How are you enjoy the Portland series so far? Have all the pictures of artist’s work and sustainable fashion driven you batty with inspiration? Are you just sick of all the interviews? Come on … leave a comment and let me know.

I have over 20 posts (all of which aren’t interviews) waiting in the wings; I simply have to find the time to write them all. So, very soon (a.k.a. before the end of the year) there will be an increase in the number of my posts to at least two or three a day. Don’t fret - it’s all good stuff. You know me, I wouldn’t post anything that would be a waste of your time to read.

Now back to your regularly scheduled Monday interview post … with Martin Ontiveros. He has a entrancingly intense start, doesn’t he? As is customary, I found his work through a link on another Portland artist’s site. Seeing his colorful yet mildly morbid work and finding out that he has a college degree in Experimental Animation made me wonder why I hadn’t come across his work before.

I could write a nice little background paragraph on Martin - you know, how he has done a bunch of illustration work for West Coast newspapers, comic books and magazines; his interest in the ever-growing vinyl toy market; his life-long curiosity with unusual, conspiratorial, and forbidden history … but why do that when Martin is so much better at telling his own life story?

How are you handling all of the forest fires and destruction doing on in the San Diego area?

I rarely watch TV anymore since I gave up cable, and haven’t listened to NPR in ages, so it’s like I’ve been in a news blackout for some time now… I didn’t know it was going on until a couple days into it. I have been calling home to see how it’s going though. I have an aunt and uncle who lost their house in the last big fire a couple years ago, so I’m really hoping they will make it out of this okay. I remember what it was like to be around that though, it’s happened a lot over the years I grew up there.

Is it possible to compare San Diego and Portland? Which is more artistically-friendly?

Compare… my opinion might not mean much, I haven’t lived in San Diego since 1994, so my perceptions would be based on what I remember about it then and what I see when I visit home. I can say this–Portland is more environmentally conscious, and seems to have more respect for what is torn down and put in it’s place. I mean, people here complain about things like the yuppification of the the Pearl/Oldtown or the gentrification of North/Northeast Portland, and I kind of agree… but if they could see the way San Diego razes the earth everywhere in sight and sticks up a new mall, giant restaurant, or big fucking office building, they’d maybe feel a little better that there’s not as much of that going on here. I do anyway.

Sometimes when I go home, it feels as if there isn’t a spare piece of land that hasn’t been developed yet. The proximity to nature in Portland can’t be beat. San Diego may have great weather, but they don’t have seasons, real seasons, like Portland does. San Diego is way more conservative on the surface, Portland more liberal. I don’t know very many people in Portland who are actually from here, and back in San Diego almost everyone I know has never left. Portland is waaay more white–back in San Diego, it’s a true melting pot. Art-wise, I don’t know much about scene down there. I know before I left, I knew a few talented people, but there wasn’t any avenue for any of us to be seen other than through the music scene (which is one of SD’s strong points, I should mention), flyers, or zines. I mean, like anywhere else, it was dominated by the “fine art” scene, probably still is.

I know Shepard Fairey lived there for a bit though, and once the Obey stuff starting popping up everywhere, so did a lot of other like-minded art. That was great to see actually. I think it’s done a major turn-around since I left, with galleries showcasing work of my ilk. Portland was already like that when I moved here in 1996 though. There were already a lot of great comic artists (including a few of my heroes) and zine makers here, and lots of alternative spaces to show your work. Personally, I felt like San Diego was the kind of place where you could be a big fish in a small pond, and Portland is has been more of a launching board to exposure all over the place, not just here. So if I had to pick one that is more artistically-friendly, it’s definitely Portland. It feels like a haven to me. I haven’t shown in San Diego yet. I’ll have to do that someday…

A hearty college boy, your graduated from CalArts with a BFA in Experimental Animation. Do you do much animating these days or is you focus strictly on painting?

Animating= zilch. Haven’t done anything since I left school, hardly did any of it while I was in school. I think I made a halfhearted attempt when I moved here, even had this guy build me a light box and everything, but it’ not in my blood. It’s something I know how to do, just not something I do. So it’s strictly painting and illustrating. I tell a story better in one image than in several.

I’ve heard that you have an affinity for books about conspiratorial and “forbidden” history. I’m always look for new things to read, so what are some of your favorite books on the subject that you would recommend to both myself and my readers?

