tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29123479570630565042024-02-20T19:31:47.376-08:00Jolie LaideTravishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09905258624328994727noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2912347957063056504.post-69172207876437984602011-08-10T10:13:00.000-07:002011-08-10T10:15:07.308-07:00Conversation between Japeth Mennes & Jeffrey Mathews<p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: center; font: 14.0px 'Helvetica Light'"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">
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<br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Light'"><span style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Japeth:</span></b></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> We're talking about science fiction, science as it enters fiction or science as it enters art. I like that idea of fusing, of taking something and filtering it through your own hand, like an already known technology or a pre-existing material that you’re using in your own way. With the work I'm doing it's a photographic process, so I'm examining how photography works, the way you can sort of experiment and create formal qualities, or what it means to make a photograph.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Light'; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span>
<br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Light'"><span style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Jeffrey:</span></b></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> You're absorbing and filtering through these things that are greater than the self. One's gesture, one's hand creates an object that can also extend back out to the world. So something starts very large and closes down to a personal, intimate gesture and opens back up, sort of like an hourglass. It extends the science and painting and everything, and it's where I see a lot of art-making happen. Bismuth, for example, has obviously existed longer than we have. It’s been used for specific art making practices, which is kind of fascinating to learn about. In the Middle Ages they were using Bismuth instead of lead to create illuminated manuscripts, and I even found a technique or a process where they were using it to inlay the material in wood, or I think these Danish reliquaries or something. It’s just so strange that this material exists out in the world and you can have so many different interpretations.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Light'; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span>
<br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Light'"><span style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Japeth: </span></b></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> It's just a material? It's not concocted or anything? Not melted down?</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Light'; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span>
<br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Light'"><span style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Jeffrey:</span></b></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> No, it's only mined, sort of refined, and poured into ingots. It's purified maybe a little bit for industrial use as an alloy for other heavier metals like bronze. Talking about material reminds me of my love/hate relationship with minimalism.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Light'; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span>
<br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Light'"><span style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Japeth:</span></b></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> Yeah, me too. Some of it just bores the shit out of me. </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Light'; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span>
<br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Light'"><span style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Jeffrey:</span></b></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> Well initially the hate was mostly generated by like, wow, that must've been a great movement to be a part of, to just find some really beautiful material and just make a cube out of it and you're done. But then also I think I’m coming at it from the political perspective, thinking about the era their work was made in, during the Vietnam war.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Light'; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span>
<br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Light'"><span style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Japeth: </span></b></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> I'm definitely interested in the place of a painting in the world today, how it seems out of step or out of place as a form of communication. You have much better ways of going about it that would be much more effective, like music, movies, TV, magazines and the internet, but we're making these paintings that don't do a very good job.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Light'; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span>
<br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Light'"><span style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Jeffrey: </span></b></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> From a self-critical standpoint you can maybe claim that artistic production is a very self-indulgent exercise at best, but I think it's maybe a little more benevolent to consider that it creates a sort of diversion from the unrest that's going on in the world; that art can be generative. </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Light'; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span>
<br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Light'"><span style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Japeth: </span></b></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> Art will always find a way to be seen, and for the most part it's free. And that's what's really cool. Images and ideas spread themselves throughout the world. Which is why I think it's important to think about the structure and support in the production of art, what your place is, how you fit into that model. </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Light'; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span>
<br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Light'"><span style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Jeffrey: </span></b></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> It's a weird sort of relationship. I feel like in some ways making painting can be somewhat like a political gesture. But then on the other hand you are relying on this other system of people who make money who are able to buy your work. It's a funny paradox. But ultimately it goes back to the idea that it's free for anyone to look at and the ideas are free to use. That's what interests to me, having a dialogue within this community which is small, but that's fine. Everyone doesn't have to be Guns 'N Roses. You can be this little band that people love but not everyone is into, and that's totally fine. You have your audience and that's great and that's really beautiful and in some ways I feel like that's better than Guns 'N Roses. How about this for a science fiction reality: a world that's entirely populated by bands, just bands making music for other bands. I was reading-</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Light'; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span>
<br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Light'"><span style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Japeth: </span></b></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> Bandville</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Light'; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span>
<br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Light'"><span style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Jeffrey: </span></b></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> I think that's come up in conversations around the New York/Brooklyn art community, the prevalence of blogs and the sort of proliferation of certain people within these structures. We have friends that have come up through this system of altruistic endeavors. There are one-night shows put on with no financial backing with people that are making this work in their spare time, after their day job. It opens you up to this idea that there are so many artists in Brooklyn. And then you think exponentially- there are so many artists in New York, so many artists in Philadelphia, Chicago, L.A., Berlin, you know, across the globe. There was a poll recently: 20% of Berlin's population, when asked what they want to do when they get older, the youth in Berlin want to be artists. I mean that's a fifth of the city’s population that want to be artists! I just thought for a second what a crazy universe that would be- everyone's making art for each other. What a strange universe if we were just peacefully formalizing things for each other in perpetuity, just for the sake of our own entertainment, until we die. I suppose to some that would sound like a nightmare but maybe to others not so much. </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Light'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> I mentioned earlier the love/hate relationship with minimalism, but I'm actually starting to remove all the bullshit and let the material speak for itself. For a while I was doing these marker bleed things that was just like pigment that would soak into the canvas or the linen and bleed out by the acrylic polymer that was painted onto the surface, but there was something about that effect that would add this sort of burning that the material does when it attaches itself to the substrate to the linen.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Light'; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span>
<br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Light'"><span style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Japeth:</span></b></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> It's sort of like a contamination. I like this idea of contaminating minimal art. I feel like I enjoy post-minimal art more. Both of us have these different processes where we're painting but it's not pure painting, it's a contamination of painting or it's a contamination of photography, which can lead to more interesting places within genres. Just like Guns N Roses. Like a contamination of metal, a contamination of hair-metal, but also like Queen. </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Light'; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span>
<br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Light'"><span style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Jeffrey:</span></b></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> I read this book, Steven Parrino’s </span></span><span style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">The No Texts,</span></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> that was all about contamination and necrophilia in painting. The author said when he came on the scene painting was dead so I just thought how great, I can have a necrophilic relationship with painting, just fuck painting's corpse. The continual cycle of culture dying and needing to be revived, that's how it perpetuates its existence. The great thing about the book is that it formalizes this idea of destruction and mayhem, just basically bad behavior, which is something I'm really interested in because I think I always find it annoying when people are just trying to hold a light up to something. </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Light'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">But also in a literal sense there's that idea of contamination you were referencing - there is something sickly or gangly about the way that paint is applied, or the way that it exists alongside this bismuth stuff so that it creates a sort of binary system. Is bismuth the corrosion or is it augmenting something? I like the idea of taking something really shiny and doing something sort of gnarly to it and then taking something really gnarly and doing something really shiny to it. </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Light'; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span>
<br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Light'"><span style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Japeth:</span></b></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> What I like about painting is that it embraces the obsolete. I was talking to you about that earlier, like the vinyl record, there's a certain obsolete quality that people enjoy about the record. A lot of what our peers are doing right now is a material investigation, a more handmade and personal experience. I think that's the new paradigm going along with the recession and the renewed interest in materials. </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Light'; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span>
<br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Light'"><span style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Jeffrey:</span></b></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> It's like something you can put in your backpack and take home and you pound a nail in the wall and put it up and you have your one-on-one experience. </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Light'; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span>
<br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Light'"><span style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Japeth:</span></b></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> I remember a couple of years ago you were at a store and you bought some guy’s record and you saw something and it was just a tape wrapped in a rag or something like that. </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Light'; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span>
<br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Light'"><span style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Jeffrey:</span></b></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> It was like a guy wiped his ass with a sock and wrapped his tape in that.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Light'; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span>
<br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Light'"><span style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Japeth:</span></b></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> Yeah and maybe we're fetishizing this but I kind of like that idea that this tape might be the greatest music in the world right now. This one tape might have the most integrity, the most heart, it might be the most interesting, complicated music in the world but it's just this guy wrapping his tape in a rag. I like how a painting can be that way too. </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Light'; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span>
<br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Light'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">I guess it can be kind of dangerous if you fetishize it too much. There’s a resurgence of nostalgia, our peers are feeling like they're missing out on something or they're feeling like there's something in the past that we lost and we're trying to re-access. Like when painting was a big deal but now it's not. </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Light'; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span>
<br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Light'"><span style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Jeffrey: </span></b></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> Maybe sci-fi is the opposite of nostalgia. The idea of a sci-fi reality brings me to another thing that I'm interested in: I realized that I wanted not to illustrate but actualize. I think it creates this condition where you can see these things existing in the future. I don't want to illustrate what the future is going to look like, I want to bring the future to the present. I was reading that Buckminster Fuller anthology, Critical Path. I saw his dymaxium home at the Henry Ford Museum in Detroit. It looked like a trailer home but it's a cylinder with a funnel top. It was so considered it was ridiculous. The funnel top would channel tornados... it was like ergonomic aerodynamic design. He had a dense knowledge of where we come from and where we're going. There's a dangerous potential for one's own work to exist in a vacuum, to cut off from any connection to that which came before and that which can come after. </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Light'; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span>
<br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Light'"><span style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Japeth:</span></b></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> I'm definitely interested in art that can conflate the past, the present and the future. It doesn't simply reflect the present or reminisce about the past, it can also try to envision the future, which is why I feel like objects should be made because they can say more than we intend.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Light'; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span>
<br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Light'"><span style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Jeffrey: </span></b></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">That’s important, objects speaking for themselves. I'm very much incapable of making interesting gestural marks. My marks have to be in control, and that's why I have to let something else happen. I do something and it gets fucked up on its own and I just go away. </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Light'; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span>
<br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Light'"><span style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Japeth:</span></b></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> We both have these things that we do which are about relinquishing control within the work, setting up a system and placing a lot of control in that system and making decisions that ultimately end up being in a process or situation in which the outcomes are unknown. The fluidity of the bismuth, the way it crystallizes, the way the water reacts to your marker drawings. What will happen after I leave that painting for a year in the sun? I like that idea of control and lack of control. I feel our work has that dialogue and hopefully people will see that in the show. </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Light'; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span>
