Kevin Tran is a talented artist, graphic designer and illustrator, and we’re not just saying that because he’s a good friend of Thirteen Itches! After graduating in 2008, he held his first solo exhibition a year later, and soon after, travelled overseas to show the world what he could do. He’s recently launched a line of t-shirts, Moons of Apollo, and even more recently, was fortunate to be one of ten lucky individuals selected for the Tractor Design School in Sydney.

Check out our latest “13 Questions” interview with the super busy and super creative Kevin Tran! And if you like what you see, check out more of his work at his website.

1. Who is Kevin Tran?
I’m a 25 year old Artist/ Illustrator/ Graphic Designer from Sydney, Australia.

2. How did you get your start in the industry?
After I graduated Visual Communication at University of Technology, Sydney in 2008, I found myself a warehouse studio space in St. Peters and started experimenting with paint, collage and other mediums. This led to my debut solo show ‘Between Two Worlds’ at Regard Gallery in Redfern. Group shows in Sydney, Melbourne, Byron Bay, Hong Kong and California followed and in early 2010, I was granted an Artist-In-Residency at Newington Armory Art Studios. Here I created my most recent body of work, ‘Strobe’ which I exhibited at China Heights Gallery in Surry Hills. 

In-between painting and exhibitions, I’ve worked at a number of design studios including Derwent Howard, Alphabet Studio and Frost* Design while also managing my own freelance clients on the side. Currently, I’m working as the lead designer at Fuzzy, the guys behind music festivals Parklife, Shorething and Field Day.

 3. What inspires you to create?
I’ve always been a really driven person. I like trying out different creative outlets and there are so many creative processes I want to pursue and experience. When I have a vision or idea, I get really attached and it consumes me, often taking over most aspects my life for a while. I eat, breathe and live the idea from start to finish. I like pushing myself to think and visually articulate things differently, I really like the challenge. I guess it’s a personal drive, just wanting to visualise my thoughts and bring my ideas to life.

 4. What do you want your viewer to take away from your work?
I want my work to visually excite and stir my viewers through raw gestural mark-making, imaginative and engaging compositions, emotive colours, confident shapes and lines, or bold typographic forms and constructions. At the same time, I seek to capture a sense of intricacy and precision and hope to portray my work as thoughtful and well-considered visual executions.

Whether it’s a painting, poster or logo, I aim to capture this balance of gesture and refinement to create a sense of visual tension and energy- something I hope gives my work depth and multiple layers of meaning and interpretation.

5. Who are your favourite designers/artists?
There are a bunch of young local designers/ artists that I really respect and look up to, many of which I have become good friends with.

Mark Soetantyo is a multi-talented creative producing some beautiful refined work over a number of creative outlets including design, collage, photography, fashion and music. Mark is a really motivated individual and he has been a source of inspiration for many years now. Matt Huynh is an amazing artist creating some really stunning illustrations and artworks. Matt is extremely proactive in seeking and pursuing opportunities and I especially admire his prolific work ethic and dedication to his craft. Jacob Ring is a local photographer with a uniquely clean and sophisticated aesthetic. His photos exude a elegant yet emotive vibe, something that really makes his work stand out for me, and I was super-grateful he was able to do photograph Moons Of Apollo’s first collection, ‘Floating Islands’.

These are some of my favourite designers and artists not only because they are each absurdly talented in their respected fields but because they are genuine people too. Be sure to check out their work!

6. According to your blog, you were recently one of ten Sydney creatives to be accepted to attend the Tractor Design School. Congratulations! Tell us about the school and what this opportunity means to you.
Thanks! I’m really excited to be in the very first class of Tractor Design School- I think 60 or 70 applications were submitted so it’s amazing to have made it through.

Tractor is a brand new post-graduate design school supported by Industry leaders with classes running Tuesday and Thursday evenings. The purpose of the school is to connect emerging designers with some of the Industry’s most senior and successful creatives. The intensive 10-week course has been specially written by founders John, Nick and Flyn together with the Industry professionals and will cover thing slike professional briefing, branding, strategy and positioning, copywriting, studio management and presentation of ideas. Throughout the course, there will be 5 mini-projects and 1 ongoing major project which will be exhibited at the Tractor Graduate Exhibition in late September.

It’s been amazing so far. The other students are really talented (many of them recent graduates) and it’s a bonus we all get along so well. We’ve had insightful sessions with Mick Thorpe from Precinct, Sandy Belford from Principals, Andrew Hoyne, Mart Stott from Common, Sam Pemberton from Generation Alliance and the guys from Moon Communications. Some really valuable advice and feedback that I’ll be taking onboard.

7. You’ve also just released a line of tees called Moons of Apollo. Can you tell us how that came about?
I’ve always wanted to design a collection of t-shirts and in the past, I’ve tried to start a few labels that never quite got off the ground. Everything seemed to fall in place this year though when the idea of Moons Of Apollo was conceived.

The label is inspired by Apollo, the Greek god of light, and various stories and characters from Greek mythology. Our first release, ‘Floating Islands’, is a collection of graphic t-shirts with bold, simple designs and relaxed custom fits. The designs allude to abstracted stories, characters and anecdotes in Apollean mythology through clean minimal forms, bold typographic constructions and muted photography.

