A favorite local artist of ours of late is Brian Kokoska, painter of ghoulish, colorful portraits of subliminally conjured characters that spill across the canvas like daffy, hallucinatory apparitions. Perhaps this is because we’ve done one too many drugs, or maybe Brian sees more to the illusory landscape of reality than the rest of us. In order to find out, Marcel Castenmiller visited the artist at his studio in Brooklyn to shoot him in his element, and we spoke to him about the method behind the madness.

VMAN Where are you from?
Brian Kokoska I was born and raised in Vancouver, Canada. I studied at Emily Carr University of Art and Design before moving to New York. Vancouver is a really pretty city, but I’m so happy to be somewhere new and more exciting. I feel so American right now.

VMAN Tell us about what inspires your painting style.
BK I sort of borrow from a number of different inspirations when I make paintings. I’m obsessed with all kinds of imagery, music, and other things so it’s always been difficult for me to pin down my main criteria. Lately, I’ve been into lots of sexy patterns mixed with darker, more ritualistic imagery. My paintings tend to be a product of whatever I’m thinking about at the moment. I like when an image can be read as both celebratory, and sinister at the same time.

VMAN Who are the subjects you depict in your work?
BK The figures seen in some of my pictures are mostly imaginary. I guess they are people that I wish existed, so I invent them and try to start a new relationship. Often there’s a group dynamic in the paintings, so the figures sort of become friends. There are definitely times when my real friends, and maybe my boyfriend, make appearances. A lot of the time I collage up random images of boys from the internet to use as a starting point. But they always turn into somebody, or something else. Sometimes the paintings become abstracted to a point where there’s no longer an obvious figure to be found.

VMAN Your style is very bold but also incredibly distinct. Which artists do you most admire?
BK Oh, that’s so sweet of you. I really love a lot of things that are happening in art right now. I can always find a common ground with other artists who are making paintings, but I tend to be more stimulated by people who are working with completely different media.
I like Ryan Trecartin’s videos a lot right now.

VMAN Who else inspires you?
BK I feel like I’m so easily inspired, so I can be motivated by something new everyday. Nina Simone is somebody that I feel really close to. Her love songs are so genuine, and she is my go-to girl, for sure. When it comes to painting, I’m interested in things coming out of Germany. I really like Albert Oehlen’s paintings. I hope to visit Germany in the summer.

VMAN Describe your studio and what it is like being in that environment when you are working.
BK My studio is kind of nice. It’s pretty much just a big, old, open space in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn. I’m on the top floor and have a partial skyline view, which is kind of charming. I’m lounging here right now… I live here. There’s a storm right now and little pieces of my ceiling are falling down on me. Sometimes I live at my boyfriend’s place too, though. This neighborhood is pretty wily. I really enjoy it here, I feel like the people who live here are so real, and they just act how they want to act on the street. It’s inspirational.

VMAN Finish this sentence: I can’t work without ___________.
BK I can’t work without being anxious and thinking about too many things at once. It’s really bad.

VMAN Do you listen to music while you work?
BK Yeah, I totally do. When my internet is not working properly, I freak out, because I like to just leave random mixtapes streaming while I work. I’m really into dragged out stuff, digital noises, and new sounds that feel fresh. I like SALEM a lot. And Nina Simone, of course, and other classic artists that make love songs. I like pretty much any music that is about love and heartbreak… real sentimental stuff, but numbed out songs too. Revisited, hard rap beats mixed with droney vocals and new melodies always get to me. But, I like pretty much anything you can dance to, especially juke, and bounce music.

VMAN How did you first get into painting?
BK I’ve always made little drawings and paintings ever since I was a child. The stuff I was drawing when I was a little kid was so cute. I really love when I get to look back at that stuff. It feels so visceral and young. Those images were even more erotic, and sexual too, compared to what I’m doing now. But, I focused primarily on painting while doing my undergrad in Vancouver, which was what really renewed my interest in the medium. I made my first real painting during that time.

VMAN What do you most love about making art in New York?
BK New York is really wild and there’s always way too many things going on, so it’s been fun. I sort of just pick and choose events that look like a good time and go with it. I like to go out and see and do a lot, but I also spend lots of quality alone time, and boyfriend time. I’m so happy here, and thankful for everybody who has given time to take me seriously. I feel like I fit in here a lot better than I ever did in Vancouver.

VMAN What project are you currently working on?
BK Right now, I’m making some new, romantic paintings. I’ve been experimenting with some text based pictures, and some abstraction. These new paintings are sort of figurative again though, but they feel crisp. I’m also doing a lot of digital work. I make these deconstructed digital collages from fragments of actual images of my paintings, and sometimes print them. I’ve recently decided to publish my first book based around these images. It’s called CHICLET TEETH. I will print the book in an edition, and make it available through my website. I’m really curious about the idea of distribution in book form because it feels so personal and sensual.

VMAN What is the best art you have seen recently?
BK I recently took a trip to Philadelphia, and my friend Barry Doupé was screening his 2008 film Ponytail. Oh my god, so good. I forgot how much I loved that film until I saw it again. But in New York, one of the last shows that I was most excited about which incorporated painting was Kai Althoff’s solo exhibition at Gladstone Gallery in January. That show was really carefully thought out, and the entire space, all the paintings, and installation, were beautiful.

Photography Marcel Castenmiller

KEYWORDS: art, Brian Kokoska, Marcel Castenmiller, Studio Visit