<br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Edited by Daniel Gerwin</span></i></span></p>Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16067868652778091316noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2912347957063056504.post-81701070091239037942011-04-06T10:13:00.000-07:002011-04-14T11:50:10.199-07:00BECOMING SOMETHING FOUND<div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; "><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Interview with Fabienne Lasserre and Molly Smith</span></span></b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">By Daniel Gerwin</span></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></span></p></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4Uf521MiDwlAFbnqS4vU4uJw116ecgsPu4gAyZ1xOX5zpu89jcgFyMOL0g6Le__qAlPXb5lq-Lm11lUCv-bGsuEVIcIeYNisGsQe6u70aWN2gcgKWDfuIzC-V69JzjceAvfPT5Q5iYxeW/s320/_JLG0005.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595501015201265794" /></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Installation View: Becoming Something Found </span></i></div></span><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">DG:</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> I understand you developed this show over the course of a year. Can you talk about how the concept evolved, some of the twists and turns?</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">FL: </span></b></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> </span></b><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">"Becoming Something Found" evolved from “Come Through”, a show that Molly and I curated at Sikkema & Jenkins last fall. This is a different show, with four additional artists and almost all new pieces, but it flowed directly from “Come Through”, following the same lines and intentions. “Becoming Something Found” is curated strictly from the artists’ point of view. It stems from a very intimate knowledge of each other's studio practices and influences. Most of the artists in this show visit each other's studios often. We see each other’s work at different stages: tentative, failed, flawed, and also confident, assertive, celebratory.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';font-size:130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:12px;"><br /></span></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">MS:</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> I visited Fabienne during her residency in Oaxaca, Mexico, in 2009. We made some pieces together, combining materials we found in the markets with materials we were using in our own work: plaster in my case, and felted wool in Fabienne’s. Collaborating sparked a conversation about organizing a show of artists who make art while traveling. I immediately thought of a wonderful picture in one of my most treasured artists' monographs, Sheila Hicks' </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Weaving as Metaphor</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">. The photo shows her weaving on a backstrap loom in Oaxaca in the 1950’s. Wherever she was staying, she would turn over a piece of furniture to create a loom between the four legs. Sheila's ability to adapt her artistic practice and absorb the influence of the surrounding culture made her a significant figure in forming our idea for the show. </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">DG:</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> What surrounding influences find their way into your own practice, are they more local to your daily life in the U.S.?</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">MS</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">: Absorbing my surroundings is huge for me. The imagery and many objects in my sculptures come from walks in my neighborhood. Most people carry a camera with them when they travel, but I have my camera with me always, and capture moments that inform my work. This local and daily observational practice translates when I'm traveling as well. </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">DG</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">: What are some of the specific things you're looking at these days, and how are they being transformed in your work?</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">MS</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">: I don't work directly from any of my photographs, but I try to absorb the gestures, arrangements, and movements of objects. In my sculptures some actual things I pick up are included, as with </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Around</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">, which is in this show. It’s centered on a crushed hula-hoop that I passed one day when it was whole, in the road. A few days later I passed it again, and it had been run over and crushed. It was funny and pathetic. Its original use, as a round and rounded thing, was now impossible and that made me like it more. </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">DG</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">: Can you say more about the impact of travel, the idea that instigated this show?</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">MS</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">: Fabienne and I considered the concept of travel more broadly, and arrived at the condition that travel provides an artist: uncertainty. That seemed to be the essence of the processes and work of all the artists we were beginning to intuitively group together. </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">FL</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">: We’ve talked many times about how a meandering and indirect course is integral to our work, about how we value irresolution and loose ends. Uncertainty is part of figuring out; doubt (which doesn't mean mistrust or insecurity!) is necessary to speculation. Pleasure, too, plays a crucial part.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Molly and I thought of artists whose approach allows them to get lost: processes that accommodate paradox, indeterminacy, and open-endedness. We came up with artists from different generations, for whom materials are crucial, and who make abstract works that still retain elements from everyday life, the decorative, and even the sentimental. Their works also share, if not exactly a sense of optimism, an acceptance of happiness. The show points to the seriousness and rigor of this way of working, which is to be distinguished from a kind of fabled, loopy spontaneity ("so creative, so free!") typically described in much talk and writing about art and artists.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">DG</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">: How do you hold onto indeterminacy when you’re pursuing your daily studio practice? Every artist arrives at his or her own material language, which necessarily limits uncertainty. </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">MS</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">: I would say that while we all work with some direction, we also invite uncertainty to the game. We know our materials in intimate ways, but those materials impose their own tendencies that we cannot control, and may not always be able to, or want to, manipulate. Even if I know I am casting a certain shape in plaster, there are still many factors I don't know. How to make that shape from paper, how the plaster will distribute once it's poured in that paper shape, then how the many tints I used in the plaster might set up and emerge. I want to be surprised.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">I was just in Jess [Dickinson’s] studio and she showed me drawings that make themselves by recording her movement as they cover the floor in front of a painting, or trace their own movement across the studio floor over months. I imagine the dye Rachel [Foullon] applies to her fabric is in some ways controlled by the water in which it is immersed as much as by her hand, and then she works with the natural drapery and twist of the material. Fabienne felts wool that shrinks and shapes itself in forms dictated by the properties of the fiber. Shiv [Liddell] makes a bridge for her son out of paper, which makes its way into the studio and is transformed into a relief. Sheila [Hicks] weaves on a diagonal then releases the weaving to allow its tension to transform the square into a diamond shape.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">DG</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">: In today's cultural context, how do you see this incorporation of chance and uncertainty into artistic process? Does this approach tend to move the resulting art into the kind of territory that was highlighted by the </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Unmonumental</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> show at the New Museum in New York (2007)? In other words, it's hard to make something polemical (or monumental) if the work’s outcome is uncertain. Or is an uncertain process itself a type of polemic, a kind of politics?</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">MS</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">: I think a lot about how ego is involved in art making. And the idea of making something monumental to me seems so futile. Speaking for myself, I think of working with chance and uncertainty as collaboration with forces greater than me, and in some ways, acknowledging and admiring these forces is the reason to make art. For me that’s so relevant to today’s context, this moment of massive change. As an artist, I think we are innately adaptable and flexible. We don't expect things to be fixed.</span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:16px;"></span></span></span></p><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><div></div><div style="text-align: center; "><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL0rOnvwJ1QhaQAquHGvBCC0lRSRadK_wNnivTONxdNB2mxoJ-P9zDRfhDfLy5-Ir8CKQgi-84PIXXC5g5ZD3JWMrJfVFHoXiQnzCqS2_okWty0xCPdrrT2t0bhPLocES4yQnF_sMGHpcp/s320/_JLG0025.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595502142530587378" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 213px; " /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Installation View: Becoming Something Found</span></span></i></div></span></span><p></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">FL</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">: In a way, the unknown - the idea or the form that has not yet arrived and must be found - is what all artists attend to. I think that with "Becoming Something Found", we are approaching something more specific, and more playful. The work of many of the artists in the show operates on and between the edges of various disciplines. It stretches these categories without being antagonistic, in a playful and lyrical manner connected to daily life, to the trivial. Alison Knowles' privileging of ordinary activities expressed in simple, concrete terms, offers an example. So does her use of neglected sensibilities such as smell, touch, and taste. </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">There is also a willful avoidance of declamatory and resolved statements or gestures. When Jo Smail says: "I want to be on the side of the not-clever, the vulnerable, inconsistencies, and mistakes. This is what beginnings are like," she is insisting on the potential of things kept open, on the importance of what is left undefined. This kind of approach, even if it not new, has resonance for many people now. </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Unmonumental</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> was okay, but a much more interesting, exciting and ground-breaking show was </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">High Times, Hard Times</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">, curated by Katie Siegel and David Reed (National Academy Museum, New York, 2007). That show, with all its idiosyncrasies and flaws, really blew me away. </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Come Through</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> and </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Becoming Something Found</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> are both indebted to the way in which </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">High Times, Hard Times</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> presented a sense of possibility -even political possibility - within abstract and formal modalities.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">DG</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">: Speaking of political possibility, your show traces a sort of matrilineal descent over three generations (Morton/Hicks to you and your peers, to your student Emily). What are your ideas about artistic inheritance and transmission, and also about these issues for women artists of the past 50-60 years? </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">FL</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">: Molly and I never set out to put together an all-women show. Late in the process, we realized that the artists we selected were all women. Of course, it wasn't exactly a surprise. We had gradually acknowledged that some of the concerns of the show led, almost too easily, to questions of gender. But we were really thinking of a specific way of working.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"></span></p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Georgia, serif;"></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr7kzcVF-gSynU8N7jW8GcH5YsK5HhwxGqhZKan4Byn3Jo77emClQm2jWdLzcyA8s2dUpuSQGFwfy3Dtz5T-5SKkauKizEKsD36_aqVKaQr8VEAcANrZ3jFVXUVG8HBgvxO7L1tboCz7Q2/s320/_JLG0027.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595502146298838466" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 213px; " /></span>Installation View: Becoming Something Found</span></i></span></span></div></span><p></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">I guess the kind of flexibility Molly and I had in mind had been embraced by women artists who were dealing with specific (political) restrictions and limitations. This fluid voice and meandering trajectory came out of necessity, practicality, and resistance. For example, Morton made a whole body of work derived from the summer she spent in Newfoundland with her children. She made amazing installations using things she found while taking walks with her kids in Philadelphia. The materials she used feel close to home, prosaic and familiar. Her tone is confessional, autobiographical, funny, at times even embarrassing. Her installations, sculptures and drawings toy with the decorative, the domestic, and fantasy (all too often considered easy, backwards, regressive).</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">In the late 60’s and 70’s, along with the lack of opportunity for women came a certain independence and freedom: women were creating and inventing radical new forms of art, outside of the pressures of history and power. By saying this, I really don’t mean to dismiss the exasperating injustices, or to sound positive about a situation that has really not changed enough yet. But there is truth in Elizabeth Murray’s words: “I think that the greatest part of being a woman in the world of painting is that I'm not really a part of it. I can do whatever the hell I want."</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">MS:</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> Inheritance and transmission is just everything to an artist. Especially after so much art education that never really satisfied or fulfilled the feeling I've had standing in front of a Ree Morton, or Sheila Hicks, or Eva Hesse or Anne Truitt. I think there’s something particularly poignant in the idea of inheriting a lineage (at the risk of sounding presumptuous) from women like Hesse or Morton, whose careers were cut short. But the idea of transmission feels quite relevant to the way we all work, the idea of insight being passed on through absorption rather than words, or through proximity and subtle gestures rather than through formal education.</span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><i>Interview by Daniel Gerwin</i></span></span></p>Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16067868652778091316noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2912347957063056504.post-77370009629461169082011-02-08T12:46:00.000-08:002011-02-09T13:33:08.735-08:00James Hyde Interview with Daniel Gerwin<span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(102, 102, 102); font-size:11px;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:130%;color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></div></span><p style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; "><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">DANIEL GERWIN:</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> Let’s start with the use of written language: letters and words. Is this the first time you’ve deployed language in this way, where you overtly use written language?</span></p><p style="text-align: center;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><b>JAMES HYDE:</b> Yes, it is. The closest I came before this was about 15 years ago, when I curated a show at Real Artways</span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> </span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">in Hartford CT</span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">, </span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">and AC Project Room in NYC. It was called the Fetish of Knowledge, and was organized around works that involved text and image. I curated that show because while I was interested in text in artworks, at that time I had no interest in having text in my own work. </span></span></p> <p style="text-align: center;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">A</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">fter three or four years working with images of Stuart Davis’s paintings, where text does find its way into his imagery, it</span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">had an impact on me. I’ve become very interested in how shape gets recognized as something- it becomes a signal, and how that changes the way you look at the shapes that compose text. In a way, when you recognize a letter it changes the way that shape looks.</span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 263px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZCJ8J70cEYAbaNCHmq1mnnyvtQzH9T3Nby40AbP0AixfdU1SLnLak3NJPa0lSWvDDWp07CkaKufW-Uc7nw-pyfvIRL5EM-Q3u9ytmMnEblKXBtuQU3un_uOCldHX8xBmXAAlGyOtNXqZC/s400/2009_AT.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5571426545422667490" /></span></p><p></p> <p style="text-align: center;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: 14px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: none; font-family:ArialMT, Arial, sans-serif;">AT, 2009, acrylic on archival digital print on stretched linen, 57 x 86 inches</span></b></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><b>DG</b>: You can see the way shape-recognition is at play in the “at” painting, how</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">it flips back and forth between two triangles and a rectangle, and the word “at”. The figure-ground relationship flips back and forth even as you look at it. But the idea of using language wasn’t in your mind at the beginning?</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><b>JH:</b> No, at a certain point it became interesting as a way of responding to Davis’s variations on themes. Also, I’m putting shapes on top of Davis that have a quality of advertising, which was important to Davis.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><b>DG:</b> What about the choice of using these two-letter words or single letters? </span></span></p> <p style="text-align: center;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><b>JH:</b> I didn’t want the language to have a lot of meaning</span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">…</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> or a lot of specific meaning</span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">. </span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">I want the words to be functional; they are all very basic, and a lot of them are prepositions. I wanted the language of the words to be something that leverages, rather than something that is something. You can look at my painting on the Davis details as words, or as a thin slab of applied paint.</span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> </span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> They move between recognition and experience. When you are really experiencing things you aren’t reading, but when you are reading, you are getting meaning, not experience.</span></span></p> <p color="#00fefe" style="text-align: center;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><b>DG:</b> Let’s go back in time, in terms of your work, to those pieces that you did with mirrored surfaces, to which you affixed wooden handles. The reflection of the handle in the surface of the mirror would create relationships, and new things would happen. Is there a relationship between that activity and these Davis paintings?</span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><b><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 286px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK8FyIS8Rc_xhRcYOROeJgNpttQNjICXslqihRkeQvOsyWZMU58Y9ncpYWuaU76Wi91LqHd7JhLOd-KxDzq2Gc1KVmNsOZYE9AqnfNZl91hN2fn5CnF06eybRjodEa8F2BWQRx4LwpU26V/s400/2003_halo.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5571451045640896322" /></b></span></p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><b><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div></b></span><p></p> <p style="text-align: center;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" font-weight: normal; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); font-family:Georgia, serif;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">HALO, 2003, </span></span></span></span></b><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">chrome steel, wood, </span></span></span></span></b></span></b></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><b><b></b></b></span></p><b><b><div style="text-align: center; display: inline !important; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; "><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">49 x 22.5 x 7 in.</span></span></span></span></b></span></div></b></b><p></p><p></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><b>JH:</b> Actually, it's a relevant connection. With most of those chrome panel pieces, what they look like is simply 2 x 4’s stuck on a reflective surface. Based on placement and orientation (and a bit of poetics), they become something else. They become a halo or a zero, or an X</span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">-- </span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">a kiss or an X-marks-the-spot. It’s the way material goes from being a raw mute thing to becoming a sign. It’s that moment of transformation that interests me both in these Davis pieces we’re showing, and in those chrome paintings.