Artlit interview with Gary Wiseman

Hi Gary thanks for the interview


What is you back round and your inspiration in Art?

I started drawing when I was three.


Who or what motivated you to become and artist?

survival


You did a piece awhile ago called "A CONVERSATION PIECE".

What does conversation include for you?

That piece was for the 2007 Reed Arts Week. I was thinking about the camera focusing exclusively on my face while I engaged in intimate conversations with people I didn't know very well but wanted to be friends with.

I let the subject lead the conversation so the piece didn't really have anything to do with my thoughts about conversation. The subject led the conversation and talked about whatever was on their mind. The improvisational collaborative process of casual conversation is compelling to me. Nobody knows what is going to happen. People are so unpredictable.

We see endless scripted conversations on the screen. A lot of energy is expended attempting to make these conversations look like real life. "Why not just record real life?" I thought to myself, "it is far more interesting than what I could make up by myself". This collaborative attitude has informed much of my practice.


I was also wondering what happens when the camera focuses exclusively on the listener rather than cutting back and forth between speakers which is what usually happens. We focus on the linearity of the conversation.


What developed in the piece was a sense that I was interacting with a disembodied voice that could have been in my imagination. May be I was hearing "Voices". There was no visual information to connect the voice to. It could have been a person speaking but the viewer is forced to collaborate in developing an image for the other speaker based on the limited information available to them. When one watches the video the other voice gains more clarity because there is no visual distraction. Its almost like watching a radio and a TV talk to each other.

You can see it all here


http://gary-conversation-piece.blogspot.com


How would you label your work?


Mine.








What is the importance of Art in your opinion?



I don't know. They say its good for business.





Does it always have to include an audience?


No.






You built an elaborate installation for Manor of Art,

What was it all about and has a piece like this an afterlife?



There are some nice pictures of Palace Of Ashes. online. Sam Adams interviewed me inside of it because you said he should. He made a nice little video about it for his web site sam's video.

http://hungryeyeball.com/2009/09/pdx-mayor-sam-adams-video-on-manor-of-art/

The Manor piece is still there actually. I have yet to kill it, if in fact it was alive. It was mostly made up of dead trees, paint, mirrors and dirt. The living part was the people who saw it. I suppose it lives in their memory. May be I will make a memorial for it. Will you come to the funeral?


Palace also lives on my resume. Hopefully it will get me more work.





Currently you are exhibiting at Appendix project Space.

What can you tell us about it?



I spent three days digging rock infested dirt for Inside, Outside. I sweated profusely. I have been enjoying the process of making. The physical WORK it takes to make it. Inside, Outside was certainly a departure for me and builds on what we did with Palace. I have been working almost exclusively with objects, materials and built environments. My origins are in material based work. The last five years have been a rigorous investigation into a participatory performance model of work. It seems I am returning to materials.

I have always been intrigued by relationships - between people, between objects, between people and objects...the list goes on. I did one project a long time ago in Australia called Decadence. It involved digging a grave that I buried a bunch of meat in. I made little sculptures out of the meat. They began to rot so I conducted a funeral for them.


You can see documentation of Inside, Outside on my blog if you are willing to look at other stuff too. I have a lot of work on there. I wish more people would look at it

Gar'y Blog

http://garywiseman.tumblr.com



You also work in tandem with your partner.

Tell us about those dynamics?





My collaborations with Meredith are a natural extension of our partnership. We talk about everything. Some of our most connected moments are when we


are disc using theoretical frameworks and concepts. We have a very balanced relationship. We try to keep it fair. That is why I always acknowledge her as a collaborator even when she doesn't do much of the physical work. Most of the recent work wouldn't have happened without our discussions. We both have our roles. We compliment each other and work as a unit. A team. It is a very privileged position to be in I know. It is something I have always wanted. A life partner I could collaborate with. It keeps me interested. I have a very short attention span and get into trouble when I am not occupied. This is why I pretty much work all the time. I am easily bored. I need someone who understands this and will play with me. That is what art is for me may be. Playing. Imagining. Making stuff up. Experimenting. Seeing what happens.





What are your interest besides Art?

I like my friends.




And what is next for you and how do you decide on a project and its location?

Matthew Stadler is publishing some books made by Portland artists. He is taking them to the Amsterdam Biennial. I made one of the books. I am quite pleased with it. My book is called I Love Urban Outfitters And Urban Outfitters Loves Me. It is comprised of three Urban Outfitters catalogs and one Anthropologie catalog.

I have made some...lets say alterations. Its too bad that not very many people will see it in Portland. I started working on it awhile ago when I found out that the guy who owns Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie and Free People, Richard Hayne made some pretty significant campaign contributions to Rick Santorum. I thought that it was pretty funny and sneaky to take money from young hip liberals and give it to the King of the Neo-Cons.
Its like reverse Robin Hood or something. I also wanted to think about how I am simultaneously attracted to, flabbergasted and repulsed by the content of those publications.


The locations of projects are chosen in two ways:


1. I am invited to do something somewhere. An example of this is the materials based installation work which is generally more of a response to a given environment, such as the Appendix Space piece. I love to be presented with a framework of problems and limitations. I feel these two are the best friends of my creative process. Therefore, I get really excited when someone approaches me about a project and says, "do something here and don't use nails and you have to use this pile of cow shit and it has to be done in three days on one foot".


2. I am from Portland. Many of my recent projects are about growing up here, leaving for Australia, coming back 9 years later and the changes I have encountered since returning. The locations for the performance work are intentionally geographically placed and specific to my narrative experience in this curious place that is Portland.
This was the case with work like Tea Project (Esp. the TBA series), SIXSIXSIX (With the Cooley Gallery) and Coffee Break (at MP5).


thanks
Gary

Artlit interview with Molly Dilworth

Variation (City)
From the perspective of the satellite, the urban rooftop landscape looks like a quarantine site: apparently unchanging, contained and secure. As with any system existing in an environment of flux, there are (literally) cracks in the surface, the boundary between the inhabited and off-limit space is constantly breached by water, plant, animal and human life.



