Kalin Thompson [artist]

Kalin Thompson is a Brisbane based painter. He grew up in Lubec, Maine, in the States and then moved to Vancouver to study. Four years into his linguistics degree, he decided to start painting. Kalin moved out to Australia to be with his girlfriend who was studying at UQ in Brisbane. The main advantage of his creative job meant that he could pretty much freelance anywhere.

Fast forward a few years and Kalin’s style has developed and refined. He is now creating large conceptual works with almost microscopic detail. He prides himself on the long hours involved to create each very detailed painting, with each piece taking anywhere from 50 to 400 hours. To achieve this detail, Kalin uses small animation brushes of size 20/0 (only 20-30 hairs!).

Earlier this year he chose to enter the Foot Locker Art Prize. The experience has been a whirlwind few months and he’s gained a lot of exposure for his work. And that he deserves. His painting Forbidden Fruit is now finalist for the Foot Locker Art Prize People’s Choice award. To say this is just a painting would be a complete understatement. This is an absolute MASTERPIECE!!

Here’s a few specs to show the enormity of this project…The painting covers a 80x60cm wooden board, took over 420 hours of hand painting and is made up of 190 shoes, and 60 shoe boxes. He even listened to about 25 books on tape while painting.

To learn more about Kalin’s painting, there’s a video you can watch here, or you can read more on the competition page here. Kalin’s website also has more information and more of his UNREAL paintings.

Editor’s note: Congratulations Kalin! On July 28th, Foot Locker announced that Kalin won the overall prize of $50,001! AND he won the People’s Choice award of $1,500. Well done from Design Montage!

To fully appreciate the full painting, and see the detail up close, here’s a series of close ups…

How have you got to where you are today?

I remember when I was young I was drawing quite a bit, and unlike a lot of artists… drawing is really all the experience and background that I have. I went to the University of British Columbia, but not for art. I basically drew my way through a linguistics degree. All my notebooks were full of sketches. Eventually, I fully gave in and just brought drawing books to class.

Turns out lectures are a great atmosphere for drawing. It helped me listen and focus – I would kind of zone out and just draw for the duration of the class. It forced me to spend longer on my drawings than I think I ever would have in the past. Some classes were two or three hours long. Being forced to spend this extra time on drawings definitely helped me develop as an artist. I look at those classes as my first and only art classes. I learned at that point that the longer I put into something, the better it would look…or at least, it seemed more impressive to me because of the greater amount of detail.

I eventually decided to take it to the next level and paint. I think that was around 2007-2008. At first, I just painted for fun, nothing very good really, just trying to emulate styles of my favourite artists at the time. Then in my graduating year, 2009-2010, I began to take it seriously.

I drew and painted for hours and hours everyday for the whole year as well as taking on small shows and illustration jobs wherever I could. I think that’s when I realized that art is what I wanted to do for a living. And, somehow, I convinced myself that if I work hard enough at it then I could make it there.

If you’re not already in love with Kalin’s AMAZING paintings, I thought I’d share some more of them! Enjoy…

I apologise for the crop on the last two – these are really wide. Please see Kalin’s website for full images.

In a few words, describe yourself…

Judging by that last answer, I would say longwinded.

What are you spending your time on at the moment?

Currently, I’m working on a commissioned painting. In general though, this year I have been trying to prepare for a show in November or December.

I’m working on a large piece at the moment that should prove to be pretty interesting. I don’t want to give too much away but I’m trying to express one of Shakespeare’s classic works in my own style, feeding heavily off the techniques used in ancient Japanese “emakimono”, or “picture scrolls.” So far it’s been a massive undertaking, kind of a year-long project. But, it has been an awesome learning experience and hopefully everything will be finished up in time for the show. One thing is for sure though, I have a few long months of painting ahead of me.

Do you have a ritual for getting into the creative mindset? Or a creative process?

Riding the train, listening to music, sketching or writing. Usually going downtown to run errands or something makes for a good opportunity to brainstorm future projects. That is where all my ideas really happen, everything else just seems like hard work.

What or who inspires you?

It’s difficult to say. I’m inspired by so many different things. Anything from the way a bird weighs down a branch to an entire period of baroque art, design, and architecture. In terms of favourite artists… At the moment I’m really into a lot of older famous painters and printers, including Bouguereau, Jean-Leon Gerome, Utagawa Kuniyoshi. There is a simplicity and subtlety to their work that I idolize.

As for contemporary art I would have to say that Walton Ford, Greg Simkins, and Todd Schorr are my favourites at the moment. But my influences can change every day. Just inspiring work ethics and true genius from all these guys. I’m drawn towards people who I consider true masters. They all have that combination of genius and craft that I aspire towards.

What are you most proud of?

In terms of achievements, I’d have to say making the finals of this Foot Locker competition. There were a lot of great entries and it was quite an honour to make it through to the finals. I’m extremely proud to be a part of that. It’s the most significant achievement of my life so far – hands down and no question.

When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

When I was a kid I lacked that kind of mind and direction, I think even more than most kids. I had occupational ADD… and bad.

But, that being said, if you asked me now I think I could answer honestly. In the future I hope to be doing exactly what I’m doing now, but to be way better at it. It may sound stupid but I’m striving towards fame. I want to be widely appreciated and considered as a great artist. I plan on working my ass off to make it there. Whether or not I’ll ever achieve it, I have no idea. But that’s the direction I’m headed. I’m young and I’m patient. I don’t expect anything for another 30 or 40 years. Hopefully I’ll have done something for myself by then.

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