This week we had the pleasure of interviewing the very talented and extremely charming Mr. Ronald Kurniawan. Ronald has impressed us for ages with his totally unique visuals.

In Ronald’s work the sublime and nuclear age could coexist, and wilderness and civilization merge happily together. Ronald paints romantic environments and breaks the quiet scene with juxtaposed imagery taking the shape of icons and letterforms.

Ronald currently lives and works in Los Angeles where he paints meticulously, and is happily accompanied by his pug Ruffles, an avid artist himself.

Check out what he had to say in regards to our nosy questions.

Site: Ronald Kurniawan
Blog: Specimen Sheet

FMCS: Ronald great to meet you. How’s things with you right now? It’s snowing where we are so we are kinda cold right now hope its warmer where you are!

Ronald: Pleasure is all mine and I am actually in New York right now, but I am sure it’s all nice and toasty in Cali.

FMCS: Let’s get straight into things regarding your artwork. Firstly we are captivated by the incredible imagery in your portfolio. Truly amazing. We would like to know the root of your ideas, where does the inspiration for the work come from? Are they from thought? Conflicting elements in everyday life? Man and nature in opposition? Myth? Or other sources?

Ronald: Wow…intense first question. Iconic imagery, symbols and type are everywhere. I see a boxy car driving through a forest, an “X” is not a letter in the real world, but a sign for an intersection, even the skies are plastered with words written in the clouds, by a plane.

So, it seemed natural that I painted the world how I see it ,but then again, this is my world and I see giant eyed octopuses, little gorillas, big cowboy hats and when people talk, you could see the words come out of their mouth in bright orange hues, with arms and legs.

Most of the imagery are out of my head because I tend to watch too much TV. or read too many useless books, as well as, getting myself into trouble and trying to find a way out… I guess people call it life experiences. All of these things shape the imagery, because it shapes my point of view.

I also believe that our environment does mold us into who we are, so maybe I do paint a lot of man coexisting with nature or using a lot natural environments as a backdrop, because the background is the structure in most, if not all, of my paintings.

FMCS: The paintings and the sculptures seem to take a lot of time to work into a finished article by their complex and detailed nature. Is this true?

Ronald: This is true. I have a weird philosophy with my art. The imagery could be simple, but complex in composition and vice versa.

For example, the sculptures are constructed almost crudely, simple shapes, but the paint job could be detailed. The painting could have a simple iconic characters, but 100 of the simple characters in one little page could be complex.

This does take some time, but well worth it.

FMCS: We are interested to know the reaction that you see in children when they see such imaginative images?

Ronald: Well…the paintings are kid tested and mother approved. Kids seem to like them, they think its all silliness and fun.

FMCS: How important is symbolism and semantic codes within your work? Do you think people notice subtle symbolism in modern society?

Ronald: I use a lot of symbolism because sometimes I have an idea, then with a bit of brainstorming by breaking down the idea, an icon would appear that is a metaphor for what I have to say. It’s important because it is part of my process.

Then again, sometimes I have to be real literal, which is really nice and would just spell out what I wanted to say. So semantic codes do also play a little hand into the paintings because I believe many people are also tired of reading too much into one piece.

But society is now more educated about art so they would notice the subtle symbolism.

FMCS: We notice that you have worked with some big companies on certain projects like Sony, Toyota, Disney, Mattel Inc etc… What are these big names looking for in your work?

Ronald: Sometimes the style would fit into what they need or what I paint about. I just recently finished designing a Toyota commercial just because of their slogan ‘The car that reads the road’ and I happen to use some type in my paintings.

The character based companies, such as Disney, would be interested in the characters I produce and how to use the weird pop colors and still make it work.

FMCS: How is the creative scene where you are? And who’s work are you really rating right now?

Ronald: I think Los Angeles is really starting to develop their own look and feel. Just being in New York right now, I could definitely see the difference.

NY is very drawing heavy and LA is more painted imagery. There are way too many artists out there in the world that are really good, just insane work but I am also drawn to some film makers like Gondry, Chan-Wook Park, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, because I always work with the TV on and would pop a DVD in, so their films would influence my work.

FMCS: What direction would you like to take your work in the near future?

Ronald: I would like to have more time to paint because everything I have done is always under the deadline, not quite what I have in my head. I really would like to go more intense, more controlled chaos, larger by size.

FMCS: Do you have any exhibitions on the horizon we can draw some attention on?

Ronald: I will be in a small group show in Seattle, at Roq la Rue Gallery in February 2007. I might take some time off to develop a new series next year.

FMCS: How’s Ruffles? Has his painting skills developed?

Ronald: Ruffles is fine, he just eats and sleeps right now so his painting skills are slacking…but what do you do when you don’t have thumbs?

FMCS: As always your work puts a smile on our face and happiness in our hearts to see somebody doing something so unique So keep on trucking Ronald and many thanks for the interview. Do you have anybody you would like to give some respect to before we bid farewell?

Ronald: Thank you for the interview! And I would like to thank my wife for her support, she has to put up with my weird work hours. Ciao.

Site: Ronald Kurniawan
Blog: Specimen Sheet

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