souther salazar and saelee oh make a cute couple. unlike most cute couples, they make really neat-o artwork. perhaps that makes them cuter.

their names even sound cute together.
souther and saelee.
souther and saelee.
souther and saelee.

see?

(bobbyhundreds)
hello. who are you?

(saelee oh)
name: Saelee Oh
age: 21
location: South Pasadena
occupation: gallery artist, illustrator, and lemonade stand owner.

(souther salazar)
name: Souther Salazar
age: 25
location: Pasadena
occupation: artist.

although i feel like you 2 have completely different styles, it seems like you both capture the same sentiments in your work. is this true or am i on crack?
I guess we both make light hearted work and a lot of the subject matter is similar like the type of people we like to draw and animals we both like. I know we both have similar ideals about approaching art making so I guess that shows through in our final pieces even though we have different drawing styles, palettes, materials or whatever. We both like the personal and the handcrafted. Souther’s work looks more spontaneous and has more texture. Mine looks more carefully and slowly crafted.

 

Yeah…we have like-minded fascinations. Also, we are in love and it is still fresh and exciting, and maybe that helps lend a similar tone to our separate work.
what exactly do you guys like to paint?
I like to paint anything that’ll amuse me and I like to make up stories and characters. I like girls with funny hats, mammals, sea creatures, birds, trees and flowers. I’ll dress animals up in clothes. I like visual metaphors.
I like to paint mostly out of my head…I like making up characters and scenes. I feel like I’ve kind of developed this particular vocabulary where all the lines and symbols and creatures and objects play off each other to

make a sort of impromptu story. Sometimes it reflects my mood I guess.
A common cast tends to show up and I play with them on paper or wood or whatever and it becomes a familiar world to me.|
souther, you utilize a lot of mixed media. saelee, you concentrate on straight-up paint. what does this say about your work? what goes into this decision?
Actually, it’s only recently that a lot of my paintings are straight paint on paper. I just wanted to challenge myself to do that but I don’t think I’ll ever have the temperament to do only that. I’m still interested in different materials, different textures of paper and cutting things out and

gluing them back on. I make paper cut outs too and play around with different materials in my sketchbook.
My work is just usually more cleanly presented for whatever reason since I’m not usually really attracted to sparseness, but I guess I do have a low tolerance for mess and clutter, probably because of being around a certain you-know-who, who happens to lose his keys and wallet and phone and everything 5 times a week. I think he should just carry a man-purse, but he says NO! Anyways, when I paint, sometimes I obsessively go over the background a hundred times just because I see a little tiny speck that no one else would ever notice. I get frustrated because the amount of time I spend on a piece doesn’t


necessarily always seem obvious to others. Oh well.
The mixed media/collage/texture stuff…sometimes it just happens. I’m messy and I’ll change my mind and I’m also impulsive; so the layers I guess are a record of that. But other times, it’s more on purpose. I like a good worn-in surface. I like it broken-in. The scraps and stuff –they’re all chunks of other things I like or saved. Or else maybe it’s a leftover from something else I cut out…little bits and pieces from here and there.
you guys met at art center, right?
Yes. We’ve been friends for years and went on group trips to New York and Yosemite

 

 

before we started dating. I guess we never really knew each other well before and also neither one of us were really looking to date. Then, one night, it was all fireworks and bottle rockets. I was over and Souther was helping me study for an art history quiz. And I was thinking, “Souther’s so patient and helpful…He knows how to make things fun.” And it was getting late but he couldn’t sleep and well, from then on we were both cured of lonely hearts and Souther finally settled down. Ha ha. (By the way, I got an A on my test.)
what's it like having a boyfriend / girlfriend who is an amazing artist also? do you influence, compel each other? what are the pros and cons?

