Artist Interview: Boris Pelcer

Neither of my parents are artists. However, my dad has the artistic talents, but didn’t practice it being that he was a police officer in the former Yugoslavia. His brother had the artistic talents, started art school and dropped out. His mom was artist too, and his grandpa was a sculptor in Sarajevo. So it was something that was part of his world, but just didn’t pursue it himself. He did show me how to draw things as a little kid, and I just found the whole experience of creating art intriguing. So I kept doing it. If I were to psychoanalyze myself, which I do often, I would say that my parents were pretty good parents, but they weren’t the best at being emotionally present with me. I’m certain that as a little kid (3,4 or 5 year old) when I would draw and do something impressive I was able to get their attention, as well as the attention of others. So I kept doing it as I’m certain it was a way to get their attention. I cant be certain, but Im sure there is some truth in there. Nevertheless I keep making art throughout my childhood. Im certain it was something that I subconsciously used as a way to comfort myself, and later when we become refugees, it was a tool for escaping into imagination, somewhere where there is no war, and humans are kind. Before coming to the USA, art was something that I didnt think I could do as a career. I felt like most likely I would pursue something practical like engineering, as I was really good at math and physics. I use to compete in those subjects with other schools. But deep down I wanted to be a creative, a free thinker, where my impish ways can find an outlet. So when we moved to USA I focused on learning to draw immensely and my parents supported by artist pursuit the whole way. What kind souls they were to do that, despite knowing that being a creative could be a difficult pursuit. I have them to thank for much of the support. I did my best to create a stellar portfolio for my art college application and I got a 3/4 scholarship at a private art college Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, which is where I got my BFA in Illustration. All I knew is that I loved story telling through my art, and I pursued illustration because of that. But deep down, I wasn’t really thinking in reality if I would want to be a commercial illustrator. At heart I still was more of a fine artist who had this urge to express himself. Once I graduated, I got a graphic design job creating graphics for clothing. I did that for little over 3 years, and realized there is so much more to this life and what I could do with my art, that I decided to quit that job and go back to school to get my MFA and understand myself better. I got a full scholarship, and was paid to teach while I pursued my MFA. My parents were still super supportive. I feel like during my time of reflection while trying to understand what my MFA should be about is when I truly realized what my art should be about. I remember it, it was February of 2012, and after months fo feeling like my art was superficial, not connecting and was just not getting to the core of things, I realized that somewhere along the way of developing into adulthood as a male in the modern society, I stopped being vulnerable, and my art reflected that. I realized that the type of music, movies, and books I enjoyed are the ones where the author pour their heart into what they made, and it showed. So the first series that I made after this epiphany is called “Something Somewhere” which I lated renamed as “Something Within”. Its one fo the series on my website. That was it, I knew that this direct was what I needed to explore post MFA. However, my parents are blue collar workers in USA, and I had to figure out a way to make money with my art. I count find a job at a creative agency belie my portfolio was mainly fine art illustrations. So I decided to move back with my parents and pursue being a freelance illustrator, until I figure it out. What I though was going to be a year or two year experiment, lasted for 6 years, during which I keep saving money and living with my parents. It was a rough period in my life. I had great clients, and did work that I liked. But also I am sure, that I lost some clients because I was in the survival mode, and I didnt like living the way I was. It stressed me out all the time, and didn’t really enjoy making things for others while not making decent money. During these years after my MFA which ended in 2013, as I worked on various ways of making money, when I had no paid projects I did what loved the most, which is make art for my self, for my moody soul. But because I struggled to make money enough where I feel like I can have a decent life in USA, I felt like I failed myself and my parents for trusting in me to pursue this. And after years of building a commercial portfolio, and trying different things that ranged from custom lettering, typography, graphic design, commercial illustration, movie posters, fine art commissions, fashion, I finally found a creative opportunity that would be a full time paid job as a fashion illustrator. I was desperate to be done freelancing and just live a normal life where I get to be a creative. I was worried that the job would be too corporate and strange, but my art director Rocky Jones, was the right person to have met in that stage in life. And this steady gig provided me with security to stop living in a survival mode, so I can take time to understand myself more, dig deep into my subconscious, and heal a lot of wounds that life has left on me. During this whole time I kept making personal art on the side. And my art reflected who I was at the time of making it. And if you follow it, you can tell where I was mentally and emotionally at that period in my life. I started this full time gig in early 2019. I also had a partner who began work in the psychedelic research as a tool for mental health treatments. So I began to have stability I was able to explore myself more. As I did that, I slowly began to discover who I am, and see all of me, the shinning aspects of myself and the shadow self that need a lot of work to overcome old patterns. My personal art started to reflect that change. However, at this point my personal art become just a hobby. I hod a difficult time monetizing my personal art, and it didnt inspire me to invest a lot of time into it, but I still did. And when I ran across NFTs, I saw what this could be for me and my desire for personal expression. If I did this right, I could finally have a way to make my best personal work, have the validation that every artist seeks, and have the financial means of continuing to keep making it. So this whole journey of wanting to express myself, and who I am in this peculiar human experience, all culminated to this moment where NFTs allowed me to do that. Timing wise, the rise of popularity of NFTs just happened to align with my now personal journey where I was really having to make a lot of changes, which allowed me this beautiful opportunity to express myself in new and wonder ways. It was a beautiful serendipitous occurrence.

As a refugee, I lived without many things. I learned not to rely on much, but I do find beauty and comfort in things, which are just things I have on lease while I am alive. I cant not live without human connections. It is at the core of this human experience. I dont believe in religions, but despite how destructive human beings are, I still have faith in us, in each other, in humanity.

I really resonate with Alex Grey. The immense power of psychedelics that have revealed so much of my inner workings of my psyche is something that he has portrayed beautifully for decades. What I also resonated with him, and was inspired by him, but took it into a new direction, is his focus on the human anatomy. While he depicts an x-ray version of human anatomy, with muscles and veins, I use the human anatomy models as a way of transcending race, to make my art about the universal experience of being a human. It was something I was struggling to achieve. I am an Eastern European male with dark features, and my art inevitably was inspired by me, and I often used myself as a subject of my own art. But despite my art being a visual journal of my personal human experience, I wanted my art to transcend me as an individual that looks a certain way. And I remember looking at Alex Grey’s art and thinking, I really enjoy the simplification of features where the rendered subject would allow the viewer to imagine themselves in the piece easier. So that was a big part of my inspiration, but that is really mainly it, as least that I am aware of.

Another artist which I find immensely inspiring has been James Jean. What I found fascinating about his art, is his freedom with which he explored surrealism. As I was developing my personal style, I found myself being very literal, wanting to depict realistic scenes and environments. But I didn’t enjoy doing that, because deep down I was trying to capture something more intangible, ethereal. So during my BFA i realized that my art is an effort, a bridge between the reality and the intangible, which is when I started to incorporate elements of realism and surrealism. Another aspect of James Jean work that I always admired is his ability to experiment and evolve different styles simultaneously. It looked like freedom, where he could do a clean digital artwork, or a expressive acrylic painting, or a sculpture, yet it was all cohesive, still him, still his voice.

So now that I know myself better as human being and what I want to say with my art, which will evolve over time, I’ve been tying to do the same thing with my art, experiment and try different ways of expressing myself, and whether its digital or acrylic painting, it still has my essence, my own look to it.