Artist Proof: Husam Elfaki aka SpiritWalk is a Newcastle, UK based designer skilled in interactive media, print, web, illustration, and more. He is currently continuing his academic studies at Northumbria University. He continues to explore and find new ways of visually communicating new ideas and concepts through his work.
Artsprojekt: What inspires your art?
GalaxyTurbo: There really isn’t anything specific that inspires me, but a lot of the things that have been inspiring some of my works lately is stuff that is said to me, or quotations I seem to really relate to. I normally find that there’s just so much truth in certain people’s phrases and I try to illustrate what that means to me. Other times, I just happen to interpret words in different ways, and I think you can get some really interesting results when you’re open to that many possibilities.
AP: What is the relationship between technique and content in your work?
GT: Technique is more of a personal thing that allows me to realise some of my ideas and content, my visual perceptions of various subject matter, I’m always trying to step it up in that sense. The content however is completely up to my instincts and I just happen to freestyle a lot of what I do. I try not to let the technicalities limit my ideas, so the relationship between the two is becoming weaker and weaker, so that when I do want to get my ideas out into the open, I’m not meeting those “can” or “can’t” do barriers. Separating the two makes life easier, but makes the work a little bit more challenging mainly because I don’t want to give up on something I think will be great.
AP: Describe your first experience of making art and how it affected your life’s journey
GT: That one’s tough because I can’t actually remember when I first started, but I know it was just basic drawings with pencils, drawing anything that I saw, normally whatever was in front of me at the time (really, anything on the coffee table, my gameboy, books, coffee). I also remember that my older brother liked drawing too and he was really good, he already done great shading and I just sat there copying, trying to figure out how I can shade just as well as he did. Honestly, I think I tried to pay as much attention to the finer details as I could, I wanted to do things well for the sake of accuracy and I think I’m still like that today, naturally leaning towards having really accurate, perfectionist work.
AP: Describe your most recent experience of making art.
GT: The last thing I was creating was a typography experiment (and still am, I should have it done pretty soon too!) and taking basic shapes, and converting them into letter forms that have these strange unique details. The thing is I wasn’t thinking about it at all, the extra details that I was adding weren’t planned and the decisions I made were completely instinctive and passive. I think that’s when I’m enjoying creating art the most, when I’m not thinking too much, infact, I enjoy it a hell of a lot more when it just completely takes me over. I don’t normally get into that stage because I always want things to look right in my eyes, but I was very happy with just letting my mind go and being spontaneous.
AP: Take us on a guided tour through a day in your life as an artist
GT: Well, I don’t exactly make a day out of being an artist since I’m still a full time university student! But when I do think about art (or at least creating a new piece of art), I find my stimulus or point of interest that’s going to help me generate more ideas for a new piece. All of my good thoughts collect at one point and I let them marinate for a little while, and then I just get on with making it happen. The ideas that I really like seem to just stick out in my mind and the ones I forget probably weren’t worth remembering. I go through a continuous cycle of this, when I’m not thinking about art, I’m making it, and when I’m not making art, I’m thinking about it.
Husam Elfaki’s Website: http://www.galaxyturbo.net
Artsprojekt Store: http://www.zazzle.com/spiritwalk
