How do you describe what you do when people ask?

It always changes. I usually like to keep it as simple as possible… Surrealist landscape painter is the easiest. Especially when talking to relatives.

How long have you been making art for and how did you get into it?

I think about 20+ years now. And for 14 of those it’s been my full time job. I was hospitalised with pneumonia at 21 and couldn’t work for a long while after. I started focusing on my art as a way to keep employed and sane. I was very lucky at the start of my career to work with a lot of musicians. Making album artwork, tshirts, gig flyers etc. Which really helped spread my work around.

Where does the name Kazland come from?

It’s super boring haha. Kaz has been my nickname for as long as I can remember and land is just the end of my last name. I wanted to have something singular I could produce artwork, music, things, whatever under. And I’m sort of stuck with it now.

How would you describe your style?

Abstract surrealism. You could maybe throw Neo in there too? I’ve never been amazing with ‘isms’.

Your work contains a lot of animals, mainly cats, and most have houses, where does this come from?

The houses have been a long running theme. I think it came from when I would draw any sort of dog/wolf they would often have a snoopy esq dog house somewhere in scene haha.

And cats became more of a recurring thing when my cat Sammy Davis Jr unexpectedly passed away in 2023. I ended up making a whole book of drawings and writings while processing it. It’s strange how these things just take hold of you. 

What is it the thought process when starting a new piece?

For the most part I like to just start and see where the piece goes. I have an internal library of repeating symbols and themes that I bring in to help retell the stories. 

Every now and then I do have an idea first which is always the most difficult way to work for me. Knowing exactly what I want something to look like is the road to madness. 

Most of your work is landscapes or a scene, which piece would you most like to visit and which would you never want to go to (and why)?

I’d visit a happy one and avoid a sad one. For the obvious reasons.

How do you want people to feel when they see your work?

Honestly I’m happy for pretty much any feelings at all. It’s always very special when what I feel about a piece has translated properly and the viewer feels it too. But it’s fine if they get something totally different. I made a new friend at my recent exhibition at George Gallery in Brighton and we just spoke about this one large piece of a green snake the entire time and it mostly the colour that was giving her such a powerful reaction to the work. 

You recently had an exhibition at Anno Domini, which I read was a collection of work whilst you were recovering from an accident, firstly how are you feeling now, and how did that change how you make art?

Much better now thank you. I’ll have a slightly bad shoulder for maybe forever haha. But that might just be getting hit by a car in your 30s?
I ended up making a lot of work on small panels on my lap. Mostly with pencils. The very kind people at Jacksons Art sent me a care package of my favourite supplies so I could set up a little sofa studio while I recovered. I became much more meticulous with what I was working on as I couldn’t just jump around onto something new so easily which is what I had gotten used to. 

I could be getting this wrong because I can’t find the video now, but did I see you were doing some live painting at an exhibition or in store somewhere, how did that differ from creating in your studio?

I did yes. It was part of my exhibition ‘stay in the home you love’ at George Gallery in Brighton. I actually used to do live paintings all the time when I was just starting out so I got back into it really easy. Although it did end up being about 80% talking to people and 20% painting. 

How do you find making videos for social media and has it had any effect on what you create?

At first I think it did have a bit of an effect on the process. I was making things specifically knowing I was filming them. They would take much longer, I would film every step and have to whittle it down to 59 seconds. I had an area of my studio that was just with that one piece to work on while I filmed it. But eventually I learned what parts I should be filming and when they don’t impact the work etc. 

Are you working on or planning a new project that you can tell us about?

Currently working on a new book! It’s a book of paintings and drawings that will highlight how my process happens. Or hopefully that’s how it’ll read anyway.

And I’ve been making a lot of these small clay birds that I’m planning a fun exhibition for. 

What would be your dream project?

I’ve always wanted to have artistic control over a video game. But not have to do any of the animation or technical stuff haha. Just deliver a whole bunch of paintings, textures, drawings, and ideas. Let the smart people turn it into a weird indie game. One day!

Is there anything else you’d like to declare?

Be excellent to each other. Support small businesses. Drink water.