High Artist Spotlight: NEMO

Nemo is an illustrator currently working out of Minneapolis. Finding comfort in the world of comics, animation, and skate culture while his families moved around the country as a kid, he now draws inspiration from the aesthetics of his childhood and mixes them with new inspirations to create posters, album covers, t-shirts, as well as other print media.
We recently asked Nemo some questions about his inspirations:
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Q: Where do you find your creative inspiration?
A: " comics, animation, tattoos, graffiti, woodblock prints, medieval paintings, and patterns.  "
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Q: Why do you do what you do?
A: " I know it's a cliche to say it, but I have to draw. It's just something that is an integral part of me. Maybe it was that moving around the country every two years as a child didn't let me have l relationships and art was always there for me, or that both my feminist atheist mother and Mormon dad mutually approved of me drawing but nothing else so it's somewhere I could comfortably exist, or that it was what allowed me to feel like I had something special about myself in a world that insisted on fitting you into a category. Whatever it is, it's really a huge part of me. I've tried to live a 'normal life' and could never make it work for me. It just became something that got in the way of what made me happy. "
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Q: What art/artist do you most identify with?
A: " The impossible question. I hate picking one artist because I love what different artists do differently. Right now I'm obsessing over William Morris' work and that's been distracting to say the least. "
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Q: What role does an artist have in society?
A: " I think that is up to the artist. If you are asking what an artist's responsibilities are to society, I would say they are exactly the same as anyone else's. I personally think separating the roles of art from the roles of people lead to a lot of toxic behavior in the art world. I can't judge any of it, but I am concerned about the mythos of art has led to a lot unhealthy relationships with art and probably cost us some amazing art in the end. "
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Q: What is your artistic outlook on life?
A: " I want to collaborate with people to create amazing things. I think of it as a leftist artisanal outlook. I work to get better to provide for my clients and prove my ideas have community merit. The most important thing in life to me is being the best person I can and art is how that happens for me.  "
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Q: What advice would you give your younger self?
A: "Hoard all of your comics, don't date seriously until you're 30, and learn Spanish."
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