Featured Artist: Alan Cooper

Practice Makes the Perfectly Bizarre

By Alan Cooper
QuailBellMagazine.com

Croucher

Art is the only thing in my life that’s constant. It’s the only thing that I constantly think about and constantly want to get better at. Up until high school, the concept I had of art and what exactly was “good” art varied a lot. Both my parents are artists, as well as my grandpa. My mom being from Japan and my Dad being from Chicago gave me a wide spectrum of different techniques and artistic styles and perspectives on the world of art. 

I never thought I would ever be a professional artist or considered myself an artist at all. Being surrounded by people who were just way better than me made me feel like I couldn’t do anything as well as they could. Sure, lots of people called me the “artist” and were constantly asking me for drawings. But growing up with artists for parents, I just didn’t feel qualified to call myself an artist. I never thought I would ever get into painting. I guess I was too embarrassed to try something new like painting and have people judge me for being bad at it. I always felt like I had to be good at everything that had to do with art on my first try or people wouldn’t think I was a real artist anymore. I even remember ripping drawings out of my sketchbook for fear they would think I wasn’t good. 

But slowly that changed and my mom gave me a few pointers on how to paint. I liked it! It was actually a lot easier then I thought it would be. Granted, I wasn’t doing anything that amazing. But for the first time in my life, I enjoyed painting and I started to work with more mediums and try new things. I also realized that nothing has to be perfectly measured and painted with precision. Although there is a time and place for that, I guess I found my style and I’m happy with my work.

Robbery

Scared of Nothing

See more of Alan's work here.