Sunday 3 April 2011

[Artwork] d-T-r

d-T-r is one to look out for. Based in the South East (but spending most of his time in London), his unique style combines the best parts of graffiti, design, doodles and drawing, resulting in sleek, striking pieces of work. He was kind enough to take a break from cooking dinner to discuss his methodology and ideology with the Lab.





Hey d-T-r. What’s going on?
I’m currently working on two different design projects for some people, which is cool because it's been a while. The projects aren't really orientated around my own art, but I’m forcing myself to pick up the pen regularly just to keep the shapes and lines fresh and in and out of my head.


What influenced your art style?
I think graffiti influenced my style a lot to begin with. Even after I quit writing, I still kept the aesthetic and vibe present in my drawings. My actual style was born out of me doodling on my worktable in college over the course of a few months. It eventually turned into one big 'piece' which I liked the style of and things just gradually developed over the last 5 or 6 years. It's always a hard question to answer though. I admire way too many artists and pieces of art to mention, who may have consciously or subconsciously influenced me in some way… Anything that’s raw.


Can you mention a couple?
Craola, Ian Stevenson and Doze Green are the first few that come to mind. Not in terms of influencing my style but in terms of what they're about in general


I noticed you also produce music. Do you think there’s a strong link between the music you write a listen to, and your drawings?
My music taste is pretty varied but there probably is some kind of tangible link. Some of the music I like has that initial first reaction impact that i might try and transfer into my drawing. What I’m listening to will effect what I draw as, so I usually go for something fast/complex if I’m trying to create a visual head fuck...or if I’m in a more relaxed mood then something a bit more downtempo. I find I’m always switching between wanting to draw something 'ugly' in a visually overwhelming kind of way and trying to make something that has a more peaceful atmosphere. The first comes easier than the latter but I think that’s gradually shifting.


What’s the subconscious/conscious relationship in your work? Do you know what you want to draw beforehand, do you just roll with it, or is it a combination?
Kind of a combination. It's mostly 'freestyled' so – apart from the general mood of the piece - I’m not usually 100% sure of the outcome to begin with. After a while of regularly rotating the paper as I draw, I usually get a rough sense of something emerging from it a and then move towards developing that.


Could your elaborate on the design projects that you mentioned earlier?
One's an album cover/set of promotional photos and a logo, and the other is a bit more formal and in its early stages so I wont say too much about that one.


What do you see in the future for your art?
Hopefully transferring my ideas into full-animated works. At the moment things are kind of on a VJ 'able type of level but I’m still teaching myself as i go on that front so I’m just going to see how it develops. I’m sure animation will bring a lot of my stuff to life and hopefully lead to new avenues of thought in terms of my whole creative process. I’m also going to work hard on pulling in some more design commissions which should also help inspire me to continue doing my own thing on the side.







To see more of DTr’s artwork, check out his website:
www.diondion.co.uk



This is the first article done for the upcoming magazine; more about that soon!

7 comments:

  1. Sick, you got a rad interview! just working through it now, his works are fantastic, aswell!

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  2. Can certainly see the graffiti influence. Some sick work here. The interview was really insightful too.

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  3. Thanks for doing this interview brub!

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  4. seen this guys stuff on dsf artwork thread, nice to see ya gettin more exposure

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  5. nice one for the feature. managed not to burn my food either!

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