ARTIST STATEMENT

The primary concern in my work is the relevance of painting in contemporary society. For me, this includes the interaction of paint and the digital world, specifically satellite technology using the Google Earth interface. My goal is to work with experts from various disciplines (solar-reflective paint engineers, green building engineers), and use real problems in the world today – like the waste stream from industry – as a starting point for projects.



Molly Dilworth is a painter who lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. Since earning her MFA from NYU in 2003 Dilworth has exhibited and performed nationally and internationally.
In 2008 Dilworth exhibited and performed painting as part of SUDDENLY: WHERE WE LIVE NOW, an ongoing set of visual art exhibitions, a reader, and a series of public programs (Portland 2008, Pomona College Museum of Art 2009, Seattle 2009). She has collaborated with Marina Zurkow to create the installation Psychaedelis Domesticus (Istanbul, Turkey, 2007). With MK Guth Dilworth performed Red Shoe Delivery Service (Australia, England, USA, 2003-2006). In June 2008, her work was featured in an article by Stephanie Snyder in Art Lies Magazine. In the fall of 2008 she was a visiting artist and professor at the Pacific Northwest College of art in Portland, Oregon. The 2009 exhibition Molly Dilworth: Dispersion in the Feldman Gallery at PNCA featured paintings made during her residency there. In September 2009 she will create a rooftop painting for Google Earth Brooklyn Suite (Poured Paintings V2/Rooftop) for the D.U.M.B.O Art Under the Bridge Festival.


Hi Molly here it goes



What’s your background in Art?

I was really restless from age 16 to 23, I moved all over the place to study painting, glassblowing and weaving in Albuquerque, Detroit and Seattle. I’ve always restlessly made things my whole life but it’s taken a long time to focus my hands and mind in the same direction.

What is your connection to Portland and how did you end up in NY?

I moved to NYC from Seattle in 2001 to attend grad school at NYU. There were two Portland artists in the program -MK Guth and Cris Moss – the three of us worked on Red Shoe Delivery Service together after finishing school, I got a great introduction to the Portland art world through those two. I’ve always loved Portland and feel honored to be an itinerant citizen in the city.

What moves you as an artist?

Anything I can really feel.

What labels are you comfortable with like are you satisfied being a painter?

For a long time I fought everything about being a painter, I believed that everyone is trained in drawing and painting then eventually graduates to become Laurie Anderson, or John Cage. A few years ago I gave up my materials and my studio, and started curating and performing. It was time to use my brain –not just my hands - and move out into the world instead of working alone in the studio. I found out while walking through the Met while interviewing an artist for a show that all the paintings were as interesting as today’s headlines to me. I had to concede that I was a painter, like it or not.
I just spent 8 days, 10-12 hours a day working on a black roof – really physical, dirty work - it made me think about how artists in the 70’s called themselves workers rather than dancers, painters or defining themselves by a discipline.
It’s from another era, but I can really understand that through the work I’m making now.
I do find the conversation (or lack of) around painting really frustrating. Good friends of mine who are in the trenches of contemporary art have often told me they don’t know how to talk about painting. After having this conversation about a thousand times I was motivated to make work that could be talked about by someone who didn’t want to talk about painting. I prefer to talk to everyone, and have real conversations, and do an end-run around non-starters like ‘watercolor or oil? Landscape or figure?’

How do you develop your themes?

When I discovered that I really was a painter I was embarrassed to find that after painting for more than a decade I still didn’t know what I was doing. At all. So I set up a series of experiments or systems to address all the problems and questions I had about painting.
For example, if a painting wasn’t working I always had a series of color combinations which would ‘fix’ the work. The painting wasn’t any good, it was just sort of limping along with lots of bandages. So I made a rule about my palette: I couldn’t choose it.
I was working for a handmade wallpaper company in Queens at the time, and we threw out literally tons of Golden acrylics. I started using only that paint for my palette. It was difficult since most of the paint was mid-tones: beige, grey. Suddenly I had an interesting problem to work on, instead of pulling the same old tricks out of my sleeve.
It was a lot more fun, and I learned a lot of new tricks!
It turns out I’ve always loved things that have been used before they’re in my hands. I always feel a bit blank when I’m looking at a new canvas bought from the art store. I know the material has had life before me but that life is masked by packaging, and that makes me uncomfortable. I find it easier to use materials that have an obvious previous history, so using materials from the waste stream – another one of my rules – is something that has always worked for me.

What is the civic psyche and how can Art influence it?

Humans just need art, I can’t think of any other reason that we still make it. Attendance at museums went up sharply in New York after September 11th. As a culture we’re not trained to think about art so we think it’s elitist, which is unfortunate since we’re apparently programmed to need it. I’m not a neurobiologist, so I can’t explain why, but I know art (and music, literature and sport for that matter) is good for the civic psyche.


How has the relevance of Art changed over the last 50 years or so?

I take the long view. American art has a large voice that was much smaller a half-century ago, and it’s an industry now – not just galleries and museums but educational institutions, shippers and publishers. – but in the end people have always made art and fought about what it means.


They say “Nothing” doesn’t exist do you agree?

To me, nothing is a zero point from which everything grows. I think resetting to nothing is generative, the opposite of having an attachment to a particular outcome for a project. Nothing is like the perfect pop song in its artlessness and satisfaction.



“Mapping” has become a new code word, what does it mean to you and how do you incorporate it into your art pieces?

