12.23.12
Illustrations: Darby Hudson
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12.21.12: Interview: Darby Hudson
Darby Hudson is the author of the delightful eBook 'WALK', which New York Times best selling author Bradley Trevor Greive called "Strangely beautiful... Each page seems to move and sway." He is the producer of handmade books like 'BETWEEN THE BETWEENS', as part of the Sticky Institute, and his writing and artwork has appeared in "The Best Australian Poems 2012" His cartoons, illustrations and words continue to be featured in publications at home and abroad, onlline and offline.
Marguerite Avenue: Why do you create?
Darby Hudson: Neurosis. It's just to entertain myself, and a way through which to view the world and continue to see its magic, and maybe help others see it, too.
MA: Has that always been the reason?
DH: No. To begin with, I created stuff because I thought I was good at it and it was who I was - a form of identity. That's how people recognized me when I was younger and how I recognized myself. Now when I'm not creating, I'm still just me. I don't feel vulnerable or naked without creating. I realize I'm still just boring old me. With or without my art and writing. So when I'm not making stuff, I'm living it in an interesting way.
MA: Your work is intriguing – it is a little bit scary, definitely imaginative, slyly funny. There is a sense of being transported, or invited into an alternate reality – yet this environment you create is grounded in this world, too. Any comment on this?
DH: I'm attracted to darkness (not in a morbid way). I don't think you can open a door to another world without having the beginning/exit point in some form of drab reality. Crazy weirdness for the sake of it (in an alternate reality) doesn't seem to work unless there's something pretty normal, predictable and average to define it against.
MA: Do you know where your imagination comes from?
DH: I was bored as a kid, so that's how I entertained myself! And I was always impressed by the works Michael Leunig, Charles Bukowski and David Lynch. They all have the same message to say, but just do it in their own voice - their own world. I guess I wanted my own world to exist in this world, too!
MA: The work has a strong sense of narrative in it – many are framed like snapshots of a drama. Are there stories in your mind when you make your art?
DH: I like to see the poetry in things. And I like the idea of making the unconscious stuff, conscious. There's a great satisfaction in grabbing an idea by the tail before it swims off into the blackness in the back of the head. And I feels like you get to live longer simply by making or creating.
MA: What symbolic elements do you feel an affinity towards?
DH: I love trees. And almost all natural elements. They bring a strange calmness and recharge me.
MA: What do you think about when you are working on an image?
DH: I'm not really thinking about anything in particular. I usually want work to exist really quickly. People always say it's harder to actually make something than dream it up. That there's a lot of extremely talented people who just can't be bothered executing their idea. That's why I find this bit hard. It feels like work. Dreaming it up is the fun bit.
MA: How long does it take you to complete an image?
DH: I'm quite lazy. So I've tried to turn this into a positive. I make stuff quite quickly - so my laziness is kind of my style now. People call it 'loose and free', when really it's just 'lazy'. But I try to keep this a secret.
MA: Do you incorporate mistakes, or chance into your images?
DH: As often as I can! I think it's really important to let happy accidents happen. And this is further to my laziness too. Mistakes area part of being lazy. Recently, I was writing a poem in a park and a dog whimpered from inside a parked car somewhere. So wrote this into the poem immediately and it lifted the entire poem up a few notches - because logically in the poem, it seems to come from nowhere, but it ads to it and makes complete sense. So I like inviting and letting foreign entities immediately around me enter onto the page.
MA: You started doing cartoons and other illustrative work, mainly in black and white – over time your technique became more photographic and complex -- what draws you to these colorful fantastic type illusions?
DH: I used to love cartoons and humour. But slowly, and over time, I've found a combination of illustrations and poems seems to work best for me. I liked the naive, loose style. I love the look of kids work. I liked that I could come close to achieving this with cartoons. Over fifteen years, I feel like I have just kept on digging, trying to find a combination of elements that work for me. I'm still not sure I've arrived at what I'd call my 'style'. But I'm closer.
MA: What is the role of color in your work?
DH: I don't really put to much thought into colour.
MA: How does the environment you live in integrate into your work?
DH: I love writing in parks or around trees. And I love letting what's around me enter into my work. I almost always work without a ceiling over my head. I feel like I'm blocking off the zeitgeist or the collective unconscious thoughts of the world with a roof covering my head. It's nice to have the sky right above me.
MA: Are you affected by the seasons?
DH: Seasons are all like different worlds. When they change, the smells and light of each season brings back memories, a sense of sweet sadness and nostalgia for the first few days.
MA: A viewer could see the dark in your work as not totally oppressive. Sometimes it seems to be comforting, or funny. What do you think?
DH: I'm attracted to shadows and the dark. It's where magic seems to happen.
MA: What about the carnival theme/ images? Any inspiration of that from real life, and going through fun-house, or carnival?
DH: Not really any inspiration from carnivals. I have seen images of half submerged carnivals in the ocean - there's something apocalyptic and beautiful about them.
MA: What can we learn from things that are scary, or uncomfortable?
DH: Everyone is having a great old time on Facebook - their best life is on show. It's never uncomfortable and it's always a pleasure. Sometimes I feel like my stuff might be reacting to this 'best life on show' thing. There's too much of it and it's really dangerous that there is.
MA: What have you been working on lately?
DH: I've been working on a bunch of illustrated poems. And possibly a kids book.