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><b>DG:</b> So how did you arrive at the decision to work on Stuart Davis?</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><b>JH:</b> Davis was never a strong influence on me. Since I was a teenager, I have always worked in a material or minimalist mode of painting, but I’ve always so liked Davis </span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">w</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">henever I’d see a piece of his in a museum. He’s kind of like an old friend, and with this group of work I wanted to spend some time working with one artist. I’d done paintings over details of Velasquez, Goya, Titian, some Matisse, and some oddball classic artists, like Alessandro Magnasco. But I wanted to work with a modernist</span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">—</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">a 20</span></span><span style="font: 8.0px 'Times New Roman'; letter-spacing: 0.0px"><sup><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">th</span></sup></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> century artist.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">With Davis, you really feel like he loved working. And the workman-like quality to Davis’s paintings</span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> </span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">made me feel that I could really stay with him for two or three years. That’s what I thought at the time, maybe even just one year! Now I’ve worked on this Stuart Davis Group</span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> </span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">for almost six years. </span></span></p> <p style="text-align: center;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">I also like the metaphor of musicality in formal abstract painting. I feel when there’s a musical quality, the abstractions really come alive</span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">--</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> become experiential. It’s kind of an old metaphor for abstract painting, but a metaphor I really like. And it’s a metaphor that Davis really liked. You could say he was the inventor of the jazz shape. And for me, with the Davis Group I was able to take up this metaphor-- a synesthesia of shape, color mutating to music and sound. I wanted to do this in a way that would be contemporary, by using photographic reproduction—use the Davis detail like a musical sample.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><b>DG:</b> Since this is a Philly show, and you and Davis are both from Philly, can you talk about what Philadelphia means to you, or what impact it might have had on you growing up?</span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><b>JH:</b> I’m in Brooklyn because I loved living in Philadelphia so much. Actually, recently I finally forgave my parents for moving the family to upstate NY when I was 10! I always liked the urban texture of Philly. I’ve lived in Brooklyn since moving to NY in the late 70s. Maybe that was my</span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> </span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">way of reconstituting living in Philadelphia?</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><b>DG:</b> It’s funny you said that, because it’s a big reason I live in Philly: it reminds me of Brooklyn. Let’s talk about these sculptures. Can you talk about the timeline, or process of these sculptures</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">– do they predate the paintings?</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><b>JH:</b> No, they were actually simultaneous. I had planned to put these sculptures—or objects like</span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> </span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">them on the surface of the paintings.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2CmZ_9BWm43F1gTS6a7-Hb-_ZcMSRe9VmMy3qTOboQTKlAmiJwZ6gJ24o2ksYsxBecdrNe5rwG2iKDXUpF5FJpYOzHiuH4HcrUmjxxS1hMt629eZ1r2k4X38PswwLx7w0jRKaZSz5-ocF/s400/b.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5571805030611657314" /></span></p><p style="text-align: center;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><b>Little B </b></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><b>DG:</b> Like the handles on the mirrors?</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><b>JH:</b> Yeah, but in a less denotative way—I thought they were going to be dimensional paintings, not word paintings. I tried to make this work for like a year and a half, and it was not happening. So I had all this stuff left over, both the flat enlarged details of the Davis paintings and the objects I had planned to put on them. So if you were to speak about it in Darwinian terms, that particular line bifurcated, and I ended up with a group of sculptures and a group of paintings, each developing in their own way.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><b>DG:</b> They certainly make a nice little ecosystem together. </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><b>JH:</b> It was really fun to make sculpture</span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">.</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> I don’t normally think about what it means to make sculpture, I’m always thinking about what it means to make a painting. So I thought, here’s a way of challenging myself and shifting perspective. With these sculptures, the question of the pedestal becomes important like the way the panel is important to me in painting. In a way, these are all classic sculptures, you can say each of them has a pedestal, or is itself a pedestal.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><b>DG:</b> Right, because your A is a pedestal. </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><b>JH:</b> Yeah, the A will have plants on it. </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><b>DG:</b> It’s really fascinating that you started with these sculptures on the paintings, but in the end you felt the paintings needed to be flat. Why didn’t the dimensional idea work for you?</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><b>JH:</b> I think there’s an</span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> </span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">expectation that as artists we proceed through concept, and that there are rational reasons why things are good or not. That’s not the way I work; I have to have an intuition, and follow it as I evaluate whether it’s interesting, or if</span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> </span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">it makes me happy, or is doing something necessary or mysterious. In the end, it’s not about success or failure of the idea.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><b>DG:</b> It’s more a question of gut feeling?</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><b>JH: </b>In this case the mix just wasn’t looking good. At that early stage, I wasn’t trying to put words on the photographic details, just objects on the surface. I wanted to alter the appearance of the Davis details with something more physical than paint.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><b>DG:</b> Were these objects not originally conceived as letters?</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><b>JH:</b> No, with the first ones, I discovered they were letters after I made them!</span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> </span></b></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><b>DG: </b>That’s great.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><b>JH:</b> What’s interesting about these paintings is how their materiality is weird. If you look at the painting I’ve done over the photo detail of the Davis</span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> </span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">painting (with a roller or with spray paint)—it’s a pretty thin layer. But on top of the photograph, the paint feels</span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> </span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">quite thick. I guess for me the realization was that actually putting something chunky on the Davis</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">compromised the real magic that was possible. I discovered that you could take a really thin layer of paint and make it feel really-</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><b>DG:</b> -like a mountain of texture?</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><b>JH:</b> Well</span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">,</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> like a material/physical experience. It’s almost like that thin layer of paint becomes sculptural against the super-slick flatness of the photograph, which is also funny because the enlarged photograph looks so hyper-textured.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><b>DG:</b> Not only do we go back and forth in recognizing words as opposed to geometric forms, but we also go back and forth between recognizing the photographic representation of texture versus the real texture of actual paint. There’s a lot of flipping.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><b>JH:</b> What I try to do with my work is to remind people</span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">…</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> and myself, that seeing is a really sophisticated structural act. And I try to make this experience of seeing pleasurable. To feel your vision.</span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><i>Interview by Daniel Gerwin </i></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><i>Images Courtesy of the Artist</i></span></p>Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16067868652778091316noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2912347957063056504.post-38059241601304227862010-11-24T09:12:00.000-08:002010-11-24T09:27:32.484-08:00DE-NATURE by Daniel Gerwin<img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 268px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOxMlQzlhmDlI4MOzXCvXUDYKOrj9ifWqSM1JPdlfNfO_1ViNjiQx8ue_q3vLPCCHOle9l6TFoUtf6KxxmLOAWw91MngLyhx7cW9LZgZzNsQds8cXlSLgRCLuzK8NV4yfFlkt3LuGo90yB/s400/_JOL0020.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5543166142243122722" /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" border-collapse: collapse; color: rgb(80, 0, 80); font-family:'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif;"><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Times; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">The artists included in De-Nature, curated by the painter Wendy White, are concerned with dismantling what might be considered “natural” in painting, i.e. a coherently painted canvas stretched over a rectangular wooden frame and</span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Times; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">displayed on a wall. Disassembling and reconfiguring the elements of painting is a project that has been ongoing for at least a century, but White offers insight into how a new generation of artists is attacking the problem. In the absence of consensus painting norms to transgress, the artists in De-Nature play freely with the old alphabet of painting, rearranging the letters to generate new strategies for the articulation of meaning. The emphasis is on reconstruction and fresh possibilities.</span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Times; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Times; min-height: 14px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5ObPeeWG18zo_apq4ajjyEE32kCC1Ih6RcbX-Wf1PWUfCn9_o03nJ-wURo0Ub7qNiRpiNfnPhZdpl0gt_-G3t4cJ7SqfM5mHB7aRHZX2UuLremWSKtWjuJoX-DQnL2qYfv_cAC0gKO5V1/s400/_JOL0051.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5543167467268987410" /></span></span></p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div></span></span><p></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Times; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">Bill Saylor and Paul DeMuro hew closest to tradition while finding unique ways to invigorate it. In an inspired curatorial move, White has leaned Saylor’s painting “Neptune’s Machine” against the wall on a slanted floor, propping up the low corner of the painting with a little micro-pedestal. Saylor, the veteran in this exhibit, paints with such humor and abandon that this small propping gesture fits perfectly, coming across large and hilariously absurd. The youngest member of the show is DeMuro, who applies paint like double-thick cake frosting. His vibrantly colored patterns allude to quilts, tapestries, and other fabric works without directly assuming their tropes. DeMuro has also created a site-specific, monochrome installation in off-whites and creams, taking a bedroom closet as its point of departure. The display of shoes, garments, sheets, shelves, and other familiars is abstracted just enough to shift into the realm of pictorial imagination.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Times; min-height: 14px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Times; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">Brian Bellot and Lamar Peterson share an impulse to complicated goofiness. Bellot’s “Clock-eyed Cat (Coco)” is simultaneously adorable and bizarre, its eyes transformed to symmetrical clocks marking time. Peterson’s “Red-Handed” is cutesy at first glance, but descends deeper into darkness the longer one looks. In a laminated, candy-colored world, a man sits in his front yard, grinning insanely at a disembodied red hand on a table, while his feet disappear down a hole. Collectible stickers of childhood are scattered across the picture’s surface: piglet, butterfly, fish, green pepper, a teddy bear’s head, and lots more. The forced glee and funhouse nostalgia both amuse and sicken.</span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Times; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Times; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Times; min-height: 14px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe8aDPsKtQpymUPJvKh0wM4iuErisCGjllI_VYG3Irei3ZMF4OF_10D_f5FXOOO4h6jZLn9yupq1KN6UNRMO-4yTdzJMHviS2AxqWKUFqr6ggGngrXTEHEK5WMAKeCI_f3bKUv9jqZmmoO/s400/DSC02222.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5543167478462969442" /></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Times; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Times; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">Sarah Peters, Rachel Foullon, and Liz Markus each work in a stripped down vocabulary. Peters’ drawings consist of crosshatching writ large, and transformed into an elemental play of sweeping curves, light, and darkness evoking the sublime. Foullon’s custom-made cedar planks refer to rural architecture, but in this context they also recall wooden canvas stretchers, splayed out in diagonals to take possession of the wall from floor to ceiling. In the center of the intersecting planks Foullon has driven an enormous nail, from which a dyed canvas hangs like a worn apron at the ready, or as an abstract sign to be read and interpreted. Markus’s work feels the most bare-bones of all, a diptych of stretched canvas on which she has collaged a few pages from art magazines just above a faintly glowing horizontal line of paint, suggesting a horizon in the commercial art market. However, the dominant feature of the diptych is the large and barren expanse of canvas, as if to say, “Hey, relax, there’s a big world out there.”</span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Times; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Times; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><br /></span></span></p></span>Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16067868652778091316noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2912347957063056504.post-24469819717707818152010-10-23T12:16:00.000-07:002010-10-26T14:37:54.656-07:00Interview with Mike Andrews<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF4gbNlsosbuM6Gt4gaVZNWS7_vAqMlRwc42skzx9sPru5WSzOxLuqg4BmjF_AKPKzcrezFyCm-ri5dSMEsfJXIkQvSlgQY-TewCLgvcuUrBnFU4zBEOg7RIz-dr_6XRNmP2Bu4-0lvosT/s1600/_JLA0157.jpg"><img style="text-align: left;display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 268px; " src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF4gbNlsosbuM6Gt4gaVZNWS7_vAqMlRwc42skzx9sPru5WSzOxLuqg4BmjF_AKPKzcrezFyCm-ri5dSMEsfJXIkQvSlgQY-TewCLgvcuUrBnFU4zBEOg7RIz-dr_6XRNmP2Bu4-0lvosT/s400/_JLA0157.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531326765491873922" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><p style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><b>Daniel Gerwin</b>: How did you begin making tapestries? Did you start as a painter, and if so, what led you to switch your approach? </span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial; min-height: 15px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><b>Mike Andrews</b>: I started making this type of work a few years ago. The first pieces were called “Sure Licks”. I used a homemade frame loom to make a gnarly fabric that I turned into dense sculptural forms that sat on the floor. They were a combination of materials like yarn, glazed ceramic, day-glo plastic, and dyed polyurethane foam. At the time, I was interested in material conflict within singular forms, and how materials carry historical and metaphorical information. I have always been attracted to the kitschy power of materials from the craft store, and their manufactured sentimentality. They reference homemade forms so laden with genuine emotion that they become horrible and oppressive. To me that conflict is simultaneously sweet and terrible.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial; min-height: 15px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><b>DG:</b> Homemade forms "so laden with</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">emotion that they become horrible and oppressive" - could you give some examples?</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial; min-height: 15px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><b>MA:</b> Were you ever the lucky recipient of a weirdo handmade present from your Grandma or your crazy Auntie?</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial; min-height: 15px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><b>DG:</b> My grandma didn't do that, and now that I think about it, neither did any of my aunts. What did your grandma or aunt used to make for you - do you still have any of those things?</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial; min-height: 15px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><b>MA:</b> My Grandma was always making stuff out of yarn, fabric, and paper, and she was always encouraging us to have some kind of project in the works. I still have this great doorstop that she made - it’s totally strange. When we would go on vacation, my family would have these competitions to make the most pathetic thing possible. They were hysterical. I learned what I now know as kitsch at a very young age. It helped shape my bent outlook on the world.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial; min-height: 15px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><b>DG:</b> It’s interesting that you're coming to tapestry from sculpture, I would not have guessed that from your recent work, since it hangs on the wall like painting. What are some of the specific painting traditions that have informed your approach, and what are some of the textile references? </span></span></p></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></div> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Arial; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Arial; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span></span><img style="text-align: left;display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; cursor: pointer; width: 268px; height: 400px; " src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgVaSZH1KmjiFgoDywNohrWT0t_fzchDtbWM13vcf4zmiInbFsSBilsLf481AQJTgSYSCMxAozo3FulpXF7ZKYxY-aOgQttbefDzdUVCtcSOVo43GVFaSmFbkb5EHipLeRliB3b3niyMqq/s400/_JLA0139.