Art Space Talk: Yeni Mao

Yeni Mao was born in 1971 in Guelph, Canada to Chinese parents. His childhood was spent in the U.S., Sweden, and Taiwan. Currently, he lives and works in New York City. He holds a BFA from The School of The Art Institute of Chicago, and studied bronze casting at Artworks Foundry in Berkeley, CA. He works in painting, drawing, sculpture and installation.

The assembly of images and/or objects, frequently referencing the body and mechanical diagrams, characterizes his work. Natural properties such as mimicry, symmetry, and adaptation are used to investigate larger social issues of extradition, migration, and sexual and cultural hybridism.

Yeni Mao’s work has been exhibited extensively in the U.S. and Asia. Currently his work is featured in SEWN, a traveling exhibition of Chilean and Chinese artists at the Yihaodi International Artbase in Beijing and East Asia Contemporary in Shanghai. His work has also been featured at the Pulse Art Fair.

Once Upon a Time in China 01, Acrylic and pencil on mylar 36² x 24.5², 2007

Brian Sherwin: Yeni, you studied at the Artworks Foundry in Berkeley, Ca... and earned a BFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago, IL. Can you tell us about those years of study? Did you have any influential instructors?

Yeni Mao: The head of the foundry department at SAIC, Carolyn Ottmers, was an incredible influence, not so much in my work, but on how to exist as an artist. Besides the excitement and pyromania of casting metal, her being a woman was important. The departments tended to stick to the stereotypes of what an artist was according to their medium, the sculpture department was full of bearded grunting art jocks. She broke that institutional convention, being a woman in metal casting, so to me she was a star.

After I graduated, I was still doing a lot of painting, but I wanted to continue making sculpture. The only way I could continue to cast bronze on an art school graduate’s income was to actually work in a foundry, that’s when I went to California to Artworks. I learned a lot there, craft takes time to absorb, something often forgotten in the white-collar world of art.

Cluster 02, paper collage, 14² x 17², 2008

BS: Yeni, you were born in Canada to Chinese parents. Your childhood was spent in Sweden, Taiwan, and the United States. How did those early years influence the direction of the work you create today? How did those travels-- and the memory of those travels-- help to guide you in your artistic journey?

YM: Coming up, I was always seen as being from a different culture than that I was immersed in, no matter where I was. These early personal feelings changed, as I got older, into awareness of the political circumstances causing the displacement. There’s been a lot of emphasis on globalism lately, but it’s really been around for a long time. Blocks of people have moved around the world as long as Man has clustered into societies. This kind of exposure developed the world’s cultures into what they are today, though the sources may be lost or confused. And any current strife separates, destroys, and creates new ethnicity's and creeds as it’s done in the past. I think we forget this when we choose to identify in a binary manner, with one camp or the other.

So, this awareness became a large part of my work. I came to realize that conflict made all our histories, that the term "authentic" was in fact a farce. I hate the term "world view", but do think it is an essential part of any artists work. As the art world becomes more and more cross-cultural, it also becomes more nationalistic.

Enlightenment Model, rope, masonry blocks, farmhousedimensions variable, 2007

BS: Yeni, you work in painting, drawing, sculpture and installation. How does one method of expression influence the other? For example, do you learn more about drawing by sculpting... more about sculpting by painting and visa versa? Do you view the use of these mediums as an educational whole, so to speak? Or do you view each individually? In other words, do you have a favored medium?

YM: I don’t have a favorite medium. They definitely inform each other, and come from the same source, an "educational whole". My sculptures I think of more as objects, they’re meant to interact with the viewer, if only in theory, not as pedestal pieces per se. I enjoy the reality of the sculptures, their actuality in real space. This makes them simpler, while still retaining all their content.

2d work, in general, is more about illusion or description, mine follows a more traditional structure of character, scene or portrait. The content is more laid out. The unlimited possibilities of illusion in painting or drawing helps to drive 3d work; but the objects and installation are refined in a manner not possible with a painting, because of the limitations of existing in real space, with gravity and materiality.

Vascular Morphology 01, acrylic on canvas, 2 panels, 40² x 30² ea., 2007

BS: Yeni, you have stated that the assembly of images and/or objects, frequently referencing the body and mechanical diagrams, characterizes your work. You have went on to say that natural properties such as mimicry, symmetry, and adaptation are used to investigate larger social issues of extradition, migration, and sexual and cultural hybridism. Can you go into further detail about the thoughts and philosophy behind your work? Do you adhere to a certain philosophy?

