Who’s the snowboarder in your Sunday River Meditation piece and what was the inspiration behind this one?
That’s Ian Spiro. I was going to the Maine College of Art and met up with him and a bunch of the Burlington dudes at Sunday River. It snowed all night. In the morning I ran into one of the rooms to grab my gloves and Ian was sitting on the floor in the quiet, just meditating. I only saw him for a second and I didn’t really know what he was doing, but I’ll always remember that as such an unexpected, peaceful scene.
The murals you’ve done for The Stash are incredible. The Craig Kelly mural in California was vandalized and thankfully saved by Tim Peare, our Photo Editor, when he received a call from Travis Rice and Asymbol to restore this iconic piece through his photography. What was that like for you?
Seeing that mural vandalized really hurt. It hit me right in the gut. I’ve had pieces messed with and stolen before, but that one was special. After it was completed the guys in Tahoe wanted to cover it in Plexiglass, and I said no because I didn’t think anything would happen. I didn’t want to trap it behind plastic. I wanted it to breathe. I wanted people to touch it. Graffiti can be such a bummer sometimes. I am so thankful to Tim who brought it back so we could share it through Asymbol Gallery. I believe it’s still in the cabin, but they had to put a lock on the door.
What’s the story behind your Twenty Four Hour Woman calendar?
The style came about in college as a doodle. After these art classes that felt so pretentious and boring, I just had to come home and draw these tiny little people to feel normal again and make myself laugh. This form of therapy developed over the years and keeps things from getting too serious. Friends saw these little things, laughed, and this idea came to me to make a calendar about a naked lady doing a different thing every day. It’s a challenge to come up with different things for her to do. I never thought I would make anything like this, but it feels really good to have these one-a-day calendars out there giving people a little giggle every morning. I’m finishing volume three right now. After this one there will be around 1,000 drawings and situations. I’d like to make a book with all of the little sketchbooks I’ve got of them someday.
What’s next and where do you see your art and characters evolving in the future?
There’s a new calendar in the works for 2015 and I’ve been developing some ideas for an animation with that character that might turn into something longer with more of a story. I’m also shopping a book idea around about all of the stuff I’ve done for Burton. I’ve managed to save pretty much everything over the years from doodles to finished product and it’s fun to look at. I’d love to share that process with people in book form. I’m also working on something new for Asymbol, which I hope to have out soon, and there’s a horror movie idea I’ve had for a while that I’m writing a treatment for. It’s based on a true story that happened in my hometown back in the 1800s.
I can’t really say how things are going to evolve. I’d like for things to get bigger and more colorful. Something I’ve been trying not to do as much is sit and look out the window. I’m working on just keeping my brush or pen moving. The best stuff usually happens when I’m not really looking at what I’m doing. Ideally I’d like to get to the point where I’m just moving my hips with my eyes closed, but you have to put in the work to get there and let go. And who knows what will happen tomorrow. Hopefully it will be cool. I’d really like to win the lottery.
See more of Scott Lenhardt’s work at Slenhardt.com
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