Interview by Jimon

1) You are from Chile but you live in Los Angeles, why did you choose LA?
Yes! I’m from Chile, but I moved to Barcelona to live and work in 2004. I always felt like my paintings were something to follow, almost as if they were independent of me. They are like kites, flying everywhere, and I’m just flying with them. Four years ago, my paintings brought me to LA, where I found inspiration, friends and love.

2) How long have you been making art and what lead you to start?
I was drawing obsessively all my childhood, copying my favorite movies and TV animations. Studying art was a natural and complicated process, enough to understand how dangerous art school can be for originality. Finally, the day I was kicked out of art school was when I started to feel like an artist. It was like returning to the naturalness of my childhood.

3) How did you acquire your style?
I found my style when I was living in Barcelona, with a lot of positive influences. It was a fresh start — full of friendship and youth.

4) Are the colors in your art indicative of your state of mind?
There is a moment of the day, just before the sun rising, when the dreams, spirits and magic are more active. That’s the time when the scenes and colors in my paintings happen.

5) Why do you replace the noses in your paintings with Sausages?
One day, facing a mirror, I saw a horrible vision — a terrible face, like a mask, laughing in my own face. But it was not only a reflection of me, it was about all of society. The nose in this vision came from Pinocchio and the idea of the lie. After that, it developed into clown noses and finally, to sausages. It’s a morbid vision about lies, violence and how excited children can feel being cruel.

6) How does politics influence your work?
In the same way politics influences other aspects of my life. The difference is that with my art, I can touch the political themes directly or indirectly, as a way to answer my feelings of disappointment with the way the world is going.

7) Which do you prefer Canvas or Paper?
Each one has its own nice characteristics with different results, so both.

8) What was the turning point for Victor Castillo?
When I left Chile.  It became possible to live as an artist.

9) Do you have a place/person/thing that you visit for inspiration?
Everything is an inspiration to me, even the bad moments or bad places, because they’re part of life, and life always touches the art.

10) Do you listen to music while creating? If yes, what genre?
I always listen to music when I’m painting, all kinds of music, but I have my favorite music by season. Now, for example, I’m listening to a lot of Brian Eno.

11) What’s the greatest misperception about you?
It’s very common for people to think I’m some kind of dark person, some kind of crazy guy, but the truth is just the opposite.

12) Name three things you can’t live without in your studio?
Music, natural light, and something to smoke.

13) Best advise you ever received?
Be yourself.

14) If you could have dinner with three artists dead/alive who would be at your table?
Dostoyevsky, Violeta Parra and Alejandro Jodorowsky.

15) What forth-coming projects(beyond September 2014) and or exhibitions do you have scheduled?
I have two shows in Europe. One is a duo show in Hamburg with heliumcowboy, and the other is a special presentation at the Swabart Fair in Barcelona in October. In February of 2015, I have a big solo show with Merry Karnowsky in L.A.