The L.A.-based painter Canyon Castator uses a metaphor to frame his artistic practice: If the gallery is a dinner party, he says, hell be there on time and ready to start all the awkward conversations. The 30-year-old artists allegories for climate change, alt-right media, and American consumption come steeped in sardonic humor and alluring color. Filling his paintings with a bizarre assortment of characters that pull from TV cartoons, arcade games, and the streets of the American youth, Castator playfully serves incisive social commentary while inviting viewers to dig in.
Despite the cynicism of his work, Castator resists the clich of the miserable, self-isolating artist. Since setting up a studio in downtown L.A. five years ago, he has converted several floors in the building into working spaces for fellow artists, offering a readymade community to young practitioners navigating the citys sprawling landscape and disparate creative scenes. Recently, hes partnered with Carl Kostyl Gallery and the arts organization ILYSM to establish a month-long artist residency in one of his open studios.
With works now on view in two exhibitions that reflect on the socio-political impact of COVID-19We Used to Gather at Library Street Collective in Detroit and Riders of the Red Horse at The Pit in L.A.Castator appears to be hitting his stride within the dystopian climate of our current moment.We called up Castator at his studio to talk about art, the apocalypse, and opening up uncomfortable conversations.
ELLA HUZENIS: So many of your works depict these crowded arrangements of human and animal characters. How do you conceive of these scenes? And, has your perception of these kinds of gatherings changed at all in this era of social distancing?
CANYON CASTATOR: I guess the work to me is constructed a little differently. A lot of the charactersyes, they are people or cartoons or animals and theyre closely compactedbut theyre all kinds of symbolic icons for this relationship of ideas, jumping from one to another. You know, one character might represent this idea to me, another character represents another thing. So Ive kind of dehumanized them in a way, so that they can, in my mind, represent these themes and play off one another. In the early work, I was making paintings that had my friends and using old photographs but now, really, these characters are just stand-ins for ideas. And sometimes, its a clear concept, a clear idea, and other times, one thing contradicts another.
HUZENIS: Similarly, in the past, youve painted figures without backgrounds as well.
CASTATOR: That was really about de-contextualizing images from their environment and throwing them into a blender and kind of making them stand for themselves. If you have an entire scene, a deer looks like it belongs in a picture with nature in the backgroundits a setting, it just feels like it belongsbut then, if you remove that and you pair it up against something else and neither element really belongs or has an environment to react to, then those images are forced to react to one another, and I think you get more out of each one of those images that way. For a while, I was just completely de-contextualizing things in the space. It also allowed me to operate without gravity, or the rules that are inherently dictated by creating a space.
I loved the way that those paintings looked, but if you have the brightest color that you can possibly imagine, straight out of the tube onto an all-white canvas, that white is still going to eat it up. It makes it so hard to play colors off one another if theres always this very, very overpowering white background that they have to sit in. So I think on a conceptual level, I really liked the thinking behind it, but Ive been adding backgrounds and colors lately. I can sacrifice the de-contextualization of the image.
HUZENIS: Tell me about your most recent set of works, Real Tap Water, Karaoke Bar, and Sunset. Were all these made in quarantine?
CASTATOR: Real Tap Water was supposed to be shown at the Dallas Art Fair, which was canceled due to the pandemic. I kind of knew that that was going to happen while I was making it and therein didnt finish it in time for the deadline because the deadline meant nothing. I was afforded more breathing time because of that.
The other two paintings were both made during quarantine for Library Street Collective in Detroit. Both will be included in a catalogue and an exhibition called We Used to Gather. Id been speaking with them about what was going on and the kind of work I was making and things that I was missing, and they were telling me about the whole concept behind the show. I love, love, loveto an embarrassing degreekaraoke.
HUZENIS: Do you have a go-to karaoke song?
CASTATOR: Yeah, theres an Eminem song that I do, Without Me. My friends still, to this day, give me shit about it because its embarrassing how well I can do this one Eminem song. But I grew up in a trailer in the middle of nowherehe was a success story.