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531325719484279538" /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Arial"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><b></b></span></p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><b><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Arial; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Arial"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><b>MA: </b>After I made a few of the Sure Licks I decided to allow myself to leave the woven sheets alone, and exhibit them without the addition of other materials. Because I considered my studio work as sculpture, it was a big move for me to specifically include references to painting and textiles. </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Arial; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Arial"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">The painters Jonathan Lasker and Albert Oehlen have been consistent models for me of</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">how to visualize a construction and it’s demise in the same work. I admire artists who aggressively challenge ideas of taste and completion. The type of work that grabs me is work that looks quick, messy, and hurried, but upon closer inspection you can tell there is focus and logic. </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Arial; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Arial"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">I also admire artists who work intuitively with non-intuitive construction techniques like weaving. Sheila Hicks made these incredible lap-sized weavings while traveling around the world. She grabbed whatever material was available to make these quick and tactile pieces. They have the immediacy of a drawing, by means of a labored process. The color relationships within the pieces are really uneasy too, which make them punchy and confusing. </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Arial; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Arial"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><b>DG:</b> I just saw some great work by Sheila Hicks last week, and I’m not surprised that she’s important to you. Can you talk a bit about your approach to form and color when you're making a piece? How do you develop the form of a given work, and how do your decisions about color evolve over the course of making that work?</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Arial; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Arial"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><b>MA:</b> Some of the tapestries are planned ahead of time, using the forms and palette from a drawing to guide the work. Other pieces are just a flurry of whatever colors are around the studio at that time. For each piece I pick a particular palette, and then try to stay within that system. I like to surprise myself with color combinations and see how nasty or tight they can get. My new works are really open, a barrage of color. They are kind of nauseating.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Arial; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Arial"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">I think my whole process is about disruption. Once something starts to work in terms of composition and form, I challenge it or take it apart. It's a constant back and forth. With "Grey Peak, then fall" I specifically chose a muted, dreary palette. I wasn’t trying to make an image, but it started to go that way so I nudged the composition in that direction. That piece is particularly dense. I really wanted to play with a kind of aggressive relief.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Arial; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Arial"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><b>DG: </b> I enjoyed seeing your drawings at the gallery. They reminded me of the scribble-drawings that toddlers make, and I wonder if you are pulling from that infantile place that also interested artists like Jean Dubuffet?</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Arial; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Arial"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><b>MA:</b> Definitely. The drawings could be thought of as proposals for unrealized forms or situations. Some are funny, some are off kilter, some are just sad. They amplify the intuitive flavor of the sculptures.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Arial; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Arial"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">The word "infantile" suggests something raw, instantaneous, and clumsy. It never made sense to me to tidy up a sculpture or a drawing, or worry about whether or not something can stand on its own. My work is on a spectrum where on one end you have completion, and on the other end, a big mess. The work gives form to multiple ideas about motivation and skill.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Arial; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Arial"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Of course Jean Dubuffet is an influence, as are countless other artists both trained and untrained, that deal with materiality, expression, and eroticism.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Arial; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Arial"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><b>DG:</b> Eroticism - I hadn't gotten that from your work initially. How does eroticism find its way into your work?</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Arial; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Arial"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><b>MA:</b> One of the things I love about work by some untrained artists, and other people who make things but don't identify as artists, is the way that desire is sublimated into physical forms. The frenetic use of materials by these people often gives shape to their anxieties about their own conflicted sexuality. You can really feel it when you are around work of this nature. The materials I use already come pre-packaged with associations of gender and sexuality, so I try to muck up those associations in order to create something unclassifiable, something queer.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Arial; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><b><br /></b></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Arial"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><b>DG:</b> Your work definitely succeeds in making a mess of preconceptions about tapestry, sculpture, painting, gender, and sexuality, which generates an implicit politics to your practice. Do you think explicitly about a kind of politics in your art?</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Arial; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Arial"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><b>MA:</b> I was in undergrad in the 90’s, and I was very intimidated by the debates about gender and identity in visual art. I was so immersed in reading theory that I would talk myself out of making anything, or exploring anything through materials. It has taken me a long time to figure out a way to embed these kinds of issues into forms without being direct or illustrative of a particular dogma.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Arial; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Arial"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">I think my work embodies a refusal to tidy up ideas or political positions, but doesn’t ignore them. I like having multiple associations. The tired binary oppositions of high vs. low, male vs. female, craft vs. art aren’t particularly juicy any more. Not to say they aren’t still highly charged conversations, but I would like to enter those debates from a different angle.</span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Arial"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Arial"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Arial"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><i>Interview by Daniel Gerwin</i></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Arial"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><i>Images: Installation view, </i>Pretty Good <i>and </i>Grey Peak, Then Fall</span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Arial"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span> <i>Installation view, </i>Oooh That Smell</span></p></b></span><p></p>Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16067868652778091316noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2912347957063056504.post-69347564690612315622010-10-22T13:15:00.001-07:002011-03-18T07:01:47.623-07:00DE-NATURE<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6Kjr5n6hlWDZQIhguePRWddH6qmRJSx_HMwH9yzkzD9spXhBrOB934nBb9sGpZWphq6QVSWfzjdcv3FJPG3_B1lFxQnU-cLg0cmcJX0loMt1OeHEtEx0u23bE820z3xhsjuZlZhOVjxGL/s1600/de-nature.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6Kjr5n6hlWDZQIhguePRWddH6qmRJSx_HMwH9yzkzD9spXhBrOB934nBb9sGpZWphq6QVSWfzjdcv3FJPG3_B1lFxQnU-cLg0cmcJX0loMt1OeHEtEx0u23bE820z3xhsjuZlZhOVjxGL/s400/de-nature.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5530966720622802626" /></a><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 10.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify; font: 11.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Jolie Laide is pleased to present <b>DE-NATURE</b>, a group exhibition curated by Wendy White. An opening reception will be held on Friday, November 5</span><span style="font: 7.3px 'Trebuchet MS'; letter-spacing: 0.0px"><sup>th</sup></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">, 2010, 6-8 PM.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 10.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify; font: 11.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Denaturation repurposes an organic structure and redirects its use. Inherent qualities are purposely altered or completely removed. Similarly, defying expected artwork roles—the over-the-couch, the complacent, the vague, the benignly decorative, or the polite—requires tandem acts of destruction and declassification on the part of the artist. </span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 10.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify; font: 11.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Like splintered eventscapes, Rachel Foullon’s custom-milled cedar and hand-dyed canvas forms re-contextualize the materials of vernacular architecture. Sarah Peters’ densely layered drawings repurpose traditional techniques by way of something psychologically unnerving, not unlike Lamar Peterson, whose images of so-called familial paradise upend mundane notions of desire and reward. Paul DeMuro’s painting/chunk/accumulations have an alchemist’s sense of material-spiritual transformation. In a visual spackling of pop iconography and urgent abstraction, Liz Markus plays Punk’s anti-virtuosity against high design. Brian Belott’s collages are hybrids of insouciant gesture and detritus, as are Bill Saylor’s riotous, flame-licking abstractions.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 10.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify; font: 11.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b>BRIAN BELOTT</b> has had solo exhibitions at Galerie Zürcher, New York and Paris, CANADA, NY, Freight + Volume, NY, and Stux Gallery, NY. His group exhibitions include Exile, Berlin, Germany; Andrew Edlin Gallery, NY; MACRO Future, Rome, Italy; Gavin Brown’s Enterprise, NY; Cheim & Read, NY; Museum of Modern Art, NY; Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, Portland, OR; Ritter/Zamet, London, UK; Galerie Carlos Cardenas, Paris, France; ZieherSmith, NY; Wichita Art Museum, Wichita, KS; Galleri Christina Wilson, Copenhagen, DK; and Daniel Reich Gallery, NY, among others. Belott has a BFA from School of Visual Arts, NY and is represented by Galerie Zürcher. He lives and works in New York, NY.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 10.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify; font: 11.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b>PAUL DEMURO </b>had a solo exhibition at The Philadelphia Institute for Advanced Study, Philadelphia, PA. His group exhibitions include <i>Oil and Water</i>, organized by John Yau, at Gallery Schlesinger, NY and Coleman Bancroft, NY; White Box, NY; Delaware Center for Contemporary Art, Wilmington, DE; Nexus Gallery, Philadelphia, PA; University of Delaware, Newark, DE; Padlock Gallery, Philadelphia, PA; and Fahrenheit Gallery, Kansas City, MO. He has an MFA from Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University and a BFA from Tyler School of Art. DeMuro lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 10.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify; font: 11.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b>RACHEL FOULLON</b> has had solo exhibitions at ltd los angeles, CA and Nicelle Beauchene Gallery, NY. She has participated in group exhibitions at Museum 52, NY; Sandroni Rey, Los Angeles, CA; Wallspace, NY; Klaus von Nichtssagend Gallery, Brooklyn, NY; Q.E.D., Los Angeles, CA; Public Art Fund, NY; Andrea Rosen Gallery, NY; Galerie Lelong, NY; and Andrew Kreps Gallery, NY, among others. She has an MFA from Columbia University and was a founding member of the curatorial initiative Public Holiday Projects. Foullon will be part of a group exhibition at Canyon Ranch Resort in Miami, FL, concurrent with NADA Miami in December 2010. She is represented by ltd los angeles. Foullon lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 10.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify; font: 11.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b>LIZ MARKUS </b>has had solo exhibitions at ZieherSmith, NY; Galleri Loyal, Stockholm, Sweden; and White Columns, NY. Her work has been included in group exhibitions at Priska Juschka, NY; Kinkead Contemporary, Los Angeles, CA; SCA Contemporary, Alberquerque, NM; NADA/ART IN/VISIBLE SPACES, Brooklyn, NY; ZieherSmith, NY; Galleri Opdahl, Stavanger, Norway; James Graham & Sons, NY; Werkstätte, NY; Temple Gallery, Philadelphia, PA; CANADA, NY; Kulter Banhoff Bremen, Bremen, Germany; White Columns, NY and the Hamburg Kunsthaus, Hamburg, Germany. Markus has an MFA from Tyler School of Art and a BFA from School of Visual Arts, NY. She is represented by ZieherSmith, where she has a solo exhibition opening on November 18, 2010. Markus lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 10.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify; font: 11.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b>SARAH PETERS </b>has had solo exhibitions at Winkleman Gallery, NY; The Front, New Orleans, LA; and artSTRAND Gallery, Provincetown, MA. She has participated in two-person and group exhibitions at PS122 Gallery, NY; Morris Museum of Art, Morristown, NJ; Monya Rowe Gallery, NY; Feigen Contemporary, NY; and Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, WA, among others. Peters was a 2009-2010 Fellow at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, MA. She has an MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University, a BFA from University of Pennsylvania, and a certificate from Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Peters is represented by Winkleman Gallery. She lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 10.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify; font: 11.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b>LAMAR PETERSON</b> has had solo exhibitions at Richard Heller Gallery, Santa Monica, CA; Fredericks & Freiser, NY; Deitch Projects, NY; The Studio Museum of Harlem, NY; and Franklin Art Works, Minneapolis, MN. His group exhibitions include Fredericks & Freiser, NY; CTRL Gallery, Houston, TX; Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO; Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita, KS; Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, NY; and Site Santa Fe, Santa Fe, NM. He has an MFA from Rhode Island School of Design and is represented by Fredericks & Freiser, where he will have his third solo exhibition in 2011. Peterson lives and works in New York, NY.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 10.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify; font: 11.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b>BILL SAYLOR</b> has had solo exhibitions at Journal Gallery, Brooklyn, NY; Leo Koenig, Inc., NY; Chinati Foundation, Marfa, TX; Galleri Loyal, Stockholm, Sweden; and Spokane Falls College, Spokane, WA. He has participated in group exhibitions at Anonymous Gallery, NY; Zach Feuer Gallery, NY; Journal Gallery, Brooklyn, NY; Leo Koenig, Inc., NY; Hiromi Yoshii Gallery, Tokyo, Japan; CANADA Gallery, NY; Yerba Buena Art Center, San Francisco, CA; Colby College of Art, Waterville, ME; John Connelly Presents, NY; and MOCA DC, Washington, DC, among others. Saylor was a 2010 Artist in Residence at the Chinati Foundation in Marfa, TX. He is the subject of a 14-page feature interview in the current issue of <i>The Journal.</i> Saylor is represented by Leo Koenig Inc. and lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. He is currently collaborating with Harmony Korine on a book of drawings to be published by <i>The Journal.</i></span></p></div>Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16067868652778091316noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2912347957063056504.post-36125369250552616902010-09-24T08:39:00.000-07:002010-09-29T13:10:22.224-07:00Easton Miller, Andrew Holmquist, & Mike Andrews<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT7skZJnICvDK5fsifso2aUP-TgTe8rT7uA6YMVHf1X4TnzLMPOp3btPIfPdK66tuTEcHYm0PFJyQ1Tgr9D5ZzN3CrApOWOCBS6A3-fkjniJkqabeX4yNEJA1IVEFkcnnX0lwipWMIRi8y/s1600/octobercard_front.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT7skZJnICvDK5fsifso2aUP-TgTe8rT7uA6YMVHf1X4TnzLMPOp3btPIfPdK66tuTEcHYm0PFJyQ1Tgr9D5ZzN3CrApOWOCBS6A3-fkjniJkqabeX4yNEJA1IVEFkcnnX0lwipWMIRi8y/s400/octobercard_front.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5520506365834276354" /></a></div><br /><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">The juxtaposition of work by Easton Miller, Andrew Holmquist, and Mike Andrews invites consideration of the ways in which material and image interact to generate content in contemporary art. </span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 11.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:16px;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9HjvcKdHFtecMQpCoetbLHr_ZzUlvRXTlhbwfal89WpZufttr08zYid-fnvPmCPO5Yblw1eeeDNmfPsZ-dNjY4ym4tZw5VyzRXIQkYayZJ5_oFRq-dOfoZQHt7kOX5mI7MN5bIhtskddm/s400/Gettin+Lucky.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5520506398676841986" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 237px; height: 400px; " /></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Easton Miller avails himself of an array of media to make objects that have both painterly and sculptural qualities. Many of his works jab a sharp tongue into their cheek while directing our attention to choice aspects of Americana. </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Glory</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">, for example, uses basketball skin and faux shearling to evoke the NBA star rolling down the street in his lavishly appointed SUV. </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Hot Mess, </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">one assumes, is dedicated to celebrity sex kittens like Paris Hilton. Two illusionistic pieces are devoted to dessert: </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Blue Ribbon (State Fair) </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">mimics the look of a cherry pie, and </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Decisions</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> is an ode to spumoni ice cream.</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 11.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:16px;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicBVcO3MmP3RmKD_Mm56TizM6QPNn5yFip5KwfOteYzQH0MfGvihq1bFGoL7zhyphenhyphenMK41r4r6itFGuv4NT8NOLS9wbs85IfNYDlvUbu1kqgiFkS-tDLmM10w9yzniO0cwI9opN8EoOdPXZIq/s400/Holmquist+4.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5520506424176828658" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 399px; " /></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Andrew Holmquist explores painting by mining and reinterpreting its past. Using squeegee-brushes of his own design, he creates ribbons of oil paint that twist through space, distant descendants of the frilled collars on Rembrandt’s burghers or the extravagantly folding fabric in Titian’s portraits. Holmquist stakes out a territory that investigates the relationship between mimesis and free, liquid play. In one untitled work, the paint-ribbons end in hands gesturing upward as if in prayer, desperation, or maybe just to ease the pain of a bad headache. Other paintings engage the recent vocabulary of abstraction, layering different mark-making strategies to build his compositions. </span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 11.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 11.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:16px;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmmaxoqJk884MzKk6MIPMeHNZ0x8jB9jPDbNOq82UBIeHJdY-IQufU-5lMFryrjxTKfP4Sbx1hy3t1N4FF8EAw7yoLzWoMDj-L0ZBdq4CVZzu7d1FGx2EvAiiV9P-jck-eF1YyXTwIeClZ/s400/MAndrews_PsychicBastard.