Today we’d like to introduce you to Michael Pollock.
Hi Michael, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I was the kid in class who was always doodling on their classwork, and at home I was the kid breaking stuff, trying to see how things worked.
I was born in Austin but largely grew up in Houston, sadly. I studied Commercial Art at Houston Community College and after finishing my associate’s degree, moved to Boston where lived for more than a decade.
I worked in record stores and bookstores for years and spent my free time at cafes reading, drawing and chatting with a wide cast of and people pursuing higher ed. I eventually tired of being desperately poor and made the calculation that working in warehouses for the rest of my life was equally as terrifying as going back to school and being in debt for the rest of my life. Figuring it was a lateral move essentially, I made the wise financial decision to study printmaking at Massachusetts College of Art and Design (MassArt). The major consisted of technical study of screenprint, relief, lithography and intaglio, intaglio being my favorite.
After I graduated, I moved back to Austin to be closer to my family and Mexican food. I found work as an in-house production designer in a small, progressive print shop, Bumperactive, that happened to blow up into a full service e-commerce business for high profile political campaigns and non-profits. We built webstores, printed merchandise and shipped goods for House, Senate and later, Presidential races. It was exciting to be part of a team that was achieving such explosive growth and contributing to the political process and I picked up a lot of unique skills along the way.
Since late 2022, I have been splitting my time working freelance as a graphic designer and doing printmaking at a studio in east Austin. You can find me at a variety of craft fairs around the city.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
HA HA HA HA HA. No, it has been a ludicrously bumpy road. A career in either commercial or fine art is a challenging endeavor in the best of times.
Speaking in a commercial sense, there is not a single aspect of our lives that doesn’t have an artist’s hand helping in shaping it. Whether it is the graphic design of a menu, the layout of an app, the industrial design of an appliance or the architectural details of a building, behind all of them is a creative mind thinking about how they can best improve its value and imagining a more beautiful and richer world worth living in.
People love art – they absolutely crave it and depend on it – but, they don’t always value it or realize the work that goes into it. When the product seems like the result of magic instead of effort, where art is seen as a luxury instead of a necessity, then it follows that people will take it for granted. With the rise of AI, a further undermining of its value is hastening the collapse of much of the profession.
Fine art is a different beast. Money is the central issue of both of course but in fine art the calculus is different. People who seek out original work respect fine artists and value the authenticity of individual expression. They still think it is magic but they believe in magic and that it is valuable.
One of the challenges though is: do you make work that you want to see or do you create work that you think people will buy? By tailoring your work to be more sellable, are you sacrificing personal voice and thus authenticity?
I struggle with this, partly because I have a dark, satirical aesthetic and I worry that it won’t appeal to others. For a long time I made work to satisfy my personal desires and you can imagine my shock to find that people liked it enough to buy it. I hadn’t given enough credit to art lovers and I’m grateful to have been proven wrong. I feel incredibly grateful and humbled to find people that appreciate the work I do. Bless those weirdos.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I’m a printmaker and mostly work in intaglio, a technique of copper plate etching that stretches back hundreds of years. Much of my work centers around my love of music, literature and humor.
I frequently satirize the excess and absurdity of heavy music and the aesthetics of the sub-culture surrounding it, in dense, meticulous detail. I treat much of my work as play and believe in the animating and healing spirit of humor. Although I touch on dark themes, I do my best to make them fun. We live in a difficult world and If art can do anything, shouldn’t it be used to crack a smile?
I’m most proud when I can create something that very much speaks to my own tastes, but that others can find relatable and enjoyable. For example, I created an print titled, “Death’s Best Friend”, a small etching that features a skeleton in a denim jacket holding a cat like a baby. I came up with the idea to show that despite the outward appearance that metalheads are dark brooding creatures, that we are actually nerdy creampuffs who love cats. The title is the inversion of dogs, “man’s best friend” and how cat lovers love their adorable murder machines.
Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
Luck rules all our lives. I’ve had my fair share of both but I would say that with all the challenges inherent in making art, if you are still able to do it then you are lucky. I’m lucky that I was raised in a loving family. I am lucky I had the opportunity to go to college. I’m lucky people that hired me gave me a chance. I’m lucky that I have made so many great friends.
To have the health, loving people, and access that allows one to grow as an artist is just tremendous luck. It can’t be overstated.
Pricing:
- Small prints run about $100 a pop
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.wareholepress.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/warehole
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-pollock512
- Twitter: @warehole.bsky.social
- Other: https://www.warehole.com/