HUZENIS: The scenes in these works all share a kind of apocalyptic atmosphere. What is it about the apocalypse that interests you?
CASTATOR: Well, I think Ive kind of created this practice for myself where I can touch on incredibly serious and morbid or repulsive themes because Im balancing that out with humor, satire, these cartoon-like elements. I try to find a way to make these themes palatable because I think its difficult and unsettling for certain people. If a gallery is a dinner party, and somebody brings something that people dont want to talk about in a very direct manner, its awkward silence and then, oh we dont talk about that in this household. But if you do it in this kind of sardonic, playful approach, you can trick people into talking or thinking about things that they would typically find uncomfortable, which I think is a major part of my practice that I enjoy.
I had this show in New York and the concept behind the show was the fragile mind of someone who becomes attracted to conspiracy theories and throws themself into the conspiracy theory culture thats available on the internet. Its obviously all tongue-in-cheek, but Im able to take the temperature in real time of some of the ugliest sides of American history. Finding these back-door ways to open up uncomfortable conversations is really something I look for in the work.
HUZENIS: Tell me about your artist community in L.A. and the spaces youve been converting into artist studios.
CASTATOR: When I moved here, I didnt have the intention to move to Los Angeles. I came out for a two-week apartment switch with a friend. He was living in L.A., I was living in New York, and we just switched. By the time the two weeks was up, both of us had decided that we wanted to move, so we just both stayed. It was the most effortless, unplanned, and breathless effort to move to Los Angeles.
I had a room in a very large loft building with other people downtown, and I spent about a month-and-a-half just walking into buildings, looking for a studio that was close enough that I could commute on foot daily. I walked into dozens of these old industrial buildings, asking if they were open to renting to an artist. Then I just happened to be walking past this place one day and saw them drop a For Lease sign on the window, and I went up.
My dad is also an artist and lives in Los Angeleshe moved here six months before I did, coincidentally. He was also looking for a studio, and we found this beautiful, open space in this building. Eventually we developed this relationship with the landlord where he got over his hesitation about renting to artists. I think he still refers to it as this artsy-fartsy stuff that he doesnt understand, but we pay rent on time, so he loves that.
As businesses have moved out of the building, weve just jumped on the lease for each floor and have taken them over and built out artist spaces. Now its nothing but artists. Its amazing. Its completely transformed the feeling of the building.
HUZENIS: How do you determine who rents?
CASTATOR: Other artists have recommended friends. Thats how the majority of the spaces have been filled. But between myself and my father, weve kind of just wanted serious artists only. No vanity-project-bullshit. No DJs.
My friends outside of that little microcosm arent artists. I spend a lot of time with friends I grew up with in Colorado that ended up here or people that work and operate and exist in completely different worlds.
HUZENIS: What was it like growing up in a college town like Boulder?
CASTATOR: Well, I was born in Texas and lived with my mom until I was 10, out in the middle of the country, outside of Austin. Then I moved to go live with my dad at like 10 or 11. It was a completely different experience because we lived in the center of Boulderall of a sudden, I lived in a city. Well, maybe Boulders a city, maybe its a town, Im not sure. Its a big little place.
Boulder was a weird place to grow up because its a bubble. I think in the time that I lived there the school was voted number one party college in America. Im six-foot-three and have been since I was a freshman in high school, so it was amazing because if I was walking home and walked past some college party, I would just walk in and start bullshitting about how bad whatever program was that I was in and drinking. I was skateboarding a lot at the time, so all of my friends were older than me from the skate park, and they would invite me. I never had an eyebrow raised at the fact that I was like 15. It was a very quintessential college experience, without ever having to go to class.
HUZENIS: Were you a rebellious kid?
