This is a repost from rossettoink.com

Jason Botikin is one of Canada's Greatest and most Amazing Up and Coming Canadian Artist his work speaks for itself with the skill and originality it is made with and his genuine good nature and kindness is expressed almost every time he speaks. Jason was kind enough to answer these Ten Questions about Art.

1)How many years have you been a professional artist?

A)  Whoa…getting a little personal there! Tough question… I’d define a professional artist as one who’s primary source of income is through their art, and by those terms, it’s only been in the last two or three years that this has been even remotely possible for me (be sure the belt gets pulled tight!). The production of (Trans)Formations, my last solo show at Galerie Pangee, found me building a nest of cabbage by the part-time labour of my hands for nearly six months in 2008, in order to put the materials together and afford the time dedicated solely to studio/bat-cave adventures. Ideally, grants, and my slipping into that circuit is the next big project…money for nothing, and chicks for free right?

 2) Who is your favorite Artist and Canadian Artist if they are not the same?

 A) Do the questions get more difficult as they go on? Don’t have a favorite artist of all times…more like favorites at specific points in time. I freak out about different artists all the time…I’m seeing stuff on the net, through magazines, and meeting folks on the street who blow my mind daily with their efforts. Favorite Canadian Art Magazine…that’s an easy one to answer (even if you didn’t ask)…Border Crossings. If it ain’t in there, it may not be happenin’.

 3) How has objective drawing helped your nonobjective drawings?

A)  Enormously! Disciplined practice, and the goal towards perfecting the craft of drawing are very attractive targets for me, however impossible this may be to accomplish in a lifetime (or many for that matter). Training the eye to accurately perceive an object in the 3rd dimension, and then duplicating that vision onto the 2d, has only enhanced my ability to apprehend the elusive fragments of dreams and pictures that dance around through my mind. The more I practice my ‘craft’, literally, in objective drawing exercise, the more fleshed-out and considered my nonobjective work becomes. And the bigger my drawing arm gets.

 4) Do you believe you could have created such a strong body of work if you had not attended art school?

A)  No. I used to draw hockey players before I went to school, sloppily copied from Winnipeg Free Press newspaper clippings. I really had very little understanding of the subject and its vastness before art school. All I knew was that I liked to draw, but even this seemed to have dubious meaning and application. My very first class in art school was pivotal. Teacher had us go outdoors with a pencil and pad of paper, in order to choose a tree, and for the next couple hours, he made us do the very “best” drawing we could. We were then instructed to draw the same tree, from the same perspective, but this time, to draw the image as “badly” as possible. Later that day we put all of our efforts together, the good, the bad, and the ugly up side by side on the walls of the class room, and spent the next few hours just talking about the work, and what made a drawing “good” or “bad”. I quickly realized that both of my drawings stunk something aweful, but that my “bad” one was in reality far more interesting, in its potential. I was thrilled by a new understanding of drawing, and the potential for line and form to express and map thoughts, ideas, dreams, emotions, touch, etc, operating according to a visual logic all on its own . It was that sense of potential, combined with this incredible dialog between my peers that irreparably blew my mind wide open. Still picking up the pieces to this day. Don’t know if that would have happened outside of school.

 5) What do you feel the advantage of drawing with charcoal on velum rather than lets say charcoal on paper?

A)  Erasability…vellum is a harder surface, less porous, allowing me to really peel the charcoal back off the surface with the eraser. Sounds better too.

 6) Do you feel it is harder to have people invest in Charcoal drawing on velum then in paintings?

A)  Perhaps…people freak out a bit when confronted with an unprotected charcoal drawing hanging naked on the wall…like charcoal might jump off the image and ruin simultaneously both their clothing and the drawing (and the couch, and the dog). Rest assured, this is not the case, almost. Paper has less of a shelf life than canvas and paint…this much can’t be argued.

7) What is the biggest exposure you have received as an artist. IE most reputable museum or show, best write up?

A) My mom thinks that I am handsome. Also, I received some great exposure through my organization and participation in the collaborative mural project recently exhibited at Galerie Pangee, entitled EN MASSE. Tim Barnard (my co-conspirator) and I have received much good coverage from this event.

 8) When will you believe you have attained success?

A) Easy one. My goals always change and morph as an artist. They change and grow bigger as I do the same. I feel successful as long as I faithfully pursue my dreams.

 9) What's the most you ever sold one piece for?

 A) Now that one is personal…I never kiss and tell. But I will say this much…I’m makin hundreds and hundreds of dollars a year from this beautiful practice, and whistling the whole way along

 10) Where can someone buy some of your work? 

 A) Galerie Pangee and the Douglas Udell Gallery are the two best places to go for artistic treasure of all shapes and sizes!