Buzz Blog

Warm weather makes for good walking at Gallery Stroll events, and the first one of spring hit last Friday.

--- This month I made my way back down East Broadway to check out the single artist showing over at the newly redesigned model.citizen. The outside wall showcased several graff artists, while inside were the drawings and paintings of Trevor Dopp. I got a chance to chat with Trevor about his work and his showing, as well as thoughts on the scene and a few other questions. All complete with pics of the store and his artwork.

Trevor Dopp

http://www.flickr.com/photos/roundcircles

Gavin: Hey Trevor! First off, tell us a little bit about yourself.

Trevor: Oh hi Gavin... My name is Trevor Jerome Dopp. I was made here in Salt Lake City of pioneer stock by Kip Harold Dopp, and Jeri Leilani Jerome two great awesome radical people. We moved to the Black Hills of South Dakota at 8 months and a short time later to a tiny town called Newcastle, Wyoming. After high school I moved to Oregon and traveled a bit before starting school in the fall. Eventually the shred game and the thirst for sticker packs and high fives from bros all over brought me back to Salt Lake City. A few broken bones and I got over trying to be a professional snowboarder and bailed for SoCal... I hid out there and in Mexico for a while and came back to Utah to finish school. I've been here on and off ever since... that was almost 8 years ago.

Gavin: What first got you into art, and what were some of your early inspirations?

Trevor: My mother is a potter and growing up she had a studio connected to our house. I remember being really young and watching her throwing pottery and such... playing the guitar and banjo, and teaching me to play the piano. She always encouraged me to make things with my hands and let me play with extra clay or mash on her guitars... she is a very talented beautiful patient woman... my mother got me into this.

Gavin: Did you seek out any education in art? And if so, what was that program like?

Trevor: I started school in fall of 2000 at University of Wyoming at Laramie on an art and scholastic scholarship. The program was really small and personal. I transferred to University of Utah and rather than retake all of my studio classes i used them as allied hours and changed my major to film studies. The program at the U is underfunded but the faculty is amazing. Film is something I will always be involved with.

Gavin: What inspired you to start doing the pencil drawings?

Trevor: I made a zine' of sketches from my summer notebooks called Jerk Material For Intellectual Masturbation, based on an imaginary conversation I had with myself that was like "So Trevor, what do you think of my drawings?" and the other Trevor said "Don't take this the wrong way Trev, but this isn't so much art as jerk material for intellectual masturbation." And then I decided that was a great name for the show I'm doing at model.citizen. So the drawings evolved from that first zine' and hopefully I'll be putting out another late spring. So there is that... and also getting shacked in the green room.

Gavin: When you started creating them, was it done more out of quick thoughts on an easy format, or did you just prefer the simplicity of pencil and paper?

Trevor: On top of what I already said, I also like the way simple lines can convey emotion so it has been a progression of my preference for a simple but powerful aesthetic... there needs to be a counter at the bottom of the page tallying the use of "real art terms"... I got a checklist.

Gavin: Do you base the characters off of any specific people or is it more original ideas?

Trevor: It is always someone or something that inspires me, but the finished character is usually more based on my perception of people or events. A kind of visually trying to figure out the thoughts and feelings in my head... for example the hooded girl I come back to a lot is more a representation of the ideal love, a combination of every person I have ever loved. An embodiment of an ideal or something.

Gavin: I understand you're doing a mural for The Urban Lounge. What's going on with that?

Trevor: Will had seen some paintings I did and approached me with the idea of painting one of the walls there... I have been seeing all of my favorite bands at Urban Lounge since I moved to Salt Lake City, so I was really excited to have the chance to go nuts for a night. I painted it last week and like how it turned out... go check it out, its an American bison smoking a cigarette and giving hungry eyes to a babe across the bar.

Gavin: How did you get involved with the showing at model.citizen?

Trevor: I had been working for Matt on Saturdays and was cleaning out my studio and decided I was ready to show some stuff to people who weren't my friends. So I said "hey man, can I show for Gallery Stroll or would that be lame since I work here and all?" And Matt was all like "that would be cool", and I said "cool".

Gavin: Tell us about what you have on display there this month.

Trevor: I have a lot of the original drawings from my first zine... a bunch of pen and ink drawings and then a few larger scale paintings on butcher paper. I'll also have a re-edition of the zine available the night of Gallery Stroll til' they're gone.

Gavin: A little local, what are your thoughts on our art scene, both good and bad?

Trevor: I'm really too new to it to have any sort of valid opinion. I think there are a lot of great artists coming up out of this town though.

Gavin: Anything you believe could be done to make it bigger or better?

Trevor: I think as long as people who believe in our community stick around instead of moving to already flourishing art communities that will all take care of itself. We have great potential if everyone will stop bailing for Portland, San Francisco, New York or L.A. Same story you know?

Gavin: How about what you think of Gallery Stroll and how its evolved over the years?

Trevor: I was always sort of shy about Gallery Stroll. It was intimidating to me. I would go check out galleries the next day when it was slow and I could be invisible. But since I've been involved I've decided its a good social event if nothing. It gets you out there to people who normally wouldn't be going to galleries and that's a good thing.

Gavin: What can we expect from you the rest of this year?

Trevor: I just finished an installation called "Love Sex Live Death: Life" at Trolley Square that will be showing through next month. hopefully I'll paint some more murals. I've been taking commissions for portraits lately (mostly my friends who feel bad I'm broke I think). I'll keep that up until my student loans are paid off. I'm doing a show of large scale oil paintings at HIGHLIFE for July Gallery Stroll. And hopefully I'll work on a couple more short films and zines, and help model.citizen with their vintage reclamation section for the all locals turn over.

Gavin: Is there anything you'd like to plug or promote?

Trevor: Derek Yates. He is my driver and a bitchin' stylist at HIGHLIFE. Get your hair cut by him! Kubes and Jordan for being tolerant roommates. Spencer for taking care of me all winter. Matt Monson and model.citizen for everything BUY LOCAL!!! FICE for putting up with me listening to biggie on repeat above their sales counter. David miller for buying my drawings and letting me shower at his place the whole time I was homeless. My brother Bridger for loving me and dreaming with me and lending me money for rent every time I get fired from jobs. My moms and pops those two really love me. Chelsea, Kara and Brenon my younger siblings who are talented and beautiful. And also friends and lovers for making me, me.