Oh, well – we need maps like we need art – just for different purposes. I made a map (except I think of it as a plan) of the rooftop painting before I started it. Of course, I didn’t follow it exactly – sometimes you get more lost when you follow the map religiously.

Do you collaborate with other artists from different disciplines?


Yes, and non-artists too.


What does “Waste” mean to you?


America! We’re professional wasters.






Can you tell me about the project you are working on right now and how can people follow your progress?

I’m currently making paintings on rooftops for Google Earth, I just finished the first one in Brooklyn this September, and plan on making a lot more. I spend a lot of time thinking about how the digital-virtual world affects us psychically and physically, this painting is the first large-scale public manifestation of that physical-virtual marriage. I post all my work regularly to my flickr page. (http://www.flickr.com/photos/mollydilworth/) I’m also embarrassingly active on facebook, but I try to keep it mostly professional, no breakfast-menu updates!


You have started to include the On-line world as a platform to present your concepts.
How has that influenced or expanded the way you see what is an appropriate back drop for Art and who is the targeted audience?

A few years ago I worked in Chelsea and had a hard time seeing the shows, since the galleries all keep the same schedule. I saw most shows – even the ones on my block – online. It’s not the same as seeing the work in person but it’s an incredible second choice. I mentioned that I want to have an interesting conversation with everyone, the internet is good for that.


Can you tell me a little about “The Naked City”?

Today we’re so comfortable with the International Style that we forget it ever faced opposition. After WWII, all of Europe had to be rebuilt and The Situations viewed the International plan as top-down, inhumane and dictatorial - a continuation of the ideology that caused all the devastation.

The Naked City can be seen as a predecessor to the traffic calming or slow/local food movement – essentially a preference for the accident and chance present in daily life if aimless wandering is allowed. A modern equivalent is the farmer’s market – I can have real conversations, learn things and get recipes – whereas at Safeway I just get the stuff, and maybe an empty feeling.
Just the other day I went out for groceries and ran into a Richard Serra sculpture in the middle of my street.
Of course, I immediately posted it to facebook. But if I hadn’t gone out in the world, I wouldn’t have anything to share on facebook. Nor could I find Serra’s warehouse any other way, I looked it up online when I got home and I only found one blog posting of someone else who had accidentally witnessed the last time the pieces were moved.
The Situationists were advocates of the happy accident provoked by the dérive, or drift. Guy Debord named his famous psychogeographical map “The Naked City” (1957), it was a visualization of these Situationist ideas.

I think of the Naked City circa 2009 as the physical world without a digital overlay – anything we experience with our bodies. A moonlight bike ride, the smell of fall, a car crash, a first kiss – nothing virtual about any of that! Not that I’m in any way anti-technology, I’m making paintings for satellites, after all.




What is the potential for Virtual space and how will it affect the future of the human race?

We’re all going to have carpal tunnel! Start working on ‘prayer pose’ now. I recently heard about a community who are building exercise machines to power their electronic devices. They want to fight the dangerous leisure that our machines have given us. I do think it’s fundamentally changing our language and behavior, as all new technology does. But we’re still animals, after all.

What is on the Art horizon for you and can we expect to see one of your projects being realized here in Portland?

I have another 12 rooftops to finish in Brooklyn before the winter sets in, that’s keeping me pretty busy right now.
I’d love to make some rooftop paintings in Portland, I have a few places in mind but if anyone wants me to make one, please contact me. The night I finished the first painting in Brooklyn everyone said ‘oh it would be so great to have a cluster of these on rooftops all around!’ Marking a territory in this way is very interesting to me. I want to work with others, roofing contractors and choreographers for example, to expand what I can do visually and conceptually.

thanks Molly

All the documentation of my first rooftop painting for Google Earth (finished last Sunday!) can be seen here.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mollydilworth/


contact Molly Dilworth at

www.mollydilworth.com

Molly Dilworth
madilworth@yahoo.com
158 Norman #1, Brooklyn, NY 11222 646.515.5161

Interview with Leah Stuhltrager about the East West Project

Interview with Leah Stuhltrager about the East West Project

Hi Leah thanks for doing this


Tell me a bit about your gallery
Since when does it exist, who runs it and what kind of Art is exhibited there?

Dam, Stuhltrager has existed for over a decade, but it transformed from a project space to a professional gallery about four years ago. The gallery is recognized for the new media and installation artists. The gallery represents Mark Andreas, Brose Partington, Ryan Wolfe, Mark Esper, Ruth Marshall, Anna Frants and Cris Dam.

As a general rule, I am attracted to artists/artworks that pack more than a knock knock joke's punchline. I'm interested in learning more about what a piece is conveying when it exudes independence in thought and voice. I respect artwork that speaks eloquently for itself and isn't reliant on a trend or accompanying catalog. Generally, I am drawn to artists who redefine the medium they work with so that the medium may work specifically with them.

What is the mission of Art and what can we learn from Art History?

I had a conversation with one of my artists today about what it means to be an artist. It climaxed in him telling me, "Making art doesn't always make me happy. Its just what I was born to do."

If open, inquisitive and patient, one can learn all he/she needs to know from Art History... But it is Art History's philosophical conundrums that keeps someone creating. There's still answers to be conceived through Art and that's a sufficient enough reason for a true artist to donate their life to trying to communicating them.

What is your connection to Berlin and how did you come up with the idea to open an annex in Berlin?

Over the past few years, my gallery has developed very sincere and rewarding long term ties to the international art communities in St Petersburg/Russia, Istanbul/Turkey, Madrid/Spain and Basel/Switzerland. We’ve been lucky to be a part of an unifying international circuit of galleries who are in business not for the money but primarily for the love of art. Gaining the experience, exposure and absorbing the culture throughout the greater "Art World" gives my artists the tools and knowledge to communicate more universally through their work.

