IA: What other artists or things inspire you in your work?

AC: Craig Mullins has really astonished me with his ability to create light and shadow, as well as his effortless touches and brilliant coloring.  I feel his works are established on the basis of traditional painting and therefore strengthen my thoughts on the importance of studying traditional painting even more.  Outside of the CG field, the American illustrator Norman Rockwell has influenced me greatly. Rockwell’s characters are lively, full of emotions and his stories are made clear through exaggerated movements and emotions. All together he creates works that are rich, humorous and easy to understand.  With such skills in presenting realism and picking up ideas from the dramatic elements of daily life, I feel nothing else can move me more than his work in terms of his ability to so closely capture emotions. My works also often originate from the places and things that surround me. For example “Girl Chasing,” can be explained by the direct influence of Norman Rockwell. I feel that describing ordinary people is the most realistic subject. 

IA: If you were asked to interpret a classic painting which would choose and why?

AC: I think it would be Caravaggio’s (1573-1610) work “The Calling of St. Matthew.” St. Matthew was tax official and in the painting St. Matthew and some other people are sitting around a square table counting money and doing daily things. Jesus is pointing to St. Matthew with a beam of light as if it is a hint of God’s summoning and St. Matthew is pointing at his own chest with his finger as if he is asking, “Is it me?” Caravaggio’s way of handling the painting is very close to life. He has such a lively spirit of realism and his use of the clothing and environment of his own time to depict a Biblical story can be said to have been very avant-garde.  Caravaggio also rejects idealism, unlike other artists that are chasing for a perfect ratio of beauty; he was always loyally presenting what’s most real. He loved to draw Gipsy women on the street even more than any perfect classic statue.  He often used middle or lower class people as models in his interpretations of Biblical stories, similar to the folklore drawing of that period.  For three hundreds years after he passed away art critics have treated his works as unimportant and only recently they are being treated as masterpieces. I guess the definition of beauty is different for every era, which makes us continuously rethink the meaning of beauty.  My work “You Cheat!” is indirectly influenced by Caravaggio’s work in terms of composition

IA: Have you done any large or long term projects?

AC: No, so far the assignments I have accepted have all been single pieces.

IA: What projects are you working on at the moment?

AC: Projects I have going on currently include a game cover illustration for a Taiwanese company and also an illustration for a European agent.  I am also negotiating with a famous international company right now so my fingers are crossed.

IA: How would you define art?

AC: I feel art should be close to the people, something anyone can understand with no need to be supported by profound theories because that will become a purposely created barrier to break away from the crowd.  I also feel as long as what the author wants to express is true from his heart, not just blindly following various trends, then he is being loyal to himself and his works will touch people’s hearts even more.

Links

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Alon Chou's Portfolion On CG Gallery : cggallery.itsartmag.com/gallery/AlonChou

Alon Chou's Website : alon.tw

See Also Interview with :

Neil Blevins / Philip Straub / Pascal Blanché / Raphaël Lacoste / Nick Harris / Bobby Chiu / Juan Siquier / Meats Meier / Tim Borgmann / Thierry Doizon / Benita Winckler