community visual arts 11: Is there an artist who inspires you? YH: Yes, a French artist. I think now he is in his eighties. His name is Jacques Villegle. He is doing collage, just collage. I think if you saw his work you can see how he's influenced me. I am not doing collage like him, but you can really see how he has influenced my style. He started in the 1950's, and if this guy was in his thirties right now he would be a rock star. He's amazing. 11: Can you tell us about your collaboration with the designer Aaron R. Thomas? YH: Well, I wanted to paint on a hard acrylic surface. I contacted some companies in the acrylic industry and they said it was impossible. I was like, "Alright, they are working in this industry so I think they know what they are talking about." So, I left it alone, sad. Then I found this guy through Facebook who makes acrylic furniture. So I think I started to speak with him through Facebook maybe four or five years ago. Last June when I was in L.A. I said, "Ok, so I really have to meet him." I went and knocked on his door. At first we wanted to do something together, but just for fun. So when I sat down with him he looked at my work and was like, "Ok this is totally different from what you're showing." He agreed to work with me. After we did the first collaboration (with my painting on his acrylic chair), he said, "Okay, I think we are going to be working together for a very long time." So a union was born.
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At one point we were wondering what to do on the side of the chairs we were working on. We said, "Okay, let's think about that later." He went to take a shower, and when he came back I said, "I have an idea for the side of the chair!" He said, "Me too!" I was like, "Okay, so you first." When he said his idea it was my idea too. It was really easy to work with him. We spoke this morning and we are talking about showing in galleries. His acrylic furniture with my painting. Also we are planning to show very big acrylic pieces that will hang on the wall, which is something that nobody is really doing right now. Everything [about Aaron's process] is really hand made. Even the acrylic skateboards are all molded by hand. The next phase of the process will be painting on the large acrylic sheets like I wanted to do in the first place. Now Im going back to what I first wanted to do, but with a twist. 11: Are there any Portland artists you would like to recognize? YH: Jon Stommel and Travis Czekalski. I like their work a lot. Âť - Veronica Greene
Please enjoy Yannick's piece "Dakota" (spray paint, acrylic pen, resin, collage on canvas, 2013) decorating our inside back cover this month. Find more from Yannick at www.yannickhamonart.com