For years now, Ken Garduno, a Los Angeles native, has captured my eye and boggled my cranium with his illustration. His work is thought provoking, precisely executed and pretty damn funny to boot. Convinced that there is some code that needs to be broken in his work, I delve in to unlock the inner working of this mysterious artist.
Nathan Cartwright: Ken what planet do your characters live on and how the hell did they get there?
Ken Garduno: Does the inside of my head count as a planet?? I think it’s earth, but it’s probably part of an alternate universe. They ran out of space on their planet so they asked me to introduce them to my version of earth.
Nathan Cartwright: I love the noir quality of your images. Have movies influenced your style or is this just the deep world of Mr. Garduno we’re seeing here?
Ken Garduno: I do most of my work late at night with a variety of movies playing in the background. These movie environments have probably subconsciously mixed with my own made up world. I love the look of noir movies, as well as old sci-fi. Actually, the parking lot of the Cabazon dinosaurs on the way to Palm Springs was probably the biggest influence on my style. At night, the orange lights in the parking lot make everything around appear to be in shades of grey. It’s crazy stuff.
Nathan Cartwright: Who would win in a battle for the most beautiful woman on the planet, Dracula, Darth Vader or The Werewolf and why?
Ken Garduno: Vader is probably not interested in this fight at all. He’s too busy being dead. Dracula is a lover, but seems too sophisticated to be a good fighter. I would like to see Dracula take it, but I think The Werewolf is much more of a savage if a beautiful woman is at stake.
Nathan Cartwright: How has this space influenced you and your artistic career?
Ken Garduno: The artists that I’ve met at The Hive have always been very cool and supportive. Showing at The Hive helped me to get a great start as a gallery artist.
Nathan Cartwright: Ken, you were one of The Hive’s first sell out shows and we’re very excited about you being one of our featured artists, what do you have in store for your fans for this big event?
Ken Garduno: Explosions. Gratuitous sex. Monsters. Fast Cars. Senseless violence. Realistically, probably just more characters with facial hair doing weird stuff and having weird stuff happen to them. I’ll try to throw in some of the fun stuff above too.