At school I used to paint these wonderful oil paintings - but I just had to know how the oil paint reacted to heat - so I set some of them on fire to observe the results.

  Please give us a brief bio of yourself.

Link: insane. (link no longer active)

Link: very sexy (link no longer active)

But the bland bio where I talk about myself in the third person goes something like this :

Joshua Davis is a New York artist and technologist producing both public and private work on and off the Web. His site www.praystation.com was the winner of the 2001 Prix Ars Electronica Golden Nica in the category "Net Excellence", the highest honor in international net art and design.

He is currently an instructor at the School of Visual Arts in New York City and lectures globally on his work, inspirations and motivations.

Wow.

  What do you do for inspiration?

Photoshop myself into interesting situations - like that time I hung out with Fred Durst and Ron Jeremy - or taking Polaroid's of drag queens.

  What software couldn't you live without?

Flash.

  Please list 3 of your favourite sites.

1. o8 ARMY (hidden url)

2. o8 ARMY (hidden url)

3. o8 ARMY (hidden url)

  What do you regard as being your biggest achievement?

Getting clean and sober.

  What projects do you have in the pipeline?

Doing random generated compositions in flash - outputted to broadcast for a US red Hot Chili Pepper tour.

  Who is your target audience?

Me.

  Who do you rate as being the top 3 design companies?

Hmm - I don't know if I care enough to answer this one.

  Have you written any books, if not do you plan to?

Yup a few - but my first solo Flash MX book "Flash to the core" comes out this July 2002.

  What area of web design lacks the most?

Interesting topics - like galleries of gibbons - there's just too many "the design portfolio of ___insert name here___" what about the gibbons dammit?

  What did your very first site look like? Is it still online?

My first site was cyphen (the JavaScript RGB to HEX color pick tool which can be found on praystation.com somewhere)

  What was the toughest thing you ever did with Flash?

Probably motown.com "classic motown" - it had so many intricate levels it was pretty tough to manage.

  Do you think Flash is here to stay?

Yup.

  What effect on traffic do your new designs have?

None.

  How have you learned so many Flash/design skills and techniques and can you offer any advice for newbies?

Not understanding is the key : I don't know if understanding something is always the best thing. Sometimes it's the not knowing that gets my brain turning into ideas of how I think things might be. The answer might not bring me to any higher level - but the confusion of not knowing and imagination is what brings me closer to myself.

At school I used to paint these wonderful oil paintings - but I just had to know how the oil paint reacted to heat - so I set some of them on fire to observe the results. It's through this not knowing - that presented new ideas.

Here is the killer - I found out that some oil based resins crack and separate under heat - So I started painting and then applying resins and then baking the paintings in my oven (attended to very closely as not to burn down my house).

The resins would crack, I would rub the entire surface of the painting with black oil, and then gently rub the surface with a dry cloth.

The finished effect was stunning - ageing with the cracks of time. samples here : joshuadavis.com/thinks_hes_an_artist/ (link no longer active).

It was this initial not understanding what would happen if I set my painting on fire - that lead to a refined technique.

So my advice is to experiment - and fail - experiment again and find something new - experiment again and succeed. It's about process, and process takes time - it has taken me years to do the things I do and I still don't know what I'm doing.

  Any parting shots or pearls of wisdom?

"the design portfolio of ___insert name here___" bad bad bad - it tells us nothing about what makes you different than everybody else who's making the same type of site.

I mean if you had 2 sites...

"the design portfolio of ___insert name here___"

or

"love with lawn gnomes" (link no longer active)

Which site would be more inclined to re-visit ?

  What type of overcoat do you wear when Flashing, basically are you a labels man?

Naw - usually camo pants a wife beater and skate shoes, for that occasional session out in the back.

  It's been a privilege, Joshua, thanks very much.

Thanks.