Stepping out of your own front yard is important to any career but learning from the experiences/people met along the way is more important. It is the knowledge gained that informs the art/curation, not the notches in the resume. The contemporary art communities in Berlin and Shanghai were places my artists and I felt great admiration for and energy pulsating from. This September, we opened up EAST/WEST (a six month project) in Berlin and created three installations for an exhibit at Oriental Pearl Tower in Shanghai.

What do you think of Berlin as an Art capital comparison to NY?

They are very different in every way and are defined by the characteristics that make them so unalike. Thank goodness for that.


How did you get in touch with Gallery Homeland and Portland Artists and how does it feel working with a Guest curator?

I've known Paul Middendorf from Gallery Homeland for several years. The gallery curation is fairly straightforward, East Coast artists are selected by me, West Coast artists are selected by Paul. Interestingly enough, the Brooklyn artists I selected for EAST/WEST tend to create works that emanate nature as a theme in one way or another while Paul selected Portland artists who are generally inspired by urban landscapes and issues.

Each exhibit at EAST/WEST includes at least one Berlin artist (and often their gallery). In the past, I have found working with other galleries (guest curating artists) has led to relationships that I am honored to hold close long after the exhibition closes. It is my goal and hope that this is true of the professional and personal relationships begun in Berlin over the next few months.

What is the premise of "the East West Project", how is it financed and what are the expectations for it?

EAST/WEST Berlin is the pilot for a 6 month project that everyone involved foresees/is working towards building into a continuing program. It currently is being financed equally by me and by Gallery Homeland. The next incarnation of EAST/WEST is positioned to have space donated and more private sponsorship.

What kind of issues are addressed by your artists?

My artists address issues that are current, timeless and clearly articulated within their art. I support causes and artists I feel contribute meaningful discourse to the advancement of art. My attention is dedicated to those who are saying things no one else has completely said, who's places in art history are not accessory, who have a contribution that is only theirs to offer.


For how long will the project run and how has it been received in the Berlin art scene and what are the art trends there?

EAST/WEST Berlin runs from Sept 19, '09 thru April 1, '10. We have had our doors open for six days so it is impossible to discuss how we've been received just yet. Likewise, as a newbie just immersed here in Berlin as of last week, I'm among the last among the crowd to have a viable or insightful opinion on trends this early in my tenure here.


Can we expect a project in Portland by Dam Stuhltrager?

All is possible if it is wanted enough.

How has the new economy influenced the international Art world?

Artists should be and are inspired by other things than the market.

What is in next for your gallery?

Beyond our homebase in Brooklyn and EAST/WEST in Berlin, my gallery currently has artists exhibiting or installing at The Oriental Pearl Tower in Shanghai, The Moscow Biennial, The Mills Building in San Francisco and The Hunterdon Museum in New Jersey.

Anything else you’d like to share?

The EAST/WEST Project is online
at http://www.damstuhltrager.com/east_west.html

As well, we have a facebook page heavy with photos so its easy to virtually visit our exhibits in Germany from America

at http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/profile.php?id=100000238313482&ref=profile



Dam, Stuhltrager Gallery
38 Marcy Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11211

www.damstuhltrager.com
info@damstuhltrager.com

Interview with J. Shea

PDX Art interview with J. Shea



Did you always feel the call to be an artist ?

I've always enjoyed creating.......I studied illustration because I thought it might give me a better chance to work in the arts........that was my goal..............and still is.........make a living making art......weather its commercial.......personal........whatever......lock some skills in and
earn while being creative.........
after gigs in illustration.........sneaker design........puppet fabrication........and rock poster art, I began to focus more on my own ideas for personal art...........combining painting, sculpture, assemblage and installation........

Do you consider your self an urban artist and what is an urban artist?

no.....not really........i have done a fair amount street art in cities i've lived in..........but that kind of work i do is very subtle..........as i paint with brushes in lone corners of the city......its not like graffiti or wheat pasting ,where folks are "getting up" to be seen.......i just do little street paintings in my neighborhood.......you really have to look for them.......but its fun to go out at night and paint...........there's enough visual stimulation already with advertising.........sometimes when you see a little original painting mixed in.....it makes you smile.....i hope.....


urban artist.....? i always thought it was someone who had roots in graffiti...........or some other form of street art.........i know many artist's who consider themselves "post graph"....
and they are amazing painters..............though i've never heard them consider themselves "urban artist".......even though they still go out and paint at night.......i think a gallery curator came up with that label.............





Even though you paint beautifully I see that you like to work with sculpture ?

For the past few years I've been focused on "my style of sculpture"........combining assemblage, found objects and clay modeling........because I enjoy all those forms of art............and felt no one was really combining all those mediums...........i love painting too.........but its limiting in many ways.......i guess i want there to more dimension to my work.....plus the process in making the sculpture is alot more involved ............i really enjoy its process......


Where do you find the unique pieces for them?
I enjoy the process of scavenging through flea markets,thrift stores,and yard sales looking for junk........mostly old things.......broken and forgotten..........but they still have an essence of craft and quality to me.........maybe because most things made today are plastic and disposable....
made with no attention to detail or craftsmanship..............nothing is handed down like an old tool,toy or record .......its just thrown away.......


What inspires you?

These places I look also offer a form of inspiration of me.......much like museums,galleries,and art books.........but in order to find the real gems you have dig deep.........and get your hands dirty..........its like looking for great old records........you gotta dig through the crates.......they are not always sitting on top..............it takes a little work to find the good stuff...........inspiration is everywhere.........it comes in all forms........



You seem to prefer your sculpture as wall pieces?

