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Thursday, May 25, 2017
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com ARTS
StudioWOS: A boundary-less artist aims to #RemixTheWorld
By SAL DIGIOIA
Daily Arts Writer
Being a visual artist has never
been tougher than it is today, with
the internet and social media offering
audiences constant distractions. Yet,
for Nicholas Osella, a recent graduate
from the University of Texas at Aus-
tin, the field’s new challenges repre-
sent opportunities for reinvention.
Working under the alias StudioWOS,
Osella creates unique collages that
remix the world according to his own
imagining, sometimes even using ele-
ments of popular culture.
“Nowadays, it’s incredibly hard
to even get one person’s attention,”
said WOS. “I constantly take that as
a challenge to be the loudest voice in
the room.”
Through email exchanges and a
phone conversation, the Michigan
Daily spoke with StudioWOS about
his creative process, artistic evolution
and most recent magazine, MAGNO-
LiA. Excerpts of the conversations
can be seen below.
***
When did you first start thinking of
yourself as an artist?
“I’ve always filled sketchbooks
and pursued a lifestyle of an artist. It
kind of just came naturally. In high
school I often thought about what I
would do in college — would I pursue
a degree in art or study some other
field that could provide me with com-
fort? Long story short, I went with
the latter and fell into graphic design.
The experience I gained has abso-
lutely influenced my style. Especially
in my recent work, I’ve taken a more
‘designerly’ way of thinking.”
You seem willing to express yourself
through infinite types of mediums. Did
you always view art as such a border-
less process?
“It was last year, around the sum-
mer, that I realized I can’t make
everything perfect. I started painting
on chairs with some of my friends —
that eventually led to me finding TVs,
clothes, mannequins and buying stuff
specifically to paint on. I’d spend five
minutes painting on something with
the goal of not spending multiple
hours on making a line perfect. I just
wanted to have fun again. It’s still
probably the most fun I’ve ever had
as an artist.
I think allowing myself to actu-
ally express myself honestly and be
organic in my process has tapped into
some weird subconscious process
that is really interesting to see come
through after such a long time of forc-
ing myself onto these 3x4’ canvases.”
Your older work is more cartoon-
ish than the more recent stuff. Is ani-
mation a style of storytelling that you
were particularly focused on? I noticed
the The Assassination of Animation
Zine (published in 2013) while scrolling
through your Instagram.
“In my freshman year of high
school, one of my best friends had
just died, and I was really struggling
to find myself. The characters I drew
around that time helped me cope
with the changing of scenery. They
let me talk about things I wouldn’t
have been able to without them —
death, happiness, love — all things I
was really passionate about, but too
timid to show.
I don’t really rely on them any-
more, since I’ve been getting more in
front of my work and trying to put my
face first. (But) even though I don’t
use them, I haven’t lost my ability
to tell stories or create narratives —
that’s still really present in my work.”
Your recent work feels more modern
than illustrations alone could. How is it
different approaching a photograph of
a celebrity as opposed to working with
a truly blank page?
“I usually warm up by drawing on
blank pieces of paper. I’ll cut them out
of my sketchbook and just numb my
brain to some music and see where
that takes me. After, I’ll start work-
ing up to remixing photographs and
sewing, but it just takes a different
muscle to do all of that work. I love
working on each of them and I take
great pride in my sketches. Most of
the time, though, it’s much easier to
show a picture of Kendrick Lamar
and have people immediately asso-
ciate with that. That’s just common
human behavior.”
What was it like to work on a project
as grand as MAGNOLiA? It seems like
you both created a magazine and re-
approached it afterward.
“What’s weird is that MAGNOLiA
was never really supposed to happen;
De (the photographer/stylist) and I
met to just take pictures of me work-
ing in my room. I thought the pictures
would be cool, but then it turned
into this huge thing. I asked if he’d
be interested in doing a zine and he
agreed. I spent another month work-
ing and re-working, and came out
with a zine that has 40 pages. It was
a really organic process — I worked
on the pictures at night, failed a few
tests. I really took my time on each
spread. If something was forced, or
wasn’t working, I moved on to the
next.
