An Evening with @calkearns
You may have seen his unique artwork while scrolling through Instagram, featuring an array of twisted figures that practically jump off of the screen. Many would quickly classify the work of @calkearns as a type of unique meme, but there is an artistry unparalleled to what he does. Recently, we had the opportunity to ask Callery (as he goes by on the ‘gram) a few questions to get to know him a bit better. We could keep rambling on and on (and on…and on), but why don’t we let him do the talking instead.
We've been following your account for a long time now. How does it feel to have your account explode so much in popularity since you've started posting your own artwork?
It’s hard to say how it feels. It was overwhelming there for a second, under the wrong light. There was a rapid growth a few months back with which I had to adjust to rather overnight. I remember posting something on my story thereafter, of me just rambling on, cracking wise and whatnot, being myself as I always have been, and woke up the next morning to a slew of messages along the lines of, “no disrespect, but we don’t care about you we’re just here for the weird memes,” and that’s just all types of wrong right off the bat. Like, “oh for sure dude, I don’t feel disrespected by that at all, thank you for the constructive criticism!” So from there, when I get responses like this, to my work, to something I do personally, it’s hard not to be hurt by them, but I need to step back and take them all with a grain of salt – an extremely small, microscopic even, little grain of gross sea salt – because at the end of the day, the positives outweigh the negatives, and while it’s extremely difficult for me to remind myself that, I appreciate my audience, and I know the majority of them appreciate me too; for my work, and for the person behind the work as well.
You've got an incredibly unique style to your art, what have been some of your major influences and inspirations?
I started drawing near parallel to when I learned how to speak (in my late 3’s), so back then I was just a little worm boy who loved Batman and the Power Rangers and fast cars and sail boats. From the get-go, I never liked drawing anything but the human figure, no landscapes no nothin’ – that business just wasn’t for me, so anything superhero related I was on board with like bread on butter. As I grew up, in my more formidable years, naturally I grew more and more rebellious, and didn’t allow myself until my late teens to accept the fact that I was reliant on inspiration. I thought I was doing all this all by myself. That’s a silly thing to think. When the time came, and I allowed myself to shed that skin of self-importance, I acknowledged how inadvertently integral the Renaissance period was to me, and would go on to hold that in high regard as my utmost influence. But really seeing anybody, and any body. Any body of theirs, and this body of mine, is the real beans behind this big old mess. When I see a figure I fantasize how far it can be stretched and to what great extent said figure can itself discover.
Speaking of your style, it's clear that what you're doing is well suited for an Adult Swim show. If you were handed a series tomorrow, what would it be about?
That would be awesome haha [laughs to myself]. Honestly probably just like my best friends and I, being post grads, not knowing what to do with ourselves, something boring like that, but have the world surrounding be exaggeratedly absurd, without us ever fully acknowledging it. But a buddy cop thing is something my friend and I have been teasing for years. Probably priority one on that one.
If you had the opportunity to collaborate with any person, living or dead, across any medium - who would you choose and what would your project be?
Michelangelo’s always first to come to mind with questions like these. I’m sure there are a number of names, alive even, who I’m glazing over that I’d die to work with. Film directors for instance. But yeah probably Michelangelo because I’d just watch him work and not say a word and he’d be like, “do you want to add anything?” and I’d be like, “haha naw you got this.”
Going back to projects, are there any big ones you've got in the works? If not, hit us up bruh.
Nothing big planned. I’m moving to from Pittsburgh to Cleveland in a month. We’ll see if the change of scenery sparks any grand endeavors I can’t help but pursue. But for now nothing.
If you could offer up one bit of advice to a kid (or two twenty-something shut-ins with a blog) who's looking to do what you, what would you tell them?
Work on what you love every day. Don’t apply too much pressure, but try with every opportunity you have to outdo yourself. Mistakes are inevitable. Embrace them, don’t dwell, and do better next time, but keep conscious the reason why you’re trying harder, is because you had to fail in the first place.
Which Smash character do you most relate to?
Psymon Stark from SSX3
We’d like to thank Cal for providing such excellent answers to our questions, and for letting us pick his brain a bit. If there are any other internet mainstays you’d like us to try and interview, leave your suggestions in the comments below and we’ll do our best!
