We welcome in Brooklyn-based artist Anthony Sneed who joins us with his latest 12-color screen print Waiting Room (Light) which hypnotically bridges the gap between Sneed’s vintage inspired 8-bit styles and his more minimalist work. Read on as Sneed gives us the story behind this image, hospital waiting rooms and how Shepard Fairey laid down the law to him with a variant image . . .
1xRUN: Tell us a little bit about this piece, anything immediate you would like us to highlight about this image?
Anthony Sneed: The print is called Waiting Room (Light) and it’s one of my favorite pieces. There’s a darker inverse version of this (Dark) that I showed at Shepard Fairey’s gallery and he was kind enough to talk me through why the (Dark) one sucked. Haha. Shepard is the realest.
1x: Was this image part of a recent theme, series or show that you had? If so how did it fit into that given grouping?
Sneed: It fits into a theme of hospitals I was interested in and how this place, just like a church, can absorb both light and dark energies.
1x: When was it originally drawn/created? What materials were used to create this original piece?
Sneed: The original painting was created in 2011, the print 2016. The print is a 12-color hand-pulled screen print on archival paper.
1x: Tell us how the idea and execution came about for this image?
Sneed: It came as a natural bridge between my 8-bit pixel video game series and my minimalism work.
1x: How long did each of this image take to create from start to finish?
Sneed: The original took two days. The print, 6 months to get it right.
1x: What is unique about this piece compared with your other work?
Sneed: It looks cool as fuck and there’s no overt message.
1x: Why should people buy this one of these prints?
Sneed: If they want to make their friends think they spent thousands of dollars on a super famous artist they never heard of. But also because the image speaks to them.
1x: Describe this image in one gut reaction word.
Sneed: Portal.
Waiting Room (Light) by Anthony Sneed – 12-Color Screen Print Available Here
1x: When did you first start making art? What was your first piece?
Sneed: When I was 6 I stole a bunch of women’s bra sales tags with the photos of the women on them, smuggled them home without my Mom seeing and make two collages that I hung up in my room before my Mom came in and shut down the exhibition. The first was the bra ladies, which I still have.
1x: What artists inspired you early on? What artists inspire you now?
Sneed: Early on it was Bill Hicks. Now it’s Stanley Kubrick, Frank Stella and Larry Bell.
1x: Do you listen to music while you work? If so what? If not then what is your environment like when you work?
Sneed: I listen to pop cause I was raised on early Madonna and had a dream when I was three we were kissing.
1x: If you could collaborate with any living artist who would it be and why?
Sneed: Revok or Larry Bell. But probably Revok cause we have a lot of overlap and he’s just a cool ass human being. Anthony Lister. Cause he was ill.
1x: What was the first piece of art that you bought? Do you still have it? The last?
Sneed: Some crap native American spray paint nonsense from Florida. It’s probably in a landfill in Staten Island or some hippie’s apartment. The last was an amazing piece by Aaron Gilbert called “Cointel Pro.”
1x: Any big shows or events coming up that you’d like to share?
Sneed: I’m in a sketch comedy group called The Foundation who does a show at Upright Citizen’s Brigade in NYC once a month. I’m not funny though.
1x: Where else can people find you?
Anthony Sneed: Instagram @anthonysneed + @analog_always
-1xRUN