YM: My work is a cohesive body that is working towards one central thematic philosophy. "Working towards" the key, that’s what really drives me to do work in the first place. Basically, I think that our bodies and our nations (American, Gay, Black, whatever) act in the same way, that political and social changes are ruled by the same principles as biological changes. These are pretty rich ingredients, and each of the works or series of works are a particular sort of investigation into this parallel.

Interanal 03, Stainless Steel, Braided hose, 2² x 33², 2007

BS: Can you go into further detail about the social implications of your art?

YM: I actually don’t think my art has social implications, not because I don’t think I address social issues, but because Art is too insular and narcissistic to have social implications. It’s arrogant for the art world to think it’s not. Once art has social implications it’s called media, design, or therapy. I’m sure somebody will take me down for that, but I think having social impact is taking an active role, like feeding the homeless, recycling your pizza box, or taking down a dictator.

BS: What about your process? How do these works come into being? Is there an intuitive aspect regarding their creation?

YM: I’m pretty ruled by intuition, but it’s a balance. The cerebral part comes in to translate for my mind, pushing abstract thoughts into some sort of coherence. It’s a non-literal language. I start out knowing what I want to do, how I want to react to something, but it changes as soon as it starts forming in reality- I constantly have to pull the work back towards my intention. That dialogue is good for me.

There’s a Bad Brains album called "I Against I", and that term pretty much pins it for me. Again, it’s the "working towards’ that’s the key- current work is built on the work before it, and is guided by a chronic obsession with reconciling the disparate images I’m interested in.

System 03, pencil on mylar 24² x 36², 2006

BS: What is the specific message you strive to convey to those who view your art? Is there a message you would like viewers to find... or do you desire that viewers discover a message for themselves through your art?

YM: I’m not going to tell someone what they should take from my work, but I do think it’s a richer experience to either find out what my intentions are, or look at other work of mine for context. What I do want to stay away from is literalness. It’s preachy and corny. If there was a literal message or explanation for every work, then I would have written it. And I’m not that great at writing.

BS: Yeni, what are you working on at this time? Do you have any upcoming exhibits?

YM: I just finished some great collages, and am continuing on the series of paintings inspired by absence of identity. I keep my website pretty updated. Artware Editions is releasing the Chukar Chandelier I did with them, and there will be an accompanying exhibit this summer.

untitled, pencil on mylar, 11² x 17², 2006

BS: Finally, is there anything else you would like to say about your art?

YM: My art rules.

You can learn more about Yeni Mao by visiting his website-- www.yenimao.com. You can read more of my interviews by visiting the following page-- www.myartspace.com/interviews.

Take care, Stay true,

Brian Sherwin

Art Space Talk: David Stromeyer

Throughout David Stromeyer's long career, he has created both outdoor and indoor sculptures, and has also successfully completed many public commissions. David's preferred medium is steel, which he most often fashions into large scale abstract or semi-abstract works. David's work can be found in the collections at DeCordova Museum, National Building Museum, and the National Museum of America Art. His work is also included in several private and corporate collections throughout the United States.

Three, Three, Three, 24' x 14' x 20', painted steel, 2002

Brian Sherwin: David, I read that you fell in love with sculpture as an art major at Dartmouth College. Can you recall your academic years? Who were your mentors during that time?

David Stromeyer: Actually, I started college as a math major, but soon found myself at the other end of campus in the studio art area. I had always been a maker of things—always wanted a bigger erector set. Dartmouth had an active visiting artist program. Donald Judd was there I assisted Jason Seley one semester, and made a film about Richard Anuszkiewicz.

Remembrance, 15' x 16' x 13', painted steel, 1988. Herbert Johnson Museum, Cornell University

BS: I've read that you originally were interested in film. At what point did you decide to focus on your sculptures?

DS: While at Dartmouth as an undergraduate, I worked equally in film and sculpture. Once I dealt with the draft (in was Vietnam time) I went to graduate school in film at UCLA. After working in independent film, writing and trying to sell feature ideas, I decided that I wanted more control of the outcome, and did not want to spend a large percentage of my life selling myself. At that point (I was in Boston) I got on my bike and rode across Canada to think it all over. It was after returning that I bought the farm in Vermont and devoted myself to sculpture.

