Chad Kouri

Lately I have been enamored with the work of Chicago artist, Chad Kouri. He was kind enough to answer a few questions for me. Also, he sent me some photos of new work that he hasn't even posted yet so that you guys could get a first look. It is the two photos of the phone book. He actually took a regular phone book and chopped it up and made a small one that he used as a glue book. I think that's cool.

1) Where do you get inspiration from?

Mostly from digging through the trash! A majority of my canvases come from drawers and other materials found while poking around the alleys by my apartment. Some other stuff I really enjoy snagging from the allies include children's books, old windows, hard cover books and magazines. I also really enjoy looking through my dad's old photos in the basement of my parents house.

2) Where did you study?

Well... I am going/went/ dropped/going back/owe money to Columbia College Chicago but most of my studying is done with friends and my own curiosity.

3) What do you want people to get out of your art?

I do artwork for my own enjoyment. Any positive or negative reaction from other people is just a nice bonus. I guess I am narcissistic like that.

4) What is the one piece of advice you can give to aspiring and current artists?

Hummus is good. Oh... and pawn shops are your friend. Just don't pawn anything that isn't yours. That's stealing.