We hang out aaaalll the time. More than people with normal 9-5 jobs. We’re not really disciplined in saying, “O.K. we’ll just hang out for a little bit and then leave to go to our own homes and work…” So, we’ll spend weeks together at a time; eat together, sleep together, shower together, run errands together. It really doesn’t seem healthy.
At first, I was more prone to watching out that this didn’t happen but Souther said, “It’s O.K. we’re still in the dating period,” even though it had been like 8 months and now it’s more than 15 months and we just spend more time together than ever since we both work at home. It’s nice to get instant advice on a piece while I’m working on it but, we also both want
instant attention when we interrupt each other for something, especially if it’s really stupid and meant to just bug the other person.

So, we annoy each other a lot, but we also cuddle and are super affectionate to each other too. Painting in your underwear together is nice. Souther invented the “snap, snap, clap” so that I can use it anytime I want if I want to feel loved. We also have our pets, Pinecone, Banjo and Tic Tac Toe Jam to keep us company.

Besides our working habits, sometimes I feel like I can’t be happy with my own accomplishments or goals for what they are because I compare myself to Souther. It just happens since I spend so much time
working side by side with him. I’m just being honest but sometimes I feel pressure to keep up, rather than to just trust that I should take things at my own pace…and a few times, I’ve been self conscious whenever we’re doing a project or show together that I was invited more because of who I was dating rather than the quality of my work. Souther says I think about it way more than anyone else cares to, but I feel like its something worth worrying about. I feel that I have serious responsibilities in the way I live my life as a female in today’s modern world. Back when I had time to read more, I read a lot of feminist literature. But, anyways, I shouldn’t worry so much. I think things will work out o.k. between us and ultimately, I’m totally proud of Souther.

It’s really nice. I feel like we understand each other very well because of it. She inspires me a lot and I trust her sensibilities…which is good because I can always turn to her for a second opinion when I’m in the middle of something. I’m much better with color now because of her. The downside is sometimes we argue a lot about all the stupid stuff that goes along with being two artists in a relationship. Ultimately, we try not to be weird or competitive or anything and just be honest and encouraging to one another.
She is hands-down the raddest girl I know.
do you ever collaborate on projects?
We’ve collaborated before we started dating. We made Peanut Butter and Jelly,
a tiny black and white photocopied book that was a spontaneous and ambitious, 1 night only project. Issue #2 took forever to come out but that one was made half as innocent friends and half as looooveers. I don’t know why there is no #3 yet. I learned a lot from how Souther thinks from doing these books with him. He’s funny, loves to draw, sometimes stubborn and if I don’t stick up for myself, he’ll just do whatever he wants. Recently, we’ve been commissioned to do a painting together too….We’re looking forward to that. I want to do more stuff that’s not too self consciously a collaboration or labeled in any way; like, just draw together or build a treehouse to live in, or make a little book just for friends or something.
 We’ve collaborated on lots of little drawings and stuff, often when we’re at restaurants or stuck somewhere waiting. We are working on our first painting together (a commissioned piece). It is going to be an underwater extravaganza.

any upcoming exhibits, projects? places we can see your work?

ugh. Let’s see. I’m going to New York first week of November to show my portfolio around and during that time there’ll be a show at culture cache in San Francisco with Fawn Gehweiler, Emily Ryan, Rachell Sumpter and maybe others. The opening is Nov. 8th . Then, there’s a show at Gallery AD in San Jose in December and now until end of 		December there are paintings and other goodies of mine at Gallery Here in the U.K. I want to make sure to find time to work on a book for the Alternative Press Expo in San Francisco early next year. www.saeleeoh.com has a calendar with more info on it.

upcoming art show/book release at: giant robot in LA (dec 6th), and a winter themed show at motel in Portland ( also dec 6th), plus some other group shows and comix related stuff in the next few months that will be listed on my site. Also, I’ll be at super*MARKET at ucla on NOV 7-9th with a table of stuff (look for the team-up installation by me and Caroline Hwang installed for the event). Early next 		year, Saelee and I will have a table together at A.P.E, which I’m really looking forward to. There will be more info on my site about everything so please check in. The beginning of next year I’m hoping to slow down a bit and work on a couple of longer collage/comic stories and some bigger pieces again. Also I want to make more time for walks and bike rides and snap clap clap. ..