The Dark Art Society Podcast with Chet Zar

This week I interview the incredible Dutch artist Iris Compiet. We talk about creating her book "Faeries of the Faultlines", her career in graphic design, her path to becoming a fine artist, her philosophy about creating artwork, deciding follow her own vision and a lot more! This is a really great episode with tons of great advice for artists! Also a quick art life update, and the synesthesia nam...

This week I interview Dark Artist Tania Pomales. We talk about her beautifully colorful dark artwork, her secondary job as a teacher, her struggles with depression, mediation, opening an art gallery and a lot more! This was an awesome conversation it gave me a lot of insight to her artwork. I’ve been wanting to get Tania on the show for some time now and the wait is finally over! Also a quick art...

This week I speak to tattooer and painter Christian Perez. We discuss his journey to becoming a full time tattooer, his road to becoming a painter, tattooing at Hope gallery, dealing with a troubled childhood….and then things start to get weird! This is one of those interviews that ends up veering into the supernatural in a big way! Christian shares some truly scary paranormal experiences (and I d...

This week I speak to producer, writer and active DAS community member about a new documentary he is producing called "Mental Health and Horror". We discuss how he worked his way up the ladder from online journalist to movie producer, the important role that horror films play in the mental health landscape, developing a strong production team and tons more! This is a great episode about a great top...

This week I interview my old art pal Mirs. Mirs created the successful couture enamel pin company called Almost Amusing with her partner Brian Warner. We talk about her early days as a child growing up in Germany, her experience of enlisting into the Marines to pay for her art school, getting a a degree, and her grassroots approach to starting Almost Amusing! I'm a huge fan of her artwork and aest...

This week's guest is painter Bryan Mark Taylor. Bryan is truly a master of his craft. His incredible paintings have won international awards and been shown in museums all over the world. He has been featured in magazines such as Fine Art Connoisseur, Plein Air, Southwest Art, American Art Collector, Imagine FX, and American Artist Workshop magazines. This dude is legit! We had a fantastic conversa...

I brought Gabe back on again to talk about one of the most important subjects for anybody wanting to make a living full time with their artwork- the business of art. Gabe is one of the most successful artists I know personally and we had so much fun last week that it seemed like a good idea. Definitely one not to miss if you are looking to go pro in the fine art feild! Also, check out his YouTube...

This episode marks Gabe Leonard's 2nd appearance on the DAS podcast and we discuss working with galleries. Gabe has been a successfully artist making a living from his art for over 20 years and his insights about the art world are invaluable for anybody looking to get into the fine art business. Also, check out his YouTube live streams where he paints and talks about art, the art business and his...

This week I talk crypto with an old friend of mine, Josh Breckenridge. Josh is an artist, musician, songwriter, engineer, music producer and one the people who helped get me interested in cryptocurrency. This episode is dedicated to discussing cryptocurrency and blockchain technology but we talk about other stuff too. A really fun an informative episode! Also a quick art life update, new subscribe...

This week I interview the brilliant dark art sculptor Sadan Vague!!! We talk about life in Ukraine, spending stolen money on his first block of clay when he was a little kid, creating work for the “Contemporary” art scene, deciding to become a sculptor, going to college (twice), living on little money in order to be able to put all of his energy into his own work and lots more! Excellent conversat...

This week I interview automaton super genius Thomas Kuntz! We talk about his monster kid childhood, growing up in Arizona, becoming a garage kit sculptor, sculpting for the toy industry, creating his first automaton and becoming a fine artist, silent films, the occult and Magick, Disneyland, his friendship with Maila Nurmi (Vampira) and tons more! This super fun conversation lasted over 2 hours an...

This week I interview the incredibly talented Dark Art painter Jim Pavelec! We talk about being an art kid, his love of fantasy and horror, going to an art college that didn't teach anything about representational art, graduation and then finding proper instruction at Watts Atelier, becoming a fantasy illustrator, getting burnt out and leaving to pursue his own fine art and tons more! Jim is a sup...

For this very special episode 200(!!!)I interview legendary Dark Art pioneer (and co founder/drummer of the indie punk band The Replacements), Chris Mars! This was the ultimate guest I wanted to have for episode 200 and thanks to Chris and his amazing wife Sally for coordinating it, we were able to make it happen! We discuss his previous life as a musician, leaving that career for a life as a pain...