MA: And what is happening next?
DH: I'm not sure. I'll just keep on making stuff. Reading stuff. And be the audience of life, just as much as a maker of things.
Marguerite Avenue: Why do you create?
Darby Hudson: Neurosis. It's just to entertain myself, and a way through which to view the world and continue to see its magic, and maybe help others see it, too.
MA: Has that always been the reason?
DH: No. To begin with, I created stuff because I thought I was good at it and it was who I was - a form of identity. That's how people recognized me when I was younger and how I recognized myself. Now when I'm not creating, I'm still just me. I don't feel vulnerable or naked without creating. I realize I'm still just boring old me. With or without my art and writing. So when I'm not making stuff, I'm living it in an interesting way.
MA: Your work is intriguing – it is a little bit scary, definitely imaginative, slyly funny. There is a sense of being transported, or invited into an alternate reality – yet this environment you create is grounded in this world, too. Any comment on this?
DH: I'm attracted to darkness (not in a morbid way). I don't think you can open a door to another world without having the beginning/exit point in some form of drab reality. Crazy weirdness for the sake of it (in an alternate reality) doesn't seem to work unless there's something pretty normal, predictable and average to define it against.
MA: Do you know where your imagination comes from?
DH: I was bored as a kid, so that's how I entertained myself! And I was always impressed by the works Michael Leunig, Charles Bukowski and David Lynch. They all have the same message to say, but just do it in their own voice - their own world. I guess I wanted my own world to exist in this world, too!
MA: The work has a strong sense of narrative in it – many are framed like snapshots of a drama. Are there stories in your mind when you make your art?
DH: I like to see the poetry in things. And I like the idea of making the unconscious stuff, conscious. There's a great satisfaction in grabbing an idea by the tail before it swims off into the blackness in the back of the head. And I feels like you get to live longer simply by making or creating.
MA: What symbolic elements do you feel an affinity towards?
DH: I love trees. And almost all natural elements. They bring a strange calmness and recharge me.
MA: What do you think about when you are working on an image?
DH: I'm not really thinking about anything in particular. I usually want work to exist really quickly. People always say it's harder to actually make something than dream it up. That there's a lot of extremely talented people who just can't be bothered executing their idea. That's why I find this bit hard. It feels like work. Dreaming it up is the fun bit.
MA: How long does it take you to complete an image?
DH: I'm quite lazy. So I've tried to turn this into a positive. I make stuff quite quickly - so my laziness is kind of my style now. People call it 'loose and free', when really it's just 'lazy'. But I try to keep this a secret.
MA: Do you incorporate mistakes, or chance into your images?
DH: As often as I can! I think it's really important to let happy accidents happen. And this is further to my laziness too. Mistakes area part of being lazy. Recently, I was writing a poem in a park and a dog whimpered from inside a parked car somewhere. So wrote this into the poem immediately and it lifted the entire poem up a few notches - because logically in the poem, it seems to come from nowhere, but it ads to it and makes complete sense. So I like inviting and letting foreign entities immediately around me enter onto the page.
MA: You started doing cartoons and other illustrative work, mainly in black and white – over time your technique became more photographic and complex -- what draws you to these colorful fantastic type illusions?
DH: I used to love cartoons and humour. But slowly, and over time, I've found a combination of illustrations and poems seems to work best for me. I liked the naive, loose style. I love the look of kids work. I liked that I could come close to achieving this with cartoons. Over fifteen years, I feel like I have just kept on digging, trying to find a combination of elements that work for me. I'm still not sure I've arrived at what I'd call my 'style'. But I'm closer.
MA: What is the role of color in your work?
DH: I don't really put to much thought into colour.
MA: How does the environment you live in integrate into your work?
DH: I love writing in parks or around trees. And I love letting what's around me enter into my work. I almost always work without a ceiling over my head. I feel like I'm blocking off the zeitgeist or the collective unconscious thoughts of the world with a roof covering my head. It's nice to have the sky right above me.
MA: Are you affected by the seasons?
DH: Seasons are all like different worlds. When they change, the smells and light of each season brings back memories, a sense of sweet sadness and nostalgia for the first few days.
MA: A viewer could see the dark in your work as not totally oppressive. Sometimes it seems to be comforting, or funny. What do you think?
DH: I'm attracted to shadows and the dark. It's where magic seems to happen.
MA: What about the carnival theme/ images? Any inspiration of that from real life, and going through fun-house, or carnival?
DH: Not really any inspiration from carnivals. I have seen images of half submerged carnivals in the ocean - there's something apocalyptic and beautiful about them.
MA: What can we learn from things that are scary, or uncomfortable?
DH: Everyone is having a great old time on Facebook - their best life is on show. It's never uncomfortable and it's always a pleasure. Sometimes I feel like my stuff might be reacting to this 'best life on show' thing. There's too much of it and it's really dangerous that there is.
MA: What have you been working on lately?
DH: I've been working on a bunch of illustrated poems. And possibly a kids book.
MA: And what is happening next?
DH: I'm not sure. I'll just keep on making stuff. Reading stuff. And be the audience of life, just as much as a maker of things.
About the Author:
![]() Darby Hudson is a writer and illustrator who lives in Melbourne, Australia. His work has appeared in greeting cards, magazines, newspapers, billboards, and department store windows. His handmade books appear in San Francisco, Paris, and Vancouver.
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