CASTATOR: I was just kind of a prick. I went to an alternative high school that I was able to not attend all the time because I was traveling for skateboarding. I rode for a small company and we would make videos and I would go on filming trips and compete in and out of state. Its a great way to grow up because the skate park is this amazing melting pot of different people and freaks and people that have grown up but still remain interested in this thing from their childhood. Just across the board, I was exposed to quite a bit.
HUZENIS: Both of your parents are artists, but aside from their influence, youre mostly self-taught.
CASTATOR: I didnt go to art school. I started painting around the end of high school and I moved to New York. No one in my high school in Boulder was ever like, Oh yeah, you should apply to Cooper Union, its free if you get in. I would have conversations with people at these institutions, and theyd be like, Well you might think you might want to be an X character now but well find some way that you can apply your talents to X, Y and Z. I was just so turned off.
So I moved to New York for exposure and to be around this thing that I didnt know anything about, but obviously realized was important. And, I guess, to cultivate taste, which I had none of before I moved there. I started working at galleries as an art handler and [with the recommendation of a close mentor, New Museum Deputy Director Karen Wong] the New Museum hired me on their installation staff. Then, by a weird chain of events, through Karen Wong, I was introduced to the artist Tal R, who invited me to be a guest student of his during his last semesters at the Kunstakademie in Dsseldorf.
As far as institutional education, thats the most that Ive got under my belt, and it was incredibly beneficial. It was 100 euro a semester as a registration fee. Thats it. And there were no real classes. It was just studio all the time. That has completely informed the way that I built up the studios here in the building. Very few of them have four walls. Theyre mostly just divided spaces with this kind of open-air, community feeling to them.
HUZENIS: What was the experience of working as an art handler at the New Museum like?
CASTATOR: My life opened up quite a bit because you do these very intensive installations and de-installations that were maybe two or three weeks worth of work where youd rack up a lot of hours and overtime. And then I had a month, basically, to be in studio. That was the best moment for me in New Yorkwork-life balance.
I helped install theChris Ofili retrospective, and just to be that close to those paintings and see them in person for the first time was amazing. I somehow wound up at a hotpot dinner with Chris and Karen Wong. Hes hands-down the coolest artist Ive ever met, maybe the coolest person Ive ever met. The guy literally just breathes in air, exhales cool. One of the coolest experiences from my last exhibition in New York was when [New Museum director]Lisa Phillipscame and did a walkthrough. It was a very surreal experience because I used to get checks with her name on the back.
HUZENIS: You mentioned that you still share your studio with your father. Tell me about your working dynamic.
CASTATOR: Were very similar, but we dont keep kind of the same hours. The space is divided; he has his zone and I have my zone. I feel like a lot of people couldnt spend that amount of time around their parents, but hes probably the most informed person I could talk to about my work, as hes seen it develop over the course of my entire life.
HUZENIS: Whats the most valuable lesson youve learned from him?
CASTATOR: I think the greatest thing hes instilled in me is how to remain excited about your work, to celebrate each tiny victory. Not everything is going to be amazing, so when you do have these moments where you feel like youve had some level of success, you have to bask in them and celebrate them. Hes been an artist my entire life, and hes remained excited about his practice and eager to make things. Thats just a really good way to live. Ultimately, being an artist is very much about living a life worth reflecting into objects or images. I think its important to be happy. I dont really get off on the whole miserable, brooding thing. Thats another reason why I like being in LA. Everyones happy and fucking tanned all the time. The sun is shining every single day. How are you going to be this suicidal masochist if you live here?
