The Dark Art Society Podcast with Chet Zar

This week I interview my old friend artist Luke Chueh. Luke and I started in the Cannibal Flower/LA art scene at around the same time. We discuss his life at art school in central California, his struggle with drug addiction, his subsequent recovery (and 9 years of sobriety), social media, how he got his start with art, showing during the old Cannibal Flower days, oil painting techniques, under pa...

This week I interview master of the gig poster, N.C. Winters! We talk about how he wound up in San Diego County, how he got started doing gig posters, inherent creativity, how to make a living as an independent artist, the value of hard work, and lots on the business of art! This is a really great discussion that hits on lots of important points for anybody considering a career in the arts. Also:...

This episode is a live recording from the first official Dark Art Society Group Show at Copro gallery! I interview a bunch of artists from the show, Gary from Copro gallery right in the heart of the main gallery room! Needless say there is a lot of background noise from people talking in the gallery but you can still hear the interviews pretty well. It's a really fun episode!!!!! Also: the DarkArt...

In episode 134, I catch up with Mike Correll again. Mike is the director of "Chet Zar: I Like To Paint Monsters" and the guy I started this podcast with, but he left a while back to start a new life on the road in an RV. Mike talks about the struggles of road life, his successes on the road, the goodness of people all across the United States, scary road stories, his realization about how much res...

This week I interview Hungarian artist Mate Jako. We discuss his early life in Hungary, his life as a successful child actor and the resulting aftermath, traveling around Europe, living in London, becoming a fine artist and a whole lot more! Also: the Art Life update and I answer The 5 Questions. Interview starts at about 20:18 Mate’s personal website: http://entenn.com Mate’s Instagram: www.insta...

This week I interview fine artist/illustrator Dan Quintana. We discuss his early entry into the fine art world, growing up in LA, us showing together early on in our careers, doing movie posters and illustration gigs and much more! Plus, the art life update, new subscribers (or lack thereof this month) and the 5 questions! Interview starts at about 23:46 Personal website: https://danquintana.com T...

This week I interview Han of Handsome Devils Puppets. We discuss her love of puppets and puppetry, the healing power of art and puppets, growing up religious in a small town, forging her own artistic path with puppets, the magick of art and lots more! Interview lasts 2 hours! Interview starts at about 16:30 Instagram:handsomedevilpuppets Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/handsomedevilspuppets/ Th...

This week I interview artist/sculptor/makeup effects artist/brilliant mask maker, Jordu Schell. We discuss his early influences, his love of masks and mask making, masks as fine art, how he broke into the mask making and FX business, working in the film industry, the lack of respect for effects artists from film production, being an independent artist and business owner, freelance creature design...

This week I interview fine artist/art professor Carrie Ann Baade about being an artist and art teacher, monsters, dark art and the shadow side, art school, visionary art, art academia’s view of dark art/pop surrealism, Alex Grey, duality, psychedelics, and much, much more! Interview starts at about 24:51 Personal website: www.carrieannbaade.com More info about Carrie:https://carrieannbaade.com/wp-...

This week I interview painter Vanessa Lemen. We talk about how she got her start as an artist, working at a greeting card company, Magick and spirituality, how we deal with death, our own father's death experiences, Vanessa's unique painting technique, finding her way in the art world and a lot more! This is a super deep episode and possibly a new favorite of mine! Interview starts at 24:26 I also...

This week I interview tattooer/painter Mat Hurtado. We talk about his late start into the art world as well as his rapid rise, the invaluable support of his brother Nikko, the value of hard work over talent, incorporating his Hispanic culture into his artwork, his painting techniques, the tattoo lifestyle and more! Interview starts at 30:56. Long intro this time! Personal website: http://www.mathu...

This week I interview storyboard/comic book/ fine artist Frank Forte. We talk about working in the film industry, H.P. Lovecraft, storyboard artist work life and pay rates(!), art school, Heavy Metal magazine, comics, self publishing, getting into the film biz, being in animator/artist unions and more! I also ask for some show critique, read off new subscriber names and answer the 5 questions (act...

This week I interview sculptor Tom Taggart. We learn about his journey to becoming an independent fine artist through being a dimensional comic book cover artist and talk about cool toys from the 60’s and 70’s, ego death and mystical shamanic experience, sculpting techniques and materials and the struggle of living life as an independent creator. I also give a life update, read off new subscriber...

