Art Space Talk: William Brovelli
William Brovelli's work is centered in exploring the possibilities that arise from mass production on an individual level and its accumulative results. William has created over 40 thousand hand drawn pen/ink figures as material for his works on canvas. The figures range in size from one sixteenth of an inch to 3Ft. These arrangements illustrate the idea of humans as objects which are grouped, categorized, arranged, displayed and observed.
Brian Sherwin: William, tell us about your early artistic experiences. Where did you study? When did you decide to pursue art for the long-term?
William Brovelli: My earliest experiences would have to be public television, programs like Electric company set images in my mind that remain an underlying framework and I believe this is true for most artists. In our time, Video games have been a stronger influence than art school, at least on a sub level. I studied commercial art under Douglas Bradway in Mass. I decided to pursue art for the long-term at around age 29.
BS: William, you live and work in Manhattan. I understand that you are not originally from there. Why did you decided to move to Manhattan and how has that experience influenced you as an artist?
WB: I am from Western Mass. originally and for me it was a kind of purgatory. The energy in N.Y. is conducive to my way of working and the idea of being a little fish in a vast ocean is a great thing because it puts one in a position to really get things done on many levels, the possibilities are endless in a large city.
BS: William, in your statement you explain that your work is centered on exploring the possibilities that arise from mass production on an individual level and the accumulative results that stem from it. Can you go into further detail about this?
WB: In my 20's I did a lot of factory work and when I think of influence, This was the biggest. I would be locked into a machine on an average of 12 hours a day and I learned that in a narrowed format, humans are hard wired to deviate from a path of repetition and this is a major component of the creative experience, I think that boredom is an underestimated factor in creativity as well. There is an evolution of the image that happens when we work. Every time we create an image, the form is set in our minds and as we have learned that no two forms of matter can occupy the same space at the same time and I believe that this condition happens mentally as well, The mind will move to the next frame as the evolution continues.
BS: So would you say that the core of your work is about how people have become a number, another face, just another cog in the industrial wheel, so to speak? Is there an anti-industrialization or anti-consumerism aspect to your work?
WB: Humans are cogs! There are many wheels and many levels, all working just the way they are meant to. There is no anti-system in my work and as humans we are by nature consumers and producers.
BS: You have created over 40,000 hand drawn pen and ink figures that you use as material for works on canvas. When you first started creating these figures did you plan to use them on canvas-- or did your utilization of canvas evolve from your artistic practice in general?
WB: When I developed this approach to working, My focus was on the individual figure primarily. I eliminated background and color, scaled down the size of the figure and worked in pen/ink so that the results would be immediate, so as to cover more ground fast. The canvases came later as a way of display, I originally wanted to keep them in book format but decided to allow the canvas to act as a page or a screen.
BS: William, can you tell us about that process-- the addition of the figures to the canvas? Perhaps you have some advice for others who plan to use works on paper atop canvas?
WB: For a couple of years now, I had felt that working on large canvas was wasteful, an unnecessary step in an age of the virtual but I have come to realize that the object will always have its place especially in regards to architecture. So the act of the craft remains intact for me. One interesting result that occurs when working with cut paper on canvas is the initial isolation of each individual form and the visual outcome that occurs when the images are grouped. This outcome is unique to collage. I could draw or paint the figures onto the canvas but the overall result would be a loss of a true replication of a mass interaction.
BS: What do you enjoy most about using pen and ink as a medium?
WB: The immediacy!
BS: It is obvious that the use of the human figure is important to you. What do you enjoy most about the figure in general? Within the context of you work... why does the human figure serve as the most important symbol that you utilize?
WB: Humans like to view humans first and foremost, so it will always be a firmly positioned form in art. It is a familiar image so as a base it can be expanded on infinitely and still retain its reference point.
BS: William, tell us more about your studio practice. What kind of routine do you follow? What are the conditions you need in order to create? Do you work in private or do you enjoy company?
WB: I work every day without exception. At this point in my life I work an average of 12 hours a day on my art. Before moving to the city, I worked 1.5 jobs so that only left an average of 4 hours daily which I had maintained for the past 7 years. Working in pen and ink is lo-fi , so this helps eliminate strict conditions. I work in private.
BS: What is the Filler Figures Project?
