Interview with Troy Bunch
1. Please tell us something about your background and your art journey so far.
I think I really started to become interested in creating art when I was a young teen. While I’d never had an art lesson, I found I was pretty good at drawing and painting. I won a couple of art contests and was named “best artist” upon graduation from high school. I started college with science as my major and art as my minor but dropped out within a year because I was offered a full time job creating illustrations and graphics for training and educational programs. After doing this for a few years I moved me and my family around the country for progressively better positions. I worked full time, did some freelance jobs and got my BA and MA by attending college after work. I eventually ended up in the Washington DC area where I was a Visual Communications Director until I decided to set up my own studio and work for myself as a full time fine artist.
2. Describe what a normal day looks like as an artist.
Of course, the artists’ workday is pretty solitary. I get up early and immediately go to my studio and check my computer for “art calls” and submit my paintings for those that have close deadlines. This is also one of the best times for me to paint because it is quiet and the world really hasn’t woken up yet. Throughout the day I take care of all those things that need to be taken care of in life, but try to commit about six to eight hours to my work, which includes both actually painting and all the other stuff that artists need to do.
3. Can you tell us more about the theme in your art and your inspiration?
At a very young age I was really into reading science fiction and fantasy. I remember admiring some of the cover illustrations so much that I would sometimes buy the book for just the cover art and wouldn’t even read it. I got much of my inspiration from the illustrators that did cover art for science fiction and fantasy books I read when I was young, like Frazetta and Michael Whelan, but also from other artists like Dali, Olivia, Magritte and Frida Kahla. Because of the admiration I had for their work I emulated a lot of their styles and themes.
4. How does your art life impact other parts of your life?
Well, if I’m not thinking about my next painting, I’m often times going to shows and exhibitions, updating online sites, admiring other’s art, etc, etc. In other words being an artist is interwoven into nearly all aspects of my life in one way or another. Of course I do other things that don’t involve my art, but it is always there in the background.
5. Could you share any difficulties and hardships you had to face in life and how or if you managed/overcame them?
I really didn’t have any extreme difficulties in my life. I see the suffering around the world and consider myself as having been very fortunate. I always had a roof over my head and food on the table. Of course, everyone has some sort of difficulties and hardships in their life; I think this is unavoidable. If I had to point to the one thing that affected me most negatively it would be the relationship I had with my father. He was a pretty hateful man. He beat me and never gave me any encouragement or compliments. I didn’t like him and was scared of him. My solution to this was leaving as soon as I possibly could. Fortunately I was able to do this.
6. Tell us about your best experience in the art world so far.
Receiving a couple of art awards when I was very young was very cool, but selling my first piece of art was an even more exciting event for me, and it is still always great to get into a juried exhibitions or having my work showcased in publications like Goddessarts Magazine.
7. Share your worst experience in the art world.
I really don’t have a single worst experience in the art world. Of course I’m always a bit disappointed when I don’t get into shows, and I naturally get upset with myself when my work is not coming out the way I want it to. Also, I had a couple of pieces of my art stolen from an art show many years ago – I was most upset with the gallery that allowed this to happen. None of these are that bad, so I consider myself lucky.
8. What practical advice can you give to fellow artists?
I wish someone would have told me this when I was starting out. Do not let anyone’s opinion of your work affect what you are creating or how you create it. For every person who gives you negative feedback there are many others that will tell you how great your work is – you just may have not met these people yet. I brought a painting to a gallery to hopefully have them display my work. Like most of my work the main subject was a nude. The rest of the painting consisted of plants, flowers and trees. The gallery rep told me that the painting would be great, and it sell if only I had left out the nude figure. I left and ended up having it exhibited somewhere else where it sold almost immediately. Just do what you are inspired to do and don’t let anyone convince you to change.
9. Is the artist life lonely? Please share your thoughts and experiences.
This is a hard question to answer. Sure, working by yourself in a studio can certainly be lonely. It is nothing like what I experienced for most of career when I worked alongside other artists or illustrators in a company production setting. But I have to admit I don’t mind it. I put on some good music and get in the groove. Throughout the day I take breaks with my wife, play with my dogs, communicate with galleries and network with other artists. For me this creates a nice balance that I really enjoy.
10. What are you working on at the moment and are there any upcoming events you would like to talk about?
I just finished a couple of new paintings so now I’m in the “in between”. I don’t have a canvas on my easel to obsess about so I now concentrate on updating various websites, looking for future exhibition opportunities and think about what my next painting will be.
Website: https://troybunch.com/index.html