Tonight, Scott Listfield opened a solo show at Gallery1988 in Los Angeles titled, “Franchise”. Scott, known for his ubiquitous and isolated astronaut — the protagonist in all his paintings — usually wandering from a former iconic place turned desolate, showcased a new body of work. A light and familiar subject that to most of us were easy to associate with. It is as American as it gets — Fast Food.

Find out about Franchise why he chose this subject and his fascination with In-N-Out. And if you haven’t had the chance to read our personal interview with Scott, you can read it here.

Interview by Mark Changco.
Art by Scott Listfield.

Can you tell me about your show, “Franchise”?

It started as a show about our love of fast food, and in particular those local franchises we grew up with. I noticed that every time I made a painting about In-N-Out, everyone from California LOVED it. And I started thinking about other regional chains that people love, like Waffle House, Dunkin’ Donuts, or Whataburger in Texas. People are really passionate about these places. I’m not really sure why, but I think it has to do with the things we grew up with and our memories of home. Plus we just love eating grease bombs.

But I started researching these types of places, and they often have weird buildings, signature colors and looks. I really enjoyed the whole fast food world that people might never realize was there if they didn’t visit all these different parts of the country. Anyhow that’s where the idea for the show started, and it kind of grew from there.

How did you treat this show? And how is it different from the previous ones?

Well I don’t always have an idea for a whole show’s worth of paintings before I start. Often it’s sort of a mish mash of ideas that all come together because there’s an astronaut in each one. But for this show, I had a pretty clear idea right from the start, of what I wanted to focus on.

How fast can you finish a painting? Do you experience any creative block?

Well I’m now painting full time, so typically I can do one or two paintings in a week, depending on how big or complicated they are. Occasionally I’ll do a larger, more involved piece which will take a bit longer. And I’m thankful that I don’t usually get creative block. Once in a while I do, but now I focus more on the theme of a show, and it’s easier to come up with one interesting idea and do 12 or 20 paintings in that vein, rather than come up with 12 or 20 completely discrete paintings.

What will be your favorite piece? Why?

Oh, I never choose favorites. I like them all. If I didn’t like them, they’d never make it out of my studio.