My idea behind the wall hanging work is to open peoples minds to sculpture........most folks think that only collectors buy sculpture.......so I try to make people comfortable with sculpture.........and price it reasonably.........so folks can buy into the idea.........it can hang on a wall just like a painting......but theres a bit more to it dimensionally......I think sculpture gets a bad rap sometimes.........but its nice to make art that people can look at for while and see something new every time they take new look...........



You describe your Art as purely "analog", what do you mean by that
and do you see a need for artists to preserve historical art practices?

by "analog"..... i just mean.......its all "hand made"....with manual equipment.....i don't use computers as a tool in any of my work.......aside from the fillmore poster work ......i don't make prints.......or molds of pieces.........when you see one of my pieces its handmade by me.........and its one of kind........thats the way i perfer to work......in a studio with good natural light and with manual tools......computers programs are not for me...even with my illustration,sneaker design,& puppet work.......its all analog.......all hand drawn.......hand crafted..........


i feel its essential for artists to preserve historical art practices........the computer is an amazing tool........but it can make some young creatives very lazy.......we need to work at drawing.........color theory.......composition.......draftmenship..........the computer can't think for us..........its a tool to help us.......but we need to learn the foundations first and foremost..............and experiment and pass down the historic art practices............its vital for the future.......



Your Sculptures are more than decoration and seem to tell a story. What are the main concerns you are addressing?


i work in narratives.........each piece is a little story.........i create collections ......each collection has themes that vary.........


a lot of my work is sorting through junk and found objects to come up with an idea.........thats works within the collection theme.......


sometimes the objects are camouflaged........other times they are easily noticed........but still works within the narrative..........


my goal is to evoke a feeling..........of something very familiar from the past........but contemporary at the same time.......



What are the Ghosts that haunt your memory?

the "ghost's collection" was based on something i had been experiencing at the time.........a struggle with status....relationships........technology...society.... my art and its direction............


those pieces are personal narratives..........my way of dealing with those issues.......in my life at the time.........


i'm very fortunate to have my art as a release..........when many of us can not express ourselves in that form...........



What is ideologically an American and who's is an American in your eyes?

"American folk" was another collection of work i produced after a cross-country trip...........i've been fortunate through my design work to travel.....throughout asia.......europe........and central America..........but some of the most fascinating places i've visited are right here in this country.........the idea was to travel collecting
bits and pieces for new works........inspired by the trip.........and it was amazing.........but over the years.........our country is slowly becoming more homogenized....
and its breaking down cultures..........our idea of the small little town with the general store...... post office.......coffee shop... barbershop...... is disappearing......its becoming 7 eleven......target......kinkos.......gap.....supercuts...&..ikea..........the little run mom & pop shop is disappearing.......and the corporate shadow is covering everything.........its removing the individual spirit of the many cultures that this country is built on........


Americans are all around us........in my eyes they are the ones that keep an open mind.........and are not afraid to express their thoughts......
my favorites are the ones who rock their own style..........disregarding societies uniforms...........



You have lots of amazing artist friends. Is their a kind of Brother hood that looks out for each other and do you see your self as part of a silent or loud Art revolution?

i've been fortunate to meet and work with some amazing creatives.......over the years.......at one point a group of us met in one city and formed a small collective.......but its important for artists to support each other..........in numbers we have power........its also essential to collaborate with other creatives.........its how new idea's form.......and styles grow..........


i'm not sure about a revolution...but there is certainly a new movement of art happening......it's much more of an open playing field for exhibiting work.......when it used to be very limiting...........if your expertise was from the fields of illustration,graffiti,tattoo,sign painting,graphic design,pin striping,set design,etc.......it was never welcomed in a true gallery setting.........thats been changing over the last decade or so.........and new galleries have opened with new curators and new ideas towards art.........my work has been exhibited by a few of these curators & galleries.........and i've been fortunate .......but i'm certainly not one of the trail blazers of the movement............i'm just happy to exhibit work.......not long ago........it was extremely difficult to have a gallery exhibit your work.............i'm very thank full


What are your thoughts on commercial sponsorship?

i guess i never refer to it as sponsorship............i mean........i've always done commercial work........so when the fillmore commissions a poster,or a sneaker company wants some designs.........or a production company needs some puppets made..........its all work to me..........i hope its creative.........and not heavily art directed.....
but i take pride in my work.......and i get payed........every now and then........there is a sponsorship opportunity.........and if i have an opportunity to add my style of art and the company has good ethics...........i'm down...........scion is one company i enjoy working with.........they always let me rock my style..........they never art direct.....or ask me to paint or sculpt an automobile.........the love to foster creative expression..........and they are a great group of folks........they have been nothing but supportive of my personal art.............


What is your involvement with the Scion installation tour?
I lived in Los Angeles for 3 years and while I was exhibiting work at lab 101 gallery......... run by Freddi C........a great artist in her own right......I met her husband.........who worked for scion........so 2 years ago he asked if I could create a sculpture for the tour......with the theme........"it's a beautiful world" in mind.........for the 2007-2008 tour..........


this year they asked me to paint a self portrait.............for the tour..........they are an amazing group of curators @ scion.........they truly foster creative expression...........they pay you to create a piece for their tour.......which travels to 9 U.S. cities...........and ends in Los Angeles at their huge installation space..........where they auction off the work to a charity...........last year they picked Yoskay Yamamoto's and my charity "art from scrap" and raised 50 k for them..............pretty dope.......


they invite the artists to 3 shows a year as well.........Miami, during art Basel........NYC......and Los Angeles..........they even let me curate a show at their Los Angeles space which is 5000 sq. ft.....................scion is a great supporter of the arts........


the tour will be coming to Portland this year........during first Thursday in august @ igloo gallery and 2 adjoining galleries........my good friend Bryon Schroeder runs Igloo..........and it was scion's way to pay it back to artist run/supported galleries in Portland.........
for more info. on the tour.......check.....


http://www.scion.com/installation



What would make you happy to see happening in the World during your life time?



it would be nice to see our new leadership create some positive energy in this country again..........we are a country that is hated in many parts of the world.......


it would be nice to if we could all look after one another.........as a global community.........and work together to solve our problems........


hopefully we are moving in the right direction now.............


