if there were to be an underwater
monument to Jesus Christ, I was trying to make “Crab Jesus”... He has a crab claw and
thats coral reef in the background...
J) Thatʼs fucking awesome, what made you choose to be more abstracted? The coral
reef could of been very detailed but what made you choose to be more abstract about
it?
W) Well actually the original painting started off with the background and I painted over
that. Originally it was a couch which I painted in weird colors and thought “I kinda like
that, itʼs like an underwater painting” So I started off and added to it a lot and just liked
the way it looks.... More abstract, more vague, more for the imagination... I do like photo
realism but there is something about a mix of abstraction and realism that I get into.
This one is more of a political type thing. I was looking at Goya a lot at the time. Iʼm also
a political science major so I used to care about politics and money...
J) Used to care?
W) Yeah, Now I donʼt really think itʼs important anymore.
J) What changed your mind? If youʼre a political science major than you must still have
some involvement in it unless your dropping it...
W) Iʼm not dropping it I personally think that contemporary politics are just shit. I donʼt
really care to follow it... Itʼs very frustrating to me to read the news and everything... Iʼd
much rather learn about people and emotions and why people do certain things. Iʼm
much more interested in the philosophical aspect of humanity as opposed to pointless
politics that never seem to change and keep repeating themselves
J) Ever get into Zeitgeist?
W) Not so much but I might
J) You should check it out, theyʼre against the monetary system and things like that, itʼs
interesting...
W) Well thats what this is about, the people are supposed to be corrupted by big
business... That sort of things... Sort of selling your soul....
J) Did you make this piece before or after you decided you didnʼt like poli-sci anymore?
W) *Laughs*, before that.
J) So this is kind of a transition into moving away form that?
W) Yeah definitely moving away from that... But the problem is you canʼt really remove
politics from anything.
J) Yeah, especially money. You canʼt really remove that from anything.
W) Yeah, right, exactly. So with my new work Iʼm planning on doing an animation,
something critiquing society that involves a lot of humor.... I donʼt want to give too much
information about it because itʼs for thesis and itʼs still in the works... Iʼll just leave it at
that, that Iʼm going more in the direction of digital media.
J) Definitely check out Zeitgeist, some of their stuff is kinda of all over the place but...
W) Wait is this, an Art movement?
J) No itʼs a political movement, but they do a lot about the Federal Reserve and money.
A lot of it is sort of opinionated and one-sided but they have a lot of really interesting
views and it seems like it would be right up your alley.
W) Hmm, okay. Interesting.
J) Could you point out particular things that drew you to political science in the first
place that maybe is drawing you away now?
W) Well I was mostly interested in the theory aspect originally, and thatʼs one of the
reasons I decided to do paintings... Usually it would take me a week to decided what I
wanted to paint... You know I would actually think about a theory or an idea or
something with meaning to me, I wouldnʼt just paint something because it looked pretty.
So I wanted to actually have something important. Thatʼs one of the reasons I donʼt like
painting here, because you only have like 2 weeks to do a painting so Iʼd never finish it
on time, itʼs tough.
J) Alright, so is that all the painting stuff you have?
W) Yeah, I have some stuff on illustrator, this is kind of the look Iʼm trying for with the
animation. Kind of a sega-genesis type of background. All of these are going to be
moving in different directions... Switching and moving...
J) What influenced that shift? Not just away from painting but that aesthetic you have
going on there is drastically different than your other work.
W) I never really like doing the same thing twice I love moving forward. I had a
realization that I try to do different things all the time... Itʼs boring to be repetitive. I hate
how teachers encourage you to develop a style, Iʼm firmly against that. I think you
should develop a style and then change it, and then keep on getting new styles. I see
no reason why we should stick with the same thing... Look at Miles Davis, heʼs adapted
so much musically throughout time, same thing with Pablo Picasso, he did so many
styles of artwork.
J) How does your approach to painting differ from your approach to your digital stuff?
You said you might spend a week thinking about a concept for your painting, so what
about the digital works?
W) Right, well the digital stuff I spend the most time actually thinking about a narrative
with characters and ideas... I want my thesis to have a narrative and a message, to
have a philosophy of itʼs own. Iʼm really influenced by Monty Python and thatʼs the type
of stuff I like to do. I think it really works more with my knack for writing and I prefer that
sort of thing to painting... I think itʼs very hard to convey a message through painting.
J) Well most of your work is political satire....
W) Yeah most of it is political satire... This is more social but you cant really separate
the two.
J) Yeah, but what sort of themes are you aiming for with your animations? Aesthetically
and conceptually?
W) I just want it to be funny and to play with ideas of pop culture. Iʼm specifically being
vague because thereʼs a lot of room to change.
J) Are you still going to continue with your Illustration work?
W) Yeah Iʼm planning on doing graphic design to support myself. Itʼs fun and not too
difficult...
J) So you mentioned some influences before, what draws you to surrealism? Because a
lot of your work, even your digital stuff sounds surrealistic
W) It has a surreal aspect. I like the possibilities, theyʼre really endless. You can direct
them to things that are literal, you can direct them to things that are not literal. You can
be political or try as hard as you can to not be political. I also really like the concept of
being random, I think that can really work to your benefit as well.
J) With your paintings, do you prefer oil, or acrylic, or something else?
W) I actually only use oil, I havenʼt used acrylic since Freshman year. I really like adding
and taking away and that continual back and forth. With the background for instance,
certain parts have tons of layers, I really like the concept of painting over things. My
favorite part of this painting is this hand. It has all this interesting texture and color.
J) When youʼre choosing your color palette, what do you do to make those decisions?
W) Well I was trying to make these people look very robotic. I used some pinks and
blues and a lot of gray and then contrasted that with the central figure which is bright
and vibrant. I guess thatʼs to show attraction...
J) Yeah, to go back to that “Sea Jesus”, I thought it was interesting that you took a
painting of something as boring as a couch and you put this very highly regarded figure
on top of it.... Just that in itself is a very interesting concept to think about.
W) Oh yeah also when I paint I tend to use more line... I consider myself more of an
illustrator. If you look closely I use more lines of color. I donʼt really make blocks of color
like they teach you in Abstract Art. Mason Gross really pushes that...
J) Yeah thatʼs what weʼre known for, like capital “A” abstract.
W) Yeah I mean this is pretty abstract... Rembrandt is pretty abstract in his own way.
J) I wouldnʼt call it Abstract, Iʼd say itʼs abstracted, with a lower case “a”.
W) There you go! Thereʼs a difference between Abstract and abstracted.
J) Do you think you specifically chose to paint over that painting conceptually? Like is
there something there you can really read into or do you just like it?
W) Well originally there was a different figure here but I really didnʼt like it so I thought
“Let me just paint over this, itʼs pretty nice and central. Iʼll make it a wacky Jesus” and
then the narrative developed as I painted it.... As opposed to this one which had a
predetermined concept.
J) Thatʼs interesting that you developed this during the painting as opposed to planning
it ahead like you said earlier. Do you think that gets across better than something you
would plan out preemptively?
W) I have no idea, thatʼs a really good question. Iʼve talked to lots of people about them
and some like this one better, some like that one, I think it depends on the person.
J) Well I mean, which one do you like better?
W) Oh well it doesnʼt really matter what I think, Iʼm just the artist.
*both laugh*