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5520506380408880466" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 314px; height: 400px; " /></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Mike Andrews uses fiber, including cotton and acrylic yarns, to draw connections between painting and craft projects such as knitted sweaters and tea-cozies, while alluding to digital pixilation with stitched and woven marks. The intentional formlessness of some pieces allows them to be equally at home hung on the wall or laid on the floor like a disemboweled throw-rug. His tapestry </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Psychic Bastard</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> takes a somewhat different tack, operating on a scale roughly twice the height of the viewer and woven in high-key green, red, white, and black. The structure and rhythm of many of Andrews’ tapestries hearken back to abstract expressionism, with swaths of colored fiber standing in for brushstrokes. This resemblance to muscular, historically male-dominated ab-ex painting is interesting, as the artist is a man following in the footsteps of women who pioneered much of contemporary fiber-based art. </span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 11.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 11.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 11.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 11.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Profile by Daniel Gerwin</span></span></i></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Images: Gettin' Lucky, <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">Easton Miller</span> </span></span></i></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span> Untitled,<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"> Andrew Holmquist </span></span></span></i></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span> Psychic Bastard, <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">Mike Andrews</span></span></span></i></span></p>Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16067868652778091316noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2912347957063056504.post-38591917485158105132010-09-21T13:13:00.000-07:002010-09-21T13:16:30.203-07:00"Too Close for Comfort," James Gallagher & Ryan Gallagher<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK-XgPlVI5zGmhvDQfFyXAEPVVJ_3ttJpDlXFI0RQd72tzCm4xUmfRRcQSdO5z0qLKqmiu1kc2oNBzHNWwwCAsufO_dn9aY8P9LsABo6DDEkqErl0Sou8mo2d-iGC9cAMEYBtsLbxGHMQL/s1600/_JOL0066.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 268px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK-XgPlVI5zGmhvDQfFyXAEPVVJ_3ttJpDlXFI0RQd72tzCm4xUmfRRcQSdO5z0qLKqmiu1kc2oNBzHNWwwCAsufO_dn9aY8P9LsABo6DDEkqErl0Sou8mo2d-iGC9cAMEYBtsLbxGHMQL/s400/_JOL0066.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5519462929611096706" /></a><br /><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Among several projects presented by Jolie Laide Gallery for this year’s Fringe Festival in Philadelphia, James Gallagher’s invitation was distinguished by its inclusion of his son Ryan, a student/artist at Pratt Institute, School of Art and Design, initiating a first-time collaboration between this artist and his son. For James, whose collage-based practice is driven by found images, the opportunity also allowed for his intimate, gallery-sized gestures to undergo a shift in both scale and meaning, metamorphosing into street art of a very particular kind. For this project, an 8” high collage was transformed, piece-by-piece, into a 12’ image covering an exterior door near the gallery’s entrance. Holding on to the pleasures of cutting and pasting, as well as the attendant surface surprises one associates with the intimacy of collage, the enlarged image was put together at the site during one afternoon. To the left and adjacent to the gallery is his son Ryan’s response, another 12’ door covering, another afternoon’s effort, but one that was painted in response to the work of his father. The title for the collaboration also came from Ryan, this time responding to the title of his father’s 8” collage, “To Close”. Those words were part of the original work, leftover information printed on a camera manual’s page that had made it into the collage. In this outsized, outdoor version those words were cropped out of the image, but not before Ryan would pick up on the play they offered, deciding the collaboration should be called “Too Close for Comfort”, and with that, adding another layer to the meaning of both works, and driving home the fact of this father/son collaborative work once more. </span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">In James Gallagher’s composite image, a suited, and something like hooded male figure dominates. Its gesture is uncertain but evocative, slightly bent and looking down, as if the collaged blocks of paper hovering just above its head were bearing some invisible weight. Complicating the image further (in the most visually pleasurable way) is the fact of the door’s paneling whose linear marks propose another invisible layer that the image might be floating on or under. And the metal street address, 228, reading through the paper collage, contributes a further mysterious note, suggesting the otherwise unidentified man might now be known by his number. On its own, the figure’s posture is still anonymous and enigmatic, in keeping with the artist’s general interest in what revelations reside in how one occupies one’s own space; positioned to the right of Ryan’s work, the figure appears to have gained some extended purpose, as it seems to be peering at the accompanying image, implicating it in this collaborative field with just its gaze – what a father can do - and generating some meaning beyond its own, contained self. What the figure “sees” is a painted white field where several outlined tombstones continue to recede until they reach the nearly blank, black field above them. Light, random spots dot the blackness, suggesting that snow might be falling, and supporting the snow-covered reading of the tombstones below. A whisper of some other landscape is barely noticeable just beneath the image, further echoing with its subtle simplicity the informing source for Ryan, a print by Ando Hiroshige, a favorite artist of his. Mixing a contemporary, provisional, Western attitude with this older, Eastern influence suspends the moment, capturing the eye of the father’s figure (or should we say father figure?) and making a compelling case for holding our attention as well. From the start, Ryan had suggested that he would change the meaning of his father’s image with his own, and in fact, at least for this moment on Juniper Street, he has.</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><i>by Eileen Neff</i></span></span></p>Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16067868652778091316noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2912347957063056504.post-16445818516069835932010-09-16T10:50:00.000-07:002010-09-17T12:58:12.243-07:00Robert Horvath Interview with JL Schnabel<div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.packergallery.com/images/horvath3/horvath3_2.jpg"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1grz-8FJA1slajSg-TC9MrU2M2rKx4yEFKdGTldxdl8WSOlVDVqZEFs9Vjek_G2NRs37NG-vwev1Ube29Y02J9qAn_21uXhRxveuVMGGVAEo08y97qBxcIYnwdrYLMJO1e14axVT6Rzig/s1600/HORVATH+Neurofraud.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 265px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1grz-8FJA1slajSg-TC9MrU2M2rKx4yEFKdGTldxdl8WSOlVDVqZEFs9Vjek_G2NRs37NG-vwev1Ube29Y02J9qAn_21uXhRxveuVMGGVAEo08y97qBxcIYnwdrYLMJO1e14axVT6Rzig/s400/HORVATH+Neurofraud.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5517571345357752034" /></a><br /><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 10.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 10.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b>JL Schnabel:</b> In your statement you talk about how our culture and country is filled with amnesiacs who have readily forgotten the current horrors of the world and instead have turned to the glitter of celebrity and consumerism. Can you talk about why this has become the major expository theme of your work? </span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 10.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b>Robert Horvath:</b> I grew up in the former Czechoslovakia. My dad was an art teacher, but could not teach because of his conflicts with the regime at the time. As a child I was taken to many museums and was exposed to various kinds of art. My father and I would go visit a local gypsy artist as well as Old World potters that produced functional pottery. Like most of us growing up behind the Iron Curtain, I pictured America as a utopian land with the understanding that I wouldn’t ever be able to visit.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 10.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Shortly after the Velvet Revolution in 1989, the borders opened and the ability to travel West became a reality for us. I participated in an exchange program and ended up in a university in North Texas. During my graduate studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, I began working on a body of work dealing with the nightlife. This was a significant and life-changing time for me, as I finally started dealing with my sexuality. </span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 10.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Once I started seeing the reality of all the shine and glamour of club life and the people participating in it, my work became more focused on the psychology behind the behaviors and the value systems of our modern society. I never <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">thought of that body of work as a negative criticism of the scene, though. </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 10.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 14.0px"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">JS:</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span>Although the “landscapes” you conjure in your newer paintings aren’t based within the natural world, they have the appearance of something very real and have the feel of being satellite photographs. Is this contradiction of real but yet not real something you were thinking about?</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 10.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b>RH:</b> I was reading about the concept of the “memes” in Richard Dawkins’ <i>Selfish Gene</i>. It is interesting to me to think about how the information systems work. I think that the ability of manipulating information and having control over the way that this information is spread is fascinating to me. Gossip is a perfect example of this transfer of information- I love the idea of the multiple mutations that it can go through as it infects individual minds. </span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 10.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">As for the idea of “landscapes,” I think they can exist on multiple levels. There is always the macro/micro question which I am not very concerned with. Entities that exist in my work are something like three-dimensional scans of non-tangibles. I like the mystery they can carry. They are living entities, but not the way we understand living and breathing organisms. I know it sounds so sci-fi, yet I have no history of growing up watching Star Wars or playing video games as with most of my generation. I just don’t think that was on the Communist system agenda. </span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 10.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 10.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:16px;"><img src="http://www.packergallery.com/images/horvath3/horvath3_2.jpg" border="0" alt="" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 412px; height: 550px; " /></span></p><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:16px;"><br /></span></div> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 10.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b>JS:</b> Your earlier works were more figure-based, yet it still retained the gelatinous and tactile shapes found more fully realized in your new paintings. What caused you to remove the humans from your work?</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 10.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b>RH:</b> I think the humans needed to go. They are still in the work, but more symbolically. I am not really interested in the figure as someone who loves drawing nudes, for example. Figure was in my work because it was something the work required. By removing the figure completely, I got rid of the constraints that it always had for me. There is too much history associated with painting the figure; I am not interested in that dialog anymore.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 10.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">You are correct, though; the gelatinous surfaces stayed. I feel very attracted to something that is so slick and flawless- it makes me question its authenticity. By carrying over the shiny, slick, and flawless surfaces of skin from my models to my “forms”, you could say that in some ways the figure never left the work. </span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 10.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">When I painted figures, I wanted then to look as if they were made out of some squishy silicone, plastic, waxy material. When doing photo shots with my models, I would have them put on a peel of cosmetic mask. They could not smile or that shiny surface on their face would start peeling off. It was fun working that way. They were alive but not really, I guess. Imagine a Realdoll, a perfect sex doll, but alive. </span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 10.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:16px;"></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 14px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:16px;"><img src="http://proveconfusion.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/roberthorvath019.jpg?w=452&h=356" border="0" alt="" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 452px; height: 358px; " /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1grz-8FJA1slajSg-TC9MrU2M2rKx4yEFKdGTldxdl8WSOlVDVqZEFs9Vjek_G2NRs37NG-vwev1Ube29Y02J9qAn_21uXhRxveuVMGGVAEo08y97qBxcIYnwdrYLMJO1e14axVT6Rzig/s1600/HORVATH+Neurofraud.jpg"></a></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1grz-8FJA1slajSg-TC9MrU2M2rKx4yEFKdGTldxdl8WSOlVDVqZEFs9Vjek_G2NRs37NG-vwev1Ube29Y02J9qAn_21uXhRxveuVMGGVAEo08y97qBxcIYnwdrYLMJO1e14axVT6Rzig/s1600/HORVATH+Neurofraud.jpg"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1grz-8FJA1slajSg-TC9MrU2M2rKx4yEFKdGTldxdl8WSOlVDVqZEFs9Vjek_G2NRs37NG-vwev1Ube29Y02J9qAn_21uXhRxveuVMGGVAEo08y97qBxcIYnwdrYLMJO1e14axVT6Rzig/s1600/HORVATH+Neurofraud.jpg"></a></p><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:16px;"><br /></span></div><p></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 10.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b>JS:</b> Can you talk a bit about how you choose to title your pieces and how they are important to understanding your work?</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 10.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b>RH:</b> I was thinking about some powerful concepts/ideologies that I don’t necessarily agree with for the titles I chose for the current work. But there are some goofy ones like “Braincandy” that directly refers to a movie that is so stupidly mindless that you brain’s only function is stuff popcorn in your mouth. I think titles are important to my work as it gives a way for a viewer to enter from a specific place, after that they are free to wander around. Plus, I think my titles tend to have a little sarcasm mixed with silliness.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 10.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b>JS: </b>The glazing technique you employ in your work is rooted in the old world master tradition and yet appears in such a modern and futuristic context. Is this choice conscious? Also, this style of painting must be a lengthy process. How do you feel while you are creating these works? How do you choose which compositions to commit to?</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 10.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b>RH:</b> My paintings take long time to make. I am not as prolific as some other artists out there. I am not concerned about making tons of work - devoting months on one painting is a great experience for me. It exercises my patience, discipline, and focus. The process of making my paintings is similar to way I think of my life - I am dedicated to my goals, and I will take time to enjoy the journey. Now, because I make only a few paintings, it does not mean I am limited on ideas, I just don’t feel like I need to put it all out there. </span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 10.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Technique is something that always comes up in discussion in my work. I know that contemporary art world seems to sometimes forget about finely-crafted objects and tends to focus purely on the concept. I realize that the new technologies of delivering visual culture today create huge competition with works that don’t move with the speed of light. I want my work to mirror who I am as an artist; I am not there to compete. I am a very meticulous person, and my work needs to show it.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 10.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I love the process of creating something. There is beauty in systems that simply work well together. I enjoy learning about the Old Masters’ approach to make a painting, so that I can adjust it to fit my needs to make work now. My glazing technique is my way to translate working in watercolor to oil. I think colors stay brighter when left in their pure form layered and mixed optically. </span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 10.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 10.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 10.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><i>Interview by JL Schnabel</i></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 10.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><i></i></span><i>Images: "Neurofraud," "Ignavus Viridae," & "Dangerous Dolls" by Robert Horvath</i></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 10.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><i><br /></i></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 10.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><i>Artist's Profile <a href="http://jolielaidegallery.blogspot.com/2010/09/robert-horvath.html">here</a>.</i></p>Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16067868652778091316noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2912347957063056504.post-91044314699467146082010-09-16T10:42:00.000-07:002010-09-17T12:58:45.622-07:00Robert Horvath<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_tsa2AMbZDOHuRww9ovrRwp8pXIEqDfWJkRV0dl1r-94OkH5t7ULD8hLa8mZyTPHcO39kSX3SWo3p800Rg40JkjBiJTEoayonbny-ZBAKNc6PlXDkUw2FkZIYaZExenQhk-07CBvjBUaM/s1600/HORVATH+BrainCandy.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 301px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_tsa2AMbZDOHuRww9ovrRwp8pXIEqDfWJkRV0dl1r-94OkH5t7ULD8hLa8mZyTPHcO39kSX3SWo3p800Rg40JkjBiJTEoayonbny-ZBAKNc6PlXDkUw2FkZIYaZExenQhk-07CBvjBUaM/s400/HORVATH+BrainCandy.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5517569286190626834" /></a><br /><br /><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 10.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 36.0px; font: 12.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Slick glamour and grotesque glitter converge in Indianapolis-based Robert Horvath’s newest body of work. The show features seven oil paintings and six sculptures; the latter of which are created to act as reference for the paintings but add an additional sense of anomaly to the collection. This sense of incongruous, convulsive beauty seems to lie at the heart of the show and creates a subtle tension between the works. The oil paintings, all featuring otherworldly abstractions of conjured cosmos, are composed in the Old-World master style of painting. This technique includes glazing, an intense and long process that involves building thin layers of paint on the canvas to create dimension. Horvath’s skilled approach to this technique creates an ironic hyper-realistic mirage. The paintings appear to have the look of photographs, but the contents are wholly imagined. </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 10.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">While the paintings take on slick faux realism, the sculptures appear to rebel against the traditional techniques of their counterparts. Assembled from found objects such as neon Easter eggs, hardened glitter and plastic chandelier crystals, they exist as maquettes for the paintings. Elaborate and dizzyingly colorful, they appear as exposed alien organs and futuristic headdresses ribbed with rhinestones and oozing, thick foam. It’s hard to imagine the same artist could create both forms, but the evidence is in the paintings. The shapes of crystals and foam are apparent in the work while freckled glitter show up in pieces such as “Nerofraud.” </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 10.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">The dark humor of Horvath is most evident in his titles. With names such as “Brain Candy” and “15 Minutes of Fame,” a bit more of his intentions are revealed. When asked about his work, he replies with questions:</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 10.