What other projects are you you into?
i'm not sure if i mentioned the fact that i own a coffee house with my girl keiko.......and we've been having art shows there since January.......

here is our little blog.......
http://www.pdxfinegrind.com


if you are in the portland area.........feel free to drop by and check it out.........
also
just wanted to let you know that tina from huntandgatherart.com in london re-posted this interview.........


http://www.huntandgatherart.com


tina is an old friend..........she is deeply emersed in the street art scene..........the pop surealism art scene........and the new underground movement.....


she's been running this blog for a few years now........and has run galleries in los angeles......barcelona and now london........


her book........'hunt and gather " will be released this fall........with art from 40 diverse creatives from around the world.......we'll be puting on a
launch and book signing event here in portland this winter for it........


just thought i'd fill you in......


j.




sincerely........

j.shea & keiko okuda



sincerely........


j.shea




thanks for your time


Richard

Interview with Skinner

Hi
thanks for doing this
I love your new show at fifty24PDX


here are a few questions

What do think of labels such as artist
and do you feel you belong to a tradition or is what you do something totally new?The label artist is just a practical term that people have romanticised...and i consider myself to be putting my cultural and emotional experiences into a tradition of interpretation...an interpretation of the world, the struggles within it and creating a mythology around our time and space.





Do you have any interest in Art history and who would be a fore runner to the type of art you create?I love art history! I think its incredibly important to recognise the continuum of things as well as a chronology of artistic zeitgeists and how they evolve...to watch the ebb and flow of art within culture and then to decide if i will be apart of it or rebel against it...right now i feel that mankind should end. my concepts are antagonistic of what is comfortable to people but my art style is definitely pallatable...i like to pull them in and then affect them when they are not expecting it.




I see a lots of mythological symbolism what are your artistic inspirations?Through a kind of alternate reality that is both absurd and terrifying, show people how obviously more absurd and terifying our world is....and it truly is in so many ways....





Your art seems loaded with messages is your intention to educate or to entertain?I dont want to be on a preachy soap box and i do love to entertain...there is always a funny and easier way to get people to see things that are fucked up, and they in turn are more responsive to the idea that things could be better if its not forced down their throat!



Their is theme of worry running through the imagery. What are your greatest fears for humanity and your greatest hopes?I have no hope for humanity...im not sad about it i just know that we are a global community of comfort...we like to be accomodated to an extreme detail...even if that means that other people/ animals have to suffer greatly to provide that...I would love to say that if we all pitched in and did what we had to to make things sustainable i would be stoked! and I would but its not going to happen...selfishness and convenience are the hallmark of our world...you either have it or you dont...and Im not even a negative person I have just accepted it...I know I am apart of the problem too...im a person taking up space, driving around, wearing clothes that were made by some one working under substandard conditions and thats the least of it. But i still choose to do what i can to help because I dont give up and I still see beauty in the world and recognise that for what it is...





Lots of your show titles deal with man and beast or versus beast. What are we in a religious sense?I see religion as the single most inhibitive element to man kind's mental and emotional evolution...i dont understand why people dont see that anything we do is going to be wrought with control and power...and that is what we do to each other...the ego of human kind is the single worst element of our existence...its where wars, oppression, racism, control, and all divisive behavior comes from...




Your art is visually very stunning and stimulating also shocking. What are your intention in regard to your audience. Like do you try to shock them awaken them to or from something?yes i try to make horrible things hard to turn away from...to make beautiful what is considered monstrous...i like to create a conflict within the viewer..





Most of your characters are struggling. Who are subconsciously the enemy and who is the friend?i like to make the struggle obvious in a way...or through a narrative...the enemy is usually a larger more oppressive figure and the others are smaller and rebelling in some way..





What does psychedelic mean to you and do you think altered states of mind are pivotal in under standing
ourselves?psychedelic to me is a reality more intensely infused with color and image...so far away from where we are that there is something psychic or psychosis inducing about it...to be traveling in thought and to lose all reconition of one's self as it is tethered to our shared reality. and i feel like tearing an average mind from our shared reality is pivotal in them examining who they could be, who they are and who they have been...the grid of mental oppresion is overwhelming and vast...to navigate through it is hard as you must unlearn the conditions of your life...the socialisation of normalcy as it relates to our submission must be forgotten or destroyed.





I see some anger issues in your work. Do you have personal experience with it and how do you deal with it besides your artistic practice?i was shown anger in many terrifying and deliberate ways...it has plagued me my whole life as well as some other abhorrant learned behaviors...i put myself into anger management so that i could live in peace and enjoy happiness...i feel very good now..my friends and loved ones have been very supportive of me as i have learned how to better negotiate my sense of justice...these questions are very good...very intuitive..





Your new show is titled shadows of the unrealm. What are you revering too?I consider our real world as kind of an unrealm...we have everything we could possibly hope for or want and yet beauty pageants for five year olds just dont seem like a bad idea for us...it kind of mirrors the absurdities of our values as a whole...the unrealm...where anything stupid can happen...in a place where anything beautiful and freeing will be shut down...





There is also more use of collage. Is this a new element and what inspired you to use pre-vab images?I would go to thrift stores and see pictures of people or their families and just wonder how a picture of someone that was loved could end up among some junk...and i sort of see that as how we live...nothing is too sacred and i just capitalised on this by absorbing these pictures of abandoned people and integrated them into my world where they are welcome and important...they are in my family now...my ridiculous family.





