Meet the Hot Shots : Dylan Chatain
Your name
Dylan Chatain
Your Age
29
Website
Fifteen Thirty
Where are you from
Evanston, Illinois (Just outside Chicago)
Where do you live now?
Jersey City
What’s your day job?
I pay my bills by doing Freelance design projects.
Artist’s Statement
The one thing that all my work has in common is that it is all about how people think of things instead of how they see them. My work contains all the references and associations that people place on vision. In my pictures a house appears as something out of a film, a rock is something out of mythology, and Staten Island is a land that time forgot.
These kind of completely subjective pictures seem to me the most accurate reflection of the contemporary world. They fully embrace the effects of media and cultural history and incorporate them into a depiction of the world.
Which artists inspire you? (Not necessarily photographers.)
Philip-Lorca diCorcia, Eduard Manet, Wes Anderson, John Szarkowski, Velazquez, Eugene Atget, Caravaggio.
Describe that moment when you knew for sure that photography was something you wanted to pursue seriously
Honestly? I don’t know. I sort of came to photography through the back door, and I’m not exactly sure how I got here.
What kind of camera do you use?
Kodak SLR/C. I hate it though. I want a new one.
What’s your favorite movie?
The Bad News Bears is about as good as a movie needs to be.
What’s your Favorite Museum?
Art Institute in Chicago
Who is your hero?
Maybe my uncle Bob. He has a lifestyle that is just about perfect, and a marriage that is the only I can think of to envy.
Where do you want to go on your dream vacation?
Anywhere that is not a city. Preferably with a rocking chair.
What’s the last CD you listened to?
A mix that Jim made for my sister Kelly.
What are you reading now?
Robert Penn Warren. Anything I can get my hands on.
Name at least three web sites you visit everyday
The New York Times
ESPN
Chicago Sports
What are your favorite foods?
Anything from Marcella Hazan’s Essentials of Classicof Italian Cooking
It’s Saturday night. Are you going out or staying in?
In. With my annoying cat.