Anything that Disinformation publishes. I was a fan of Feral House’s output too when I moved here, especially early books by Adam Parfrey. Any history book that contradicts what you were taught in school. It’s often depressing though, the truth.

Do you have any of your own work hanging in your place?

No. I have exactly two of my own paintings from all the years of doing this, and they aren’t hanging up. Being my own worst critic, the last thing I need is to have my own shining example to live up to hanging right in my face. The object is to look forward, not back. That isn’t to say I haven’t painted things I wanted to keep– I have. But I also have to pay the bills and such, so most things have to go. The fact that I never have much is encouraging, since it means there’s a market out there for my work. I do usually keep all my black and white illustrations though. That is, until I’m broke.

Monster and demons are key figures in your pieces - why lured you to these particular images? Do you believe your work sends a certain message to viewers that needs to be seen?

What lured me is that they’ve ALWAYS lured me. Ever since I could remember I’ve been into monsters and stuff like that. It’s been so natural to me, I wouldn’t even describe it as a morbid curiosity. Devils in particular. I was raised Catholic–progressive at that, not strict, but not without this romanticism about the Devil. Throw in my half Mexican side, my love of heavy metal and hard rock and it’s a done deal. As far as devils go, I don’t believe in Hell or any of that final judgment stuff, so I can enjoy these images both as cultural history and as a paranoid but highly creative delusion. I just don’t push it to this offensive limit is all, no babies being sacrificed or crass violence, no priests or nuns being raped, that kind of stuff. It’s definitely a more Latin American take on that topic. More recently, I see the monsters and demons as uglier parts of my inner-self, so to give them a face and color them as garishly as possible is a way of transforming what I feel can be damaging to me. It sort of defuses their potential for “evil”. Plus, I just like how they look versus regular humans. I mean, I can do anything I want with them!

What was the last city you traveled to? What was your perception of the area?

San Diego, actually! For Comic-Con. I shared a booth with Scrappers Morrison, Bwana Spoons, and Mike Kelly of Le Merde. You already have my perception of the area above, but what I can say is that I do enjoy being there on business, this event in particular being the all time favorite.

A number of past interviews with you make mention of your son. With him getting older, what does he think of his dad being an artist? What lessons has your career taught you that you have made sure to instill in him as well?

He likes me doing what I do. I’m always home, always available, even when he’s over his mom’s house. We hang out a lot, and a fringe-benefit for both of us is that we get to immerse ourselves in pop culture in the name of perpetuating our own interests and influences. Funny as it sounds, I really do think I have to watch Batman or anything else that’s fantasy-related, and to have cool toys around as well in order for my work to endure. Watching him draw, free of all the ego and criticism (both from the self and from outside the self) that will eventually come over him later on, is an absolute joy. I’d love to explain to him how special it is to be in that position, but it’s too complex for a 6 year old to understand, and probably not important anyway. Best to just leave him to draw and impress me more and more.

Lessons… hmm. I guess one of the biggest is that there are going to be times where you will doubt your own value, as an artist, a person, etc. but that these moments are natural and that you shouldn’t let it get you down, and to work through them however you can and move on. They go away eventually. Creatively, I’d say there are going to be blocks now and then, frustrations with your own abilities and a tendency to compare your work to the work of others. To that I would say: if you are having a block, then work with what you have no matter what it is, as long as you are working. Frustrations should be viewed as challenges and as doorways to finding another way to do something than the way that isn’t working. And you cannot make someone else’s life or career a template for your own, because it will never happen the same way for you, and to pursue things this way is ultimately a waste of your valuable time.

Living in what has been called the greenest city in the US, do you have any eco-conscious habits?

I recycle. It’s weird when I go back to California and see how they just dump all recyclables into just one big bin and not one for each type. I also eat pretty much straight organic and use a lot of green products, at least as much as I can afford to.

Do you have any other nifty, secret projects in the works that you could hint at?

Secret? A wizard in training never tells all. But, I do want to work more with sculpture, mainly papier mache. My future work will start to be more an homage to the music I love and the people who make it. I’m going to start painting bigger pieces than I have in the past, and the transition from canvas to toys is gaining speed, slowly but surely.

[All images courtesy of Martin Ontiveros]