Suceda Interview

Friday, August 29, 2008 at 10:38:57

From a young boy growing up in Peru educated in an all boys catholic school, who then moved to the OC in the mid 80's to spend his youth, ultimately ending up in Oregon, the home of RYZ, Suceda, contest #4 winner sat quitely at his Oregon State University office yesterday afternoon and chatted with RYZ community manager Laura aka ltg about his winning design Sea 2 Sea and much more.  His winning shoe design is available now for presale.

ltg: Hello how’s it going?  Ok so lets just start off with some basics, name and hometown please.

Suceda: Hi! Santiago Uceda, Corvallis OR.

ltg: OH, are you a ducks or a beavers fan? ha!

Suceda: haha indeed could lose my job if I answered that one wrong

ltg: ah i see so you work for the beaver?

Suceda: the beaver's my boss

ltg: sorry to hear. GO DUCKS! . . .so what is it that you do for a living besides winning design contests?

Suceda: I am a senior graphic designer at Oregon State University, and do some occasional freelance illustration work on the side.

ltg: I see I see so how old were you when you started your creative endeavors?

Suceda: I think I was in grade school; I would draw silly stuff like food with faces saying obscene things to each other

ltg: oOoh did you ever get caught?

Suceda: My dad saw one of my drawings once, he didn't make any comments... just tried to ignore it... it's just a phase, it's just a phase.

ltg: Ha nice so besides designing, are there other mediums you like to use? Your designs resemble paintings to me.

Suceda: Yes, I am actually getting ready for a solo show in October so I have been doing a lot of painting, that's what got me interested in illustration. I took a painting class and was immediately hooked.

ltg: Wow nice, tell me more about your show, where and when and is it your first or one of many?

Suceda: It will be at Tender Loving Empire in Portland. I used to show more back in the 90's, then started working as a designer, so I took a break from painting for a while.

ltg: ah nice so is this a First Thursday deal or will it be up for a time?

Suceda: Reception will be in first Thursday of October, but the show will be up for about a month and 1/2.

ltg: Wow good deal, best of luck with that, I know I will most definitely be checking it out.

Suceda: Cool, can't wait to see you guys there, and any other Portland people reading the interview, come see the show!

ltg: nice.  So lets see an obvious one here, what was your design inspiration for sea 2 sea?

Suceda: Oh, that one is hard to explain, it wasn't politically motivated. It all started with another octopus painting I had done a while (I have a thing for octopi); it also had some Latin phrase in it, similar kind of message. The art was originally done for a friend's music show; I then took the octopus art and looked up a phrase that would fit the content.

ltg: Interesting.  Well the community definitely seems to have a thing for octopi too so I am glad that all worked out. :)

Suceda: you can't go wrong with octopi

ltg: Right um so any big plans on what you’re going to do with your reward money?

Suceda: I wish I had an exciting answer for that one, like take a trip to some exotic place... but I'm just going to have to pay off debt.

ltg: Oh man like the rest of America.

Suceda: I have an extravagant lifestyle, it’s expensive.

ltg: Ok well anything else you want to share, any deep dark secrets or silly idioms to impart?

Suceda: Well I just wanted to congratulate Leon, I knew that design would win when I first saw it! and also wanted to say thanks to all the people who voted for me. I'll keep dark secrets to myself... for now.

ltg: Nice, I understand you guys knew of each other before RYZ?  Care to divulge?

Suceda: Oh sure, we are both part of Black Rock Collective.

ltg: ooh sounds very dark and suspicious.

Suceda: It's a super secret devil worshiping cult. hehe. artists get invited every now & then, so yes, new members get added by invitation only in order to keep the group manageable. It has grown from 3 artists emailing each other to  critique each others work and share ideas to about 60-70 members. We have done a few collabs.

ltg: Word. Well, it looks like that's all the time we have, thank you so much for your time Santiago and best of luck with the lavish lifestyle and upcoming show!

Suceda: Thanks RYZ for the opportunity, and I can't wait to get to put some octopi on my feet!

ltg: Yeah late September!

Suceda: Awesome, I can wear them at the show!