Artist Lecture: James Victore

For my second artist lecture for the month of September, I actually had a guest speaker in my Design Rebels class. James Victore is the owner of an independent studio out in New York City, James Victore Inc. His work deals with issues present within social culture such as: racism, gays, basically any issue dilemna in society he shares a personal concern for. He was really a well spoken, outgoing guy, really easy to talk to but had a lot of ideas he wanted to express. Because it wasn't technically an artist lecture, it was on a more down to earth level. It was more like a class discussion, but we got to just conversate, ask him questions about his work, the industry, anything that came to mind basically. His work is really cool too, he does a lot of illustration heavy design work. His latest work, entitled "dirty dishes" arose from his past, when as a 20some year old, would steal plates from resturantes and bars, only to scribble catch phrases and illustrations with a thick permanent marker. His work also ranges from surfboards, posters, whatever you can think of. I feel his personality really comes through in his artwork, which is one thing he stressed when talking to us in class. "Don't settle", "how can i get paid to be myself?". These are examples of quotes he mentioned in class, which make perfect sense, why conform to someone else's beliefs and disregard your own? Just makes NO SENSE! But I feel i'm already doing what I want, sports photography seems to be a perfect match for me, just need to work my way into the field. Victore had a really strong sense of sarcasm and humor, when viewing his work, you'll see what I mean. Overall, he was an extremely cool guy, very informative and motivating. I'm glad he came in for the short talk he had with our class, really made a lot of questions arise into the conversation, and whenever you're thinking, especially with a visiting professional artist, you know its going well. If you'd like to check out his work, go to the website below:

James Victore