We were lucky to catch up with Danny Houk recently and have shared our conversation below.

Danny, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today. Was there an experience or lesson you learned at a previous job that’s benefited your career afterwards?

Before pivoting into the field of fine art, I spent nearly 15 years as a full-time graphic and web designer for different companies. I always maintained an art habit on the side, no matter how meager. In my art practice, I worked when I wanted, did what I wanted, and could pause projects whenever I felt stuck.

Though design is different than art, as it’s more oriented toward problem solving and functional goals, it still requires creative thinking, novel solutions, and strong craftsmanship. Those are all skills I also need in fine art. However, in my design job I had hard deadlines that didn’t wait for me to be inspired, or find the absolute *ideal* solution, and often “good enough” was good enough. Basically, it taught me to be creative under constraints, independent of my changing moods.

Though my art does allow for more experimentation and is less goal-oriented in terms of final product, it’s still important to produce. I’ve learned “the great” is the enemy of “the good,” and the not-perfect work of art is always superior to the perfect one that only lives in my mind. The best work comes from being prolific and learning from each creative act, even when it’s not conventionally successful. From practicing design for commercial industries I learned that quantity begets quality.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?

The shorthand way of describing my work is that I create sculpture, drawing, and comics about transactional relationships, power, church, and childhood.

I create sculptures, drawings, and comics about transactional relationships, power, American evangelicalism, and childhood. I’m always looking for ways to merge the serious and the silly, often using humor as a disarming technique before trojan horse-ing in heavier subjects.

My mediums include traditional pen and ink drawing, mixed media collage, digital illustration, comics, woodworking, and electronics. I enjoy finding interesting and unexpected intersections between traditional and new media, and will employ whatever media is most evocative and apt for the idea.

I grew up in the evangelical Christian system in America, and I look at those early experiences to excavate the good, the bad, and the ugly. However, no system exists in a vacuum. Interpersonal relationships are impacted by politics, politics are impacted by religion, childhood is impacted by society, and exploring the constellation of all these systems continues to fascinate me. Art is a wonderful way to take individual areas of powerlessness and transform my angst and longing into something visually potent.

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

With art I’m rewarded by getting to do whatever the hell I want! So much of life is duty-based (relationships, kids, generating income, chores etc.) and though there’s joy and meaning in all of that, the liberty that comes from making art is unmatched. So much of what I experience and witness just swirls around abstractly in my mind and body, but it’s cathartic getting to metabolize the inner world and manifest in the outer world. I hope everyone at some point gets the joy and wonder from making something that didn’t previously exist!

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

My first approach to building an audience is to give what I’m wanting to receive. That is, if I want follows, likes, comments, and purchases, then I take initiative to give that to other people in my creative field. I know how long it takes to make art, and in the span of 20 seconds I can scroll though a feed looking at 30 artworks that took a cumulative total of 300 hours to create. So, sometimes I slow down and have a deeper look at a work of art, leaving a comment, and encouraging that artist. Obviously I can’t do that all the time, but it makes a difference to that person, and it does when others do the same for me.

I use Instagram as my main vehicle for distributing my art and connecting with fellow artists. I mainly post my highest quality work, because people’s attention is precious and I don’t want to waste their time looking at a half-baked work of art. However, it can be more vulnerable and connecting to occasionally show the b-sides, the ones that don’t make the cut, or the process of making, as a way of letting others in behind the scenes. There’s an artificiality that can happen if I’m only showing the grade-A polished-up work. So, I like to balance quality with authenticity.

Contact Info:

• Website: dannyhouk.com
• Instagram: dannyhoukart
• Twitter: dannyhouk