See the rest here:
Artist Canyon Castator Is Making The Apocalypse Palatable - Interview
- Neighborly discord in the Galwan Valley - Observer Research Foundation [Last Updated On: June 22nd, 2020] [Originally Added On: June 22nd, 2020]
- Why human beings are so irrational, and never learn podcasts of the week - The Guardian [Last Updated On: June 22nd, 2020] [Originally Added On: June 22nd, 2020]
- Canceling Joe Rogan Would be the Left's Worst Nightmare - Here's Why - CCN.com [Last Updated On: June 22nd, 2020] [Originally Added On: June 22nd, 2020]
- Down with symbols - The News International [Last Updated On: June 22nd, 2020] [Originally Added On: June 22nd, 2020]
- Neil Gorsuch Stuns the Nation, Does the Right Thing - The Nation [Last Updated On: June 22nd, 2020] [Originally Added On: June 22nd, 2020]
- The Voice of America Will Sound Like Trump - The Atlantic [Last Updated On: June 22nd, 2020] [Originally Added On: June 22nd, 2020]
- License to Analyze Media - The Dispatch [Last Updated On: June 22nd, 2020] [Originally Added On: June 22nd, 2020]
- New Boss May Test Voice of Americas Credibility - The New York Times [Last Updated On: June 22nd, 2020] [Originally Added On: June 22nd, 2020]
- Destroying the Statues of Slavers to Rewrite History - Morocco World News [Last Updated On: June 22nd, 2020] [Originally Added On: June 22nd, 2020]
- What to Cook Right Now - The New York Times [Last Updated On: June 22nd, 2020] [Originally Added On: June 22nd, 2020]
- The Voice Of America Is Not The Voice Of Trump - The Pavlovic Today [Last Updated On: June 22nd, 2020] [Originally Added On: June 22nd, 2020]
- Philly residents call for Taney Street to be renamed - PhillyVoice.com [Last Updated On: June 22nd, 2020] [Originally Added On: June 22nd, 2020]
- Wizards Ends Their Relationship with Terese Nielsen - Hipsters of the Coast [Last Updated On: June 22nd, 2020] [Originally Added On: June 22nd, 2020]
- Magic: The Gathering Ends Relationship With Controversial Artist - We Got This Covered [Last Updated On: June 22nd, 2020] [Originally Added On: June 22nd, 2020]
- How game theory not chaos rules the Trump White House - Los Angeles Times [Last Updated On: June 22nd, 2020] [Originally Added On: June 22nd, 2020]
- What we know about the 'Boogaloo Bois,' the far-right group tied to killings in Santa Cruz and Oakland - San Francisco Chronicle [Last Updated On: June 22nd, 2020] [Originally Added On: June 22nd, 2020]
- Four Years Embedded With the Alt-Right - The Atlantic [Last Updated On: June 22nd, 2020] [Originally Added On: June 22nd, 2020]
- Influence of COVID-19 Crisis on Global Right-Wing Agenda - Valdai Discussion Club [Last Updated On: June 22nd, 2020] [Originally Added On: June 22nd, 2020]
- Mendocino County Board of Supervisors Approves Issuance of Fines for Refusing to Wear Facial Coverings - Redheaded Blackbelt [Last Updated On: July 10th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 10th, 2020]
- Far Right Reading List Shows Link Between Its Literature and Real-World Violence - Truthout [Last Updated On: July 10th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 10th, 2020]
- America Is in the Grips of a Fundamentalist Revival - The Dispatch [Last Updated On: July 10th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 10th, 2020]
- New Zealand police warned of another mosque threat before Christchurch shooting massacre - Reuters [Last Updated On: July 10th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 10th, 2020]
- The saffron swastika - The Express Tribune [Last Updated On: July 10th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 10th, 2020]
- Banned by PayPal and YouTube, this alt-right comedian is back on PayPal and YouTube (updated) - The Daily Dot [Last Updated On: July 10th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 10th, 2020]
- Why White House Catholics are concerned about Trumps Catholic tweets - Catholic News Agency [Last Updated On: July 12th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 12th, 2020]
- GAA's tiresome culture war insults and ignores players - RTE.ie [Last Updated On: July 12th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 12th, 2020]
- Review: Rabbit Hole hops into the Internets greatest failures and successes - The Charlatan [Last Updated On: July 12th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 12th, 2020]
- Colleges are flimflamming college students and parents about reopening in the fall (opinion) - Inside Higher Ed [Last Updated On: July 12th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 12th, 2020]
- New Conservatives defend Western culture as 'greatest in the world', warn NZ 'sliding toward socialism' - Newshub [Last Updated On: July 12th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 12th, 2020]