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">“What happens when glamour loses it’s bodily functions? What happens when you stick your finger in it? Is it rotten?”</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 10.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 36.0px; font: 12.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">This focus on glamour began in earlier works when Horvath was still using human models coated in layers of thick makeup to explore his themes of faux glamour and the underbelly of club nightlife. Since the deletion of figures within his paintings, he has more fully explored the idea of what exists within the flawless exterior of luxury and popular culture. While some of the paintings portray whole orbs with mutant growths of brightly lit light sabers and glittering diamonds, others appear broken open, their guts exuding toxic poison or perfume into their respective stratospheres. With the addition of calculated and sharp geometric shapes, the blobs of pearls and bridges of jeweled strings gain a more grotesque nature, appearing gelatinous and alive. </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 10.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 36.0px; font: 12.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">The tension between the forms of the work and its themes plays out wonderfully in the gallery. While it is evident that the sculptures could serve as reference, they also take on a playful tone as the youthful knockoffs of the elaborate and flawless oil paintings. The beauty and the grotesqueness of the works appeal to our culture’s habit of revering the luxury and glamour that most of the population can’t afford, it exposes its flaws and it’s triumphs, all while retaining a witty sense of humor.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 10.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> </span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 10.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; color:#3c3d40;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Profile by J.L.Schnabel</span></i></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 10.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; color:#3c3d40;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Image: "BRAINCANDY," Robert Horvath</span></i></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 10.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; color:#3c3d40;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><i>Artist's Interview <a href="http://jolielaidegallery.blogspot.com/2010/09/interview-with-robert-horvath-with-jl.html">here.</a></i></span></p>Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16067868652778091316noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2912347957063056504.post-78813152548710547672010-07-27T08:02:00.000-07:002010-07-30T12:02:28.806-07:00Interview with Fabienne Lasserre by Daniel Gerwin<p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Lucida Grande'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b>Daniel</b>: Before getting into your current work, I'd like to ask you to trace the development of your thinking a bit. You started with painting, but you were clearly looking to depart from two dimensions. Can you talk about how you moved from flat paintings to your installation, The Cave, and then beyond that to your current practice? With The Cave in particular, what aspects of that work felt like they achieved your aims, and what aspects felt like limitations that led you to adjust your practice toward its current modalities?</span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Lucida Grande'"><br /></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Lucida Grande'"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 15.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 533px; height: 350px;" src="http://fabiennelasserre.com/works/4_archives/projects/3_the_cave/img/1.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Lucida Grande'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b>Fabienne: <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; ">When I made The Cave I was interested in contradictions, how opposing elements create meaning within an image. I made this after living in Mexico City for a year -a city of contrasts and clashes if there is one- and I was drawn to the syncretic qualities of its culture. In La Sonora, a market in the North East of the city, there was a whole section dedicated</span></b></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Lucida Grande'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; "> to witchcraft, and the supernatural. One would go there for spiritual advice, or on a very practical level, for a spell, oration or charm meant to have a precise outcome. What fascinated me there, beyond the sheer abundance and variety of altars, plants, lotions, amulets, etc, was how these artifacts formed a coherent symbolic system that blended and used elements from Catholicism</span></b></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Lucida Grande'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; ">, Aztec and pre-Hispanic beliefs, Indian mythology, US pop culture, Cuban Santeria, Brazilian Macumba, voodoo, to name only a few.</span></b></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 15.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Lucida Grande'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I remember an altar with Darth Vader, Kali, Xango, and many other figures. There were also these very kitschy transparent resin pyramids, with buddhas, voodoo symbols, images of saints, and designs made with sequins and rice grains, cast in the resin. You were instructed to place the pyramid on the TV for its powers to be effective.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Lucida Grande'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">The arrangement of symbols and metaphors at La Sonora didn't pertain to a binary or Manichean system of thought. Rather, they implied the existence of numerous opposing forces in the world. This was a complex, messy, hybrid belief system, embracing paradox and conflict, but also very direct and literal. So the etched drawings on my TV screens combined elements inspired from popular culture and traditional systems: alchemy manuscripts, medieval bestiaries, religions from South and Central America and the Caribbean (which themselves have African and European roots), tattoos, manga, comix, wrestlers, and more. And, since the TVs were turned on, you could hear and see the shows behind the images, yet another layer of cultural activity. My goal was to create a site (a cave) where violence, beauty, abjection, sexuality, the decorative, humor, etc., existed together outside of standard hierarchies. I was also looking at medieval art, and interested in how painting worked with architecture - in churches, for instance- and how images could work in an environment instead of as discrete pieces. Evidently, painting and installation are not mutually exclusive categories.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 15.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Lucida Grande'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">But, to answer your question (...finally!), I didn't really move from 2d to 3d, or from painting to sculpture. The Cave was one of my very early shows, and the 3-dimensional aspect was there already. I think that from the start I was trying to find ways to adapt painting to a practice that would be more flexible, more expansive, and with less of the pressures, baggage and tradition one wrestles with in painting. </span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 15.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Lucida Grande'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Yet, I see my current practice as very indebted to painting. First of all, color is paramount. And surface, also, is crucial. Too, my sculptures rely on the haptic, the sense of touch, rather than on constructed spatial/physical relationships. In fact, gravity is the most annoying thing I have to deal with. If I could "compose" my sculptures like one makes a painting - i.e. without paying attention to weight, balance or any other physical law, I'd probably be much happier! I'm being facetious here of course; to me the most compelling things about objects or sculptures is that they are really "things". Things that exist in the world. They don't represent or refer to, they are. A few months ago, I went to a show of Spanish religious polychrome sculpture at the National Gallery, and it occurred to me that "painted sculpture" has been relegated to the lowest rung on the art hierarchy. It runs counter to notions of truth to materials in sculpture, and it uses color in a literal manner (pink for the skin, blue for the dress, etc) that is seen as cosmetic and superficial. Color is never (seen as) literal in painting because it operates in a two-dimensional mental space. I've been looking at - and loving- Christian polychrome religious statuary for years. There is something really significant in the ways these pieces combine decoration (and the ideals associated with the decorated) and directness (or literalness). This is true not only for their use of color, but also symbolism and body language. Furthermore, polychrome statuary goes against any notion of medium specificity. So, my sculptures/things (and wall pieces/things) definitely come from the lineage of the idiot cousin of the art family!</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 15.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 15.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Lucida Grande'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b>Daniel: <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; ">There is much to talk about in what you've just said, and I will try to circle back to it, but for now I want to round things out a bit more. You say your work is descended from "the lineage of the idiot cousin of the art family," referring to polychrome sculpture, and I know you're partially joking, but I want to ask you about some of your other forebears, dead and living, who are solidly within the canon. I am speaking of Eva Hesse and Franz West, whose DNA is evident in aspects of your work. If these artists are indeed important to you, can you share your thoughts about their art, what you have taken from them and what you have chosen to leave behind?</span></b></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 15.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Lucida Grande'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b>Fabienne: <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; ">Yes, Eva Hesse is a crucial influence. She forced a shape-shifting Body into the modalities of Minimalism. Of course, the Body was not anathema to Minimalist art, which placed such importance on the position/body of the viewer, and how it conditioned the experience of the piece, and experience in general. But, for me, Hesse expanded these concerns with perception and experience from the visual to the haptic. I think a lot about the sense of touch and its role and implications. In 2008 I made a series of prints (and some sculptures) entitled "Gropings", in which I imagined a world in which touch, not sight, was the dominant sense. I was wondering how this would affect our perception and understanding of the world. I thought that the sense of touch, dispersed as it is throughout the body’s surface, would entail thoughts that were more layered and multiple, less systematic and centrally ordered.</span></b></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Lucida Grande'"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 15.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 436px; height: 350px;" src="http://fabiennelasserre.com/works/1_recent_projects/projects/4_gropings/img/2.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Lucida Grande'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">"I was also not wanting to have such a definite plan ... (I was) just not</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Lucida Grande'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">interested in working out a whole model in small and following it." (Eva</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Lucida Grande'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Hesse, October Files, 21). I think her process parallels the importance of</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Lucida Grande'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">the haptic in her work: she feels things out. She chooses an indirect course out of a refusal to prescribe wh</span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Lucida Grande'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">at the outcome should be. This is super important to me. Chance and uncertainty are structural elements of my practice. I think doubt - which has nothing to do with mistrust and</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Lucida Grande'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">everything to do with an acknowledgment of fallibility - is necessary for speculation, for figuring out. Many times, Hesse's work seems stubbornly forced together. Stubbornness is a quality I value in art - I'd love to curate a show of stubborn art! It is present in Franz West's work, and the title of the catalogue of his show at the Baltimore Museum of Art "To Build a House You Start by the Roof" embodies it perfectly. A not-so-glorious Body is implied in all of his work, along with not-so-glorious feelings: the awkward, irritated, embarrassed (as opposed to grand, noble emotions such as anger, melancholia, or pride, for instance. I think that the combination of clumsy and stubborn is really fertile for West. That combination, which doesn't need to be forceful or aggressive (it can be playful and lyrical), is important for many other artists I admire: Ree Morton, Dieter Roth, Amy Sillman, Lynda Benglis, to name a few. In West, I like how the abject is couched in a pop sensibility.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 15.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Lucida Grande'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b>Daniel: <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; ">I am struck by your conception of the haptic as a means of transcending binaries that are taken as fundamental to human experience, such as subject/object (or self/other), and active/passive. As you may be aware, Buddhist thought is much concerned with the error of the binary model, in so far as it prevents us from recognizing that all experience is actually a unity.</span></b></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 15.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Lucida Grande'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">You describe sight as producing thought that is systematic and centrally ordered, which reminds me of Foucault's writing about the Panopticon, which, after all, is designed for the exercise of power and control. In contrast, your conception of the haptic introduces a degree of utopian thought into your work, and it is interesting to consider your objects as utopian propositions. Your comments on Franz West seem to point in the same direction, if one considers adjectives like clumsy, distorted, and truncated, and of course caricature itself, to be in many ways an antithesis to the qualities inherent in the Panopticon (note how quickly binary thinking reasserts itself!).</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 15.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Lucida Grande'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">In writing about Possibly Being, a 2006 show you were in, Roger White talked about artists entertaining "ideas at the level of the potential rather than the actual." Do you agree with White's thought, and do you feel that this notion is associated with your own attraction to the haptic as a way to dissolve boundaries and the categories they create? Do your consider your work to be optimistic, or even utopian, and if so, how? </span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 15.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><b><br /></b></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Lucida Grande'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b>Fabienne: <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; ">We see tactility as playing a subordinate role in our understanding of the world. Knowledge and power are often couched in metaphors derived from vision and optics: one has a point of view, perspective, things can be seen under a different light, overlooked, focused on, ideas can be clear, etc, etc. The haptic sense is associated with intuition or the unconscious, and relegated to the periphery of comprehension. At best, it is a complement to what we infer through sight. At worst, it is associated with regressive or infantile tendencies, the irrational, and the feminine. I pay a lot of attention to this undervalued sense in my work because it is unexplored, and relevant from a feminist standpoint. </span></b></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 15.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Lucida Grande'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">So yes, as you sum up very well (and I love that you bring up Buddhism and Foucault - I had never thought of the Panopticon in relation to the haptic), there is a political, or philosophical, dimension to this. The way I understand Roger White's comment is that the pieces emerge from an arrangement of ideas, a complex of possibilities that don't quite exist outside of the work, a system that is plausible, that is within the world yet somehow independent of it. They say: "this could be, if..."; and that is what Will Villalongo's title for the show, "Possibly Being", also implies.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 15.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Lucida Grande'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I often think of pieces or bodies of work as models, entities developed to try things out and learn about the outcomes and consequences of a way of making, doing, and thinking. They're models from which to compare and question prevailing norms or assumptions. That is what I like in Science-Fiction. The departure from realism permits the creation of a fictional world with its own laws and rules. This is not a place to escape to, or a shelter from reality. On the contrary: creating a different world makes everything in ours relative and debatable. In a way, the further it is from reality, the better it enables us to question reality.</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px ;color:#fefa3f;">. </span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 15.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Lucida Grande'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">However, I don't see my pieces as utopian. I don't think utopianism is able to embrace and include enough imperfection. There is something too sweeping, too finite, too solution-oriented in much utopian thought. My process has more to do with perception and understanding than any social arrangement erected with the general good as a goal. And the flawed, the marred have too much place in my work for it to be utopian. Failure in my work is not redeemed, it's just there. Utopia, I think, tries to accommodate or rehabilitate imperfection. And that strips it of its role of throwing a wrench in the works...</span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Lucida Grande'"><br /></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Lucida Grande'"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 15.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 304px; height: 350px;" src="http://fabiennelasserre.com/works/2_recent_work_in_studio/projects/1_studio/img/16.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Lucida Grande'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">One example of the importance of imperfection is "Stupid Timid and Free". The piece has five forms emerging from the canvas - five fingers, or heads, or blobs. Who knows what they are: they're amorphous, mute, unidentified, dull. They're neither clearly ugly nor perky, and it's hard to know when they begin or end: there is no separation from the background. In fact, there is no figure-background relationship in the piece, only pressure (they're stretching, deforming the stripes). They are timid: unable to be aggressive because aggressivity presupposes some distinction between self and non-self, some sense of outward direction. They exist and they're so dumb, so inarticulate(d), so undefined. And this total vagueness, this total stupor, also makes them free.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 15.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Lucida Grande'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">You also ask if the pieces are optimistic. On one hand, I think that the pieces are too in the present to be optimistic or pessimistic: they're not concerned with the future. Yet a lot of the work is concerned with the positive potential implied in precarious, or unsettled states.