Interview by Jimon

1-Where do you reside and work currently?  I currently live/work in the UK – in a small market town outside of London. Originally I am from Australia.

2-You have lived a number of places do you have a favorite?  Not sure if I have a favorite place as such. I definitely love where I am now. However there’s always things you can’t replace. For instance I miss driving to Yosemite National Park from the days when I lived in San Francisco. I lived in Denmark – didn’t enjoy the winters but loved the summer evenings which never got dark. Sydney will always hold a special place in my heart too, but so do other places. My dream is to retire in Italy.

3-How long have you been making art and what lead you to start?  Not as long as most people think. I sold my first artwork in 2014 (Rich Enough to be Batman). At the time I didn’t take it seriously, but after a while when I was getting more and more sales I finally decided maybe this art thing could be a fun ‘hobby’. Two years later I set up a company to officially sell my artwork. I haven’t looked back. I still have a day job as a design consultant. Perhaps soon I’ll be a full time artist.

4-Did you study art or is it inherent?  I’m what you’d call self taught. I have managed to get through life teaching myself new skills. Over the summer I took some time out to teach myself how to paint with oil based paint, which has been fun.

5-What is your favorite part of the process in what you do?  I think the favorite part of my (art) job is doing what I want, when I want. I don’t have that freedom in my other line of business. Although in both roles I enjoy the cerebral pursuits, especially giving birth to ideas and seeing them come into fruition.

6-Which artist working today you admire?  Difficult to answer. I like many artists, however I tend to admire artists more for their achievements than admire their actual work. I try not to be infuenced by other artists work. I would hate to be labeled as a copy of another artist.

7-You draw a mask on images how did this start and why?  A lot of my work centers around masks. I find the idea of masks fascinating. I think we all wear masks to some degree. For me I’ve always had to play different roles in my life; whether wearing the professional consultant ‘mask’, my artist ‘mask’ or my parent ‘mask’. Portrait of Heroes was inspired by the legendary Blue Demon – a famous Luchador (Mexican wrestler) who spent his entire life wearing a mask. Google it, you’ll find there’s a brilliant image of him in a white suit wearing his iconic blue mask. “When I put on the mask, I’m transformed. The mask gives me fame. The mask is magical. When I remove the mask, I’m a normal human being” El Hijo del Santo (Luchador). This quote had me thinking. Take social media – it’s become a place where we all try and glamourise our lives – to make us feel somehow more magical. No one lives an ordinary life through social media. We all try a little bit to show our lives are extraordinary. The trouble however with this is we are skewing and distorting our own history. This is why I set out to juxtapose this collection on 200 year old portraits – to make the point that what we did 200 hundred years ago is what we do today (and what we’ll most likely do in 200 years from now). Next time you visit a art gallery, pay attention to the old  portraits, all of them without exception are without moles, freckles, scars or any recognisable features on their faces which suggests that the artists were the Photoshop of their generation. This begs the question where did they stop? And did they alter their appearance to characterise their own alter-ego? Perhaps the best example of this is when you look at a number of the paintings of ‘Napoleon’. Most people would believe Napoleon was a short and a portly figured man, however the all his paintings suggest differently. Not only this but they seem to differ greatly on appearance. Why? Surely the artists commissioned couldn’t all have mistaken his true appearance. Or perhaps Napoleon himself had convinced the artists to create an image of his alter-ego. I guess we’ll never know, but one thing remains certain. The people two hundred years ago didn’t want to be remembered as ordinary. They wanted to their legacy to be remembered as extraordinary – even if it meant they lived a ‘masked life’.

8-Do you follow a routine on a daily basis?  I do follow a routine. It’s probably not as strict as it was when I ran my own design consultancy but I tend to be as productive and scheduled as possible. It definitely helps to plan out my day (and week) in advance.

9-If you had a working time machine which time period would you choose?  I think I’d like to see future. Perhaps the part where human’s become extinct (which may not be too far in the future from now).

10-You have a series called Rich enough to be Batman what is the origin of that?  The print depicting the Queen wearing a Batman mask, provokes a pressing question about wealth and social contribution. If you had enough money would you become Batman and use your money to fight crime and protect the vulnerable? Or would you splash out on expensive things for your own pleasure? The idea came about when reading the Sunday Times Rich List that is published annually. I’ve always questioned the purpose of this. Is it for everyone to collectively celebrate the success of the richest 100 people worldwide, or simply to rub our noses in the fact about how far behind the rest of us are from having such wealth.

11-Do you consider yourself a pop artist?  No. Pop artists tend to fetish over consumerism where as I typically gone out of my way to attack it. I don’t know what title I would give myself, but I like to idea of art forcing itself into popular culture. Specifically to engage people into debate – discussing the ideas which may affect us all.

12-Have you ever thought of placing postcards of your work in museum shops for sale without them knowing?  Not until now. Ha! Love that idea. Thanks. I’ll certainly put that to use.

13-Do you remember the first piece of art that captured your imagination?  I found it torturous to sit through lectures in art history at school until I first discovered ‘La Liberté guidant le peuple’ (Liberty leading the People) by Eugène Delacroix (painted in 1830). It’s a remarkably strong and powerful piece that still awakes my emotions. I never get tired looking at this piece. The semoitic layering and messaging is profound. It inspired me to reference it in a piece I created called ‘When the Revolution Starts’, around the time when Trump got elected as President of the United States. (You can read the story of this piece on my website – www.heathkane.co.uk)

14-What do you dream about?  Coming back in my next life as a dolphin. (Beats being a human or rat!)

15-How do you define success?  To use a metaphor – picture a mountain. The mountain represents the climb you need to take to reach success. You can focus at being the first to the top (only to discover the mountain might continue getting higher and possibly harder to scale the further you get to the top) or you can decide to find a spot along the journey where you are happy and enjoy the view. I feel I have only just started on my journey … I’m sure I’ll find my comfy spot sooner or later.

16-What advice would you give putative collectors?  Don’t become an arsehole who buys things only to parade your own wealth (it just shows you have no personal style or self opinion on things that should have meaning). Only buy something you really love.

17-Do you have a place/person/thing that you visit for inspiration? I dream of having a cave like Batman where I can do my diabolical thinking – alas my ideas tends to happen in mundane places like supermarkets, boring lunch meetings or in the shower while washing behind my ears.

18-If you could have dinner with 3 artists living/dead who would be at your table?  Without giving it a great deal of thought, perhaps; Marcel Duchamp, Takashi Murakami and Grayson Perry although I don’t think I would invite them around together at the same time.

19-Name three things you can’t live without in your studio?  Computer, stereo and probably some art materials.

20-How would someone find you on Social media?  I tend to stick to Instagram mostly (@byheathkane). I don’t have to time for the others.

21-If you were asking the questions what question would you ask and please follow it with answer?  What would be your dying words? “I tried”