This week I interview the legendary artist, painter, musician and "Godfather of Street Art", Ron English!!!! We talk about his early years as a vacuum cleaner salesman, how he left the "thug life" for a career as an artist, his work ethic, his views on art school and the highbrow art world and surprisingly, NFT's!!! This interview went all over the place...just the way I like it! Also a quick art...

This week I interview BAFTA-nominated British film score composer, conductor, producer and musician, Simon Boswell! Simon's career spans over 30 years and 150 films and he has worked with a diverse array of artists such as Elton John, Dolly Parton, Dario Argento, Glen Matlock (Sex Pistols), 23 Skidoo, Richard Stanley, Clive Barker, Alejandro Jodorowsky....the list is endless! We had a great conver...

This week's interview is with multi disciplinary artist Mike Fisher for another crossover episode with hi Anyway, Whatever Podcast! Mike has done TONS of band artwork and gig posters. We discuss Derek Hess, Frank Kozik, how he got his start doing band merch and gig posters, making a living with his artwork through diversifying, being in a band, Nomeansno, being inspired by comic book covers, worki...

This week's interview is with the incredibly talented Adam Dougherty. We discuss his love of 50s and 60s monster stuff, his parent's love of Halloween and their support of his work as a child, learning to sculpt, working as a sculptor in the garage kit industry at age 15, breaking into the makeup effects business, leaving the film industry, making his own films, 3d printing, Kickstarter and Patreo...

This week I interview an artist whose work I greatly admire, Mark Covell. Mark is a storyboard artist and associate producer at Family Guy and also an excellent dark art painter! We discuss his artistic early life, his early years working in video games, his friendship with DAS guest Frank Forte, showing in galleries (including Copro, moving to LA and scoring a killer gig doing storyboards for fam...

This week I interview artist Charles Ratteray. Charles does a lot of work in the film industry as a storyboard artist and I totally love his loose, sketchy design style. We discuss his path to becoming a professional artist, growing up in Washington DC, being interested in graffiti art as a kid, going to business school and then art school, getting an internship at Stan Winston Studios and the lon...

This week we do our first "crossover" episode with Shane Izykowski's excellent art podcast "Drawing From Experience"! Shane and I are both sharing this interview on our podcasts in hopes of getting some crossover listeners. We had a really great time chatting about dark art, the hard work of building an art career, trying to earn money, spirituality and lots of great info and conversation! Super f...

This week I interview the incredible digital sculptor Gio Nakpil! Gio has worked on tons of blockbuster films and currently works on the Adobe Medium team. We talk about his childhood as a horror fan, his early desire to become a makeup effects artist, learning digital modeling, breaking into the digital animation business, working with Carlos Huante, getting out of the film industry after 12 year...

This week I interview French sculptor Lélia Wattez! We discuss her unusual path to creating creating her incredible creature sculptures, growing up in a small French village, her difficult work as a stone carver for 10 years (and the trauma of that experience), leaving that industry and going to makeup effects school, learning to code and getting a job in IT, how she designs her beautiful monsters...

This week's interview is with an old makeup effects pal of mine, master mold maker Rob Freitas! Rob has worked on TONS of amazing films and is regarded as one of the very best mold makers in the industry. We discuss: being a "monster kid", the influence of his grandfather, leaving Northern California to get into the FX biz, being mentored by Moto Hata, Working for Rob Bottin (on an all weekend gig...

For the first episode of the new year I catch up with my old co-host of The Dark Art Society Podcast, Mike Correll. To make this episode special we recorded video as well (which you can see on the DAS Patreon: Patreon.com/darkartsociety) but as you will hear it was a bit of a disaster. But the conversation was still good and it was great to hear about Mike's crazy adventures on the road! Please he...

This week I interview the legendary Dark Artist Allen Williams (and his wife Vicki says hello). I'm a huge fan of his graphite and paint work and was really excited to interview him here! Some of the topics we cover: moving around when he was young and being a 'monster' kid in a small town in the south, drawing from a very early age, beginning his career creating art for role playing games in the...