WB: This project consists of drawing a base image, which I call a filler figure, and repeating this figure by hand in sequence until Dec. 2008 when the project will end. The figures will be cut out and arranged on 6- 6'x6' canvases aprox. 5,500 figs. per canvas. What the results will be is a visual mapping of a changing pattern within repetition . The accumulative nature of things is a subject that is also tied into this and other projects that are under way and slated for viewing over the next four years. So I guess I remain in my factory after all.
BS: Where do you plan to exhibit these works? Do you have a location worked out? Do you ever have open studio exhibits?
WB: I am currently working on gallery representation. As I'm sure you know, this is not an easy task and it is especially hard being a new comer to the city but I do have some good leads. I am targeting Chelsea (of course). I am pretty good at net working so I will do what I need to do. I have done private studio visits only.
BS: The factory... is that a place-- a state of mind --that you want to remain in with your work? It seems that you find a sense of joy within an environment that most people view as mundane. Is that part of your goal-- to show the life and energy that can be discovered in tasks that involve repetition? Philosophically speaking, do you think there will eventually be a time when you close the factory doors for good, so to speak?
WB: At this point the factory is a state of mind. I have found that too much freedom is not such a good thing. Restrictions breed interesting results and resistance is a key factor in anything of worth. As far as the factory doors closing, I guess that will happen when I am dead. ( Not philosophically speaking).
BS: Finally, is there anything else you would like to say about your art?
Brian Sherwin: William, tell us about your early artistic experiences. Where did you study? When did you decide to pursue art for the long-term?William Brovelli: My earliest experiences would have to be public television, programs like Electric company set images in my mind that remain an underlying framework and I believe this is true for most artists. In our time, Video games have been a stronger influence than art school, at least on a sub level. I studied commercial art under Douglas Bradway in Mass. I decided to pursue art for the long-term at around age 29.
BS: William, you live and work in Manhattan. I understand that you are not originally from there. Why did you decided to move to Manhattan and how has that experience influenced you as an artist?
WB: I am from Western Mass. originally and for me it was a kind of purgatory. The energy in N.Y. is conducive to my way of working and the idea of being a little fish in a vast ocean is a great thing because it puts one in a position to really get things done on many levels, the possibilities are endless in a large city.
BS: William, in your statement you explain that your work is centered on exploring the possibilities that arise from mass production on an individual level and the accumulative results that stem from it. Can you go into further detail about this?
WB: In my 20's I did a lot of factory work and when I think of influence, This was the biggest. I would be locked into a machine on an average of 12 hours a day and I learned that in a narrowed format, humans are hard wired to deviate from a path of repetition and this is a major component of the creative experience, I think that boredom is an underestimated factor in creativity as well. There is an evolution of the image that happens when we work. Every time we create an image, the form is set in our minds and as we have learned that no two forms of matter can occupy the same space at the same time and I believe that this condition happens mentally as well, The mind will move to the next frame as the evolution continues.
BS: So would you say that the core of your work is about how people have become a number, another face, just another cog in the industrial wheel, so to speak? Is there an anti-industrialization or anti-consumerism aspect to your work?
WB: Humans are cogs! There are many wheels and many levels, all working just the way they are meant to. There is no anti-system in my work and as humans we are by nature consumers and producers.
BS: You have created over 40,000 hand drawn pen and ink figures that you use as material for works on canvas. When you first started creating these figures did you plan to use them on canvas-- or did your utilization of canvas evolve from your artistic practice in general?
WB: When I developed this approach to working, My focus was on the individual figure primarily. I eliminated background and color, scaled down the size of the figure and worked in pen/ink so that the results would be immediate, so as to cover more ground fast. The canvases came later as a way of display, I originally wanted to keep them in book format but decided to allow the canvas to act as a page or a screen.
BS: William, can you tell us about that process-- the addition of the figures to the canvas? Perhaps you have some advice for others who plan to use works on paper atop canvas?
WB: For a couple of years now, I had felt that working on large canvas was wasteful, an unnecessary step in an age of the virtual but I have come to realize that the object will always have its place especially in regards to architecture. So the act of the craft remains intact for me. One interesting result that occurs when working with cut paper on canvas is the initial isolation of each individual form and the visual outcome that occurs when the images are grouped. This outcome is unique to collage. I could draw or paint the figures onto the canvas but the overall result would be a loss of a true replication of a mass interaction.
