Dustin E. Parr of Fort Wayne, Indiana creates surreal and conceptual art with oil on canvas. Dustin’s surreal artwork consists of metaphors and mirrored allusions. He knew he was destined to be a painter the moment he first stretched a canvas. “Of course, I couldn’t have imagined what it meant to be an artist besides starving and sometimes going crazy in search of an ‘ideal’ beauty. I have discovered that art itself has a responsibility to the culture and community in the one found. created. “
Each canvas created by any artist is for Dustin his “reflection of the worldview, an opportunity to walk a mile in the footsteps and thoughts of others.”This is life and these are my eyes. My work strives to challenge the viewer’s attitude toward our shared world; to expand perception creating growth of the heart and mind. “
How long have you considered yourself an artist?
I was always told that an artist is someone who makes, exhibits, makes a profit, and calls himself art. Simple enough, but then we have to define the art itself. Art is a work made through human inventiveness and skill, both of which vary in quality. I would say then that the first time I was in an exhibition and sold a piece (an exhibition that I myself curated in a rather shameful way) was when I became an artist.
The first painting I finished now resides in a landfill somewhere in the Midwest (where it deserves to be in my opinion). It was a rose suspended in midair (for nothing) above a curtained stage. It was impasto and alla prima, to compensate for my heavy hand and my unfamiliarity with painting. I chose my images because they felt good, they felt honest. There was no real message or emotion he wanted to convey. It was simply a reflection of how he viewed life at the time. I imagine most artists would agree that looking at their high school painting class work is equivalent to looking at their awkward, acne-filled photos from the yearbook. Without downplaying the works themselves, some of them still hang in my house (although perhaps out of nostalgia). I loved every second of exploring opacity, color theory and composition for the first time, but all these decisions were subconscious, I stopped when something ‘seemed right’. He had no real knowledge of what it meant technically to create art. Learning to do these things on purpose is the reason I went to art school, a fantastic way to boost professionalism in any job.
What inspires your art?
Usually I let my mind wander until I find an idea abstract and relevant enough to turn into a visual image. Pages and pages of graphics, free writing, and squiggles fill my sketchbook. Then I just flip through the pages until I can come up with a concrete idea and refine the idea until I’m comfortable starting to paint. I try to live in a constant state of perspective of encompassing art, or Gesamtkunstwerk. If I am consumed by art, almost everything I create will come from an honest place, regardless of the quality of the work. It inspires me to make art because I am; so I see fit that my concepts are also inspired by my place in this world.
What does your art mean to you, what are you transmitting?
I treat my art like a journal. My images become permanent records in the history of thoughts, dreams, and interpretations that would otherwise be fleeting. I try to force my viewer’s attention beyond fantasy and into the flesh of the concept. My main intentions are social evolution and the creation of a philosophical consciousness indirectly through imaginative and pleasant images.
Creative process, from start to finish:
My creative process begins by writing one page of many different lists that I make in the forms of psychic automatism. On the next page, I “connect the dots” and outline the ironies and ideas that I think are worth exploring. Then I begin to associate images with these ideas in my mind, creating scenes and deciding which will be the most effective or dynamic when translated onto paper. From that decision, the creative process becomes the “technical” process. After all decisions are made regarding a work’s palette, composition, and themes, it becomes a building block filled with layer after layer of trial and error, as well as trial and success. In the “hands-on” part of creation, I see the process as a series of the best possible decisions among the available options. Your creation options steadily decrease as you work until you are left with a finished, framed piece, and there are no more creative options.
Do you have any regrets in your life as an artist?
When I was an art student, reading about the Van Gogh madness and the romantic stories of the alcoholic and lonely lives of contemporary artists living in Bohemia, I accepted this role, which turns out to be my only regret for being an artist. Networking is more important now than ever, and becoming an artist isn’t just about creating work in the most masterful way possible. There is a ‘face’ or a person to build, an artist is responsible to the public because our message in our work is public. My regret is not jumping into the public eye as quickly as I could have, although I did learn a lot about my work over time spent in what I thought was a necessary meditative isolation during creation.
Tell me more about how to bring your art to the public.
I started a series of annual programs called “Formality Apart: Bringing Culture Home”. This is intended to return to the halls of the ancient Chinese and 17th century French tradition. I take a house that someone has volunteered and turn it into a gallery space, and host a gala / reception for shows geared toward Socratic discussion. Artists are invited to discuss their personal views on our culture. The purpose of these exhibitions is to recover and redefine our society in our homes and in everyday life with ideas and companionship. Art exists because we exist, and that is how we progress as a civilization. Our art is our culture; we can make it what we want it to be.
What I am proposing with these shows is a movement to remember that a place to talk about today’s important issues is not on a campus somewhere. Not all advancements come from a laboratory, but from our own minds and conversations. The ideas needed to move our culture forward can be propagated in the rooms of our own homes. These exhibitions try to demonstrate the importance of this perspective, in addition to serving to remind us that culture belongs to us and is what we make of it individually. Combined, our actions become more than personal decisions, they become culture.
How do you sell your works of art?
Aside from the normal online sales techniques for prints, ebay, deviantart, etc., I sell most of my work through local venues. Contacting businesses and hanging artwork on their walls is a great way to advertise and make sales to people you would never have met on your own. Through sales like these, I have found commissions for paintings, murals, drawings, and sculptures. The best thing about my art is that patrons often give me a vague idea and allow me the details. From time to time I will get a specific commission, but I always find a way to turn it to my liking.