#36 Dorian Katz

Henry Martin: What, if any, responsibility, do you feel as an artist, in what way, or toward whom?

Dorian Katz: As an artist, just as a person, I feel it is my responsibility to do no harm with my art. This means I get to express all the emotions of a human, but I never make fun of those who are marginalized. It’s not something I’d want to do anyway, but if I think I can’t make a particular drawing without it being misconstrued, I’ll draw something else. I’m full of ideas. My work has a lot of humor. I enjoy making people laugh and sometimes it opens them up to conversations. But the laughs aren’t mean-spirited or at the expense of someone with less power.

Henry Martin: What is your favourite art work?

Dorian Katz: I don’t have a favorite art work, but if I could own a painting by Leonora Carrington, I sure would. I feel that way about a lot of artists though she’s at the top of my list. I’d like to have met her and collaborated with her and Remedios Varo on a storybook with drawings.

Henry Martin: Does your work come from the head or the heart?

Dorian Katz: My work doesn’t come from the head or the heart. It comes from the best idea I have at the time. If I don’t have a good idea, it’ll come from a bad one. If I work hard enough sometimes the bad idea will turn into something beautiful. My dear friend says “art gets made by decisions”, and I believe her.

Henry Martin: What is the greatest challenge you face as an artist?

Dorian Katz: The greatest challenge I face as an artist is having people not be afraid to show my work in commercial galleries or talk about it with ease because of the freaky, queer, feminist content. It’s got a lot in common with illustration and cartooning but there’s only so much couching in art speak language one can do to make the work palatable to one percent-ers.

Website, Instagram, Interview on Medium,

Title: Untitled. Date: 2017. Format/ Materials: Ink and pencil on Bristol paper. Size: 20 x 24 cm. Credit: Dorian Katz.