Painting a passion for media arts student Winston Warner
In a small room in the Pointe West apartment complex, Winston Warner, a second-year media arts student, keeps stacks of paint jars and brushes on an easel taking up most of his room. In the summer following his seventh grade year, Warner attended an arts camp at Coastal Carolina University and was introduced to painting. Two years later, he began using paint pens to make personalized shoes, surfboards, and other things for friends. In eleventh and twelfth grade, his interest in art grew serious as he changed from using paint pens to acrylics on canvas. After being entered by an art teacher at his school, one of his pieces won first place in an art show at the Tabor City Yam Festival in Tabor City, N.C.
“I was putting things on canvases with actual ideas behind them, and it was really cool,” Warner said.
As his art became more serious, Warner’s technique and preferred medium changed too.
“I enjoy using acrylics on canvas, because it gives you a lot more room for movement” he said, “its all about balancing colors and movement so that your idea can really shine forth.”
Warner has over 30 pieces of painted work in his collection, each contributing to the overall aesthetic of his work. When working, he keeps his style simple by using only five colors of paint: red, blue, yellow, black, and white. To him, it is all about the primary colors, using them to intensify, subdue or balance each other on the canvas. For most artists, inspiration can be hard to come by, but Warner says he is often inspired to create certain pieces by conversations he overhears, dreams or situations happening around him.
As a media arts student, he also takes inspiration from films or filmmakers. He enjoys films that come from very original, personal and often-dark places, particularly art house films from the 40s, 50s and 60s like those by Ingmar Bergman and Jean-Luc Godard. Directors David Lynch and Werner Herzog have been a long-time influence on his art because of their unique style of creation.
“They make films only they could make.” Warner said. “They make films that are reflections of the ways they perceive life around them.”
As an artist who is inspired in a very similar way, Warner wishes to use his own perceptions and experiences to help him create on canvas like Lynch and Herzog create in film.
In the future he hopes to pursue a career in filmmaking or anything in the film industry. As for his art career, Warner said he wants to have art as his escape — it’s more of a hobby than a career. Because he is self-taught, he plans to take art studio classes at USC to improve his technique. However, he still plans to focus more on his idea of art than on taught skills.
“Art has to be what you make of it. If not, it’s just the exact same thing as someone else’s,” Warner said “If you’re taught it it’s no longer yours, and your art has to be yours.