</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px ;color:#fefa3f;"> </span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 15.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Lucida Grande'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I would also add that my work, if not exactly optimistic, is very accepting of happiness. Pleasure and joy play a crucial part. I think I've gradually stopped equating happiness and naivety; anger and irony don't imply a more incisive intelligence. Recently I made a piece called "Arbitrary, Decorative and Untrustworthy", and it’s one of my favorite pieces. It has stripes, and garlands, and a bright, hot pink underbelly. My friend Christy Gast said it looked like someone's playground, and Brian says it is a birthday cake. My 8-year old niece calls it the Mushroom-Table. But my point is that it would never have happened if I hadn't come up with this title mid-course. The tongue in cheek title enabled me to totally indulge, to be completely loopy and decorative. It was a license to ignore, and question, the suspicion with which we regard decoration and pleasure. </span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 15.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Lucida Grande'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b>Daniel: <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; ">I have never shared in the critical hostility to beauty or pleasure in art, so I look forward to seeing "Arbitrary, Decorative and Untrustworthy" and your other new work. </span></b></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Lucida Grande'"><br /></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Lucida Grande'"><br /></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Lucida Grande'"><i>Images Courtesy of the Artists</i></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Lucida Grande'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><i>Interview by Daniel Gerwin</i> </span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Lucida Grande'"><br /></p><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Lucida Grande', serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:12px;"><br /></span></span></div>Travishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09905258624328994727noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2912347957063056504.post-69489214990901106152010-07-21T09:53:00.000-07:002010-08-17T09:46:03.371-07:00Leslie Smith<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5hlnA-5dxabMSUCLR386rv6AABCK-lV62LoX9bWTHdcS7ssKGK7FfDyGb2ZjAlDzPar4XMcTFaQM_BYnAzqw-htGizAYXlmGw8s6kjj1jMti40mGaU-JpeGUySwY4vvXYzbAMWj9Idrw/s1600/standard.operation.procedure%3F_l.smith.jpg" style="text-decoration: none;"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 317px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5hlnA-5dxabMSUCLR386rv6AABCK-lV62LoX9bWTHdcS7ssKGK7FfDyGb2ZjAlDzPar4XMcTFaQM_BYnAzqw-htGizAYXlmGw8s6kjj1jMti40mGaU-JpeGUySwY4vvXYzbAMWj9Idrw/s320/standard.operation.procedure%3F_l.smith.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5498580751544779170" /></a><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms', serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms', serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Certain images are burned into our brains: a pyramid of naked men on their hands and knees, hoods over their heads, overseen by grinning U.S. soldiers; the infamous hooded man in a tattered sheet, standing balanced on a cardboard box with wires dangling from his fingers. These are among the visions left us by the United States’ activities in Abu Ghraib prison, during the early years of the Iraq War. Leslie Smith has absorbed the Abu Ghraib photographs into his imagination and created a body of work that both responds to those events and turns inward from their realities to a more inchoate place.</span></span></div> <p style="text-align: center;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 15px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Lucida Grande'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Some of Smith’s paintings directly reference the cruel inventions of American prison guards, such as “Standard Operating Procedure,” where the human pyramid makes an appearance. Others, like “Dead Weight,” feature what seem to be disembodied feet, reminiscent of the photos of one Iraqi prisoner’s corpse. Still other paintings seem to have originated with these images, but have become more unrecognizable, as in “Peter”, where Smith takes us closer</span></span></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px ;color:#ff1d16;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">to the realm of the ineffable, charting a</span></span></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px ;color:#ff1d16;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">course through an array of reactions to our obscene capacity for inflicting pain: stark recognition, efforts at comprehension, and finally, deep internalization.</span></span></span></p><div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Profile by Daniel Gerwin</span></span></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Image:</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> Standard Operating Procedure,</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> Courtesy of the Artist</span></span></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Lucida Grande', serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:12px;"><i><br /></i></span></span></div>Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16067868652778091316noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2912347957063056504.post-24158025729859140952010-07-21T09:48:00.000-07:002010-09-16T07:22:36.468-07:00Fabienne Lasserre<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiutOp-eKIBpOhQL4rplVixR22LcKTQSx5p4n0YGntzAZrnlIGFPTdLqSbxxo7Ib0K-dUhWV7hWtPqyOJXaAk-tiBvkelftvHp_cB1_LhcDdr8HGsa9L9s2nAYdgFXIAhBAHLNMHIqJv-Zq/s1600/FABIENNEsmall.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 337px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiutOp-eKIBpOhQL4rplVixR22LcKTQSx5p4n0YGntzAZrnlIGFPTdLqSbxxo7Ib0K-dUhWV7hWtPqyOJXaAk-tiBvkelftvHp_cB1_LhcDdr8HGsa9L9s2nAYdgFXIAhBAHLNMHIqJv-Zq/s400/FABIENNEsmall.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5496798715069935618" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); "></span></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiutOp-eKIBpOhQL4rplVixR22LcKTQSx5p4n0YGntzAZrnlIGFPTdLqSbxxo7Ib0K-dUhWV7hWtPqyOJXaAk-tiBvkelftvHp_cB1_LhcDdr8HGsa9L9s2nAYdgFXIAhBAHLNMHIqJv-Zq/s1600/FABIENNEsmall.jpg"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; "></span></a><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Remember high school physics class? At some point, you put a ball on top of a ramp, a few feet above the floor. Before releasing it, you’re supposed to calculate how far it will fly before it hits the ground. Now imagine that on top of the ramp you have an unfamiliar object: maybe it’s alive, maybe not. It’s not quite round, nor is it square, the shape and weight are hard to define. You can’t be sure if it will roll, bounce, crawl, or perhaps just flap some part of itself and fly to the ceiling. Welcome to the world of Fabienne Lasserre. </span></span></span></span><div><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />Lasserre makes indeterminate objects. She uses materials like felt, ceramic chain, paint, hair, linen and wool. Her art evokes certain kinds of adjectives: lumpy, bulbous, twisted, warped, folded, irregular, slack, droopy, precarious. For the most part, her sculpture is not mimetic; it doesn’t look like a house or a flower – it just looks like itself. Yet her sculptures frequently evoke aspects of the natural world: things that grow, things that drip, things with tendrils. Many of the things Lasserre dreams up seem like they could move, like a seashell you discover is a hermit crab when it suddenly scuttles away. Even works that are clearly inanimate appear ready to spontaneously twist or roll. </span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />Taking yielding materials and making objects that are a little disheveled, lumpen, and a bit off-balance, Lasserre establishes a firm position in contradistinction to artists of shiny commodities, like Jeff Koons, or artists of enormous gestures, like Richard Serra. Lasserre’s work does not seduce, command, awe, or intimidate. These are abstract objects that manage to achieve a figural presence; they occupy the world like we do, and we are free to engage each piece and see what we can learn. Like individual people, Lasserre’s works resist definitions and categories. Go meet them.</span></span></span></span></div><div><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />Image:Gallery Diet Installation, Fabienne LasserreProfile by Daniel Gerwin</span></span> </span></span><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Lucida Grande'"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"></span></span></i></p></div>Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16067868652778091316noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2912347957063056504.post-6679620758685577792010-07-21T09:40:00.000-07:002010-07-24T07:24:22.326-07:00Joel Dean<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnIsc5lt8oBRGu-cLLHCYXEx1TaCP3JseX3hXLKIHfzMMSIzKjpeA2mdLEYWNfa6yQPDN100B7Ol4ZpcJMDPVblcg1GfxC3Bsb77TU2PKioVj60zphXJhAH_FKNlkh8Pn6kzU3A2Y0wOJN/s1600/interracial_internet.jpg"><img style="text-align: left;float: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; cursor: pointer; width: 288px; height: 368px; " src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnIsc5lt8oBRGu-cLLHCYXEx1TaCP3JseX3hXLKIHfzMMSIzKjpeA2mdLEYWNfa6yQPDN100B7Ol4ZpcJMDPVblcg1GfxC3Bsb77TU2PKioVj60zphXJhAH_FKNlkh8Pn6kzU3A2Y0wOJN/s400/interracial_internet.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5496794961829668050" /></a><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">The figures populating Joel Dean’s paintings move aimlessly, their facial features generically rendered</span></span></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px ;color:#ff1d16;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">or replaced by masks. They engage in careless acts of violence and carnality, and they are portrayed both still and in motion. Sex, when it occurs, is accompanied by voyeurism. These are youthful creatures of undefined ages, generally no older than their twenties. In Dean’s three most recent major paintings, the world is a purple, humid darkness. Candles are occasionally present in the work from 2008 and 2009, but they emit no light, only tendrils of smoke that travel the vertical length of the canvas and create a vaguely ritualized</span></span></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px ;color:#ff1d16;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">atmosphere. In “Blunderers,” and “Interracial Couple with Abstract Element,” the smoke lines have evolved into tentacles that crisscross the canvas horizontally, interrupting the image.</span></span></span></div><p style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Though they do not have specific faces, these young people are nonetheless familiar. They evoke that difficult phase of growing up when earlier, simpler beliefs fall away, but there is nothing convincing to fill the void. It is therefore quite fitting that the qualities that best define Dean’s figures are what they lack. Their bodies are constructed without sharp lines or angles, their eyes are rarely defined, and those that do have eyes stare with more or less unfocused gaze. Listlessness is the operative term, and there is no individual identity, only vague association. Above all, these young men and women seem to lack volition, the ability to choose a direction and act energetically. They are foot soldiers in the zombie army of the uncommitted. At one time or another, we have all been among their ranks.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; "><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Images: </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Inter-Racial Couple with Abstract Element, </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">courtesy of Joel Dean</span></span></i></p><p style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; "><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Profile by Daniel Gerwin</span></span></i></p>Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16067868652778091316noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2912347957063056504.post-60879923653182777042010-06-03T07:13:00.000-07:002010-06-08T06:57:31.657-07:00Kevin Baker by Daniel Gerwin<div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" font-style: italic; font-family:'trebuchet ms', serif;"><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 36px; text-indent: -36px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Trebuchet MS'; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">DG: Your use of the patterned oilcloth as a foundation offers a variety of interpretive possibilities. To me some of the most interesting layers are the ideas about personal history and memory, and how we sanctify those memo</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; font-family:'trebuchet ms', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; font-family:'Trebuchet MS', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">ries or how they become carriers for our private love, in your case for your mother and her own art that surrounded your childhood. Can you talk about how you first began using oilcloth, how that discovery h</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">appened and how you became</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> aware of its importance for your work?</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 14px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "></span><br /></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 36px; text-indent: -36px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Trebuchet MS'; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">KB:</span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">I discovered oilcloth when I was in graduate school. I was previously working on paper, but when I walked into a fabric store and saw the brightly colored oilcloth, I had an immediate response. That response was joy with a dash of sadness. It brought back memories of childhood, family m<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">embers I had lost, but most of all the fabric simply spoke to me, telling me to use it somehow. I feel that it’s sa</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; font-family:'trebuchet ms', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; font-family:'Trebuchet MS', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">fe to say that most people throughout the world have some type of connection with this fabric. Who hasn't at least once sat at a table covered in this kitschy fabric? It reminds me of picnics, my grandmother's oilcloth-covered lawn furniture, to playing card and dice games on cigarette burned tablecloths, as well as my love of Mexican restaurants and their margaritas! I feel like regardless of one's socioeconomic standing, this material carries the power to connect us all.</span></span></span></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 14px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "></span><br /></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Trebuchet MS'; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">DG:</span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Where do you find the oilcloths that you use these days?</span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 14px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "></span><br /></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 36px; text-indent: -36px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Trebuchet MS'; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">KB:</span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">It has become harder to find the material lately since my supplier has closed. I find it on the internet, as well as several fabric shops in New York City.</span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 36px; text-indent: -36px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Trebuchet MS'; "><br /></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 36px; text-indent: -36px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Trebuchet MS'; "><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 36px; text-indent: -36px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Trebuchet MS'; "><br /></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 36px; text-indent: -36px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Trebuchet MS'; "><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 259px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsTgvNANgMn1F_K_6bjZ8V42fLsXPYRBj9PQP3w5jp-1d0_dlKqPuBzUtXE6vDTb8QsG2e7dCe-FVJ9hsyKk2OHpe_XAz9UeYWw8Og9jMR3woeceIJg3eruhKtFEbI-h0vAhcKFRTkaNg/s320/8fjbF9kQ.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5478915860236382882" /></p><p style="text-align: center;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 14px; ">Kevin Baker "Love" 2008</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 14px; "><br /></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 14px; "><br /></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 36px; text-indent: -36px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Trebuchet MS'; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">DG:</span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">How do you select the cloths? Do you seek out patterns that you think will be useful for the painting, for example the way you use the checkered patterns to emerge through the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; font-family:'trebuchet ms', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; font-family:'Trebuchet MS', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">paint, becomomg leaves or flowers in certain paintings? Or are there other reasons that you choose an oilcloth as a painting candidate? Or do you just have big pile of them and figure out paintings for each as you go along?</span></span></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 14px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "></span><br /></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 36px; text-indent: -36px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Trebuchet MS'; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">KB:</span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">I have a pile, and when it comes time to use one I simply grab the one that is screaming for attention.</span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 36px; text-indent: -36px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Trebuchet MS'; "></p></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><i><div><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">DG:</span></span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Your work seems to engage in conversation with other artists who also deal with the possibilities of<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>decoration,rhythm,<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre;"> <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span></span>and natural forms. I'm thin<span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'Trebuchet MS', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">king</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" font-style: italic; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> of </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Trebuchet MS', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Beatriz Milhazes, Fred Tomaselli, and the funny<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">coincidence between your work<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre;"> <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span>and the new Charles Ray flower pai</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">ntings in this year’s Whitney Biennial. A few questions about this:</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" font-style: italic; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> What was your<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>reaction to the Charles Ray flowe</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">rs in the biennial? Do you see it as kindred work? Why or why not? Have Milh</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">azes</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" font-style: italic; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">or <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span>Tomaselli been influ</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">ential for you?</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Trebuchet MS'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></p> <div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 318px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5Na4V9OyxGZqxKGSYzMGKvUnxYDGIbdqscLbyb7NlvsfimudGoX6FJoNiwKV4UZ-DW-3G-xsQ7ENRWBTilzevKP6Hmf8ZJI3gknrzBvGQV5jVcdxngYSAgb4tzbjnNRW9lQtr_ELz9tk/s320/KAK1dF4c.