After I finished the book, I didn’t
really know what to do with it. I
showed it to De and a few other peo-
ple, but part of me thinks that I made
it for myself. I’d love to do something
similar for someone else — a musician
or photographer. If I had all the time
in the world, and a full arsenal of sup-
plies, I could probably take over the
world. Remix the world!”
You told Study Breaks: “Now (art-
ists) have to make something that elic-
its a specific response, something that
engages a little more directly. Some-
thing that makes someone say, ‘I would
destroy a TV to cover it in that thing.
I’d wear it to a concert. I’d wear it to a
fashion show.’”
A lot of artists probably view that
as a negative, but you seem like an out-
lier to that mentality, a creative who
is inspired by the challenge of people’s
shorter attention spans.
“As an artist, it’s my job to chal-
lenge the viewer’s sense of reality.
If you think about what was going
around in the 1950’s and ‘60s, art-
ists constantly re-invented how art
could be perceived. Pop Art, Abstract
Expressionism — I mean all of that
shit was their way of taking the world
around them and putting it in a way
you could kind of understand. I love
that.
I think we need to realize that
technology is going to be changing
not just interpersonal connections,
but like, the landscape of human
behavior. And with that, art will
one hundred percent change. We’re
already not going to galleries. If we
are, it’s so people can see us going to
galleries.
It’s disheartening, but if we’re not
taking these as challenges to work
other angles, then would you really
consider yourself with the likes of
Warhol or Jackson Pollack? Meet
the problem with an answer— or
die. “Create, or Die” is something my
friends and I say a lot.”
Some of your most recent pieces
have involved remixing photographs
of famous hip-hop personalities, while
some of your favorite artists have
strong connections to streetwear. Do
you think that artists are empowered
through these less conventional col-
laborations, since the final products
can sometimes gain attention from a
larger, more diverse audience?
“I’d agree with you, but that was
never how I looked at beginning this
series. Earlier this year, around Feb-
ruary, I started remixing big books
and magazines to just see what that
was like. I used an Hermes catalog as
a sketchbook for about half a year. I’d
paint inside of it, chain stitch inside,
tape pieces of paper to existing pieces.
I tore that book apart and by the end it
didn’t even look like an Hermes cata-
log. That’s where I started.
Around the time GunnerStahl
started getting more recognized, I
started printing out his photos and
using them. The first one I did was a
picture of A$AP Rocky, and I’ve done
a lot of Gunner’s pictures since. His
style is incredible. When I first start-
ed to post them on Twitter, people
actually started fucking with them.
Turns out, when you put music and
art together, people actually like it a
lot. Just another problem I met with
an answer.
What artists like the GONZ do for
brands like Supreme is to have them
associate with the culture around art.
Take the skateboard brand Illegal
Civilization — all of the graphics are
made by one guy, Ryder McLaugh-
lin. He has a crazy style that people
recognize. I don’t know if that’s what
makes them successful, but it works
for their brand.”
You also told Study Breaks that
you’re “focused on turning Studio-
WOS into a brand.” Do you mean that
you literally want to push StudioWOS
clothing in the future, or are you just
speaking on the brand-i-fication of art
that has occurred in the digital age,
and the new ways that artists are being
forced to market themselves?
“Let me start by saying, Lil Yachty
is one of the most interesting people
on the planet. I’ve heard him inter-
view a few times on the process of
turning himself into a brand — the
stories about him dyeing his hair red,
or (deciding) to only wear Nautica
clothing. Now we immediately asso-
ciate these things with him. What-
ever game we’re all playing, he won.
I saw this going on and I thought,
fuck, that’s amazing, I can do that too.
I started thinking about how I could
make myself and StudioWOS into
a brand that people could identify
with. I started painting on my clothes
and creating more and more new art.
What I’ve been pushing a lot is kind of
just the name. Call it brand recogni-
tion, call it whatever you want, that’s
the most important thing right now.
But you’re right, artists are now
having to market themselves to get
noticed. I wish that wasn’t the case
— we lose such creativity when we
have to force people into boxes. I
guess whatever is easier for people,
y’know?”
ARTIST PROFILE
COURTESY OF NICHOLAS OSELLA
Mac DeMarco outlined by sunshine.
COURTESY OF NICHOLAS OSELLA
A collage of Kendrick Lamar.