- Fire Island Partier Who Flouted COVID Rules Says He's Not Sorry, Reveals Himself to Be QAnon Follower: WATCH - Towleroad [Last Updated On: July 12th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 12th, 2020]
- 'Draining the swamp' and other metaphors - Idaho State Journal [Last Updated On: July 12th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 12th, 2020]
- Fire Island partier who flouted coronavirus rules refuses to apologise: 'I'm not going to fall for the lab-made virus' - PinkNews [Last Updated On: July 12th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 12th, 2020]
- Slate Star Codex and Silicon Valleys War Against the Media - The New Yorker [Last Updated On: July 12th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 12th, 2020]
- Alt-Weeklies Face Total Annihilation. But Theyre Thriving in the Chaos. - The Ringer [Last Updated On: July 12th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 12th, 2020]
- Dana Canedy, the New Head of Simon & Schuster, on Facts, Diversity, and the Future of Publishing - The New Yorker [Last Updated On: July 12th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 12th, 2020]
- The fallacy of white privilege and how it's corroding society - New York Post [Last Updated On: July 12th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 12th, 2020]
- Facing America's History of Racism Requires Facing the Origins of 'Race' as a Concept - TIME [Last Updated On: July 12th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 12th, 2020]
- Stone Shares Meme With Roots In Alt-Right To Attack Judge - TPM [Last Updated On: July 12th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 12th, 2020]
- When it comes to modern slavery, many of us turn a blind eye - iNews [Last Updated On: July 18th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 18th, 2020]
- How to add alt text to images on Twitter so that they can be read with screen readers - Business Insider - Business Insider [Last Updated On: July 18th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 18th, 2020]
- A decade of emoji: How aubergines and crying faces connected us all online - The Independent [Last Updated On: July 18th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 18th, 2020]
- A Dreyfusard from the Right - Twilight of Democracy - Visegrad Insight [Last Updated On: July 18th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 18th, 2020]
- The Man in the Antifa Mask: Who he is and why he regrets showing up at a Coeur d'Alene protest with a crowbar - Pacific Northwest Inlander [Last Updated On: July 18th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 18th, 2020]
- Best of Philly: Heres to the People Who Protested - Philadelphia magazine [Last Updated On: July 18th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 18th, 2020]
- Lincoln the Emancipator: The Civil War & the Continuous Battle against Northern Negrophobia (Part 1 of a two-part series) - Milwaukee Courier... [Last Updated On: July 18th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 18th, 2020]
- The Fascist Messaging of the Trump Campaign Eagle - Hyperallergic [Last Updated On: July 18th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 18th, 2020]
- AOC on League of Legends: Right-wing Twitter is childs play compared to inting 13-year-olds - VG247 [Last Updated On: July 20th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 20th, 2020]
- MSNBC's Joy Reid Makes Cable Network History With the Debut of "The ReidOut" - Vogue [Last Updated On: July 20th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 20th, 2020]
- NY: Hundreds of free Uber e-bikes coming to WNY for proposed 'transportation libraries' - MassTransitMag.com [Last Updated On: July 20th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 20th, 2020]
- What is alt text on Instagram? How to add alt text - Business Insider - Business Insider [Last Updated On: July 20th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 20th, 2020]
- What is the deal with 'woke' culture and writing letters? - The National [Last Updated On: July 20th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 20th, 2020]
- The Return of the Cooch - Bacon's Rebellion [Last Updated On: July 20th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 20th, 2020]
- Anti-Greta and the challenges faced by young activists | Forge - ForgeToday [Last Updated On: July 20th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 20th, 2020]
- Anti-maskers bring their misinformation to Halifax - Halifax Examiner [Last Updated On: July 20th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 20th, 2020]