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5478901384386051554" /></span></div><p></p><p style="text-align: center;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 14px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Kevin Baker "Peacock" 2010</span></p><p style="text-align: center;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 14px; "><br /></p><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXdWWWq2pA9GjFYct47ZLi7uHC28KajTDCCzoMOSXS9hK2iAYroWrlvKkXs1oo4pCKp9dzPhEqgxRYnNaUMtAQphFgML3PWlBelqRCa6uBefrAEkcwCJUTaBDqvkFxP9M7GX_1JTb4mEo/s320/T7rQqZSd.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5478902172486220290" /><p style="text-align: center;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 14px; "><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 14px; ">Kevin Baker "Peacock" detail</p><p style="text-align: center;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 14px; "><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 14px; "><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span></p><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 212px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimE3f6j_1HI18cw3WTSHtm1rPSmkunQlm8e7kjK9PMq9jH8zQMj2B7nGzYB_sjm3OK4XqEpVcjrFF4Ei4M-ddZ3f2rEu6B4L9TL1yRWlwuVsmQiBHRJPc6PgCWelH9sPxLCYLs1Epm3XbL/s320/CharlesRay.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5478596828524538514" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" font-style: normal; font-family:'Trebuchet MS', serif;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Charles Ray "Untitled" 2009</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></div></span><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 36.0px; text-indent: -36.0px; font: 12.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">KB:</span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">My first reaction to Charles Ray's flowers was complete happiness that flowers were in the biennial! I feel like flowers get a bad rep these days. Flowers are glorious people!</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: center;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 36px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 14px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 36.0px; font: 12.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">I did feel some connection to Ray's floral motifs in that they have similar linear qualities. You can see movement and air in his mark-making, much like my work, as well as a playfulness. Although, I think that our work only has these qualities in common. So, I guess our works are kindred, but distantly. This particular series of works by Ray I feel creates one singular language of mark-making, where as my paintings have many languages unfolding from piece to piece. I never make a painting twice. I see each painting I produce to have different personalities with many layers of history. You can find struggle and ease, flirtations, as well as disregard within each of my pieces. I never know exactly what I am creating when I work on a painting. It is the moments within my personal life that direct my artmaking. If each pie</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" font-style: italic; font-family:'trebuchet ms', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" font-style: normal; font-family:'Trebuchet MS', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">ce was s</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" font-style: italic; font-family:'trebuchet ms', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" font-style: normal; font-family:'Trebuchet MS', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">tudied individually, I am sure you could find many clues to my current state.</span></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 36.0px; font: 12.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">I do not feel like I have been influenced by Milhazes or Tomaselli. I see why you would say so, but I see their works to be more designed or pre-planned, whereas mine are completely automatic. I was once a violinist for 12 years. When I create I feel as if I am writing music from my heart. My linear plant and animal-like forms act like musical notes or even perhaps my own personal alphabet writing a story, or rather directing the viewer through a symphony of chaos and order.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 36.0px; text-indent: -36.0px; font: 12.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></p><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" font-style: normal; color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; font-family:Georgia, serif;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiInltqrKBxBl9H1p7dcagZblsR4oaMVfNvhzEw2x9FpImTZjoA-ofuOQul0zHm6CBjiwMBaxvojjfHBt4SUP3j9MOdYXlVVM2dvZ0n3pgxxjSc47vHqXTMNk1axAsqSV5PAKcYgVjf45Y5/s320/4it7EbVA.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5478597830900018578" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 316px; " /></span><p style="text-align: center;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 14px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Kevin Baker "Saline" 2007</span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 14px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></p><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" font-style: normal; font-family:'Trebuchet MS', serif;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm9r9gSnelfcoqeBEj8BsNFKybwMrHi0tWYHxnlHmkh6khpoSr7xOWK1xQLWMNt5GvnI5ibyna4znD0PbWX37DuG8XGjc6ZzGHQUJXNDy-1N-ugwX7Hr19hhnzzuPCE0x_OxNOT0pqW3z1/s320/iDL3HgCd.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5478597585361419170" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 275px; height: 320px; " /></span><p style="text-align: center;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 14px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"></span>Kevin Baker "Miss Baker" 2006</span></p><p style="text-align: center;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 14px; "><br /></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 14.0px"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></i></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 36.0px; text-indent: -36.0px; font: 12.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">DG:</span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">I am struck by your "square within a square" compositions, like Saline from 2007, how the area surrounding the interior square becomes a kind of decorative frame, and how you use that strategy more explicitly in paintings like Miss Baker where you actually stick the finished work in a patterned frame. Can you talk about your interest in the framing device, what it means to you and how you are interested in using it?</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 36.0px; text-indent: -36.0px; font: 12.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">KB:</span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">There are several framing devices that are used in my work. The two that you mentioned, but don't forget the importance of the sides. The sides of my paintings are often left as bare oilcloth. As you approach a painting, you see how the oilcloth began. The imagery at times creeps from the sides onto the front surface, engaging the sides and creating the perception of another type of space or reality. </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 36.0px; font: 12.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">When I have used the "square within a square" format, my intention was to first catch the attention of the viewer by giving an immediate graphic shape. Within the frame area I leave little oilcloth exposed, but the center square reveals more. It acts somewhat like a bulls-eye, or an introduction to looking through a window. So the "square within a square" pieces actually have 3 separate realities: the raw sides, the frame, and the window.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 36.0px; font: 12.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">What are frames used for, anyway? They grab attention, they create a focus, and sometimes give artwork the air of importance. I use the frame for all of these reasons. In Mrs. Baker, I used that particular frame because I found the frame in my great grandmother’s basement after she passed away. I dedicated that painting to her, for her love for life and flowers.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 36.0px; text-indent: -36.0px; font: 12.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">DG:</span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Your paintings all kind of swim with a sensual fecundity, seeming to celebrate that quality in humans, art, and the natural world. With regard to nature, it's interesting to see this approach in the midst of a period where on the one hand people are "rediscovering" the importance of nature (resurgence of gardening, organic food, etc.) but on the other hand we are destroying the earth faster than ever. Is that something you are thinking about?</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 36.0px; text-indent: -36.0px; font: 12.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">KB:</span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">I most definitely think about all these things! I'm glad you said this. I have always been in love with plants and animals, or rather "the Earth"! I have felt spiritually connected to all aspects of the earth since I was a small child. I have a great love of gardening with native plants, as well as creating water gardens with plant and animal life. We are destroying the earth, and I'm afraid that it may be too late to save it.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 36.0px; font: 12.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Especially at this time with all the natural disasters! I've always said that my paintings are like if the world flooded, but my fear is that this might actually happen. At least my tablecloth materials will never pollute the earth, they have been recycled into something I hope will be around forever.</span></span></p><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Trebuchet MS', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><p></p></div><br /></i></span>Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16067868652778091316noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2912347957063056504.post-58889939511907301992010-06-03T06:22:00.000-07:002010-06-08T11:35:57.107-07:00Austin Eddy<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0IDey8vSx9M0lish9S5IdolTHG5smnDFQqxiZvkX9kpgpU0HGiazrTVpZBlFcqL5KldDs_mbrRDm6dhOBPUxe-ZLifmTEHET6qNkmdr06dzs_oYHg2QIVRzn46pK68gezNIFi8_gPiD5q/s1600/27+copy.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 267px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0IDey8vSx9M0lish9S5IdolTHG5smnDFQqxiZvkX9kpgpU0HGiazrTVpZBlFcqL5KldDs_mbrRDm6dhOBPUxe-ZLifmTEHET6qNkmdr06dzs_oYHg2QIVRzn46pK68gezNIFi8_gPiD5q/s320/27+copy.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5478538207053502962" /></a><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Lucida Grande'"><!--StartFragment--> </p><p class="MsoNormal">With the high spirits and prolific outpouring of youth, Austin Eddy assembles antic interiors buzzing with saturated, high-key color and giddy mark-making.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>These paintings are packed to the gills with pattern and decorative detail.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Even Eddy’s omnipresent armchairs do not appear inviting; they are rather like portraits of gregarious loud talkers – charming but right up in your face. </p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:red;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">The fun in Eddy’s work is the straightforward celebration of painting itself, its opportunities for overstimulation and material improvisation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>His imaginary interiors serve as armatures for engineered collisions of color, form, and surface.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>His chairs are often made of two off-kilter squares, one for the back and one for the butt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>These supports play off the rectangular support of the canvas to further subdivide the surface of the painting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Eddy makes similar use of walls, stairs, rugs and coffee-tables: all are reduced to patterned subdivisions of the rectangular surface, with plants in curling counterpoint.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">These paintings seem to be crafted with and for enjoyment.<span style="color:red;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></span>Looking at the seats Eddy depicts, one is reminded of Matisse’s well-known remark that he envisions his paintings as “a good armchair which provides relaxation from physical fatigue.” Matisse is an obvious source for Eddy, and just as Matisse’s paintings defied expectations, Eddy’s well-appointed salons and summer patios are not the ideal places to go if you’re looking for a quiet moment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>These paintings ask us to bring a case of beer and join the party.</p> <!--EndFragment--> <p></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Lucida Grande'"><br /></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Lucida Grande'"><i>Profile by Daniel Gerwin</i></p>Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16067868652778091316noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2912347957063056504.post-24736002343701552142010-06-03T06:18:00.001-07:002010-06-08T11:36:21.354-07:00Kevin Baker<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLZkQDT9zNlU5PXfaQGJrpxj_lOrxHE0mde4IOQ6eJQLzFyfXgxIdZ2RuN5G01d3FtMGHEzQ_nF-3Gxub8rTR7wzvz5U3hxEVUY60ZQsKyCjr1SV-IOOaLAW60xdVxNHsqsFce4bOufLoH/s1600/lugano.jpg" style="text-decoration: none;"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 251px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLZkQDT9zNlU5PXfaQGJrpxj_lOrxHE0mde4IOQ6eJQLzFyfXgxIdZ2RuN5G01d3FtMGHEzQ_nF-3Gxub8rTR7wzvz5U3hxEVUY60ZQsKyCjr1SV-IOOaLAW60xdVxNHsqsFce4bOufLoH/s320/lugano.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5478598451985883058" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><i><br /></i></span></div></span><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms', serif;"> <!--StartFragment--> </span></p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms', serif;"><p class="MsoNormal">The paintings of Kevin Baker swim with a highly ornamented mixture of kitsch and refinement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Baker works on oilcloth, the kind you might have used over a picnic table in the park last weekend.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The oilcloth is left bare on the sides of the stretchers, allowing the viewer to see the original imagery or pattern and find its traces in the final painting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Visual elements of the oilcloth are absorbed or reinterpreted into a richly colored lexicon of pattern, fruit, and flowers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Everything seems to float in an aqueous world, an undersea jungle whose fecundity is on overdrive.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">There is a peculiar nostalgia in Baker’s work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The paintings are reminiscent of the wallpaper in an archetypical country matriarch’s home, and from the saturated colors Baker often deploys I’d say we are visiting her on a hot summer day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The oilcloth itself had its heyday in 1950’s America, reinforcing this sense of longing for things gone by.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>But this is not a dusty world of memory; the visual elements are in constant rhythmic motion<span style="color:red;"> </span>and everything is very much alive.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Baker’s paintings call to mind Asian painted screens as well as the thick jungles of Henri Rousseau.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>All share an intense stylization of natural forms, with the effect of drawing out our love for nature while simultaneously distancing us from the natural. We all know that one day we will be left with nothing but memories of our parents and grandparents.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>As humanity inflicts repeated disasters on the earth, one wonders whether plastic flowers will eventually be all that remain of the gardens our forebears tended so lovingly. <span style="color:red;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <!--EndFragment--> </span><p></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms', serif;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms', serif;">Image: <i>Lugano, </i>Kevin Baker</span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms', serif;"><i>Profile by Daniel Gerwin</i></span></p>Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16067868652778091316noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2912347957063056504.post-40037524343695241902010-06-03T06:12:00.000-07:002010-06-08T11:36:44.853-07:00Tom Costa<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3_mAwZOi6RtBxhiNL5lOdvhW25HkyP4taksqXNL4nIlMLET-hjH9MI10uZemvaISyG0UsVPUM5ENNfaozu0l51QhH67cVSm_kzon8p5kSIOMyoKCLxH87oN851FJbUKsrYxt70ze2Dtop/s1600/swiss.cheese_t.costa.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 182px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3_mAwZOi6RtBxhiNL5lOdvhW25HkyP4taksqXNL4nIlMLET-hjH9MI10uZemvaISyG0UsVPUM5ENNfaozu0l51QhH67cVSm_kzon8p5kSIOMyoKCLxH87oN851FJbUKsrYxt70ze2Dtop/s320/swiss.cheese_t.costa.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5478538546942832338" /></a><div><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms', serif;"> <!--StartFragment--> </span></p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms', serif;"><p class="MsoNormal">Bits of siding, brick, and glass hang from teetering structures in Tom Costa’s expertly rendered paintings of ruined houses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>He portrays only facades, as if to say that there was never more than appearance, like a wild west movie set.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The structures are isolated, apparently built far from other human habitation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Their environments seem more symbolic than real, blending the imaginary geographies and staged lighting of renaissance portraiture with the tapered shapes of medieval altarpieces.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>It is perhaps this symbolic quality that gives Costa’s structures their density, the sense that much thought and feeling has been boiled down to give these images their power.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>If the shaped canvases are reminiscent of icons, then these are icons in reverse: reverently painted figures of neglect and dissolution.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The architectural skeletons suggest the decay of the middle class American Dream, the surrounding landscape preparing to revert to its condition before the arrival of Europeans on the continent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>In Swiss Cheese (2008), we look through the deteriorated A-frame to city lights twinkling in a distant valley, hinting that not everyone’s home shares the same fate.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">Costa’s choice to portray only the facade of each structure is both<span style="color:red;"> </span>odd and purposeful.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>One cannot look at these remains without noticing the ruined grids, imaginary Mondrians in disrepair.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>To what end is our attention called to the picture plane and the grid that subdivides it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Is Costa making a point about the collapse of traditional pictorial structures, suggesting they have become obsolete?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>If so, his use of an old-school, illusionistic oil technique becomes an interesting contradiction.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Perhaps he seeks to set up a squat in the gutted remains of these methods and make his home for as long as possible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Or perhaps Costa aims to spark a phoenix-like rebirth, creating new life from the rubble.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>As long as he continues to generate interesting questions, it would seem Costa is on solid ground. </p> <!--EndFragment--> </span><p></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><i>Profile by Daniel Gerwin</i></span></span></p></div>Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16067868652778091316noreply@blogger.com0