Vivianite - The Painters Blog - Jeffrey Hein Interview

Vivianite: You have a great website, how important has it been for you to reach out?
Jeffrey Hein: Very important. A website to me is like a frame on a painting. It can either compliment the work or ruin it. Also, its important to me to present my work in a professional manner because it shows my clients that I am serious about it.

Did you meet other artists via your site?
A few artists have been kind enough to send emails via my website, with there compliments.

It seems so easy for you to create such beautiful paintings; do you ever struggle in your process?
Not so much with technique anymore, but Its always a struggle to come up with the perfect composition. I used to think that if I could paint and draw everything accurately I would be there, but now I know that there is so much more to painting than technique alone. Surprise!

What are your sources of inspiration?
I wish I could just name a few but there are so many. I do not try to emulate any particular artist but absorb what is good in the work of all of the artists that I've been exposed to, from the pure abstract painters to great portrait painters. Even artist that some might consider "bad" have something to teach me. I also draw a lot of inspiration from faces I see around me, clothing, media and my environment.

You say your paintings are a marriage between figurative realism and abstract minimalism; could you go into detail about that?
I believe that the best art is the product of good design, good ideas and good technique. I am simply trying to strip my art down to these bare elements, only painting what is necessary. Why paint a door to balance the composition when I can paint a rectangle, or folds in a curtain when I can paint stripes?

Is there a reason why the most of your models are wearing sunglasses?
Several reasons actually. I add glasses sometimes to creates a stronger focal point, sometimes to break up the face into more shapes, and also to make the identity of the model more ambiguous. Plus, they are just fun to paint.

What do you want to achieve with the Jeffrey Hein School of Art?
I just want to give my students what I would have liked to have had, which is to study with a professional working artist who cares about their success. Also to teach them the value of your next question.

Is it necessary to have a classical education to create good art?
I was watching the new animated movie Madagascar the other day and in the special features one of the producers made a statement similar to this: "what separates this movie from computer animated movies of the past is that for the first time we have all of the tools we need to create any idea. Before, when we wrote a script we would have to keep into account what our technological limitations were. In consequence we would have to compromise the story." This sums it up in my opinion. A piece of art is only as good as the sum of its creators tools. If an artist is limited in his/her capabilities than the art he creates is more a reflection of his weakness than his strength. An artist that rejects classical painting should do so by choice not because he never had the option. That being said I believe there are exceptions, but these rare exceptions are those who's functioning strengths are so great that for them to have pursued classical technique would have been a disservice to the world anyway.

Describe your studio to us.
Its a 2100 sqft. space in the top floor of a cool old building in Salt Lake City's business district. The space is broken up into a 1000 sqft painting studio, a 500 sqft. wood shop, an office and a print studio for which I am anxiously awaiting my etching press. It has lots of north light, high ceilings and cool brick walls. It is always very clean (not all artists are messy), and is full of mannequins, art supplies, easels and costumes.

How do you think paintings communicate compared to the written word?
I think the only differences between the way powerful painting and equally powerful writing communicate is that a painting can express its power in an instant. And the painter has a little more control over imagery.

What was the last book you read?
Angles and Demons by Dan Brown is the last book I completed although I am always reading art related books.

Thank you for your time and good luck!