Interview with the Artist: New Work

 SOCIETY VS. THE INDIVIDUAL: The Self-Definition Series

CAA

So tell me about this series: Society vs. the Individual, it’s a common theme in literature and art, what is your take on this?

Artist: That we define, or should define ourselves from the inside out. 

CAA: So “ you’re not what you are but who you are?”

Artist: More than that, it’s really taking control of your own internal self image, and allowing that image to control your view of yourself and most importantly to hold fast to that vision regardless of the overlaying of seemingly contrary impulses.

CAA: In this series which piece best speaks to that theme?

 

Artist: I think or at least I hope that they all do. But the first one in the series, is what started my thinking along those lines, “Let Your Light Shine”

CAA: I like that, tell us about that piece, it’s really a cacophony of color.

Artist: Exactly. But it’s a little different technique for me. I painted almost uniform blocks of color with purposely irregular shards of gold and silver, intending to show the uniform track of our lives, day following night, months following years, again the theme of compartmentalizing, the gold and silver is who we really are trying to fight through the structures of conformity that we erect. The piece is intended to be a clarion call for self definition, to break through the clutter of sameness, even if masked with “pretty pictures” of seeming success or wealth.

CAA: What about the piece “Transformations I”?




Transformations I

Artist:    It’s about what we’re all going through, knowingly or unknowingly. Nothing is static. This piece is about defining your own transformation—thus the cool colors, symbolizing control vs. randomness. Taking control of how you transform, vs. allowing circumstances to control you. Again self definition expressed.















































Interview with the Artist: Social Relevance and Art

SOCIAL REVLEVANCE AND ART: The Life Disconnected Series

CAA: But what about social relevance? Is your work purely aesthetic?

Artist: No to the contrary, my work is fundamentally driven by social or political issues that are influencing how I create the aesthetic.

CAA: Give me an example.

Artist: Well for instance, my latest series: “Life Disconnected” is about the almost endemic disconnection that haunts modern life.

CAA: How so?

Artist: The way our lives have become at once compartmentalized and yet disconnected.

CAA: How do you show that in these pieces?

Artist: Upside down hearts, irregular edges, symbolizing the way in which traditional notions of love have been rejected, and re-formed. Notions of social function, and distinction, role playing all juxtaposed against what we may have been socialized to want, with the reality of what is.

CAA: But the colors are so pastel, almost dreamlike.

Artist: And intentionally so. The pastel colors in the background symbolize our desires for a certain simplistic denouement of our life. The bold jagged cut outs in black, purple and orange symbolize the crowding out of the simplistic by the complex and often harsh realities of our existence. Thus an explosion of tradition by reality.

Interview with the Artist: The Inspiration

THE INSPIRATION: Life Beyond Vision: PART II

 CAA: Let's talk a little about the materials that you use in this piece. It doesn't look like canvas, tell us the mode that you're creating in for this work.

Artist:  You're right, this series (there are 4 pieces in the series) is acrylic on pressed board ceiling tiles. I literally walked into a hardware store and saw these stacked up against the wall and bought four of them on the spot. I chose this material because it's very porous and also very light. The porous nature of the pressed board allows the colors to absorb more completely then canvas, giving it a more saturated feel. In addition, the acrylic dries even more quickly on this surface, making it very easy to layer colors on top of colors but still retain the base color because there's no mixing. 

CAA: Very interesting effect, what else is going on here? 

Artist:  Well, the raised elements are made of crushed tissue paper, and I've painted imagery on top. This series is called "Water Music" and when I lived in Haiti with my family I was struck by the almost musical feel of the underwater world. The ocean was very clear and most of the time very calm, and so while on the surface you saw this unbroken plane of blue, beyond the vision of what was immediately obvious was this world of musical color. Or at least that's what I perceived. So the undulating shapes that I formed out of tissue paper represent the myriad of shapes found in this very special place.  

  

CAA:  Tell me more about the theme of this series "Beyond Vision." We talked in the first part of the interview about your work being "internally driven." What about this "Water Music Series" how does this fit within that visual schematic?

Artist: This Water Music Series is all about seeing beyond the vision of what's obvious, it's about penetrating beyond what appears to be. In this case there's a virtual world of sound that is personified by color, so as I painted this series, I was literally imagining music coming to life, with each color representing a different sound or resonance. I had a lot of fun painting this series because it gave me a chance to translate if you will, the musical feeling that I was sensing into a rich color palate. 

CAA: It's always interesting to understand better the motivation for the aesthetic.   

Interview with the Artist

THE INSPIRATION: Life Beyond Vision

 CAA: The Art World is like everything else, going through seismic shifts, in terms of what is “Art, “ what is legitimate artistic expression, guerrilla art, graffiti art, where do you fit into this evolving landscape?

Artist:  My work is very internally driven. My vision is informed by what I see behind or beyond the appearances that we show the world. When I first started painting professionally, I was struck by how much there is to see beyond our limited physical vision. When I paint, it’s that world that I see.

 

CAA: Ok, so it sounds like your work has a strong aesthetic driven by an artistic connection to the unseen, or at least what appears to be “unseen.”

Artist: Yes, that’s why I tend to create in brilliant saturated color, it’s what I see beyond the sometimes mundane or conflicted world in which we all live. I believe that underneath and behind the grittiness of our daily existence there lies a place that is untouched and that is pure in its brilliance. That’s what I see and what drives my creativity.