Karl Zurflüh shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.
Karl, it’s always a pleasure to learn from you and your journey. Let’s start with a bit of a warmup: What is something outside of work that is bringing you joy lately?
Through all of my ups and downs skateboarding has always been there for me. If I’m having a bad day it helps me work my aggressions out. The four wheels transport me away from life’s heavy moments and take me to a joyous place where I feel like a weightless 10 year old version of myself. While I am riding, I cannot stay stuck in a cycle of life’s past experiences and I can’t be daydreaming about what’s to come. It is a rush that keeps me in the now, creatively problem solving, as I push my progression. It has taught me how to face my fears and believe in myself. For people who don’t skate, half of it is a mental exercise. It is so challenging to look at something you know you can do, and then conquer your doubt to make your body commit to doing it. Getting yourself into that zone or flow state takes practice. Like meditation, it gets a little easier every time. The best part is that all of these cerebral calisthenics can be applied to every aspect of life.
Skateboarding is my exercise, my happy place, it is a release that I have been doing for over 40 years. (The only thing I have been doing longer, is drawing.) It is something I can do almost anywhere, alone or with friends. These days you can travel the globe and always find something to skate. It is a universal language that allows you to connect to people not matter where you are. Skating tends to attract artistic misfits; people that question the norm. They see the world very differently and are proud to be outside the status quo. While I am a very independent introvert, it is really important to me to have a community that shares my passions. The skate community extends beyond the physical activity, it has introduced me to a plethora of music and a myriad of different art styles. Seeing how people from all over the world take the same piece of wood, and express themselves in so many different ways, is truly inspiring.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I am a multidisciplinary artist, who specializes in painting. My early creativity was heavily influenced by skate and punk culture, which eventually got me very involved with the local Hip Hop community. Because of these roots I have been painting large scale murals for over 30 years. My commercial art background spans decades and ranges from, graphic design, animation and entertainment advertising. I combine all these influences in my work today to create new depictions of universal narratives. After having lived for periods of time in FL, NYC & LA, I am currently based out of Charleston SC. My time spent in the major cities around the US, has opened my eyes to tons of new visual worlds and helped shape me into the artist I am today. I continue to push myself as an artist combining all my past experiences & design skills to form new work every day.
I am currently preparing for my Nov 19th, solo exhibition show, at the Gibbes Museum of Art in Charleston. The painting series Light Pilots cultivates a new visual language by utilizing and rearranging representational symbols deeply rooted in my past. The conversation started in 2020 as I began to examine how to heal ancestral wounds, while also addressing lifelong questions surrounding identity. Grief can leave us feeling like we are emotionally drifting, unable to process reality. The pilots represented in these canvases are put into a similar place of nothingness, exuding this deep sense of emptiness. Floating in this airless space, they are frozen in motion, yet trying to move forward – a dichotomy integral to the human experience itself.
Thanks for sharing that. Would love to go back in time and hear about how your past might have impacted who you are today. What did you believe about yourself as a child that you no longer believe?
Well, I have never opened up about this one before… I use to believe that putting myself down internally, made me stronger. I would try to absorb negative energy to fuel my anger to preform better, in any situation. The angrier I got the more focused I would become. It was truly a Dark Side state I would put myself in. Here is a little back story.
I grew up a latchkey kid, the second of two sons to a widowed mother. She was pulling herself up to provide for her kids, after a major traumatic experience. This meant a lot of time my brother and I were left alone while she worked long hours, and put herself through school. My older brother didn’t want the responsibility of being the father figure, so most of time he left when she was not around. This gave me a lot of alone time for me and my imagination. As I grew I noticed that I would get attention (which I equated to love) when I accomplished an outstanding feat. For my brother, his report card always brought on this type of attention. His intelligence has always shown through and he would go onto dominate AP classes, and eventually become an engineer. Since my grades were just above average, for me to garner this type of attention, I would have to make a great play during some organized sport that my mom had signed us up for.
Early on in grade school, I developed a philosophy for myself that I would carry around most of my life. I would tell myself that nothing I did was good enough, but if I trained I could get better. This philosophy wove throughout my life and it helped push me to work really hard at everything I did. Never celebrating any of my achievements because no victory was done right, set up a pattern that has been difficult to break. I can laugh it now because I can see how caustic this internal behavior is. While this practice helped me overcome a lot of life’s obstacles, it also came with a heavy price. I am constantly doing battle with a low self esteem and a poor opinion of myself. Looking back on it now, I understand that I was a child just trying to survive with a broken idea to better my situation.
Age gives us wisdom and allows us to correct a lot of our previous learning patterns. It is amazing to me how powerful a positive mental attitude is, so I use internal mantras to motivate myself where I once used anger. Today I can recognize those voices and I know the mental toll they take on me if I choose to listen. So, I push myself to create new positive pathways, as I learn to celebrate myself and my accomplishments.
When did you stop hiding your pain and start using it as power?
When started my current body of work, Light Pilots, I dove deep inside to push myself as an artist. This is when I started allowing myself to be vulnerable and share my pain. Once I cracked the door open, things started coming up that needed to come out. It has been a struggle for me to be so autobiographical, due to my roots as a commercial artist. Once I graduated from college, I did commercial art to pay the bills, but I have always made art to express my deepest emotions. I just never shared the work until now.
