Surreal world inspires artist

It is midnight and former SCC student Josh Louchheim has just walked into his studio.

In front of him is an oil painting he’s been working on for the past several nights.

 

“I get off work at 10:30 p.m. It takes me about 45 minutes to drive home, then I will usually paint four or five hours, or until I’m too tired,” Louchheim says.

 

This 27-year-old, self-taught artist started painting only about a year and a half ago, but he’s found his creative outlet and is determined to pursue his passion.

 

“I think it’s one of the best creative outlets I’ve found,” he says.

 

 “When I’m in here there’s nothing else. I’m in my own little universe.”

 

Louchheim describes his work as surrealism. “Each painting tells a story,” he says. “My perception of the world, and of the outside world, and the world inside my head.”

 

Though painting is his current passion, Louchheim has also worked in other mediums.

He played in a local band, writes poetry, is working on a novel and has made a few short films, working as an actor and a screenwriter.

 

Five of his poems were published in the fall issue of the Blue Guitar Magazine, a local website magazine.

 

One of the films he worked on, “Roadside Subversion,” was shown at the Harkins 101 Theater last November, and a previous film was shown at the Harkins Centerpoint Theater in Tempe. Another one of the films he was associated with was shown at the Paper Heart gallery in Phoenix.

 

Louchheim spent most of his high school years at Arcadia High, and took an assortment of classes over the years at SCC, but only one art class.

 

“My grandparents were friends with Philip C. Curtis, and I used to go with them to his studio on Cattletrack. I think that influenced me as well as seeing a Monet exhibit at the Phoenix Art Museum when I was in high school,” he says.

 

Louchheim is currently working with a gallery who is interested in showing his work.

However, he needs to finish a few more paintings before he’s ready to show.

 

“I just want to make a living doing something creative,” he says, “If I can’t make a living doing something I love, then I don’t care to make a living at all.”