BS: What do you enjoy most about using pen and ink as a medium?
WB: The immediacy!
BS: It is obvious that the use of the human figure is important to you. What do you enjoy most about the figure in general? Within the context of you work... why does the human figure serve as the most important symbol that you utilize?
WB: Humans like to view humans first and foremost, so it will always be a firmly positioned form in art. It is a familiar image so as a base it can be expanded on infinitely and still retain its reference point.
BS: William, tell us more about your studio practice. What kind of routine do you follow? What are the conditions you need in order to create? Do you work in private or do you enjoy company?
WB: I work every day without exception. At this point in my life I work an average of 12 hours a day on my art. Before moving to the city, I worked 1.5 jobs so that only left an average of 4 hours daily which I had maintained for the past 7 years. Working in pen and ink is lo-fi , so this helps eliminate strict conditions. I work in private.
BS: What is the Filler Figures Project?
WB: This project consists of drawing a base image, which I call a filler figure, and repeating this figure by hand in sequence until Dec. 2008 when the project will end. The figures will be cut out and arranged on 6- 6'x6' canvases aprox. 5,500 figs. per canvas. What the results will be is a visual mapping of a changing pattern within repetition . The accumulative nature of things is a subject that is also tied into this and other projects that are under way and slated for viewing over the next four years. So I guess I remain in my factory after all.
BS: Where do you plan to exhibit these works? Do you have a location worked out? Do you ever have open studio exhibits?
WB: I am currently working on gallery representation. As I'm sure you know, this is not an easy task and it is especially hard being a new comer to the city but I do have some good leads. I am targeting Chelsea (of course). I am pretty good at net working so I will do what I need to do. I have done private studio visits only.
BS: The factory... is that a place-- a state of mind --that you want to remain in with your work? It seems that you find a sense of joy within an environment that most people view as mundane. Is that part of your goal-- to show the life and energy that can be discovered in tasks that involve repetition? Philosophically speaking, do you think there will eventually be a time when you close the factory doors for good, so to speak?
WB: At this point the factory is a state of mind. I have found that too much freedom is not such a good thing. Restrictions breed interesting results and resistance is a key factor in anything of worth. As far as the factory doors closing, I guess that will happen when I am dead. ( Not philosophically speaking).
BS: Finally, is there anything else you would like to say about your art?
WB: I hope I have a hundred more years to do what I am doing because I have only scratched the surface.
You can learn more about William Brovelli by visiting his website-- www.williambrovelli.com. You can read more of my interviews by visiting the following page-- www.myartspace.com/interviews
Take care, Stay true,
Brian Sherwin
posted by Balhatain at
3:12 AM
2 Comments:
Thanks again for an interview that enables, an audience whether artists or not, to gain access to the artists working/ developmental creative process.
Although I do comprehend where Williams concerns lie and identify with it, as regards the mass machine age vs. a vs. mass production/ accumulation – I still cannot but help finding the individual drawings in themselves to be what makes this artists work so compelling and fascinating.
I suppose how W. then ''displays' these hundreds and thousands of figures can then say something to us about how we as human beings are "categorized", but it is the quality of his mark making and his sense of poetic imagination that gives his work such depth and resonance.
As an artist myself, I have in a way, similarly, made e.g. installation works where I have included many small figurative elements but I can't help wondering about the nature of the individual figurative forms in themselves.
As in each one of course is different/unique. They are in different poses to begin with - there are very imaginative depictions of all sorts of strange creatures indeed, and depicting or representing many kinds of emotional states.
I am put in mind of artists such as Hieronymus Bosch and Rembrandt and there just is a certain 'gravure' quality to these drawings. I see them as making fantastic printmaking based, artworks. But you have to forgive my slight preoccupation with this technique but I truly mean this in relation to W.’ work.
I also am a "cutter outer" and 'composer' onto other substrates so I can completely identify with Williams process.
I sincerely hope that this artist gains some more recognition of his work, as he truly deserves it.
I guess what has become important to me is Williams' work and the fact that it has caused me a minute or two to stop and reflect on what creatively can be and maybe what creatively may be!
I can appreciate this all into itself! additionally Williams' work causes me to ask myself what am I doing as an artist?
These are all good questions especially!
Brovo to the interview & brovo to William!
Stevens
Post a Comment
<< Home