Last updated on 1 May 2020
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interesting humans podcast: episode seven
Maybe a couple times in one’s life are you lucky enough to come across truly unique characters. I’m talking about original, authentic and truly unique individuals who enlighten and inform your world view.
I’m thinking about just such a character right now. The guy I have in mind is kind of short and truth be told, though he might get a lot of attention, he is not someone who would be surrounded by women at a bar. It might be because he’s green. Or the fact that his eyes happen to sit atop stalks on his head.
I know it sounds weird but if you have spent any time in Ann Arbor, you probably have seen this guy around town. He hangs out mostly on the sidewalks or alongside buildings downtown. He is almost always with a friend, someone as unique as he. He goes by the name of Sluggo. Maybe you know him.
Sluggo is the creation of today’s guest, David Zinn, and, like Sluggo, David is just as unique, though he isn’t green nor does he have eyes at the end of stalks. He looks like, well, like you and me.
David is world-renowned local artist who has created hundreds of characters in his favorite medium–chalk. He has had a substantial career as a commercial artist but a creative tangent took over his artistic mien and established Zinn as a premier chalk artist worldwide. His commercial work is seen all over the world. Sluggo’s likeness is found on t-shirts as far away as China, though not authorized. We talk about the illegal use of his art during our conversation.
Kids and adults alike are enchanted with this artist’s work. Ann Arbor’s sidewalks and buildings are rich with his characters, not only Sluggo, but Phil, the winged pig, and dragons and other stylized characters from deep in the artist’s imagination. Though we might have to be quick to see his work before mother nature — or man — washes it away.
Zinn admits that he is deliberate about, even loves, that his art is temporary. The temporary nature of Zinn’s art is something we discuss. It’s the process of creating, then walking away, allowing whatever will be, that is his focus. David owns the process, not the outcome.
He confesses difficulty seeing himself as a legitimate artist in the same vein as Jackson Pollock, Rodan or Annie Liebovitz.
“I’ve spent most of my life, including up until now, not really thinking of myself as an artist because the word is so heavy,” he tells me.
His sincerity and mindfulness are authentic and while you might suspect his humility is not genuine, I can assure you it is. Our conversation is a far-ranging discussion of how an artist survives the coronavirus shelter-in-place age as well as a portrait of a creative who is intimately aware of his mission.
I hope you enjoy my conversation with David Zinn.
Links:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidzinn/
Tublr: https://sluggoonthestreet.tumblr.com/
Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/davidzinn_art
Where to buy David’s art: zinnart.com/store
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L95cNBEfi5I&feature=youtu.be
TedX talk at UM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSVXYrJs4S8
https://www.businessinsider.com/david-zinn-ann-arbor-street-artist-2014-10