Check Out Karl Zurflüh’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Karl Zurflüh

Hi Karl, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
My story begins in Honolulu Hawaii where I was born, and my family was stationed for the Navy. My Dad flew A4s with the VC-1 squadron, out of the former Naval airfield Barbers Point. When I was 2 my Mom & my older brother Steven moved to Tacoma WA, where my Dad had grown up. The pacific Northwest is a beautiful place to live 3-4 months of the year, the other 9 months force you push yourself in the absence of the sun. For me that meant diving into comics, video games, and cult classic movies. From a very young age I planned to tell my family I was going to leave for college, but really go to Japan and study Ninjutsu. Living as a shadow warrior became a reality in many different ways than I hoped back then, but that philosophy has stuck with me.

At 10 years old I started skateboarding which has taught me to challenge everything and face my fears head on. The skateboard community still plays an important role in my life. The camaraderie of battling with tricks and constantly pushing ourselves, mentally & physically, from strong bonds of friendship. Also, the community is so vastly diverse, it is one of the only communities that I know of, that accepts everyone as they are. Because of this you are introduced to so many different types of art, music, styles, and forms of expression. The underdog or rouge aspects of skating also aligns well with my ninja dreams.

I went to my first hardcore show when I was 12 at the Community World Theater and that changed my life. That was the first time I found a group of people doing whatever it takes to express themselves. That was when I was introduced to the concept “for the love of it” and I was hooked. I tried to be there every Friday & Saturday to see whatever bands I could. If you didn’t have the 5 bucks for 5 bands, Jim would let you supplement what you had, with canned food. That’s when it clicked, this was not a fashion or a trend, this was a lifestyle for everyone involved. They were doing what they could to provid an all ages place for kids to express themselves, and it truly was a remarkable time.

When I graduated from high school, I moved to Seattle to attend Cornish College of the Arts. Once there, skateboarding introduced me to Hip Hop culture, another community that thrives on the progression of their art forms. Like anything that is open source, both communities push their creative bars upward every day, for the benefit and the challenge of the people participating. The concept of being judged purely on your artistic skills & accomplishments was the hook that had me for the next 30 years. Plus, I got to practice all of my shadow warrior techniques in the name of art.

After two years in Seattle, I transferred schools to Ringling College of Art & Design in Sarasota FL, so I could receive more traditional technical training. Here I would receive my BFA in Illustration and be challenged to talk about the human experience through my art. After working a couple years out of school, I realized I needed more digital training so I moved to NYC where I would receive my MFA in computer animation from The School of Visual Arts.

While in NYC I worked for an animated TV show called Little Bill, where I designed props and backgrounds. Then 911 happened, the economy crashed, and the show was cancelled. I was unemployed for 9 months until I fell into Entertainment advertising and started designing movie posters. For advertising, the creative exercise is to take an idea and execute it in as many different styles as possible. Then place that image where the most eyes will see it, or repetitively put it in front of people until it becomes part of their consciousness. These are the exact skills I had learned through Hip Hop, and the reason why I refer to advertising as corporate graffiti. All the while I kept painting walls and canvases, for the love of it.

In 2004 I moved to LA where I joined a start-up agency that shares my love for video games. I still work with them to this day.  This job embraces my more of my conceptual solutions. We design the KA and branding for some of the biggest games in the world. With this team, I was able to be a part of a new wave of video game marketing that would revolutionize the industry. We push the emotional parts of the narrative to connect with the audience in new ways. This is a creative exercise that I work on every day through my art practice.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Life is never a smooth road for anyone. Wisdom has helped me see that, the ups and downs, give contrast and allow me to enjoy life more. Of course, one of the biggest struggles was how to fund all the Art schools I was lucky enough to attend. Since I graduated from High School I have been financially on my own. So as the student load debt piled up in Seattle, I realized that I needed this gamble to pay for itself. That is when I made the conscious decision to shift into commercial art and pause my fine art dreams. In NYC I had almost every type of commercial art job one could have in that era. A lot of sacrifices were made, surviving had to come before my Hip Hop ninja missions. Going to school and working is a tough balancing act for anyone and it was exceptionally difficult in that city.

I have worked hard to pay off my debts, sometimes 80+ hours a week. Now that I have a little more room to breathe, I have been able to renew the fine art dream again. I thought with all my commercial success that I could make the transition to fine art smoothly. But it is a whole new & different beast of an industry and I had to start over from the bottom again. At first, I had a hard time letting go of the creative brief and the target audience mentality. What I would learn was that I hadn’t found my voice, the art must come from the inside and move outward. It has taken me almost 10 years of trying and failing to finally get a small foot hold of understanding in the fine art world. I still have a long way to go, but I am starting to see the light.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am a multidisciplinary artist working in several different mediums. At my core I am a storytelling, painter, (whether it be digitally, on canvas or on walls) who likes to focus on emotional experiences. I still love to paint on large scale walls with spray paint; there is nothing like walking around a corner and being overtaking by a beautiful piece of art, multiple stories high. It’s profound how adding a little bit of color to a gray part of the city can uplift the community. Art is truly transformative.

In 2020 I started my current body of work, Light Pilots. At this point I had done a few pieces about my father, and they felt like a conversation with him, it felt like he was there. This made me want more. You see, my father was KIA in Hawaii, 24 days before my first birthday. The worst part of this tragedy was that my family buried their emotions and chose not to talk about it. This behavioral blueprint left me feeling like I was emotionally drifting for most of my life. So, I decided to try and break the cycle and try to heal my families past wounds. By documenting this process, I hope to open the conversation for everyone who struggles with grief.

In each painting light signifies a positive lesson that comes from within us or from the outside. Sometimes we can see it, sometimes we don’t. It is up to us to choose if we take on that lesson. I intentionally remove the bodies leaving just the pilot shells. The pilot shell symbolizes our physical shells, making the paintings not about a specific person, but about all of us. Our consciousness navigates the shell of our physical bodies through this experience, thus making us all pilots.

My story is not different from anyone else’s, grief is a human experience and part of a thread that connects us all. With Light Pilots I hope to inspire people on their own journeys. I want to comfort the kid looking for answers and remind everyone that we are all in this together.  Talking about our emotions is the beginning of healing. Through this art I hope to encourage our society to engage with grief and normalize the discussion of it in positive ways.

Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
During a recent residency, my studio was located on the first floor of a prominent museum. Patrons were able to visit my studio while I was working, and I was able to have many conversations with complete strangers about my work. As I told my story I created a space for people to share theirs. I cried and hugged with a lot of people as we shared our stories. These interactions were so amazing. To see the profound impact of my art upon people was truly a gift, letting me know that I have found my voice. Art can help society have conversations about universal emotions that are tough to articulate. I have begun my healing process through art and have progressed rapidly in that endeavor because of it. I am so grateful to be able to do what I do, support my family, and help people in all of the communities around me.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.karlzurfluh.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/karlzurfluh/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kzurfluh/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karl-zurfl%C3%BCh-5550a717/

Image Credits
For the profile pic: Steve Aycock