BS: Early in your career you found a particular resonance with the sculptures of David Smith, Di Suvero, and Noguchi, and you have stated that you have always admired Matisse, Avery, Rothko, and Diebenkorn for their color control and compositional wit. Can you discuss these influences further? Are these influences still rooted in your process? Perhaps you could share some influences that have not been mentioned?

DS: I certainly still respect the work of the above mentioned artists, though I cannot say they or anybody for that matter influences me to a large extent. I try to keep my eyes and mind open to all art expressions be they in music, dance, or the visual arts. That said, when thinking about color for new sculpture, I often thumb through books by the above mentioned painters. Avery in particular, still amazes me with the choice of color he juxtaposes with another. Other artists whose work I particularly admire are Tony Cragg, Richard Long, Martin Puryear, Richard Serra (more recent work). I have been reading, visiting and thinking a lot recently about contemporary architecture of late.

Fractured Rock C, 4 x 29 x 24 inches, cast resin, 2006

BS: David, throughout your career you have created indoor and outdoor sculptures, and have also successfully completed many public commissions. When it comes to how your sculptures are displayed... do you prefer one space over the other? In other words, do you enjoy indoor displays more than outdoor? Also, would you say that the environment the sculpture is displayed in becomes a part of the work itself?

DS: I believe I am very sensitive and attuned to the natural world. Living in the northern Vermont for nearly 40 years has allowed me to experience my work in a rural setting in a wide variety of seasons and weather conditions. I have thought a great deal how people move through and interact with surfaces and sound and light variations within the spaces they encounter. To be able to explore these spatial considerations I need to create spaces though which people can move. This dictates that the work be of a size that more comfortably lives outside. While I have worked with existing rooms, plaza spaces and other architectural spaces, I suppose I prefer the neutrality of a "clean" outdoor space.

The small works have always been a set of works exploring an idea or a particular spatial problem (sort of a collection of personal essays if you will). I this case I usually work on several pieces nearly simultaneously moving from one to the other and back again.

Tool de Force, 13' x 17' x 18', painted steel, 1983. National Building Museum, Washington, DC

BS: David, I understand that your preferred medium is steel, which you most often fashion into large scale abstract or semi-abstract works. You have stated in the past that "Steel can be fantastically expressive." Can you go into further detail about that?

DS: I have worked with and feel relatively comfortable with wood, concrete, and resins, but always return to steel. I get and idea, explore that idea in a 3D model, and then consider what is the most appropriate material. Of course, I suppose that most of the ideas I get are driven by what I know can be express in steel. When I first started working with steel I was very reverent to the given shape, be it a plane, beam, tube, or what have you. But later I wanted to push the material, explore its plastic, and structural possibilities.

I have use cranes in very unorthodox (and unapproved) ways to bend, shape, and crush steel. Years ago I developed a technique of literally shooting multi-ton boulders out of the air to use their impact energy to form my material. I introduced color/s to either play with one another, create an overall mood, unify or break up the structure.

BS: While steel is your preferred medium you are known to employ other materials-- including concrete and feathers. What is the challenge of working with different materials on a single piece? In your opinion, what are some the more difficult materials to work with? Do you see that challenge as a part of your process?

DS: In the course of my work as a photographer for major east coast museums, I photographed many sculptural renderings of the human head. This led me to creating a series of my own. In the course of this exploration I used materials as diverse as bits of mirrors, bee’s wax, thread, leather, bones, burlap, tar, a floor mop, a cooking wok, a tree burl, etc. My approach is always one of having a "dialogue" with the material. The conversation might go:

Me: "If I were to bend you and attach you over here next to so and so, would you be happy?"

The material: "Yeah, but don’t bend me quite so much, O.K?"…

Me: "Got it, O.K."…

Banded Rock, 9' x 9' x 12', painted steel, 2005

BS: When we think of sculptures we often think of them as an object viewed at a distance. However, with many of your sculptures viewers are able to-- in a sense --be in the sculpture. They are able walk under it, every angle is open for their exploration.What do you enjoy about that type of interaction?

DS: While I mentioned earlier that I like Martin Puryear’s work. His concerns seem totally different in that he is containing and hence creating a often unseen interior space. I want my work to stand elegantly and engagingly in the distance, but I am really interested in the exact point on approach to the work that it envelopes you. Now you must perceive it kinetically—your eyes are much use. Listen to how the sound reaching your ears has changed. Are you in a cool shadowed space?

