We were lucky to catch up with Alex Weinstein recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alex , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Are you happy as a creative professional? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to work for someone else?

Am I happy as an artist? Easy one: Yes. I feel incredibly fortunate to make my own decisions and follow my instincts into and out of projects. That said, like anyone, I have a life filled with doubts and insecurities, failures and successes large, small and in between. I am consistently amazed that anyone is interested and/or supportive of what I do and that feeling is complicated. Our culture adores creativity but hates paying for it. Artists are overwhelmingly discouraged from feeling valued. People find the notion that an artist actually works and might expect compensation for that work, laughable. It’s awful. Like most of us, I work very hard on my stuff; be it painting or sculpture, writing, carpentry or music. My work ethic and focus are intense and reliable and consequently I can take a deep measure of satisfaction for my efforts. You can’t pay bills with feelings though. Being an artist and having a roof over your head is really tough.

Alex , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I make paintings and sculpture mainly; a lot of it based on landscapes that I know and care about. Images of the ocean and sky above, the horizon line; these are common subjects of my work. The paintings investigate immersive and transcendent sublimity as well as ecological friction, pollution. Jet fuel in the air above the Pacific makes for one hell of a sunset. This is main professional focus: making artwork – but I’ve also done a lot of exhibition curation and I write about art for the Surfers Journal magazine, play in a band (les enfants), make furniture occasionally. I lived in France and started a gallery there, years ago, before moving to Los Angeles. I think I’ve done every job there is to do in the art world. My studio is usually a mess because I seldom stay in one creative lane for very long. I make paintings, switch to sculpture, build a deck, record music, write an essay, go back to painting. Months go by this way.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

creativity is a type of problem solving that I truly adore and as someone who deeply loathed math, the irony is thick. mathematics is all about problem solving with specific tools to specific aims. what I love about creative work is that problems get addressed in uniquely personal ways. as a creative person, you can make things up as they go along, trusting in a vision or sense of purpose that will ultimately guide you, hopefully, to place of achievement and enlightenment. way more fun and just as hard as math.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

in America, support for The Arts and Humanities at the Federal level is pathetic. If some portion of our (obscene) military spending could be divested towards arts programs, educational programs, social programs, science programs of any stripe, I would be grateful.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.vaguestudio.com
• Instagram: @vaguestudio