Not every artist has a traditional art school background. Take American artist Arian Behzadi, for example. He has a bachelor of science in neurobiology, physiology, and behavior. Seriously. He graduated in June of 2012, and now spends his days working as User Interface–User Experience (UI/UX) designer at a start-up in California. In his “spare time,” however, he makes collages. Perfectly composed, bold, found-image collages that have been featured in Juxtapoz, Beautiful/Decay, and countless other publications, sites, and blogs. Where does he find the time? Let’s find out.
JC—Do you have any advice for someone who wants to be making art but is studying, or working, in an entirely different field?
AB—If you want to make art, find time for it. For many years I was studying something else full time and working at a lab. I reserved time from when I got off work until the middle of the night to make things. If you’re not suffering from lack of sleep, you’re not doing it right.
JC—Why do you make art?
AB—I’ve found that it’s easy to critique something, but to critique something and provide a better alternative shows that you’re good at it. I think it’s really neat when I can do that with visual design.
JC—Describe the first moment that you felt like an artist.
AB—When I was a lot younger, a friend of mine saw something I had made and said he would buy a T-shirt with that design on it. It was the first moment anyone had seen my work and, thankfully, the first moment that I was complimented on it. A few years later, shirts with my designs hang in boutique shops around the world. It’s a very cool feeling.
JC—A lot of your collages are digital. Is that your favorite way to work?
AB—I definitely prefer digital, more than anything. It’s far less destructive. That being said, I often do go back to X-ACTO collage when I’m feeling confident.
JC—Where do you find inspiration?
AB—I find inspiration in old books and magazines. Libraries and scanned material are a gold-mine for my creative process. I might find a particular texture I like, a color combination, or an element that I’ll isolate and put in a new setting.
JC—Which artist’s work/life/career are you most jealous of and why?
AB—Comparison is the thief of joy! But I do think Dan Matutina is one of the most incredible illustrators I have ever seen.
JC—What do you do if you’re having trouble with a piece?
AB—Listening to different kinds of music while working definitely has varying effects on my work. Music and visuals are paired very strongly in my mind, and a few of my previous projects have a lot to do with that relationship. It’s always neat when someone can guess what sort of music I was listening to while creating a particular piece.
JC—Do you face criticism very often?
AB—In my day job, I have to handle all sorts of criticism on my projects. At first, I saw it as a roadblock, but I’ve since learned to trust the eyes of others and view it as part of the process.
JC—Are you friends or enemies with your inner critic?
AB—My inner critic is the only voice that I trust fully. In my experience, I have never tried to ignore it because it has always steered me to something better. The trick is to view your inner critic as a guide rather than an enemy.
JC—What do you do when you’re feeling blocked?
AB—When I have a creative block, I give as much as I can to it, then completely stop and throw it away. Then if that idea lingers in my mind, I try to recreate what I threw away. In the process of recreating it, I often find a way to do something that hadn’t occurred to me the first time around.
An extremely important part of my process is recognizing a bad idea and not wasting time on it. An even harder part of my process, however, is recognizing when something is done!
Comparison is the thief of joy!
If you’re not suffering from lack of sleep, you’re not doing it right.