This week I interview sculptor Ver Mar. We talk about our old Cannibal Flower days, working with then now defunct Strychnin gallery, working in the costuming field, discovering paper maché, sculpting techniques and materials...and then we get into some weird shit in the second half: ghost experiences and other cool paranormal phenomena! I also talk about the new documentary "Hail Satan?", read off...

This week I interview Australian artist Chris Bolton. We talk about our love of zombies, monsters, being an art/monster kid, starting an art career in Perth, Australia, creating a graphic novel, following your artistic impulse and tons more! I also talk about my "collective ego death" theory and answer the 5 questions. Chris on Instagram: @savagezombieart Chris on Facebook: https://www.facebook.co...

This week I interview my art pal, painter and tattooer Jasmine Worth. We talk about her life in San Diego, getting invited to show at La Luz de Jesus by Billy Shire, painting "The Goddess", using art to honor the Sacred Feminine, her paintings techniques and process, tattooing, snoring dogs and much more! Jasmine is very easy to interview and we had a great conversation. Hope you like it! I also t...

This week I interview New Zealand artist Sam Bee. We talk about being a self taught artist, selling to an international audience, his unusual approach to painting, finding his artistic voice, and lots more! I also give an update to my art life and answer the 5 questions. Sam on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sambeeart Sam on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sam.beetham.1 The Dark Art Socie...

This week I interview the incredible graphite artist Laurie Lipton. We talk about her time in art school and studying in Europe, living in NYC, working with Blue Chip galleries, creating giant graphite works, drawing freaky artwork as a child, having supportive parents and a lot more! Opening of Laurie Lipton's show, "EX MACHINA", is on July 10th- August 31, @ MODERNISM INC., 724 Ellis St., San Fr...

This week I interview artist Cig Neutron. You may know of Cig from his time on the makeup effects reality show, "Face Off". We talk about his time on "Face Off" and the stresses and triumphs of creating a monster with practically no time, coming out to LA with $1,000 and the dream of working in FX, cosplay, spirituality, ancestral spirits, channeling, magick, his new podcast and all sorts of other...

This week I interview artist Stephanie Inagaki. Stephanie is an amazing fine artist, sculptor and jeweler among other things. We discuss the days of her youth as a goth, her Japanese heritage, art school, bridging the gap between the high end fine art world and the Dark Art world, dealing with loss, being a woman in the Dark Art scene, Feminism and a ton more. This was a really interesting convers...

This week's interview is with my old friend, artist and early online Surrealist/Dark Art promoter, Jon Beinart. We talk about running a gallery, starting the International Beinart Surrealist Collective (a place online where many Dark Artists got their first big exposure), sobriety, "Toddlerpedes", my upcoming show at Beinart gallery called "The Administrators", collecting and representing artists...

This week I interview tattooer and blood painter Vincent Castiglia. This conversation goes in many different directions including: the healing power of Dark Art, sigils and chaos magic, alchemy, blood painting techniques, mental illness, tattooing wise guys, living in New York vs. California, his upcoming show at the Dark Art Emporium....the list goes on! Vincent's story of overcoming a childhood...

In episode 115, I speak to musician and one of the leading collectors of the Dark Art movement, Cris Velasco. This is Cris' 2nd interview on the DASP and this time we talk about a new group show he is curating called "7 Sins", opening at Copro Gallery on June 8th. Topics include: curating art shows and what goes into it, working with artists and galleries and all things Dark art! I also give you t...

In episode 114, my old friend, Dark Art collector Erwin Tschofen, comes on to promote his new business: human bone jewelry. It's called Ossua et Acroamata. But we talk a lot about a lot more than that: religion, philosophy, AI, the Singularity, spirituality, the current state of the Dark Art movement and lots of other interesting topics! Erwin was featured in Mike Correll's documentary about me, "...

In episode 113, I interview my old friend and colleague Norman Cabrera. Norman is one of the best sculptor/creature creators in the business and has worked in the FX industry for over 30 years. He has worked on tons of films including, "Planet of the Apes", "Hellboy" 1&2, "Gremlins 2" and "The Walking Dead". We Talk about his humble beginnings making masks as a kid in Florida, flying out to LA as...