Last but not least. There are lots of erotic and homo erotic references in this exhibit. What moved you to do so and what's the message in regard to sex and society? sexual roles are a completely socialized construction...what is masculine looks very much the same person to person...it is a program by which we live...as well as femin inity...we fulfill these roles as they make us feel...comfortable or happy...when people deviate from their appropriated sexual duties ( become gay)...it seems they then take on another role....patterns start to emerge...but if you took away sexual roles...you would just have people...people having sex with whomever they like...dependant on their attachment to the other person as a being and not a sexual object...



Thank you! this was a very thoughtful interview i appreciate your time and energy!!!

Art Lit: Interview with Mike Bray & Dan Gilsdorf

SRO Video: Guys Doing Guy Things
April 7 - May 14, 2009


SRO Video: Guys Doing Guy Things
Oregon Artists: Mike Bray, Dan Gilsdorf, Mack McFarland and Stephen Slappe.

more info at
http://www.marylhurst.edu/theartgym/2009srovideo.php

SRO Video features work that goes beyond single channel video - it is video that combines projected images, installation and sculpture. You explore on your feet, rather than view from a seat. Stephen Slappe is creating a four-channel, four-wall projection of travelers on a remote road in rural Oregon. Mack McFarland is interested in ideas of utopia and dystopia and has been conducting and recording interviews in supermarket parking lots and street corners around the state. Dan Gilsdorf's works include a tiny video camera and model train, and burning trees as seen on stacked televisions. Mike Bray's installations use a combination of video and sculpture to conflate real and cinematic space.



Interview with Dan Gilsdorf

This is an all male show
How was that experience? Like how do you deal with sharing the spot light
and do you think working with female artists would be different and if yes in which way?
First of all, I should state that the curator, Terri Hopkins, did not have an all male show in mind when she started out. She intended to put together a group of works that related to the Sesquicentennial Film Festival and, as it turned out, all the works she chose were by men. The exhibition was not collaborative and all the installations were in progress before they were selected for the show. None of our work would have been any different had there been any other exhibitors (female or otherwise). As for the spotlight, Terri has put together a strong and cohesive show and I am very proud to be included.

If you had to introduce your artistic practice to a greater public how would you describe it?
Generally I see myself as a sculptor, that is; one who makes objects. I am interested in the relations between mass, space, time, and content, so I try to create works that relate to all of these realms.

Video has become the darling of the art world the last few years. Is it financially a sustainable medium and what does the future hold for it?
I’d say that video is pretty solidly within the canon of the fine arts at this point. In western culture video images are inundating the visual landscape at every level, and video technology, like all technology, is getting cheaper and cheaper. All things considered, I feel pretty comfortable stating that it is now cheaper to be a video artist than it is to be a painter. At the same time, considering the environmental impact of the technology and industrial infrastructure that video requires this may change.

Has our reality become more artificial and will lead this to an evolution of the Human experience or to it's demise?
Reality by definition is not artificial. However, in the western world the human experience has come to be dominated by mediated information. Information comes to us by means of communications technology that acts as a filter. For the purpose of dissemination, content is translated into a medium and translated back into human experience at the receiving end. This is not a new phenomenon. The written word--indeed language itself--is a communications technology, just the same as a video streaming over a high-speed wireless internet connection. As such, there are sacrifices to its use; i.e., the breach of meaning between a thought and a word. But, as any reader of fiction knows, these language technologies also allow the communication of profound subtleties. An example is metaphor, a device that cannot exist without language. In this case it is the technology of language that allows for a more profound expression of meaning.

Since now the technologies of communication (digital technology in specific) are also generative, maybe the human experience is becoming LESS artificial. The message at the receiving end has NOT been translated; it is EXACTLY like the original in every way or, more accurately, it is a de facto original!
Using technology seems a logical way of presenting a subject. What attracted you to it and do you see it necessary to convey your message?
For me it is about the image. I am a sculptor, but my work tends to incorporate images, and video is one way of doing so. Image technologies relay information, but they also contain their own content that they add to a work.

Do you expect the audience to play a participatory role?
I really consider viewing artwork as a participatory act in general. I don’t believe an artwork can be complete solely within its own corpus. Art finds its true completion in relation to the subjectivity that is the consciousness of a viewer, by engaging a viewer’s memories, emotions, intellect, etc. Therefore, in any work of art, be it a painting, film, or piece of music, the viewers’ charge is to consider, and thereby realize the artwork.

What is your goal or and message?
In this show, my goal was to use video images to evoke mass within space and time along with a certain sense of place. My hope was that viewers might experience these images in a visceral way, similar to the way one experiences mass and time out in the world. My thinking on this is related to my conception of the sublime. If the sublime can be defined as a situation in which one experiences both the perceptible and the incomprehensible simultaneously, I was trying to create a situation where the perception of an image would be analogous to real experience in three dimensions.
Also, of course, the content of the images I used relates to a kind of visual regionalism, a reference to a particular landscape and culture.

The films deal and play here in OR. What makes this region so original to live in and for an artist?
I am not a native and the reasons I came here had nothing to do with my being an artist so it’s hard for me to say. But, I can say that it is a great place to be an artist and a great place to live. Many of the regional or cultural themes that my work has always dealt with apply here, so it seems like a good fit.

Are you aspirations to be a film makers or conceptual artists which label would you feel most comfortable?
See above.

Would you do another collaboration and what is next for you?
This show was not a collaborative endeavor. However, I’m very happy to be among these artists. They are very skilled and I consider them my friends.

Anything else you want to share?
No, gracias.








