Interview with Zack Dunn about His Horror Art and Inspirations
Zack Dunn is a one of the strongest and most promising performers on the contemporary dark art scene. The young and dedicated artist from Pennsylvania agreed to chat with us about him and his mesmerising creations.
How did you start painting?
I started painting about 3-4 years ago. I never thought about that before, until I came back from Afghanistan, where I was serving in a military. A few people who also came back killed themselves, others started getting treatment. I didn’t want to go on medication, so I started researching other ways of therapy, and I found this.
What motivates you the most?
Getting my work noticed, getting people to like it. I like it when people can be inspired by my work and see that it’s something unique and different.
It is different. But a lot of people see it as bad, so that must be annoying.
When people see art like that, they think, he’s probably fucked up or a bad dude. But you can’t really judge people for what they do, especially if they enjoy doing it. I’m not doing it for any negative reason, I just do it because I love it.
Were you interested in the art world before and did you ever think you were going to become an artist?
No. I used to draw before, but no, not really.
So, you just suddenly decided to paint and discovered that you have talent?
Yeah, and I guess, it motivates me to get better and better. I hope that maybe I can inspire people to make better art.
What do you think about recent art?
Everyone that’s into dark art, and there aren’t that many, have their own style. I like zombies and vampires and all that stuff, but I prefer things that are more twisted. I do the zombies and stuff like that because they are fun and people seem to enjoy them, but I just think they are overplayed. They are really popular and always have been, but I try to steer away from that and create like a ‘Silent Hill’ type of art.
Something more original?
Yeah, something to make people think: “OK, I can handle zombies and werewolves and stuff, but this is a little much.” I want them to be like “Huh, I don’t know if I want to hang that in my house”. But then later that’s the reason they want to hang it in their houses. I try to make every piece creepier than the last.
Why do you think, you like making it creepy?
The scarier - the better. A lot of people would go for just normal, but I want disturbing. Really want people to be like “Wow! That’s messed up.”
Did you ever receive any formal training in art?
No, I taught myself. I watched some speed Youtube tutorials, but that was just to see how different artists do the work on canvas, blending colours to see where they are taking it.
Did it take you long to learn the skills?
I look back at my first paintings and it's just like with anybody who’s just starting something. At the time I thought it was awesome. But now I’m just like ‘Eugh!” Every year I look at my stuff and sometimes I have paintings that have never been sold, repaint them and show them to people. 2014 to 2015 - more details, more shading and lighting. And people just see, the more you work with it, and practice, and learn different things, the more you can kind of see what you put into a painting. So, that’s cool when people are inspired by that.
So, you haven’t always been into art, but always liked horror?
Yeah.
But why the scary stuff, out of all things?
I think, a lot of people make art that is bit one-sided, so like, just beautiful. With scary things, it’s more than that. It’s beautiful too, but it also scares you. And that’s what I want to do, something that does two things, not just one.
How much time do you spend painting a day?
Usually about 7 hours. I am planning to quit my full-time job soon and dedicate all my time to art.
What would you do, if you had to quit painting?
That would be it. I would die, I need to create art to live.
To explore more art, flip through our sample magazine issue. You can obtain Zack's art here.