Most of us live and work in rectilinear boxes—how limiting and unexciting. How would our experience be different if the ceiling sloped down just slightly, or if it swooped and and twisted at the same time, for example. I rely very heavily on my gut for evaluation during my in-studio fabrication decisions. I constantly ask myself if this or that relationship "feels right", and trust my response totally.

Child's Dream, 12' x 13' x 35', concrete, 2002. Stromeyer Home, Austin, TX

BS: Another interesting aspect about your larger pieces is that adults often take on a child-like playful nature when viewing them and interacting with them. Is that reaction something that you strive for? Is it your goal for adults to-- if only for a moment --to forget the concerns of the day as they become one with your vision?

DS: I don’t exactly strive for it, but at the same time it’s a fine and valid response. I have found that people’s exact response is impossible to predict. Two nights ago while getting ready for bed here in Austin, I heard strange noises coming from our sculpture space next door. Upon investigation I found two women singing to each other through a long pipe (part of a sculpture) at nearly midnight. While at times I can be very serious, intense and driven, I am also very playful. This finds its way into the work and most people do seem to take a way this quality. I do want to engage the viewer in some way.

BS: David, can you discuss the creation of some of your more recent work? I understand that you design and fabricate all of your work. You do not rely on assistants. Would you say that makes your work more personal compared to someone who utilizes outside help?

DS: We are in the process of updating my website www.davidstromeyer.com to show many of the latest pieces. I have used outside fabricators for some limited work if I feel they are able to get the results I want in a faster less laborious way than I can. But once I have the elements, I always handle their coming together. This is the most critical part; where the work can be made or broken. I insist at this point on the freedom to make adjustments and alterations.

Finding good help has been very challenging. I have tried locally, and I have imported art school graduates. They often either have divergent agendas or simply wear out. That said, I do have one friend/ fellow artist/ assistant, Brian O’Neill, who has helped me off an on over many years.

Southwest Sunset, 6" x 21" x 25", 1984. National Museum of American Art, Washington, DC

BS: You have also utilized painting methods within the context of your work, correct? Perhaps you could tell us about that. Do you continue to explore those methods with your work?

DS: Yes, I hit a bit on painting earlier. I am always after the most suitable colors and application techniques to ensure a long life for the works. I see the sculptures as having an aspect of 3 D painting. At the same time, because the works are big, often going in public spaces, and will some day have to be re-painted by a non-artist. I do not get too "painterly" when treating the surface. David Smith did at times, and we all know the troubles that caused. At the other end of the spectrum, Richard Serra, I think, limits the experience by restricting his works to unpainted corten.

BS: What are you working on at this time? Also, can you tell us a few places where our readers can view your work in person? Are you open to studio visits?

DS: My last completed public project was sited in late October in Overland Park KS (just south of Kansas City). I am currently evaluating several models which I developed over the winter in Austin for possible fabrication this summer in Vermont. Throughout my career I have continued to create large scale work regardless of whether on a commission or not.

I have works at Cornell University, Swarthmore College, Manchester CT Community College, SUNY Plattsburg. The DeCordova, Delaware, National Building Museums have works. There are pieces in Miami, L.A., Cheyenne, Charlotte, Bethesda, among other cities and sites.

Yes, my wife and I welcome interested visitors particularly to our Vermont farm. There are about forty pieces spread over five large meadows. We can be contacted at: david@davidstromeyer.com for information or to arrange a visit.

Turn for the Better, 19' x 28' x 37', painted steel, 1987. Worcester County Jail, MA

BS: Finally, is there anything else you would like to say about your art or sculpting in general?

DS: It is my hope that we as a nation will stop making war, cherish culture and start to understand that when we speak of "our environment" that concept should include everything from clean water, to respect for other creatures, to beautiful design.

Before the 9-11 attack I had started a multi-media sculpture critical of the Bush administration. I suspended work for awhile to allow the country to heal. I finished the work entitled "Mission Accomplished" a few years ago and would be glad to share images with interested readers on their request. [Once before in my career I focused my frustration on a political figure, Alexander Haig. That time with a museum installation which spoke to both his military and diplomatic sides.]

You can learn more about David Stromeyer by visiting his website-- www.davidstromeyer.com. You can read more of my interviews by visiting the following page-- www.myartspace.com/interviews.