Interview with Mike Bray

This is an all male show. How was that experience? Like how do you deal
with sharing the spot light and do you think working with female artists would be different and if yes in which way?
I enjoy working with other artist, male or female, and am always
fascinated to see how the work interacts. A group show acts as more of an
ensemble cast of work where different elements of your work can arise
because of the interaction between pieces. You get to know your work in a
new way so it is really challenging and eye opening.


If you had to introduce your artistic practice to a greater public how
would you describe it?
My work investigates our relationship with cinema. I move between single
channel video, video installation, photo, and objects, but the common
thread is an exploration of the cinematic as a spectacle. I grew up as
kind of a film buff and started making work to find out what made
cinematic moments such a big part of me.


Video has become the darling of the art world the last few years. Is it
financially a sustainable medium and what does the future hold for it?
As long as there are questions that video can ask that painting, drawing,
or another medium can’t, it is an important medium and has room for
critical inquiry. As a medium, video installation has been commercially
viable since the 60s and I believe it will continue to do so. I am not
sure that I think financial sustainability is an appropriate way to give
it value as a discipline though. Screens are omnipresent and it would be
disheartening to think that we would stop asking questions because of
commerce.


Has our reality become more artificial and will lead this to an evolution
of the Human experience or to it's demise?
I’m not sure if I would categorize it as an evolution or demise, but I do
see it as move towards an artificial. I believe that screen culture, or
media experience through cinema, television, or the Internet is in some
sense reprogramming us. It is why I think it is important to explore how
they operate and create desire in the viewer.


Using technology seems a logical way of presenting a subject. What
attracted you to it and do you see it necessary to convey your message?
My subject attracted me to the use of technology. I’m interested in films
and memories and where the lines start to blur. In order to explore the
blurring it is a necessary evil that I use screens, the moving image,
sound, and so on.


Do you expect the audience to play a participatory role?
Not necessarily participatory, but I hope that my work is challenging and
raises questions.


What is your goal or and message?
To create critical viewers


The films deal and play here in OR. What makes this region so original to
live in and for an artist?
My work is not Oregon specific, but I think the Northwest is a great place
to make work. The proximity of San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, and
Vancouver means that you are bound to find an audience for your work.

Are you aspirations to be a filmmakers or conceptual artists which label
would you feel most comfortable?
Conceptual artist.

Would you do another collaboration and what is next for you?I didn’t feel that this show was necessarily a collaboration but I would
be interested in doing one in the future.

The Interview

The Interview

What is the interview but a secular confession booth. It’s not about the biography who cares where you where born or what your fathers profession was.
The question is can there be any dirt found, a crack in the façade revealed, an emotion exposed or a secret unlocked, a phrase elicited or a hidden pain reopened.
Revelation is the name of the game and nakedness the goal.

We start with a lie to capture the truth. We ask in a non-threatening way to throw out the net of entrapment over self-indulgence.
We let them ramble to catch them in their tracks. We layout complements as baits and hope they get hooked on the sweet poison.

Everybody wants to know if Damien is really a bad boy or just a clown with an attitude; has Gus van Sant spine or is he all crumbled inside; is Cate Blanchet an ice queen or does she melt having sex; can Cruise be bribed or is this against his religion. Was Andy Warhol a genius or just a pent up drag queen; had Keith Haring real talent or was he a child that never grew up. No matter the star old or new, dead or alive we love to hear some dirt on them.

The first question is the key to some ones “Bank of Trust”.
If the interview is with a legend it’s most important to start with a compliment on one of their more recent projects don’t go back to far that makes them feel old.
A fresh face needs a different tactic maybe a reverence on their looks to build their confidence to give a sign that one isn’t out to skin them.

A man likes to talk about his awards if he got some, a woman about her family life if she has kids.
An artist gets going about his social impact of his work, a play write is all words and meaning and an actor likes to be ask what he’s wearing while a model likes to talk rock roll.
Always ask about what they love first the negative will worm itself out in the process.
Mix it up with questions about fashion and spirituality keep them guessing what you will ask next maybe dip into meta physics or what they think about preserving the environment.
Go for the kill when they least expect it and confront them with gossip about them and confess your empathy with them about the plight of stardom, the bad press or crazy groupies.
Play the shadow game to appear as the confidant, the only friend during their 15 minutes of fame.
Don’t be impatient with the platitude and self-reverential anecdotes. Nod a lot and say that you agree don’t fall into the trap by offering your own life as example. They don’t care about your story at all.
Stay ahead your story in your thought process while pretending to be attentive.
Than switch gears to politics and the latest war from the right or left to their childhood and all of a sudden you got them where you want them.
The Barbara Walters moment is I only going to be two more well aimed questions away.
Start with probing for the autobiographical aspects in their work and ask if they feel a cathartic release during their creative process. All of a sudden the yarn unravels and the truth unzips their metal package.
The abusive mother or father competes with overbearing exes or loss of any kind will jump onto the minds screen like the devil in disguise of a shrink and tears are the reward for your patience and tactics.
Now you can offer condolence about the experience of loss in their past and the loss of dignity on their rise to fame. Out of nowhere they seem to realize that they paid a huge price and self-pity will pave the way for more confessions.
Make clear that from now on everything they say will be confidential but keep on making notes.
The box is open and all the deceitful goodies will fall into your lab to sell your story to the highest bidder and still makes for compelling reading.
Finally we can identify and burry our envy we harbor when we see their faces on super market tabloids and finally we can see ourselves wearing their designer shoes even if the size doesn’t fit.
All of a sudden Angelina seems vulnerable, Britney more desperate even with all her millions, Jen’s body less hot, Eva’s face less glowing and Jeff Koons less successful.
Underneath the fame is human pain proving that we are all the same below the money belt.
We are all “Wanna-bes”; we want to be adored and protected all at once.

R. Schemmerer