Interview with Luke Chueh

bearingtheunbearablebookHere at Retrenders I had the pleasure of interviewing Luke about his just released book, The Art of Luke Chueh – Bearing the Unbearable published by Titan Books, and got to know a little more of the painter and graphic designer.

RTNDR:  I see this book is a great collection of your paintings, acrylic statues, and even showing your skateboard art, but we know you have an amazing collection of vinyl work. Will we see a book highlighting your vinyl art?

LUKE:  I think creating a book of my 3-D work would be a great idea. Maybe in couple years after I’ve built up a large enough portfolio.

RTNDR:  How would you categorize or characterize your art or should we even categorize art?

LUKE:  Years ago, I used to spend time thinking of new names for the genre of my art. I always felt “Lowbrow” had demeaning connotations and “Pop Surreal” only told a part of the story. Word combinations like “Post Brow”, “Idealized Art”, or “Contemptorary” became labels I threw around. But lately I’ve sort of “come to terms” with Lowbrow & Pop Surrealism. To dismiss these would be to dismiss the artists whose work inspired label, and if fans and critics consider my art to be of the genre, then whom am I to tell them they’re wrong? But to be completely honest, I would prefer having my work simply recognized as “contemporary art” (ie. Art that is characteristic of the present).