Interview by Jimon

1-Tell me a little bit about your background?  I grew up in a small town surrounded by corn fields, about 30 miles from Chicago. My upbringing was pretty chaotic. All I ever really did was plan my escape from there. I always knew I wanted to do something creative because I had so many different characters and places I created that were living in my mind, but I didn’t have the guidance or support to really figure it out until much later in life.

2-Where do you call home?Sweet home Chicago.

3-Why make art?  I think that’s pretty similar to asking someone why they breathe. It’s honestly the same thing for me. I couldn’t get through this life without being able to create.

4-What inspires you the most?It’s a culmination of a few things, life, the experiences I have with the people I know or get to meet. It’s really mind blowing what you go through and see on a daily basis. That’s my biggest inspiration and then music. That gets me through all the days, good and bad.

5-How would you describe EL A. PANDA?  A girl on a mission that likes to communicate really complex issues through simple objects.

6-Are you trying to convey a message through your art or is it purely for fun?  There’s always a message but I don’t think about it. It’s not planned out. I just kind of tap into something and ideas begin to flood my mind, and then I sort through what I can, pick something out of the madness and just go to work and start creating something physical. Art is the puzzle pieces of our mind so the more we create the more we connect and are able to understand ourselves and make sense of what’s going on around us and inside us.

7-What is the story behind thousands of dolls in your Playhouse installation?I never had a real genuine childhood so I’m compensating for that now. No, but in all seriousness, when I first started trying to build and create what I was seeing in my mind I had no money for art supplies so I would go to garage sales and just try to find stuff I could work with. There were always lots of unwanted Barbies. As the years went by, and the more garage sales and thrift stores I hit up, I began to realize what a throw away culture we live in. There was a connection I was making there with myself, which was pretty devastating. I had made compound bad decisions and ended up broke as fuck on welfare, with no place to live and a little baby boy to take care of. My life was shit. I had no direction except this burning desire to build things out of peoples stuff that they threw away. It was weird. I guess I connected with the unwanted because that’s what I felt like I was. That was a sad time. I figured if I could take the damaged, discarded and unwanted things of the world and give them a new life…that’s what I could do for myself, too, and I did. And just to be clear, I figure out what my work means while I’m working on it or sometimes even after I’m finished. The message just becomes really clear when I look at the piece, I understand why it needed to be created.

8-First thing you think/do in the morning? Last thing at night?How can I finish work fast enough today to be able to go do art. Haha! That’s usually the first thing that pops in my head, my plan of attack! My job is cool because I make my own schedule so I can work a few 15 hour days in a row and then just go on some serious art benders. Last thing I think of at night is how thankful I am. The fact that my life has changed so much and I’m able to create the art that fills my mind, it’s really the coolest thing. I just look up in the sky and say thank you, thank you, thank you and smile as I lay in bed.

9-If you weren’t an artist, what would you have liked to be?A rocket scientist or a rock collector or a Rockefeller. One of those would be good.

10-What is your definition of success?  Being able to do more good for others than you do for yourself.

11-Where do you see yourself in ten years? Making a difference in other people’s lives that deserve a chance. Any money my art ever makes, 50% of the profit will always go to help others. It’s a privilege to be able to create and it’s my purpose to help people that need it. The other 50% will be used to reinvest in my art so I can create more work and make it even bigger and better. The charity I started is called Panda’s Purpose- giving help and hope through art.

12-What forth-coming projects and or exhibitions do you have scheduled?  Last year I had my first show, Damaged Goods. It was more like my art coming out party because I was quietly creating for well over a decade without ever saying anything.  I’m working on a series of new sculptures that I’m going to incorporate into the show and reopen it to the public for a few days. It will be called DAMAGED GOODS RELOADED and it will be open this summer. No exact date yet. I need to see how much work I can get done in the next few months.

13-If you could have dinner with 3 artists living/dead who would be at your table?Jeff Koons because he’s like the art worlds Yoda!! He vibrates on a frequency that’s almost holy! And definitely Jennifer Rubell, I’m in awe of her. She has an imagination like no other and the execution of her work and the feelings she pulls out of her participants just knocks me off my feet. I like to think I’m one of her biggest fans. Then I’d have to say my love, Andy Warhol. We would skip dinner and just eat lots of dessert. From what I’ve learned about him, desserts were his favorite, just like me.

14-Name three things you can’t live without in your studio?Music, Barbies and power tools.

15-How would someone find you on social media?I’m only on Instagram HIMYNAMEISPANDA