Mr. Black aka "The Black Apologist is a young Taiwanese artist who has been an avid fan of IAM since I created the Facebook page. He specializes in dark surreal painting and digital manipulations. He reached out to me for an interview this past summer after his submissions to the last issue of IAM, and we were finally able to get it knocked out. This interview posed a few problems considering that we never really spoke to each other and the major language barrier, but we did the best we could. I hope you enjoy.

1

Tell us about yourself? Who/what is Mr. Black? Why the moniker "Mr. Black"?

 I was born in small city of Taiwan , now i am a university student of Tunghai , my major is Chinese, I have been designing t-shirt for cooperation, but after two years, due to some problem, I stop the cooperation. And in third years of college, I started learning by myself, andI became a visual artist, now i am a surrealist painter. Well...black is my favorite color, so I put my work online under that name. 

2

Tell us about your work...what are you trying to convey with your art?

 The main concept of my artwork cover different topics such as... "there are many things are happen that we can't control", "today we stress individuality", "a kind of peoples desire", "back round of legend and mythology", "jungle of graphic bring us negative influence", "dilemma with war between the good and evil" etc...I hope that use my artwork to respond modern society's fantasy. 

3

Do you have any formal art training? What is your earliest artistic memory?

 My painting and artwork never count any discipline of art collage, I'm always learning by myself. Although i am visual artist, I think my artwork belong to "outside art", I work hard and try to mix traditional painting with digital tools. Maybe it can change structure and form of art , on the other hand, the earliest inspired of art to me is "digital photography", and artwork of Peter Jaworowski brought me a lot of inspiration, however, when i saw the artwork of Andrew Jones, I decide to walk the road of visual arts.

4

Are there any particular artist that influence you. What drew you to their work? And how have those influences affected your approach to art.? 

 The father of computer graphic-Andrew Jones , his art portrait style of digital has given me visual stimulation, and his creativity and understanding of color is masterful, so every time I watch his work, always get inspired. 

5

What are your other passions other than art?

 I like listening to Japanese bands, their music style of dark gothic gives me a lot of strong inspiration, for example: the band Versailles, their specialty is "neo-classical melodic meta", and their band members appeal me. They are not only pretty but also nice looking, band's leader has high a pitched voice, i think i will always be their fans.    

6

What kind of topics or subject manner do you find yourself exploring in your art?.

 Self reflecting, strong emotion, legend with mythology, portraits, these genres make me dialogue with myself, in the process of creating my artwork, so there are the foundation and backbone of my art career, maybe I can say that they are indispensable in my creation of art. 

7

What inspires you to create? Does music, life events, personal conflicts play a part on your desire to make art or the subject matter you choose to depict?

I think it because of the sort of understanding of everyday life, actually I found that when I face with depressed mood or conflict of my heart, my artwork are easy to bring people strong impactful visuals, and people will think I want to express what in my painting.

8

What is your vision? What do you want to achieve with your artwork and where would you like your art to take you?

I would like my artwork to strongly inspire me, however i hope my artwork can bring more reflection upon to people. let me use Andrew Jones's words....

 1: When i put love into my artwork, whatever result is not very important, because in process is fill with meaning. 2: Think about how to use your talent to bring a little light and warmth to this world full of suffering. 3: Guys, thank those people that has already thought out everything for you, and don't think too much about yourself, just follow your lucky, and surrender to love.

9

What is next for you as an artist? Any new shows? Where are you planning on taking your work? Where do you see yourself in 10 years as an artist?

 This year, in my hometown, I was invited to join a group exhibition. It make me feel gloriousbecause as a new artist i can show my artwork with traditional painters. I also expect that after six years I can became a great artist, and have opportunities to design wall murals, as well asclothing. I realize that I am exist of tiny , but i want to use my life and all power to do best artwork, and dominate everything in world of art .