The challenge of visually representing the intricate tapestry of communication proved a significant undertaking for the cover of a special August issue dedicated to "Conversations." Fortunately, former Visuals Editor Roberto "Bear" Guerra had a precise vision, identifying Armando Veve, a long-standing contributor to High Country News (HCN), as the ideal artist. For years, Guerra and his colleagues had aspired to feature Veve’s distinctive artwork on the magazine’s cover, and the stars finally aligned for this particular issue, which also marked Guerra’s final contribution to the masthead. Veve embraced the assignment with his characteristic enthusiasm and signature style, meticulously crafting an image that depicts a whimsical array of improbable conversationalists engaged in tense yet amicable exchanges, while thoughtfully incorporating moments of convivial silence to illustrate the winding nature of meaningful dialogue.

Based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Veve’s artistic journey intersected with the HCN office in Paonia, Colorado, a couple of years prior when he passed through during a road trip to a Telluride art gallery. This article offers a glimpse into his thoughtful approach to art-making through his responses about the cover illustration and his broader creative philosophy. The conversation has been thoughtfully edited for conciseness and clarity, aiming to preserve the essence of Veve’s insights.

When asked about his creative process, Veve described a method deeply rooted in graphite on paper, valuing its immediacy and its profound connection to the act of writing. He often conceptualizes drawing as a visual form of storytelling, a parallel to written narratives. His pieces are built through sedimentary layers, commencing with graphite, followed by watercolor, and then colored pencil. For the cover illustration, color was ultimately applied digitally due to time constraints, yet even these digital layers remain guided by the artist’s hand, with the drawing and color merging seamlessly on the printed page, which Veve regards as the ultimate realization of his work in the context of publications.

Veve finds inspiration in the everyday, viewing drawing as his primary mechanism for processing the world. It serves as a means to center himself, to decipher the inherent chaos of existence, and to give tangible form to his internal thoughts, allowing him to sift through them for valuable insights. He actively seeks inspiration by cultivating a heightened awareness of his surroundings, striving to notice details that might otherwise escape casual observation. In his pursuit of deeper engagement, he has consciously reduced his reliance on his phone, prioritizing direct attention and interaction with people. Long walks are a regular practice, serving both as opportunities for photography and as a vital method for expanding mental space and stimulating physical circulation. More recently, he has shifted towards drawing from memory rather than relying heavily on reference materials, an approach he finds invigorating and one that unlocks new creative possibilities on the page. For Veve, drawing represents a continuous dialogue with the past and the future, fostering closer observation and encouraging novel ways of thinking. It is also a visceral act, akin to scratching an itch, where he peels back layers and delves deeper in search of symbolic meaning or narrative threads.

For many years, Veve collaborated with the magazine on monthly illustrations for the "Heard Around the West" column, a collaboration that fostered a spirit strongly echoed in the cover art, with alert readers potentially recognizing familiar characters. Veve fondly recalls his time illustrating for the "Heard" section, highlighting the peculiar and humorous nature of the stories curated by Tiffany (Midge), such as the man who propelled a peanut up a mountain with his nose or the dog named Ghost who escaped his home and integrated into a coyote pack. Indeed, a closer examination of the cover reveals subtle "Heard" easter eggs, including Bo the Bear and Ghost, characters who first appeared in that column. Veve delights in remixing his past work, forging connective threads between disparate pieces, and revitalizing recurring motifs and characters. His cat, for instance, makes a recurring appearance in many of his works, an invitation for keen-eyed viewers to spot. He perceives all his creations as part of a singular, evolving world, where each new story offers fresh subject matter and thematic explorations, all emanating from a shared source of creative energy.

His visual lexicon, comprising objects, symbols, and motifs, functions like characters in a theatrical production, appearing when they best serve the intended idea or sometimes as a personal indulgence, an inside joke primarily for himself. He harbors a particular fondness for characters that appear out of context, displaced from their original settings, a recurring theme that serves to defamiliarize the familiar. This inclination stems from a surrealist impulse, as he finds fragmentation and cross-pollination to be more accurate metaphors for the world as he understands it.

The distinctive style that Veve employs, characterized by humor and whimsy, is a natural evolution stemming from a lifelong fascination with images that tell stories. This fascination dates back to his childhood encounters with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and the comic books that were a constant presence in his home. As a child, he was captivated by I Spy books and the immersive narrative-building experiences offered by games like The Sims, where he constructed elaborate mansions that often doubled as deathtraps for his virtual families. These experiences instilled in him a sense of discovery and empowered him to craft his own narratives. He sees a democratic quality in this approach, where the viewer is invited to forge their own unique path through the artwork. Maps, too, hold a similar appeal for him, as do cross-sections, for their ability to highlight the interconnectedness of all things.

Veve prefers to revisit his works, building them in layers, and engaging in a process of editing and refinement akin to a writer meticulously pruning a draft. He appreciates the peculiar stillness inherent in a drawing. In the context of our rapidly paced world, he finds a certain absurdity in dedicating extensive time to a single subject, making marks with the direct, simple, and ancient stroke of a pencil. There is an elemental quality to this practice, as he literally draws with the earth – graphite and clay encased in cedar. This method connects him to a long and venerable tradition of art created by human hands, a tradition he feels is increasingly challenged by artificial intelligence and commercial pressures. His work echoes the earliest cave paintings, illuminated manuscripts, WPA murals, and the imaginative, futuristic worlds found in pulp science fiction.

The term "style" itself, Veve suggests, can be somewhat restrictive, placing undue emphasis on the surface of a piece. He prefers to conceptualize it as a form of materialized voice, akin to speech patterns, a person’s gait, or their unique way of understanding and processing information. Humor, he reiterates, is a vital component of his work; if an image elicits laughter, he generally pursues that impulse. Whimsy, he believes, is a potent force that encourages free association and destabilizes established structures. The humor in his art is rarely a deliberate intention but rather emerges organically from the natural interactions within a piece or through associations made by the viewer, perhaps a memory triggered by the imagery. The drawing, in essence, becomes a conduit for these emergent moments of levity.

Regarding the inspiration for the cover illustration, Veve explained that while grappling with how to visually manifest the concept of conversation, he began to contemplate maps as literal representations of interconnected networks and envisioned a "landscape of conversation." This phrase became the driving force behind the entire concept. He drew inspiration from medieval paintings and maps, admiring their stacked spatial arrangements and their ability to invite viewers to wander through the artwork and discover their own individual journeys.

The most challenging aspect of visually depicting conversation, Veve noted, lay in striking a delicate balance between inclusion and omission. Creating sufficient negative space and moments of visual respite between elements is a perpetual challenge. Much like a compelling conversation, his artwork requires pauses, moments of silence that imbue the visual elements with deeper meaning. His initial sketches, he admitted, were too cluttered and overwhelmingly "loud." Consequently, he chose to reduce the scale of all elements and open up the composition, thereby creating literal pathways for the viewer to navigate and incorporating moments of quiet contemplation, such as the poignant image of a flower mourning severed stumps.

When asked about his favorite characters on the cover, Veve’s personal highlight is the lone prairie chicken, whose visibly bewildered expression he finds particularly endearing.

For those wishing to explore more of Armando Veve’s artistic endeavors and stay updated on his latest projects, he can be found on Instagram at @armandoveve or visited on his website at armandoveve.com.

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