- MSNBCs Joy Reid Makes Cable-Network History With the Debut of The ReidOut - Vogue [Last Updated On: July 20th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 20th, 2020]
- Is This Roger Stone and Proud Boys Flashing a White Power Symbol? - Snopes.com [Last Updated On: July 20th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 20th, 2020]
- Trump's pick to head Office of Personnel Management spread 'satanic' conspiracy theory, called Democrats party of 'Islam' and 'gender-bending' -... [Last Updated On: July 24th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 24th, 2020]
- Joe Rogan Is Spreading Transphobic Hate Speech and It's Putting Lives in Danger - Men's Health [Last Updated On: July 25th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 25th, 2020]
- 'Pure Invention': How Japan's pop culture became the 'lingua franca' of the internet - The Japan Times [Last Updated On: July 25th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 25th, 2020]
- Redefine Meat wants to disrupt meat industry with 3D printed Alt-Steak - Food Dive [Last Updated On: July 25th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 25th, 2020]
- How it feels to survive Silicon Valley and a pandemic - Engadget [Last Updated On: July 25th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 25th, 2020]
- New Mexico's thin blurred line (The thin blurred line) High Country News Know the West - High Country News [Last Updated On: July 25th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 25th, 2020]
- Does Tucker Carlson hate America? - The Independent [Last Updated On: July 25th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 25th, 2020]
- How to add alt text in Excel to make images accessible - Business Insider - Business Insider [Last Updated On: July 29th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 29th, 2020]
- Why Portland Became the Test Case for Trumps Secret Police - The Nation [Last Updated On: July 29th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 29th, 2020]
- What IS your point? - The Bear Insider [Last Updated On: July 29th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 29th, 2020]
- What is alt text in WordPress? How to add image descriptions on your web page to improve accessibility and web - Business Insider India [Last Updated On: July 29th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 29th, 2020]
- Herman Mashaba: Why he might draw the crowds at election time Chuck Stephens - BizNews [Last Updated On: July 29th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 29th, 2020]
- How Brooks Brothers Became a Symbol of What Not to Wear to the Revolution - TownandCountrymag.com [Last Updated On: July 29th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 29th, 2020]
- Hillsdale Must Join the National Reckoning on Race - The Bulwark [Last Updated On: July 29th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 29th, 2020]
- What is alt text in WordPress? How to add the accessibility feature - Business Insider - Business Insider [Last Updated On: July 29th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 29th, 2020]
- Pittsburgh-based Steelers reporter quits PennLive in protest of site calling a Nazi rally "peaceful" - PGH City Paper [Last Updated On: July 29th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 29th, 2020]
- 'You Do the Right Things, and Still You Get It' - The New York Times [Last Updated On: July 29th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 29th, 2020]
- Who wants to cancel cancel culture? The voiceless or the privileged? - Coconuts [Last Updated On: July 29th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 29th, 2020]
- Amazon compared to heroin dealer as Bezos, Zuckerberg, Cook and Google CEO accused of squeezing out com - The Sun [Last Updated On: July 29th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 29th, 2020]
- Courtney Love hopes Jeffrey Epstein burns in hell after her name appeared in his address book - The Independent [Last Updated On: July 29th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 29th, 2020]
- Elon Musk has finally confirmed whether his take the red pill tweet was a Trump endorsement - indy100 [Last Updated On: August 1st, 2020] [Originally Added On: August 1st, 2020]
- The Lakers Hold On to Beat the Clippers in Thriller - The New York Times [Last Updated On: August 1st, 2020] [Originally Added On: August 1st, 2020]
- The Fight review: A jubilant look at changing the world for the better - Evening Standard [Last Updated On: August 1st, 2020] [Originally Added On: August 1st, 2020]
- Mike Foltynewicz clears waivers, sent to Braves alternate site - Sports and Weather Right Now [Last Updated On: August 1st, 2020] [Originally Added On: August 1st, 2020]