The BUTTER 2 Fine Art Fair was full of energy that Indy was ecstatic about. PATTERN got the chance to sit down with a few of the artists featured this year. Edo is a Chicago-based, self-taught painter who aims to spark joy in whoever sees his paintings. His two featured paintings at the art fair were acrylic on canvas filled with hundreds of different objects and colors to form a portrait. Every time it seemed we were getting a sense of the paintings, more would come to life.
The curators of BUTTER discovered Edo and his work through EXPO Chicago and Pigment International. His work has been featured in different art fairs before, but he said that nothing matched the energy of BUTTER 2. Read the conversation we had with him below to learn about how he got started painting and the ideas behind his paintings.
Cory Cathcart: How did you hear about butter? Did they reach out to you?
Edo: In a sense. I met them last year at EXPO through Pigment International. They didn’t even see my work or anything like that. They were looking for artists for the second BUTTER. Patricia at Pigment had pitched me and they loved my work. I was like, definitely! And now I’m here in Indianapolis.
CC: Have you been a part of an art fair like this before?
Edo: An art fair, yes. As far as to this magnitude, and this type of energy… no. This is definitely an experience within itself. When I came I was blown away by all the different departments and different avenues that they have for creators. It was really really cool to see that and experience what I experienced. We don’t really have this back home. I’ve been a part of art fairs back home, but nothing to this magnitude and to this energy. It’s a lot of moving parts.
CC: Tell me about your work.
Edo: What I do is I take words, colors, objects, phrases and collage them together to tell a big story. I typically use a lot of bright colors. I’m from Chicago. Sometimes the energy there is a bit gray. I want to create something that will offset the grayness, the levels of gray in Chicago. I need to be bright and I need to be welcoming and inviting with my work. My purpose with my art is to be able to inspire and bring joy to people. When you look at it I want you to feel good, you know? Smile and let your mind wonder. It’s acrylic on canvas mostly.
CC: Do you ever try any other mediums or styles?
Edo: My therapist told me that I should try to do expressive painting. I have a basement full of whatever type of painting. How I think about my work is really methodical, and I’m very particular. He said maybe you should try creating something where you’re more expressing it, and it’s not so intricate and thought about. That’s the only time I’ve ever done a different style outside of my style. They’re in my basement though, nobody has ever seen them! [Laughs]
CC: You said color is very important in your work. What else inspires you to paint?
Edo: This might sound like a cliche answer, but I’m inspired by everything. Even this PATTERN [referred to PATTERN sticker on my notebook] that inspired me to think of certain things in my mind–different colors, different patterns–because that’s typically how my style is. We walked outside and it was raining; I’m inspired by that to create something. I get easily inspired by any and everything. Typically when it’s something that’s pressing on my heart, it’s like stop everything and create. That is something that’s more emotional. I’m inspired by real emotions. One of the paintings in there is of my auntie. I was born on her birthday, named after her. She transitioned when I was nineteen. Well, I’m an artist. I feel like when she was here in the physical form, she didn’t really get to express herself and nobody really got to know her, so I’m gonna create a painting. I get inspired by stuff like that. Even with Essence of Beauty, I had locks for thirteen years and I cut them four months ago. I didn’t realize how much I had hid behind [them], how my identity became the locks. When I cut them I was like you have to see me now. I wondered what that was about. I thought are people going to like how I look? And then I’d ask the question: why do I care about what people think? Why do I care about how people look at me, how they view me? I’m like am I vain? I wanted to create a painting that spoke to beauty being beyond the surface and understanding that the outside world shouldn’t dictate how you feel about yourself. I was inspired by that question alone. I’m inspired by everything.
CC: Did you go to school for art? How did you first come into painting?
Edo: I’ve been painting since October 2017. I came into my style in June of 2015. But before that, I was designing for boutiques and things in Chicago. I was designing merchandise like shoe wear merchandise for a lot of well known urban streetwear brands in Chicago. In 2015, when I got better, because from 2010 to maybe 2013/14 I was really learning everything and figuring it out. And then, I got good. I got really good at it around 2014-2015 and my style came into play, and I’ve been rocking out ever since. I’m not like a traditional artist, though.
CC: That’s inspiring though, because it shows that anyone can do this. The common theme is we want to create.
Edo: That’s the whole thing, right? I feel if I did go to school, I would have been stuck in the confines, or the structure, of how art is supposed to be, or the technique of it. But me being self taught, I’m able to have ideas and create them without nobody there telling me that I can’t. That’s the whole point with art–artist freedom. That’s why I do it. I’m able to say what I want to say, express myself the way I want to express myself, be who I want to be. To me, there’s no rules of art, but I feel like I would have been locked in a box if I did go to school. I’m actually grateful that I learned the way I learned.
CC: Do you ever get feelings of impostor syndrome because of that?
Edo: Oooooo. [Laughs] Because I’m not a traditional artist, the institutions, universities, and even museums… they don’t typically give artists such as myself chances because there’s a route to take to do all those different things. I’m kind of an outsider, in a sense, but I don’t feel like an imposter. I’m going to build my thing up and then you’ve got to come to me.