About 10 years ago I transitioned out of the commercial art office environment, which has allowed me time to focus on my art and my voice. It was a hard transformation for me, but good in the long run. Working remote meant I was no longer surround by amazing artists, getting immediate feedback on my creations. The big head shift in my creative process was learning to put aside any thought of a target audience or any creative guidance you might get from a creative brief. I had to learn how to trust myself.
My father was a Navy Pilot who was KIA when I was 11 months old. The worst part about the tragedy was that my family chose to burry their emotions and not talk about him. I carried this behavioral blueprint with me most of my life. The event left a huge hole in my life which often had me questioning my identity. There was a lot of frustration and anger, because I had no one to turn to that could answer my questions. I too buried all of these emotions and tried to move on, but that doesn’t work. Eventually these emotions had to come out. When my Wife & I started talking about having kids, it all started to surface and it became clear that I had to deal with this or risk passing it on to the next generation. This is when I started Light Pilots. I was scared to share but started creating work with the mental safety net, that I didn’t have to show anyone. Once I started creating, I took the leap and started putting it all out there, to see what kind of response I would get.
The work landed me a couple of residencies and some group shows. It was when I was at my residency at The Gibbes Museum of Art, that it all became clear. During the residency, Museum goers could walk into the studio and watch you work. So, I started telling my story to everyone who came in and wanted to talk. Over the 6 weeks I cried and hugged it out with complete strangers. It became crystal clear that I was not the only one struggling with ancestral wounds and past trauma. Our society does an awful job dealing with grief. People are given a couple days of bereavement, they are emotionally quarantined, and then expected to come back to life like nothing has happened. Talking to all of those people at the Museum made me feel the power my work and it solidified that I am on the right path. Being vulnerable allows people to relate and connect. It empowers people to look at themselves and truly inspires change.
Next, maybe we can discuss some of your foundational philosophies and views? How do you differentiate between fads and real foundational shifts?
Fads and trends are easy to see these days, because all the art on social media starts to all look the same. Curated group shows begin to look homogeneous. Mural festivals will have artists come from all of the country, who end up painting the same piece: portraits and flowers. It is easy to get caught up in. As an artist you want to be recognized for your abilities, you want to be invited to festivals and group shows. After enough rejection letters or ghostings, the thoughts creep in; to make your work a little more like the people who were chosen. Sticking to your path is one of the hardest things to do in this industry, because art is a long game. Sure there are plenty of artists that switch up their styles and content to make it more inviting to collectors, I am guilty of it as well. Right now the art world is in a really bad spot. There is a generational shift in collectors, creating a lull, and the economy is not good making people more conservative with their spending. Here is the US there is also a general lack of education about art, so we seeing celebrity collectors buying pop art just because they love the subject. I am not sure which is worse; to see well established artist suddenly change from questioning the system, to painting pop style Disney characters. Or seeing people eat it up without a second thought.
For me, art has to have a narrative, beyond “it looks pretty.” I need some sort of emotion expressed, to draw me in so I can discover the narrative. I will never forget walking into the Whitney Museum of Art, and seeing Barbara Kruger’s work for the first time, it blew me away. Nor will I forget, my thirst for knowledge, after seeing Keith Haring’s work. (I had to know everything about him & his process.) Or discovering Patrick Martinez’s work online, and feeling a deep powerful connection. To make a foundational shift an artist has to take a leap and pull something out of themselves that is universal. The work has to evoke a feeling out of the viewer. That feeling will galvanize the experience and that person will remember it long after. Unfortunately, in the US, there are a lot of powers fighting against the art world, trying to control the narratives. This means, Artists, Curators, & Collectors all need to work hard at keeping the art world rich with variety, so real foundational shifts can happen and inspire the generations to come.
Okay, we’ve made it essentially to the end. One last question before you go. What are you doing today that won’t pay off for 7–10 years?
We were just talking about how Fine Art is a long game. My current work, and my work yet to come, may not be discovered by the right audience for a while. Until then I have to trust and believe in myself. With Light Pilots, I am trying to open the dialogue about grief, a universal experience that is hard to talk about. My work depicts humanity working hard to better ourselves from a healthy point of view. The light represents the positive life lessons that we choose to take on. Our consciousness navigates our bodies through this experience, thus making all of us pilots. When people allow themselves to connect with it, I can see the positive impact the work has. But I know a lot of people are not ready to even broach the subject, because they don’t know how. With this body of work I am trying to document my journey to inspire others on their’s. I have to trust my voice and stay with my goals because I believe the work has a place.
Part of an artist’s job is to create and build an audience of collectors that want to support you on your journey. This takes time, exposure, and little bit of luck. I am confident it will happen and I keep reminding myself that in this game, nothing happens over night. The fads of portraits and pop art will fade as people get bored seeing the same thing done over and over. People will look for something with a little more contextual substance and connections beyond the surface. In 7-10 years we will see a lot of new trends come and go, but people will always want to emotionally connect. When that connection happens it makes you feel heard, that you are not alone. Just like with music, once that bond forms, you feel like that piece of art is a part of you. I truly believe the arts will continue to shift and the markets will change for the better. Soon we will see a lot more support for art that people can identify and connect with.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.karlzurfluh.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/karlzurfluh/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karl-zurfl%C3%BCh-5550a717/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kzurfluh/
Image Credits
Studio Portrait: Ashley Stanol
Skating: Steve Aycock
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