Interview by Jimon

1-What is your earliest childhood memory of making art?  When I was five or six, I went to my friend’s birthday party and one of the activities was finger painting. I wanted to make a painting of Michelangelo, who at the time was my favorite Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. When I finished I just had a green and orange blob. My earliest childhood memory of making art was that of disappointment.

2-What did your path to becoming an artist look like?  I went to school to study philosophy, then political science, and then journalism. I went to Art Center College of Design for photography but towards the end of my time there, got really into drawing. My girlfriend at the time introduced me to the work of Esther Pearl Watson, which made me want to paint. After I graduated from Art Center, I worked on a very intimate and intrusive photo project which documented every aspect of those who are close to me called, “While Nothing Lasts,” (which was later published as a book by Candor Arts) and, had a drawing and photography show at USC called, “Life Is Beautiful When It’s Overwhelming” (thank you, Hiroshi Clark!). Earlier this year I had a solo show of my photographs, “Polaroids (drawings), and paintings at One Trick Pony, curated by my former teacher Audrey Viola.

3-Where did you grow up and how did that affect you as an artist?  I grew up in Huntington Beach, CA which is probably how I got into skateboarding and hardcore music. Both scenes introduced me to more aggressive and noisy music and underground authors, artists, and comic books. I worked at the Huntington Beach Library, which gave me access to novels and art books. All of these forms of art made me realize that I can teach myself to paint and draw.

I had friends who were considered weirdos and outsiders and the city made me fall in love with weird women who only wore band shirts and had “bad” and offensive tattoos. All of these things make their way into my paintings, drawings, and comics.

4-Where do you currently live and create?  I live in Los Angeles, technically walking distance from the Arts District.

5-How would you describe yourself as an artist?  Obsessive, dedicated, curious, a storyteller, comical, intrusive, very hard on myself, multi-disciplinary, introverted (when I’m painting), always taking pictures and writing down quotes. What else…oh, my friend’s sister thought I was well-read, well- dressed, and handsome. I’m positive that it has nothing to do with me being an artist but it made my day a lot better.

6-You work in multiple platforms; photography, painting, drawing and comics which is your favorite?  I don’t think I have a favorite because my paintings, drawings, and comics are all referenced from my photographs. When I go through my hard-drive and find a photo I’ve taken that I like, I get excited because I think the photograph is interesting and I can’t wait to use it for a painting. When I’m taking a new photograph I’m excited to get the film back, either to pair with a quote or to use as a reference for a drawing or painting. The mediums are all different and have something unique to offer. So I guess all those parents are right when they say that they don’t have a favorite child.

7- Is there any reality behind the characters in your paintings or are they purely fantasy?  It’s a little bit of both. The characters are based on people in my life: ex-girlfriends, muses, close friends, and family (especially my dad because I’m very close with him). The situations that they are in, the band shirts that they have on, the books they are reading, and the posters on their walls are very much fantasy and are details that I decided to add to the scene.

8- What influences you as an artist?  Seeing the successes of my friends, Umar Rashid’s show at Blum and Poe, very fast and aggressive music, Percival Everett books, conversations with my good friend Yuri Ogita, therapy, going to art shows, Philip Guston’s paintings, meeting new painters, talking to my dad about life and relationships, getting a good night’s sleep, laughing with my good friends, getting random phone calls from Billy Frolov and never erasing her voicemails, eating pizza with Kelsey Tahara because she would never judge me for breaking my pizza apart and then eating the pieces one by one, the art/comic section of Skylight books, art talks with my studio mate Maxwell McMaster, the book section at thrift stores, the women in my life who don’t shave their armpits, not drinking for five years, my nieces asking me for art advice, my parents’ telling me years ago that they like my art, getting film developed, “borrowing” family photographs to use for paintings, finishing a painting, studio visits, taco trucks, bike rides, getting my friends’ approval for titles on paintings that are about them,  getting my friends’ approval for photographs with quotes from them, getting compliments about my work,  eating alone, my morning routine (meditating, working out, writing and reading and eating breakfast), my close friendship with Giovanna Pizzoferrato, and not making clichéd and boring work about race.

9-Do you have a place/person/thing that you visit for inspiration?  Shows that have work by artists that I actually want to see.

10-When you are not creating where would someone find you?  In El Sereno listening to music and having deep conversations with my friend Gina, laughing at inappropriate things with Gioia in Alhambra, going on long bike rides to clear my head, going to the gym to clear my head, sitting in the parking lot having conversations with my OCD therapist, walking around my compound having conversations with my therapist, house/cat sitting in Burbank for Billy Frolov and Jacob Lenc, – Talking on the phone with my friend Honda Rivera, having conversations about life with my studio partner Maxwell McMaster, buying paints at Novacolor, buying pencils, pens, Bristol paper and other supplies at Artist and Craftsman, in Huntington Beach having discussions with my dad, going to the Last Bookstore in downtown Los Angeles, eating lunch by myself and ignoring phone calls at Pizzanista, cooking at my studio, Facetiming with Giovanna Pizzoferrato, dropping off film at Samy’s Camera, riding the bus, overthinking everywhere, art shows, being bored at parties but still finding time to make people laugh, and before the world fell apart I was in Joshua Tree with the homies, Hiroshi Clark, Ryan Young, Paul Delmont, and Damon Casarez.

11-If a movie was to be made about your life, ideally where would it take place and who would be the actor playing your part?  The movie would take place in Los Angeles and I’d probably have a British actor playing my part because for the longest time a lot of people thought I had a British accent because of the way I pronounce certain words.

12- How do you describe success as an artist?  Being able to create art with very few hurdles in the way and being able to create the art that you want to see, not what other people expect to see from you.

13- Name three things you can’t live without in your studio?  Paints, podcasts/music, food and water.

14- If you could have dinner with 3 artists living/dead who would be at your table?  Philip Guston (he’s my favorite painter) and I’m going to say that writing is an art form so the authors Percival Everett (I like how chooses to talk about and not talk about blackness) and Fran Ross (she wrote “Oreo” and it’s a very funny book).

15-How would someone find you on Social media?  @edwardcushenberry

16-Please respond with one word:

Art=livelihood

Food=crucial

Sports=bike

Politics=complicated

Prosperity=goal

Car=need

Poor=mmmm

Rich=friendships

Luxury=painting

New York=visited

Los Angeles=home

City=Los Angeles

Country=America

Best=friend

Worse=ketchup

Shoes=nice

Sex=intimacy

Paint=novacolor

Canvas=primed

God=maybe

Religion=agnostic

Shopping=supplies

Sleep=crucial