Interview by Krysti Joméi & Jonny DeStefano
Published Issue 128, August 2024
New Mexico-based art rebel Dave Danzara creates for our eyes to wake up our minds. With the world as his stage, Dave has played roles as an illustrator, filmmaker, custom framer, international graphic designer, artist for musical giants and cultural icons, and more, landing him to where he is today as a nonconforming collage artist known as Lost In Time.
Unapologetically honoring his intuition and inherent creative duty, this renaissance man remixes his analogue artistry with technology to create neoteric designs that remind us to question everything: the good, the bad, the ugly, the unseen. From pop culture to punk to psychedelia to post-apocalyptic, there’s an undefinable familiarity and even comfort at times in his work, amplified by playfully bold humor that coaxes us not to take ourselves too seriously. Simultaneously, each piece exists as an urgent reminder to make the most of our time here on this planet, and particular plane of existence, while we still can, because time is running out.
We’re huge fans of your work and are so honored to be able to showcase your art in Birdy nearly every month. Not only do we love the diversity and fun of your aesthetic, but also the intelligence and even bravery behind your messaging. How are ideas born for you? And how do you make them come to life?
Thank you so much for having me be a part of your magazine. I feel extremely honored.
I bounce around aesthetically, but I don’t stray from the message or feeling I try to express in each design. I think I just get ideas either from past experiences or current events. I love pop culture, dreamy, psychedelic, post punk and post-apocalyptic stuff. So I just go off of how I feel that day when I’m creating something from the start. Sometimes an idea just pops into my head, sometimes I don’t even know where I’m going with it, and it ends up turning into something entirely new for me. That’s what I like most about creating something, it’s emotional for me. I like contrast; it brings a dramatic feeling to each design.
You started your digital collage career by creating all of your pieces solely on your phone. Is this still the case?
Yes, believe it or not I just started messing around with different apps from my phone. It became natural for me since I did film editing for a living. I love piecing and puzzling things together, it just became habit after that, fine-tuning the craft. It’s now been just over 10 years.
Describe your makerspace.
My makerspace derives from many different parts of life and collected memories that somehow blend into the whole aesthetic. So I created a specific work environment where I can be exactly who I am without boundaries. I turn out the lights then throw on some music, preferably something electronic or shoegazey. I tap in and get started. It’s a room you can easily get lost in, I call it the “Spaced Out Room.” It’s literally a black light room to space out in with various nerdy artifacts thrown in. I’m a little insane.
As a full-time creative, how do you keep yourself motivated, keep your inner artistic reservoir/creative well flowing?
My motivation is being true to my nature. I love challenging myself, it molds my spirit and is satisfying. It fuels my passion to see something that I envision come into fruition. It keeps me alive and free. Music is also key to connecting that creative spark.
Though you’re known as a collage artist, you’ve been a multidisciplinary creative your whole life — a filmmaker, graphic designer and artist for acclaimed bands and international brands, an interior designer, starting as far back as a child with drawing and painting. Can you dive deeper into your artistic history for us?
Yes, I have been all over the place in the art world. Lots of chapters in my life. Since I was very young, growing up I watched my talented Mother paint. I studied her, and intensely and patiently would just soak it all in.
I just began doing anything that was artistic going forward. Years later, in high school, I won a scholarship to the Laguna College of Art & Design in Southern California. Took a few courses in life drawing and sculpting.
After college, I had a job doing custom picture framing. Worked with an insane amount of well-known clients. Tony Hawk, Quicksilver, Hurley, Vans, Yo Gabba Gabba!, Ed Templeton and so many more! I was installing art shows for celebrities and world-renowned artists.
Then I ventured into film making. I taught myself how to edit videos. At the time I was a wedding videographer, so I got an itch to try something that soothes my creative soul. So I created a documentary called The Video Craze: Where were you in ‘82? I dedicated over three years of my life editing, filming and producing my first fully funded film from the ground up. It’s was exhausting but satisfying at the same time. Since then, I’ve been doing editing and collage design from my phone and iPad for about 10 years now.
