Gunnar Tarsa was born in New Jersey but spent most of his childhood in Gwinnett County, Georgia, where he graduated from Collins Hill High School.  A lifelong lover of comics and drawing, he moved to Athens in 2013 to attend the University of Georgia to study art, where he earned a BFA in Drawing and Painting.  He has worked at Uber Prints, Treehouse Kid and Craft, and Creature Comforts, and has volunteered in the past with Love.Craft and Extra Special People.  He is currently working full-time taking his art business to the next level, working in mostly the digital medium creating digital art and NFTs. Gunnar was selected to be the 2023 Theme Artist for AthFest Educates, creating the logos for this year’s AthFest Music & Arts Festival (June 23-25) and the AthHalf Half Marathon & 5K (October 21 & 22). His work will be featured on ads, billboards, social media, and merchandise for both events.  Gunnar lives downtown with his partner, Joy, his best friend, Nathan, and cats Mandarin and Plum.  

 

What do you love most about the work you do?

 

I think what I love most about the art I make is that I often don’t know what it is I’m making.  So the joy and wonder of discovering stuff is a really important part of it for me. Putting down a line and then trying to figure out where the next line goes and what is coming out of it…there is a certain Jazz I’m in love with in visual art. And I also love sharing that: that art is not always something that is predetermined and precomposed and that there is a lot of problem-solving in it. And another variation on that would be that there is just an exciting amount of discovery.  The discovery is the most important part of it.

 

When you are not working what are some of your favorite things to do in or around Athens?

 

One of my favorite things to do is just going for a walk around the Boulevard Area, sitting at any coffee shop, like Hendershot’s or Buvez, and just being. I’m a big fan of just being in the city. Or really wherever I am, but in Athens in particular I think there are a lot of places to find peace in the sunshine.  As far as food goes, throughout the pandemic I got to meet some chefs who’d moved to town, like Kenny Nguyen who is about to open up Pretty Boy, and a couple other chefs from Atlanta, Daniel Fetter, Nik Partridge and Esther Kim. So being exposed to the chef world has probably been one of the most exciting things about Athens, too. There are a lot of really great eats, a lot of hidden gems, like Jarritos tacos and just like gas station tacos all over Athens.  There is a wonderful joy around food and culture around Athens and I think it’s sometimes slept on. 

 

If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go and why?

 

Mexico and Arizona because I want to draw rocks. I’ve never been to a proper desert and I would very much like to go and get lost in the scenery and the stars and commune with the geometric qualities of the desert.

 

What advice would you give to your younger self?

 

Bad thoughts aren’t real, don’t listen to them. I was a super creative kid, drawing from my favorite comics and TV shows when I was real little and making my imaginary sets of armor and characters and all these things, and when I moved to GA I think I got scared of sharing crazy me and trying to turn that into something or what that even means as a coming of age story.  It wasn’t until I was 18 when I rediscovered art and decided to go on that adventure again, and I definitely wish I wouldn’t have listened to the depression and doubts and fears because I would have an additional 8 years of trusting my imagination.  

 

Do you have a favorite book?

 

Hands down my favorite book has to do with my favorite artist. It’s Keith Haring Journals. He’s my biggest inspiration, both aesthetically and philosophically, in terms of art. I was very ADD and all over the place with my art, especially in school and decided to pick up his journal not because I knew his work but because I wanted to read something from the perspective of an artist. I was tired of reading history based on other people’s opinions. I fell in love immediately. He was just a kid who wanted to draw and that foundational energy is what drove him to covering the world in his art images and solidifying his idea that art is for everyone and nobody can take that away from you. And that’s been the core drive and meaning behind my work too.  It’s really easy to pick up and just read a day from his journal and be inspired.  

 

Do you have a favorite movie?

 

It’s an odd one to be my favorite, but it’s Guillermo del Toro’s Hellboy.  Something about that movie just really stuck with me as a kid. As a comic book lover, without having anyone else who was into comics who could teach me who to read or get into, I was super excited about that movie and all the practical effects and costumes and the idea of a monkey demon being the oddball hero. I loved that.  

 

If you could see any band, or show, anywhere, who would you see and where?

 

There is this contemporary American singer songwriter Chris Staples, he’s not very big but his albums hold a really particularly emotional value to me. He’s got a song “Dark Side of The Moon” that I’d love to be Joy and my wedding song when we get married, we’ve talked about it quite a bit. So If he could play that at my wedding, that would be my dream experience for music.  

 

If you could put any message on a billboard, what would you put?

 

My gut reaction is just to put a big smiley face. My logo is a black hole that’s strewn with color, I call it Chromapage. I like that idea, that it is like a little kid and wants to eat all the color in the universe. Smiley faces have always been important to me and my work. So I think I would just put a big smiley face. Or my second pick would be to just put “scribble.”  

 

If you could have lunch with anyone, dead or alive, who would it be and where?

Ah this age old question…it would have to be Robin Williams. He was my childhood hero besides my grandpa. I was way too little watching all his stand-up and loving his approach and his energy and his creativity and his love towards the world. I think it would be a worthwhile lunch to hear him chat about a million things while I try to get a word in. I got to spend a month in New York City when I graduated college and got to meet artists and stay at an Airbnb and every day walk around and figure out what to do.  And I don’t remember where it was but somewhere in Brooklyn near the Brooklyn Museum there was a place and they had a croissant egg and avocado breakfast sandwich and it was the best breakfast sandwich I’d ever had in my life. I had it at least 5 times during that 30 day period there.  I’d take Robin there and just listen to him talk about random stuff.

 

What three words or phrases come to mind when you think of the word “home”?

Love. Security. Peace.