a giant gray dog named doubt

stephen cort smith, oh, hello, i didn't see you there, 2011, MS Paint

grillin', 2011, MS Paint

feathery black magic, 2011, MS Paint

(All images are copyrighted & belong to the artist)

"ms paint has allowed me to open the doorway to the pathway to the trail that leads to the stream that flows through the murky depths of your (my) subconscious mind. tremble through your wildest fears, relish in your highest hopes, immerse yourself in a world of magic and ultimate reality. enjoy your stay."

Interview with Stephen Cort Smith

30 May 2011

Ursula Dilley: Hi Stephen! Could you tell me a little bit about your process? How are the images made?

Stephen Cort Smith: I do everything with MS Paint.

UD: That’s fun; how did that start?

SS: It started about four or five years ago now I guess, and I would be bored at work, so I started doodling with MS Paint. Silly little things at first but I started to really like it and I enjoyed the challenge of trying to create things with it.

UD: You just use a regular computer mouse?

SS: Yes, currently I use a twelve-year-old Compaq, just a regular mouse. I almost never go into a picture with a specific outcome in mind. Usually I’ll just listen to music and just kind of see what happens.

UD: There are some recurring themes though! I like your tigers, for instance.

SS: Yeah, I like to take pieces of things I do and use them in other things. I’ll get obsessed with one thing, currently the tiger head, [laughs], and just play with it.

UD: I just did a painting of a retarded tiger.

SS: That’s one thing I really love about MS Paint, is that I can use pieces of things and put them together and they just kind of evolve into something completely different sometimes. [Laughs] An actual mentally challenged tiger?

UD: Yes. I’m sorry; we are talking about you now!

SS: I would really like to see it!

UD: I will show it to you. So, Are you showing your work anywhere other than online right now? You make prints when you have shows- could you tell me a little about that and how you decide on size, et cetera?

SS: At the moment I just have things online. I have had four shows (I think) in the past year, and they have all gone surprisingly well! When I do shows, I'll make eleven by seventeen-inch prints, or close.

UD: Like the one I have!

SS: For the first two shows, I took the prints to a friend's wood shop, and we sanded down the wood and carved out a frame for each picture. I lost access to the wood shop when he moved so I've just been making little colored frames out of mat board until I can come up with a better solution. A better solution would be not having to actually frame my prints [laughing]! Yes like the one you have!

UD: Cool.

SS: I like the idea of making the frame part of the piece. Gives each one more of a unique feel, and its cheaper, and I can also make multiples with different frame combinations.

UD: Right. Do you set any kind of limits like editions for the number of prints you make of a certain image?

SS: Nah. When I have shows I only make one of each print for that show. But I have not made limitations or anything. There are a lot that I’ve never printed.

UD: Did you take art in high school?

SS: I did. I was always in some kind of an art class. But I never really specialized in anything, and never felt like I was particularly great at anything.

UD: When did you feel like you were an "artist" or had work you wanted to share with people?

SS: I started the MS Paint stuff at work, and some of the people that I work with would comment on them and stuff, and eventually I put a few on... MySpace at the time I think. And I don’t know, people really seemed to like them, and as I was doing more and more I was learning new things I could do with that tool and I started to get excited about it. After that, I just kind of had this weird confidence about it and just started shoving it everyone's faces.

UD: That’s great! I love that- I think that’s what it's about.

SS: Yeah when it comes to "art" I’m not really into doing anything for the purpose of making money or getting any kind of recognition or anything. I mean I’ll take those things if I have to, but I just think it's fun, and I like that people smile when they look at them, and I like the thought of something I’ve done being displayed in someone else's home, et cetera. I try to keep everything as cheap as possible, nothing over twenty dollars.

UD: So you’re not particularly worried about trying to make a living through your work or something like that? Or do you?

SS: Well, if that were ever somehow possible that would be awesome. And I guess that's always in there in the back of my head somewhere. I would like to make t-shirts and my ultimate goal currently is a coffee table book or something like that.

UD: Are you in school or have you thought about going to school for art?

SS: No I never went to any kind of schooling for art specifically. It’s not really something I’ve thought much about, honestly. All of this has been fairly accidental to this point

UD: Cool. Do you have any advice for younger artists starting out?

SS: I would say take your time and find your medium. Explore everything. And don't assume there are any rules. I guess that's probably basic art stuff.

UD: Basic but good. One last question: What is the best thing about what you do?

SS: The color possibilities are literally endless. That’s my favorite thing, and the best part.