Take care, Stay true,

Brian Sherwin

Art Space Talk: Dana Mueller

Dana Mueller is the second place finalist of the Next Perspective photography competition. The Next Perspective competition was sponsored by myartspace and HotShoe International. The winners of the competition-- Laura Pannack, Dana Mueller, and Rebecca Greenberg --were selected by the contest jury which included Henry Horenstein from the Rhode Island School of Design, Dr. Juliet Hacking from Sotheby's Institute of Art in London and Clare Freestone from the National Portrait Gallery in London.

Born in 1971, Dana Mueller grew up and lived in Thueringia, East Germany until the fall of the Berlin Wall. She immigrated to the United States in 1993. At the age of 25 she started studies in photography at Oxford Brookes University in Oxford, UK and in 1998 at the Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University. Mueller has held an adjunct faculty position at the Art Institute of Boston since 2001. In 2007 she received her Master of Fine Arts in Photography at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, where she has studied with Barbara Bosworth, Frank Gohlke, David Hilliard, Laura McPhee, and Abelardo Morell. Mueller teaching assisted Nick Nixon in 2007 and assisted in publishing the documentary book "Inherit the Land" by Jack Lueders-Booth (2005 Pond Press).

She is the recipient of a 2008 Faculty Development Grant and the 2007 St. Botolph Club Foundation Grant. Her work has been shown in exhibitions at the Photographic Resource Center of Boston, The Art Institute of Boston, Boston, MA, the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston, MA, the Barrett Art Center, Poughkeepsie, NY, North East Space Time Exhibition, New Haven, CT, among others. Her work is part of the permanent collections at the Boston Public Library and the International Institute of Boston.

Mueller frequently travels and photographs in Europe, South America, and the United States and currently resides in Somerville, Massachusetts.

Fruchtländer (Fruitlands), Ayer, Massachusetts 2006 Silver gelatin print and burned print of German fields. 19th Century painter Caspar David Friedrich symbolic landscapes were part of a German idealism that had an affinity for nature, especially its wild and mysterious aspects, and melancholic, and melodramatic subjects. Skies, storms, mist, ruins, scattered tracks bore witness to the manifestation of the divine in nature. Later, German Nazis appropriated the notion of the symbolic landscape and directly tied German land and its forests to German identity.

Brian Sherwin: Dana, you were raised in Thueringia, East Germany. Your family remained there until the fall of the Berlin Wall. You immigrated to the United States in 1993. Can you discuss those early years and how they influenced you as an artist?

Dana Mueller: The work every artist creates comes from a certain belief system and such is shaped throughout the duration of one’s life. Our childhood greatly affects how we relate to the world socially, culturally, politically and psychologically. So every circumstance that we face, resist or embrace informs our choices in life as well as in art and so, yes, where I come from has always influenced me as an individual and the work I do.

Besides of growing up in East Germany, which has its own political and social context, I grew up in a village. The landscape and nature made a deep impression on me. Memories are also colored by the stories of my grandparents whose experiences especially before, during and after the war, marked me emotionally and mentally. In school we were taught about the wars, but our involvement as Germans were always politicized and simplified. It was only through my grandmother that I learned about the individual lives of people during that time.

Those human experiences stood in direct contrast to the politicized and official rendering of that time, especially in the history books of East Germany. So, early on, I knew there was a ‘hidden’ complexity to our history and the state-shaped collective memory was different. As a child I did not understand, but I sensed it. Only after the unification of Germany and also after later leaving my country did I achieve a kind of distance that led me to re-investigate and understand.

My current work Heimat-Land Narratives or On Memory takes me to landscapes where Germans have lived, worked, killed, died and survived within that context of human history. In particular I visited German POW camps in Massachusetts and New Hampshire where German prisoners of war were stationed and worked the fields for local farmers. How ironic that these German soldiers picked apples, tilled fields, and harvested crops for the American enemy. The banality of such work stands in complete contrast to the horrific actions by Nazis and German soldiers in Eastern Europe at that time. As an example, I would refer to Hitler’s Torched Earth Policy, where Germans marching towards Russia burned and destroyed the fields and villages. And when I photograph these landscapes I try to visually evoke these contrasts.