To bring the label to life, I teamed up with one of my best friends, John Encomienda, and we started the difficult process of finding a local manufacturer to produce and print our t-shirts from scratch. We had to consider the custom t-shirt pattern, fabric and printing, labels and tags, business cards, the photoshoot, season lookbook, the blog and our online shop-front. Fortunately, everything came together just in time for our first stall at the Winter Finders Keepers Sydney markets in June.

Things are going well so far and we are trying to focus on promoting the label locally and gain a little more exposure through press and online communities. In coming seasons, we hope to expand our line to jeans, pants and jackets, while still staying true to the label’s signature clean, minimal aesthetic.

8. What music do you like to listen to when you’re creating?
Depending on what I’m doing, it can be anything really. Usually the music I listen to reflects the vibe I want to convey in my work.

My last exhibition ‘Strobe’ was inspired by the vivid colours and pulsating light displays at musical festivals over Summer 2009. I was trying to visualise the rhythm and vibe of electronic music, to create a collection of work that paid tribute to the people, places and memories that defined that period of my life. While painting this body of work, I was listening to a lot of House, Electro, Dubstep, Trance and even a bit of the harder stuff. I’d often find myself dancing along by myself at the studio late at night – it was pretty funny.

9. What do you like to do in your spare time? Aside from your work, what are your other interests?
Apart from art, design and my label, I like to play around with film photography. I got hold of a Nikon Fm2 a couple of years ago and have been experimenting ever since, trying out different light settings, exposures and film types. It’s always exciting to pick up a developed roll of film and finally see how the shots came out.

I used to skate with a few guys from school but everyone seemed to grow out of it. In recent years, I’ve really got into snowboarding and have been heading to the slopes with the same crew for the past 3 years. Working on a snow-field for a season in Japan or Canada is hands down one of the highest priorities on my to do list.

Even though we finished 8 years ago, I’m still really tight with my friends from high school- a group of 15 guys that I grew up with from the suburbs. We still hit up music festivals and all the trashy nightclubs (probably a little too often) and I always have the best time with those guys. Hanging out with them reminds me that there is so much more to life than exhibitions and deadlines. They are my rock and I see them as family.

10. Creative people often find it really difficult to network and promote themselves. How do you approach this aspect of your career?
I think I’ve been lucky so far. I particularly have to thank my high school art teacher, Johnny Romeo, for supporting and guiding me on the path to exhibiting my own work. Johnny helped me find a studio space, organise my first show, promote it and assured me I had a good thing going on when I started doubting myself. Johnny is a selfless, giving person and I’m lucky to have him as my mentor and close friend.

I’ve also had the generous support of some amazing creative organisations and groups. The Finders Keepers Independent Art and Design Market was integral in helping me gain early exposure for my work and establish an artistic presence in Sydney. Exhibiting at the Finders Keepers Markets and being profiled as featured artist on their website has provided an opportunity for me to introduce my work and art-making practice to so many new people. Most importantly, the markets have allowed me to network with other artists and creative groups resulting in featured artist interviews on popular blogs, invitations to take part in group exhibitions, and even commercial gallery representation offers.

At the end of the day, I try to keep my focus on creating the best work I can and if other people like it too, I’m sure the awareness and exposure will eventually follow.

11. What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learnt thus far?  
If you want something, go for it wholeheartedly, even if it means taking risks or leaps of faith.

12. You’ve just turned 25. What else do you hope to achieve in life?
I did just turn 25 and had a mild quarter-life crisis to go with it! I still have so many things I want to do, so many ideas that I want to bring to life and it honestly feels like time is slipping by.

Art-wise, I want to push and expand my image-making techniques and further develop my understanding of drawing and painting by learning from new mentors and doing collaborations with other artists. I’d also love to delve into the world of 3D mediums and experiment with sculpture, installation and ceramics. Above all else, creating and exhibiting new bodies of work is what I find most rewarding and creatively fulfilling, something I hope to do for quite some time. On the design front, I’d love to start a magazine at some point, create a short 2D animated film and build my professional clientele so I can support my own design studio. 

With Moons Of Apollo, I want to expand my collection from a simple line of t-shirts to include pants, jeans, jackets, shoes and jewelry and eventually take it international. I also really want to put some time aside to consolidate my musical recordings and get them produced professionally for an album or EP. I played drums for a few bands back in the day and still have a huge interest in writing, performing and recording original music. I’m extremely passionate about writing music and know the right time will come to bring it to life.

These are just a few things I’d love to do and experience, things that excite me and things that I want to surround myself with.

13. What are you currently working on? Can you give Thirteen Itches an exclusive?  
To be honest, I’m just trying to stay afloat.

With the Parklife National Tour kicking off in 3 weeks time and Shorething and Field Day just around the corner, work at Fuzzy is really heating up. There’s a great energy in the office and it’s exciting to think I’ll be flying around Australia for the Parklife shows alongside some really cool bands/ DJs. I’ve also locked down an agreement to take Moons Of Apollo on the tour which will be an amazing way to get my label out there.

The workload at Tractor is picking up too. The most demanding is our Major Project. I’m planning to present a publication for the Graduate Exhibition but still working out how it’s all going to look and feel. It’s a massive job to do in 3 weeks but hopefully I’ll be able to pull something nice together.

Lastly, I’ve been invited by the Bicycle Film Festival to submit an artwork for their Annual Art Show. The brief is really interesting- to create a visual response to a selection of vintage bicycle posters. The exhibition will be held at Somedays Gallery in Surry Hills early October as part of this year’s Bicycle Film festivities.

It’s definitely a hectic time right now but I wouldn’t want it any other way.