ArtCenter: What’s your best piece of advice for an ArtCenter student interested following your career path?Dennis Mukai (BFA 79 Illustration) artist: Find your inspiration and your passion, and never make excuses. I can’t remember where this formula came from, but I have it saved on my desktop: imitation + inspiration + progression = ART
AC: What are you working on right now?DM: 1. Kurosawa Sake label designs2. Commissioned paintings for LA and New York collectors3. Branding for LA linen company4. Logo development for public relations firm5. Creative for Drymax Technologies
AC: How do you define success?DM: Passion and satisfaction of your craft in addition to, quite possibly more importantly, knowing how/when to hit the OFF button.
AC: Do you have any superstitions?DM: Don’t clip your nails at night – it’s an old Japanese superstition that my mother put in my head when I was a child.
AC: Who are the most interesting artists working today?DM: Guitarists Pat Metheny and Robben Ford – finding parallels in other fields of art are far more fascinating as it directly addresses inspiration and discipline rather than subject and medium.
AC: What book is on your bedside table?DM: The Road to Wellville by T.C. Boyle and Do I Make Myself Clear? by Harold Evans.
AC: If you could have a superpower, what would it be?DM: Be able to fly for the shear joy or the ability to be invisible for all the twisted reasons.