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NEOZINE* - One can say that your work goes
from a Japanese style like in the background Curved shapes and
type, to a Latin America Day of the Dead Culture. How and why
did you get influenced by these particular cultures to create
such a Distinct visual language?
NATE WILLIAMS - I spent a good part
of my childhood in the San Francisco Bay area. It has a very diverse
population and I was consistently exposed to people from all over
the world, partly because the Bay Area has a diverse population,
but also because my family hosted a number of exchange students
from around the world (Argentina, Japan, Africa, Belgium, etc)
At the age of 7, I had a best friend who’s family was from
Japan.
I spent a lot of time at their house and I think that is when
I first REALLY realized that not all people live the same way,
eat the same things, view things in the same way. At this age
I also had a learning disability where my eyes would jump all
over a page so any text I read didn’t make sense, but pictures
made complete sense. Japanese culture is very image based society
from the way they write to their pop culture .. which is probably
why it made more sense to me as a kid and had a huge impact because
I could actually understand concepts through images but not text.
As I grew older I became interested in other cultures.
I specifically love the Latin culture because its very visually
and emotionally bold and its about life in a very honest way ..
a lot of the art/music/writing is not one sided .. but a complete
mixture of perspectives and feelings (opposite of Hollywood Movies)
.. it covers the full range of the human emotional spectrum ..
from sadness, jealousy, loneliness, love, to uncontainable joy
and inspiration. I think this is a very honest way of presenting
life .. saying we’re not perfect creatures, but we’re
pretty interesting creatures and appreciating these imperfections.
Another reason I like a lot of Latin art is because the “art”
is not separated from the culture but a part of it .
Meaning that its very common in the Latin culture for some who
doesn’t consider themselves an “artist”, or
formally trained as an artist, to make art .. it might be a store
owner that needs to draw a sign to advertise what he is selling,
such as, a fridge or an oven. This is also know as “naive
art” .. which I absolutely love because its very honest,
like children’s art, and has a purity that very few formally
trained artist can posses.
 
NEOZINE* - This is something that we like
to know about every single creative we meet: What moves you to
create? What is your creative engine and how does it work?
I think curiosity is one of my top motivators in life. I like
to know how things work and I love information on many different
subjects, from Latin American history, computer programming languages,
cultural differences to unique insects, and plants. Its really
hard to give a logical explanation as to what motivates me to
create .. but I guess I would say because when I create things
.. I feel good and I learn new things.
NEOZINE* - Your work is populated with very
strong graphics, characters and Serigraph/silk screen effects.
Where did you learn and who or what Influenced your line of work?
Are there specific artists?
NATE WILLIAMS - At the beginning
of college I worked at a photocopy shop where I had access to
many different types of copy machines and computers. I loved that
I could mass produce my art and share it with people .. but at
the same time, the technology had problems so every copy was not
identical .. some copies had toner(ink) smears or artifacts left
from dirty photocopy belts. I loved these unpredictable imperfections.
Later on I worked at Microsoft’s Xbox as an art director,
marketing high-tech video games. Everything was 3D rendered and
highly polished. I missed all the accidental discoveries I made
from working with bad copy machines, so I started a zine, called
.
This zine allowed me to get back to my roots in art and explore
my growing interest in Latin culture and how the subconscious
mind affects/influences daily life. During the day I would work
on marketing campaigns, with very polished 3d imagery, analyzing
usability tests, focus groups, retina tracking, statistics, tracking
youth macro and micro trends and much more .. but when I got off
work .. I would head straight for the copy shop .. cutting and
pasting crumpled up paper making numerous copies .. hoping to
get a bad copy with some unexpected markings.
 
NEOZINE* - One can notice that Storytelling
is growing in your illustrations. Is this purposed to get you
closer to a Popular culture where anyone can freely enjoy your
work? What do you think about this: art should be for all and
not for the eclectic?
NATE WILLIAMS - I think of “art”
as a perspective.. its just a way to view life and be curious
about the world we live in .. kind of like science without purpose.
I think of a “piece of art” as a symbol for a specific
moment in the artistic process. Say your art is a long continuous
line .. an art piece would just be a point on the long continuous
line. Initially when I started the Hola Amiga Zine .. it was a
response to my working environment.
I was working on very strategic marketing campaigns all day and
when I got off work I wanted to create something that had no objective
other than making art and doing whatever I wanted to without a
logical justification. I think initially other artist could appreciate
this just from a visual standpoint. Now that I have been away
from this working environment for almost two years .. I no longer
have the need to balance this super strategic approach with a
anti-strategic approach. I think in order for people to appreciate
what I do outside of the visual realm I need to do something that
can communicate to people who don’t necessarily have an
interest in art .. but an interest in life and all its crazy experiences.
The imagery becomes secondary to the idea. That is the direction
I’m headed in. The idea is not to get a bigger audience
but to create something people can relate to because we’re
human and we have similar experiences.
NEOZINE* - There's one powerful item in
your illustration: Life. On your website it is Perfectly clear
that poetry is present in every work you make, from visual to
content, even in photography. Is there any writer/poet that you
would like to illustrate or could come along with your work?
NATE WILLIAMS - You’re absolutely
right ..Life is a huge theme in my work .. I want to experience
all types of things, meet people and see places all over the world
regardless if its art related or not. To me a good life is about
appreciating what’s around you, whether it be good food,
a walk down a certain street, a person’s smile, listening
to headphones on a subway or whatever .. and in return for this
amazing world we live it … contributing something positive
back .. that hopefully motivates someone .. or makes them feel
good or inspired. As an illustrator, I think it’s necessary
to market a very specific style so a client has an idea of what
they will get by hiring you and that your work has a specific
voice that works for what the client wants to communicate. But
as a human being.. I will not limit myself to any medium or style
.. Whether it be writing, music, film, programming, etc .. I will
let my curiosity lead me. As for writing I would like to communicate
a story .. but not in words .. I would like to communicate it
visually with sound.. maybe a movie short.
NEOZINE* - I saw one motion work of yours
that seemed the most accurate way in imagination for them to move.
Are you going to create more of them in the future?
You know, that was really unique and since it looks that came
from pure experimentation, it can be a direction for the future
as well :)
NATE WILLIAMS - I definitely would
like to create more animation. The one you saw, ,
was created so I could experiment with the technology to see how
it works .. I’m currently learning Adobe After Effects and
I created the music in Fruity Loops .. but Ideally .. I would
like to create something that has more of a story with humor rather
than just a random barrage of imagery.
RELATED LINKS
images used with the author's permission*
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NATE
WILLIAMS