Have you dabbled in any of your past mediums lately? Or do have any plans or wishes to?
I recently have taken a step back from doing anything especially on my phone, so I haven’t been as active doing anything art related. But I have been thinking about doing something new. I just need a break here and there. When I go for something, I go guns blazing, nothing-can-stop-me attitude! I’m very intense and I don’t stop creating once I have an idea.
Recall a standout highlight of your creative career. And a lowlight.
I’d say a standout highlight would have to be getting an email from NBC for Saturday Night Live. The band The Strokes was performing and needed a piece I created. They used it as their backdrop during their performance. It was a really surreal blackout type of moment for me.
I didn’t do any of these designs to make money from it, or even think I’d have some attention so it has been a fun ride.
The lowlight is accepting that you can’t always do this as a living. I learned a lot from doing this as a business, unfortunately it’s been more of a headache. Unfortunately things change, good or bad, that’s life!
Biggest change you’ve experienced from when you first started in art to now?
The biggest change would definitely be the digital vs. analog. I did a lot of life drawing using charcoal and pen and inks. I love to use my hands. Once digital became more mainstream on phones I started creating these designs from apps. I began messing around more and more until I found my niche. I even cut and create these collages with my finger on the screen instead of using a pen. I’ve also been doing a lot of drawing lately in my designs. I just trust what I’ve always done when I create something, so I kept it as human as possible. I guess the challenge was me trying something out of my comfort zone, and it paid off.
Your moniker, Lost In Time, is based on Blade Runner. Replicant Roy Batty’s ending monologue states: “I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain … Time to die.” What does this quote mean to you as an artist? And how has the film as a whole impacted you?
Oh man, yeah this quote resonates heavily to me. To me, it expresses the beauty in everything, the best memories and the chapters of your life. The perseverance of being human, and in the end, truth.
Blade Runner is definitely my favorite movie. The film encompasses this aesthetic that captures this neo-noir post-apocalyptic world. The visuals, story and music really does it for me. So I’ve integrated those elements throughout my designs.
The name Lost In Time has a deeper meaning for me. You need to be lost to find where you belong. Meaning you never stop being curious about who you are and what your meaning is. It takes courage in a place you have never felt familiar with, if you keep going you understand where you belong.
What’s it like living and working in Albuquerque, NM versus Los Angeles, CA?
The difference living here in Albuquerque, New Mexico is that it’s a lot dryer climate and traffic doesn’t exist. Oh, and a lot less people! I lived in Southern California most of my life, so I miss the weather and that ocean air, but it was time for the next adventure.
We really appreciate the diversity in your collage work — spanning from the fun lighthearted pop culture references to how you speak to Orwell’s 1984 and the naked corruption we can all plainly see today. These days it takes courage to be an artist who speaks truth to power in our current time where violence is threatened to keep people in the dark, and shadowbanning is used to leverage conformity and control in the digital world. You’ve been dealing with the latter on social media this year, describing yourself as a “nonconformist — needing to be a lion in a world of sheep” during this day and age as a digital artist. Can you expand on this experience and how you’re navigating through it all?
Yes, I love to push the boundaries and to make people think. There is a wider deeper context surrounding the message I’m trying to convey. Since an early age I have always felt like something didn’t connect or add up. I notice things I don’t think most others do. Pattern recognition has a lot to do with it, I see things differently and question things that don’t add up.
It’s a slippery slope, lol … conveying a design that is politically driven can strike some nerves … well … good! That means I did what it was meant to do.
I’m not a democrat or a republican, I’m Dave Danzara and I believe to be human. I’m very self-aware, spiritually conscious and a deep thinker. Most people accepted the work, eat, entertainment, sleep, cycle as life but I have a desire for a deeper understanding of our purpose in this universe.
I’m expressing and showing exactly what I feel about where we are currently. It is very clear to me that we were born into fear, indoctrinated into propaganda brainwashed zombies, questioning nothing, only to obey. The most frightening part about waking up is finding out most people around you don’t care … you’re either awake by now or you just weren’t meant to be.
