q+a: david heo

Tchotchke Gallery: What do you do when a work of art is not coming together as you envisioned?

David Heo: Not everything I make, I'm happy with. And I'll know halfway through as I'm making it, I'll be like, man, this shit sucks, you know, more often than not, if I just keep pushing through, happy accidents will happen and it'll resolve itself. But sometimes there are days where I'm like, this isn't doing what I wanted it to do. It's always hard, and then I tweak things to see if that iteration will be better than the first.

TG: What was the first piece of artwork that you sold?

DH: It was actually when I was still in school. The upstairs neighbor of my apartment at the time, super sweet guy, really, really into the arts, but he had no knowledge about what it meant to collect art, and we would have long discussions. He’d pop on over or I would pop upstairs and we’d have a beer and chat about what it meant to collect what you like. Anyway, after that conversation, he approached me and was like, I would like to start supporting you. 

He bought one of my collages at the time for $50 bucks. So now, he has the largest collection of my early works that I don't want anyone to ever see. The work is so bad in my opinion, you know, like when I look back at them it's like, ooh, but you know what, it's nice because he has a lot more of my recent works, too, so if you compare and contrast it probably is like an interesting story, and it's mine.

TG: Do you have a memorable studio visit story?

DH: Yeah, so when I was in grad school, SAIC would have a student lottery for the visiting artists. And so, I got Brian Calvin. I was super excited because that man's work is dope. It looks so contemporary. He's a dad so I know he's like a working man and family man. 

Anyways, he comes to my studio and he's talking about my work and he goes, you don't know how to paint, and I was like, this is not going well. He pointed out my brushes, he's like, do you even know what your brushes do? You know and I was like, no, I think they just paint right, but you know each brush has a function. And then he got down this long rabbit hole about chroma and value and hue and all this stuff, so it's not that he critiqued me and what my work was conceptually, or what I was addressing, he got hung up on the details. I love his work and he's a super dope person but that visit really sticks with me. My memory sucks, but I remember that visit very well.

TG: Who is your favorite artist at the moment?

DH: That’s tough but Robert Nava, for sure. I’ve loved this man’s work forever, and he continues to keep making extremely interesting work. And, I do really like Katelyn Ledford’s work.

TG: What is your favorite part of the art-making process?

DH: Lately, I really like pushing my brain to figure out what mediums and materials I can use and in what capacity. I love painting and the act of painting. Pushing paint with a stick of hair is really fun. But, I also enjoy being like “what happens when I do this or do that?” So I think material exploration is my favorite part. I actually tried a few experiments for the paintings for Demon Time and I’m really excited about them.