Member of the Month – Kamloops Arts Council

For the member of the month – September, we interviewed Thompson Rivers University BFA graduate artist Dieddo. Dieddo just had a solo exhibit in August in KAC Main Gallery.

Full Name: Dieddo (artist name)

Medium: Painting, illustration and digital illustrations

How long have you been doing your art:

I’ve been doing art since I was a kid. It’s a bit of a cliché answer but art has always been in my life one way or another.

What got you originally interested in the art you do;

Mexican Muralism. Growing up in Mexico City, you can’t help but to be surrounded by the beautiful heritage Mexico has in art. Muralism is perhaps its biggest one and it’s the kind of art that I always come back to. On the other hand, pop culture has influenced me a lot, specifically cartoons like the loony tunes or sponge bob to comic books. In that sense, I’m fascinated with the convergence of such different mediums and the rules they play by. I’d say that’s something I’m very much exploring right now.

What is something you have learned about yourself through your art:

I’ve learned how necessary and cathartic art is. In all of my worst lowest times I’ve always found myself picking myself up through art.

What do you most enjoy about art:

How colorful and bold it is. Now that I have a bachelors degree in fine arts I’m able to make educated decisions and that is so liberating. I feel very comfortable with my style and how specific it is. It also excites to speak about the subjects I’m tackling lately as they feel (in my opinion) timeless, yet modern and contemporary.

 

What is your favorite joke/quote:

“We have the opportunity, perhaps even the responsibility, to create our own little magical worlds in a world that needs a little more magic.” — The Bear, Season 3, Episode 10

 

What is something most people don’t know about you:

I LOVE COOKING, if I wasn’t doing fine arts I’d be working in a kitchen somewhere. Maybe this doesn’t has to do with anything else but I think of that.

 

If you could teach everyone one art medium or method, what would it be, why:

Writing. Sounds a bit detached from visual art or specifically to what I do but I think writing it’s a very useful tool when trying to explain abstract subject matters. I think good writers make great artists.

 

What do you think makes art important:

I think because it’s easy to relate with, I like to think people can see conflicting emotions in my work that are hard to explain otherwise. In that sense, I want my art to hold up a mirror to whoever is looking at it and say: “I’ve felt that but I wasn’t sure how to explain it”. I draw a lot of my concepts from absurdism and that’s the idea that we try to find meaning in a reality that has none. It recognizes that life’s chaotic, irrational, and without a clear purpose, but instead of giving up, it encourages us to keep living, creating, and acting despite the absurdity.

Art is the perfect absurdist act. You know the universe doesn’t need your paintings, poems, or illustrations of hearts boxing but you make them anyway. is about creating beauty, humor, or meaning, not because life makes sense, but precisely because it doesn’t. When there’s no meaning to anything, making art is how we create it- even if it’s just for a short moment.

 

Why are you a member of the Kamloops Arts Council: 

I resonate a lot with the KAC’s principle and the idea that art should be accessible for everyone.

 

What are you looking forward to the most in this upcoming year (A special show or project you’re working on):

Creating as much art as possible and trying to be more involved in my community through it.

Are you on social media or have a website you would like us to include/link?

I’m on Instagram as: @dieddo_art