Scooter LaForge, “full-time wizard with the paint brush” is a celebrated East Village artist renowned for his unique painting style. It is immediately recognizable, a blend of nostalgic pop and cartoon imagery with a nihilistic punk execution, and a sense of humor. He’s as famous for the work done on canvas as he is for his collaborations with the fashion world, especially with legendary downtown fashion doyenne, Patricia Field.

LaForge has also collaborated with Belgian designer Walter Van Bierendonck and Norwegian artist Bjarne Melgaard, and was chosen to be a keynote speaker at the Montreal Fashion & Design Festival. He is a recent recipient of the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Award.

He recently participated in shows at the Leslie Lohman Museum in New York, Friedrichshof Museum in Vienna, and Spirit museum and Absolut Art Collection in Sweden.

His upcoming show of 5 mural-size paintings opens next Thursday. If you’re in NYC, check it out. I’ll be there!

Scooter LaForge “Homo Eruptus” at the Howl! Happening gallery, 6 E. First St., on Thurs., Feb. 14, Opening reception from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.

 

Read on below for Scooter’s Q+A:

 

What inspired you to become an artist?

• I believe being an artist is in my DNA; I was predestined to be one.

What are you working on right now?

• I’ll be having an opening on Valentine’s Day at Howl! Happening gallery in the East Village. The show is called Homo Erectus, and I will be presenting five mural-size paintings.

What has been your toughest challenge in being an artist, and how did you overcome it?

• Finding your audience. That took me over 10 years.

What is something that your friends would consider “so you”?

• Being a sort of prankster or trickster (be forewarned, because I’m a little devil).

What do you regret not doing or starting when you were younger?

• I always wanted to be in the Michael Jackson Fan Club.

What could you give a 20-minute presentation on with absolutely no preparation?

•  Madonna’s career.

You have amazing style. What are your fashion influences?

• Construction workers, cowboys, New Mexico, uniforms, street cleaners, circus clowns, and heritage brands, among others.

What are people most curious about when they hear you’re an artist?

• The subject matter of my paintings.

Three people alive or dead that you would like to have dinner with?

•  Homer, Walt Disney, and Chaim Soutine, among others….

What’s the first career you dreamed of having as a kid?

•  I dreamed of being a surgeon. It’s still one of my dreams.

What’s one thing about you that surprises people?

•  Like Prince, I’m smaller in person.

What does success look like to you?

• Success comes in many different guises. Being grateful for what we have is success. That’s the magic formula.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?

•  My good friend Patricia Field always reminds me to ‘do what you love, and you will succeed.’ Belgian designer Walter Van Bierendonck advised me to have courage. Actor Fred Gwynne of the classic TV series The Munsters once said “talent is 90% fearlessness,” something that deeply resonates within me.

If you had to choose only three adjectives to describe yourself, which would you choose?

•  Curious, observant, and dedicated.

What’s the best museum show you’ve seen? 

•  It’s a tie: Matisse The Cut-Outs at MoMA, and Picasso Black and White at the Guggenheim.

 

Thank you, Scooter. I’ll see you next week at your opening!