Art that counts

It's always good having a second set of eyes size something up for you. We're lucky because we have an army of sharp-sighted readers and some of them noticed the cool, witty artwork of American artist Craig Damrauer lining the walls of Matt Eastwood's home which ran in Inside Out's last issue.



The photo by Jason Busch was among many sprinkled throughout the spread and, thanks to just one caption in the story, the feedback ricocheted back to the artist himself, who contacted us once he sleuthed out where all the flurry of interest had come from:

I've gotten all of these wonderful emails from your readers asking for prints of my work and I think it has something to do with you guys. First of all, thank you so much. I don't know if it was purposeful or a happy accident, either way, I appreciate it.



I'm really glad that Craig emailed us because I've been a quiet fan of his work since fact-checking that Matt Eastwood story a while back. His New Math prints manage to filter and compact bulging, complicated thoughts into snappy, insightful punchlines – a neat equation that adds to (or multiplies) the ways we can see the world.



I love the equations you come up with for New Math. How did the idea start?
I was in a bit of a creative funk for a little while so I bought a little notebook and a charcoal pencil and told myself that I couldn’t come back to the apartment until the notebook was full. I was living in Manhattan at the time and just wandered the streets thinking and drawing and generally messing around. At some point during the day, I stumbled on to the idea for New Math, as well as the idea that became Things I Learned From My Alien Abduction. Lucky day.



Can you tell me a little about your background – have you always been into illustration? And what's your lifelong relationship with math been like?
I’ve always made things. My folks are both PhD chemists and so my brother and I spent our entire childhoods doing various pseudo-scientific projects. We grew things, made various contraptions, buried and unburied dead things, fooled around with electronics, ceramics, wood, you name it. My grandfather was a hardware wholesalesman and so we had the added joy of lots and lots of tools at our disposal. I think science and art have a lot of common elements, namely curiosity and a drive to make things, so it doesn’t surprise me that the expressway dumped me here.



As far as math is concerned, I always loved math and science. The only problem was that I was never that good at them. I had reasonable understanding but just couldn’t speak fluently enough to pursue them. My brother went on to get a PhD in chemistry. I tried to do physics but ended up studying writing because it was really fun.



I love the range of observations you cover on New Math – covering everything from (slightly suspect) parental advice, modern art, Botox, the workings of the legal system, economic failure and the importance of helmets. Can you tell me how some of these ideas are generated?
Well, for the record, all parental advice is slightly suspect, isn’t it? I don’t quite know how I choose a topic. Sometimes it’s stuff I’ve been thinking about, sometimes it’s stuff I hear. I generally write in spurts and fits because, believe it or not, the equations are a bit hard for me to write. So I’ll set aside a bunch of time and write a good handful.



As for how the actual thinking goes, man, I wish I knew. I’ve always thought in metaphor and I suppose this is an extension of that kind of thinking. That and it has to be funny or really profound.



Have there been any remarkable responses to New Math? And have certain equations just seem to have resonated & developed a life of their own? Do you find people ever suggesting equations to you?
I think the best part of this whole project is just how it resonates with people.

I noticed on Twitter a bit ago that people were using the tag #newmath to denote any type of word-mathematical description, which is amazing.



I also get a good amount of people sending me their own suggestions and equations. It’s fun because they tend to be very original and funny.

A sixth grade teacher in New Jersey here in the States went so far as to ask her class to create them as an assignment. My favorite from that batch was ‘Little Brother = Evil + Annoying’. So it’s been quite wonderful.



Some of your non-Math artwork is obviously influenced by your children. How much of a role do they (deliberately or inadvertently) play on your creativity?
Kids are like little batteries as far as creativity is concerned. And if you’re sensitive, as I am, to narrative, nonsense and interesting phrases – boy, are kids fun to hang out with.

My kids tend to be around when I’m actually doing the work and I’m always thinking about what I do, so I guess their influence just seeps in.



You're based in Brooklyn. How important are your surroundings in influencing your imagination and work?
Brooklyn is amazing because there is a ton of fantastic words and phrases on signs that inspire me as I run around and there’s just enough light and space here that I can get some good things made. But your question is really good. I’d be interested to see what would happen if I had a bigger studio and was in a more sparse environment.



I was thinking a lot about this the other day because I was on a boat and the sun was setting which made the sky this incredible red/orange/pink/blue. I was thinking about all of those artists you see in seaside towns who simply paint the beautiful variations in the sky and how exactly right that must be for them.



I read that you work in advertising – what's it like juggling your art projects with your pay-the-bills work?
It’s hard. I like what having stability brings (i.e. a semi-solid family life and the ability not to have to compromise my artistic work.) But it’s a tough balance. I think it’s important to work hard at the job-job and so that leaves very little time at the edges to do the things that drive me artistically. What this means is that the ideas just pile and pile up in my head and notebooks.



What do you have coming up next? Currently you're selling T-shirts online but will people be able to get copies of your prints?
Those prints are available and looking for good homes. Next in the New Math world will be a small book that was edited by Ed Ruscha and I’m going to do a limited edition screenprint of the Modern Art equation at some point in October.



In the studio I’m really pushing hard on screenprints. I’m brushing the paint before it dries after a printing and printing multiple times and getting these really nice and disturbing effects. I’m working on some canvases that talk back and forth to each other. One says, ‘Go ask your mother.’ The other says ‘Go ask your father.’

I’m doing a larger piece which is essentially an abstract story and I’m also doing a piece that’s based on a bunch of memories, some mine and some not.



How would you describe yourself as an equation?
Some things defy equations.

(My take on Craig's ideas would be: Wit + Originality x Something No One Else Has Thought Of Before = Awesome.)

To see more of Craig Damrauer's New Math (and to order a cool equation-emblazoned T-shirt), click here. To find out more about Craig's other artwork, head here or order a recent print.

Lee Tran, deputy chief sub-editor