I’ve become more attracted to authenticity and less attracted to illusion. Deception follows a script, like the saying goes, “all the world’s a stage.” Believe the truth or their truth, that is your mission.
You carefully curate your art on Instagram and elsewhere with thoughtfully chosen tunes, all of which are incredibly diverse spanning from bangers to deep cuts, bringing further life to your images. It’s as if you’re an experienced DJ/selector. What role does music play in your art and life?
I’m glad you took notice to that. In fact, I take a lot of pride into completing the entire message of my design. I specifically select the right track to fit the vibe for the design. It completes the entire ensemble of your will. I used to play in a couple of bands as a young teen. I was a goth punk finding my way in the world. Music has saved my life numerous times. Music is a huge part of my life, so I wanted to translate the emotion and feeling and bridge it into my design. But I also believe film editing helped my love for inserting music with the image. I want you to feel all of it.
What else do you like to do for fun?
I like to be outdoors when I can. Especially hiking and getting away from the concrete. It cleanses the soul. Going to antique stores, collecting retro nostalgia of sorts. Listening to music has always been a deep connection for me. Playing a few games from time to time. Life adventures and hanging out with my kids, Logan and Laurel, and my best friend and wife, Elysa.
How do you balance being a father while being an artist?
Being a father was my best artistic achievement of course. I don’t know how I could live without them. They are why I stay motivated in everything I have passion for.
What’s your artist manifesto.
My manifesto is accepting and knowing who you are, to be real and authentic, and not take life too seriously.
What sense do you rely on most? And if you only had two senses to choose from, which would you choose?
I rely on common sense, my intuition. If I only had two senses it would be the sense of sight and the sense of love.
Top 3 games?
Top 3 games would be Elden Ring, Dark Souls and Robotron: 2084.
Top 3 artists?
Top 3 artists would be Brothers Hildebrandt, Salvador Dalí and Maxfield Parrish.
Top 3 bands?
Top 3 bands is a tough one for me! I’m going with Slowdive, Bauhaus and The Cure. These bands among others have gotten me through hard times. They haven’t let me down.
Top 3 movies?
Top 3 movies is another tough one for me, but Blade Runner, The Dark Crystal and Pee-wee’s Big Adventure would be at the top. It’s a TV series but can I throw in The Twilight Zone?
What advice can you give to aspiring and/or fellow artists in our current time?
My advice would be to be patient with yourself. Believe in yourself most of all. You’re the only person getting in your way. Tune out the noise and focus on what you do best. You can do anything if you put your mind to it.
Anything in the works for the future?
As for the future … I don’t want to put any pressure on anything or it becomes work. Sometimes you need to break the cycle of things. So I’m gonna listen to my mind and body. But I’d be willing to bet it would be doing more creative projects.
In closing, I must say that life has a way of teaching you things, good or bad, they mold your being. I’m without doubt and certain that we all serve a purpose, mine is to create things that touch people’s minds.
Follow Dave on Instagram to see more of his work. Support this independent artist by snagging prints, framed art & other original merch on his Website.
Krysti Joméi is the co-owner and co-founder of Birdy Magazine. Creating in Colorado for the past decade plus, she’s lived all around San Francisco, by Houston’s NASA, on an island across from Seattle, near the WA/Canadian border, and under the Nandi Hills in Kenya. She loves outer space, the ocean, running in nature, anything written by Trent Reznor, and adventuring with her partner, Jonny, husky and black cat.
Jonny DeStefano is the co-owner and co-founder of Birdy Magazine. He is also the founder of the comedy activist space Deer Pile. His favorite color is red, he loves shark attacks, hockey and upright bass.
In case you missed it, check Dave’s July Birdy install, The Creature in 3D, or head to our Explore section to see more from this talented artist.
Pingback: Fascinating by Dave Danzara aka Lost In Time - BIRDY MAGAZINE