Film by: UNO student and filmmaker Spencer Sticker
Editor’s Note: NolaVie partners with students of UNO professor László Zsolt Fülöp, pairing them with artists, non-profits, environmental groups, and cultural entities to facilitate a live curriculum that results in a short documentary. This documentary short was made by Spencer Sticker, a student in the Film and Theatre Department at the University of New Orleans, and focuses on the life and work of artist Leroy Miranda Jr.
|Read the full transcript of the interview below|
|Full Transcription|
When you have an idea and you blow it out to everybody, you’re excited about it. A lot of your friends says, ‘Alright, well, you were just talking about something else a week ago.’ You’re an artist. You’re allowed to have multiple ideas. They may not be the best ideas, but they’re yours.
I was working at restaurants, and all of the sudden I was like, I have to do something. I didn’t want to be working at restaurants for the rest of my life. It’s romantic to be a chef, but it’s a lot harder work than I wanted to do at the time. I didn’t want to spend 30 years trying to be something when I was already something else.
I was working in a very strict called Meauxbar Bistro, and the way they created in this restaurant came back to me. If you see a chef’s plate in high end restaurants you can feel that inside my paintings. Every single point was designed for the customer to eat it and enjoy it. It’s natural when it’s done right.
I start off on the surface–gesso, acrylic, acrylic, acrylic, gesso, a background base, and then paint on top. When I get started on the piece, I’m really pushing down paint. then I’m building layers, and I build up to a certain point, and I see images. I’ll see certain things. Then I’ll edit, edit, edit. But, my sculpture pieces and other stuff like that is kinda different. It’s more just…random, you know?
When you know a painting is done, you know it’s done. If you have experience understanding that process. Seeing a great piece that is already finished, it’s powerful. When you see something that’s really emotional in front of you, it’s frightening.
The advantages of New Orleans is that it’s a great place to create artwork. It’s a small city, but it’s a hard place to sell. You’re dealing with a small population here. The clientele is already tapped out. In other bigger cities, you have more clientele, so you have to create it here, but it can’t stay here. You have to see the world and get your stuff out there.
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