Artist Dave Pollot combines classic artworks with contemporary concepts to create his own genre of work. Entwining the use of common cartoon characters to modern graffiti within his oil paintings, Pollot’s experimental approach is ironic but at the same time masterful. Recently, Pollot has become well versed in using digital mediums. For example, he uses an iPad to help initially sketch up the scale and proportions of the piece. Pollot will sometimes create whole pieces just by using an iPad. Carry on reading to hear Coeval’s full interview with Dave Pollot as he spoke about how he got into the art industry and what his plans are for the future.

How did your artistic career begin?

I've always drawn and painted, but I really got serious about painting in 2012 when Istartedaltering found backgrounds. I left my job writing software in 2018 to focus onmy art career full time and I've been painting for a living ever since.

You combine renaissance with modern day ideas to create a juxtaposition–how did this concept come about?

It really started as a bit of a joke between my wife and I in 2012. She's always beenan avid thrifter and actually had a side hustle where she bought items (placesettings, etc) from second hand/vintage stores and rented them back to people whowereholding events and wanted a vintage feel. On one visit to a second-hand store,we joked about how fun it would be to paint something funny into one of thebackgrounds there and a couple weeks later, she came home with a couple for meto paint into-I wasinstantly hooked.

What is your artistic process from idea to finished piece?

These days, I generally have an idea of something that I'd like to paint, and then it'susually a matter of finding the right background (or starting with a blank canvas onthe occasion that I can't find the background I'm looking for). I usually do some digitalsketching on myiPad to get the scale and proportion down, and once I'm happy withthe composition, I start painting. I use oils mainly-once the piece is finished anddry,I'll sometimes varnish and then it's ready to go.

You utilise both oil paints and an iPad to create work–what is your preferredmethod and why?

I usually prefer to work in traditional mediums simply because I'm more comfortablewith them. However, since I've gotten a bit more into the digital side of the art world,it's become an interesting challenge and I've really enjoyed learning how to betteruse digital mediums.

You recently released ‘Uncharted Waters’, can you explain this series in moredetail?

The series was created using a mix of traditional and digital mediums and is meantto capture my introduction and navigation through the crypto/NFT space as a creatorwhilsttrying to reflect the collective experience of collectors and observers.All threepieces (and the variants) are new works in a series I’ve been creating for a few yearsnow called 'Oil and Water',wherein I’ve added graffiti tags to the sails of vintagesailing ships. In 'Uncharted Waters', the tags all relate to the crypto and NFT space.Each piece represents a chapter of sorts-'Embark' captures my experiencerefamiliarising myself with the underlying technologies and pays homage to the earlyinnovators upon which this new world was built.'Navigate & Explore' focuses on theartists and collectors (both known and newly discovered to me) that truly defined theecosystem and fundamentally shifted the contemporary art paradigm. 'HODL theCourse' is a playful commentary on the general mood shift through the troubledwaters of avolatile market.

What responses do you usually receive about your work?

I think it generally depends on the person-and that's the thing that I love about art.It's deeply personal and subjective-what one person has an emotional connectionto, another might dislike or have no feeling whatsoever. One of the reasons that Ibegan doing this was to answer a question“could I change the meaning of anabandoned piece of artwork without changing its aesthetic and make it wantedagain?”Often the responseis positive, and I think that definitely suggests that ouremotional/nostalgic connection to something might outweigh our visual/stylisticpreferences.

What can we expect to see from you in the near future?

I'm working my way through a number of commissions while also creating the bodyof work that will serve as the next chapter to the 'Uncharted Waters' series. I've got alot of ideas that I'm very excited about and I can't wait to get started on those as well,which should be surfacing later this year!