"There's
only the sun and a feeling ... ... that you're simultaneously doing all
the right things ... and completely wasting your life."
When I read this quote and looked at Paul Madonna's beautiful
pen-and-ink style I was mesmerized - Paul Madonna writes and draws the
weekly series All Over Coffee, which is published in the San
Francisco Chronicle and SFGate.com, and Small Potatoes for
TheRumpus.net. He is the author of two books, All Over Coffee (City Lights 2007), and Everything is its own reward
(City Lights 2011), which won the NCBR Recognition Award for Best Book
in 2011. I discovered his work through my last interview
with Ester Wilson. I was really indecisive when I had to choose work to go along with this interview - this is why I
really
recommend for you to stroll over to his site paulmadonna.com and have a look
around. He observes cities like no one else can - each pencil stroke filled with devotion and passion to the detail.
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What inspires you to your work?
Paul Madonna: A sinking feeling, and a burning need to contribute to society.
When did you decide to become a full-time artist?
Paul Madonna: The decision to be a full time artist happened before I was conscious enough to know it. In practice, I have been a full time artist all of my adult life, but for many years I had to be a part time employee at jobs to support being a full time artist. And professionally, I've been supporting myself on my own work for eight years now.
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If you could collaborate with another artist, who would you pick?
Paul Madonna: I've actually been doing a series of published collaborations with professional writers. Those can be found here, and there are more in the works, all with people I'm excited to work with. One person I would love to work with though is Argentine write Cesar Aira, and I've been meaning to write him for over a year, but I just haven't. I don't know why.
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