Inside the Studio

Campbell La Pun juxtaposes Japanese and American cultural icons to create colorful works

What are the major themes you pursue in your work?

I’ve always try to refrain from being too analytical or serious about the content of my work, I only ever planned for my work to be fun, have fun making it and share it with people to find their own enjoyment and be comfortable viewing the work. I’ve loved discovering how everyone finds their individual connection with either the popular imagery, colours or brands I incorporate in each piece. For me, I just simply just want to twist, change and modify great images and colours, update them and create my own experience with them in a positive way.

What was the best advice given to you as an artist?

‘Paint bigger’ I still think about it everyday and it continues to challenge me. It completely changed my perspective and pushes me to always think bigger about everything.

Prefer to work with music or in silence?

Always with music, lots of it! It has to be played through a great sounding system and at a decent volume. I love music and am continually searching for new sounds to fill the air in the studio; painting can feel so lonely without it or turns into a party when surrounded by it. I recently moved to a bigger studio, the first thing I setup was the stereo.

If you could only have one piece of art in your life, what would it be?

I could probably answer this question differently everyday of my life; there are so many great pieces I would love in my collection. Today it would be any of the Warhol and Basquiat collaborative works I think those are truly unique and special, I really hope to own one in the future.

Who are your favorite writers?

Other than reading the news, magazines and looking at the pictures of art books I’ve never been much of a reader. I watched the movies of the books I was suppose to read in high school so the last books I remember reading were by Roald Dahl. I really enjoyed his imagination growing up.