Apfelpflücker (apple picker), Middlesex County, Massachusetts 2006. Toward the end of the war Hitler ordered to form a special penal unit (Strafbataillon) composed of German dissidents and prisoners. The 999th Penal Division was sent to fight in Rommel's African Corps. While in Rommel's army many of the 999th disserted and surrendered to the Americans. It became known as one of the largest surrenders in military history, as over 150,000 men were taken prisoners and shipped to the Normandy and the US. One of the camps was at Ft. Devens, Massachusetts, where they picked apples and worked the fields for local farmers.

BS: You studied photography at Oxford Brookes University and at the Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University. You earned an MFA in photography at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. Tell us about your academic years. Did you have any influential instructors?

DM: At Oxford Brookes University I took my first photography class, which was called Thinking Photography, a theoretical class where we looked at Cindy Sherman, Robert Mapplethorpe (who had a retrospective at the time in London) and Jo Spence. For someone who knew little about the history of the medium--what a way to get introduced. Each one of these artists, for better or worse, were controversial and in ways wonderfully provocative and it made me realize that there was tremendous diversity and possibility within the medium to express oneself, which I wanted to embrace.

After Oxford Brookes I seriously wanted to study photography and enrolled into the Art Institute of Boston. There, I would argue, I became a photographer. I soaked it all up and to this day my most important professor and mentor, Bonnell Robinson, pushed and challenged me, always expecting the highest of standards from each one of us, besides sharing her inexhaustible knowledge of photography’s history and process, and the arts. She has been an immense influence on so many students there. Support goes a long way and the entire photography faculty at AIB has been incredibly supportive, including Christopher James, Jack Booth and Jane Tuckerman.

Another kind of memorable experience I had was when I was teaching assistant for Morten Krogvold, a Norwegian photographer, at the Maine Photographic Workshops. He is an artist who lives and breathes what he does. A force of nature to be reckoned with. Fascinating to hear him speak about his own work as well as that of others. To this day I remember his lecture on Edvard Munch and also Bergman’s Cries and Whispers.

During graduate school I was fortunate enough to study with photographers Laura McPhee, David Hilliard, Abe Morell, Frank Gohlke and Nick Nixon. Each one of them I got to know as extremely committed photographers, wonderfully intelligent and who are active and successful in what they are doing. I found in them integrity, authenticity and at the same time modesty in regards to who they are as artists—a combination I find to be rare these days. I was lucky.

Aussichtsturm (lookout tower), Horseneck Beach, Massachusetts 2006. German submarines were spotted along the American coast. Admiral Karl Donitz, the commander of Germany’s U-boat fleet began attacking merchant shipping from Maine to Florida. Termed Paukenschlag (drum roll), Donitz called the operation "Happy Time."

BS: I understand that you also have experience teaching. You have held an adjunct faculty position at the Art Institute of Boston. How do you find balance between teaching and creating your own work? I've interviewed several instructors and they often mention that it can be difficult to find balance...

DM: There is never enough time to do work when teaching, because I live from my teaching. The time really to photograph is during the summers. I don’t find that to be a problem, because the teaching somehow always informs you as a photographer and once I have a good amount of time to photograph I get completely immersed and it does eventually enter the classroom where my photography informs the teaching. So, the two can go hand in hand once one has committed oneself to both professions. But, it is hard to leave it behind during the teaching year, I start to itch and miss it terribly.

BS: It is my understanding that you travel often-- having photographed throughout Europe, South America, and the United States. How have those travels influenced your work?

DM: Well, we Germans travel a lot. To the dismay of some...

But on a serious note, those travels for me are both personal and photographically inspired. Especially significant are the various landscapes that Germans inhabited, sometimes imposing themselves through conquest and other times finding exile. I would like to return to South America and travel to Argentina and Chile at some point. As you probably know, there were substantial waves of German immigrants during and after the Second World War. Erich Honecker, the former East German president, and his wife sought refuge in Chile during the fall of 1989.

The investigation of one’s national identity is not only local--contained within its own borders—the diaspora has global implications as well.

Theresienstadt (Terezin), Bohemia, Czech Republic 2005. Swimming pool for German Nazi guards and their families beyond the walls of the Terezin concentration camp. The families of the German officers who ran the concentration camps were living just outside the camps, where they schooled, fed and entertained their children.

BS: Tell us about the thoughts behind your work. For example, is there a specific message that you strive to convey to viewers? What are your goals as a photographer?

DM: There is no answer or message other than that the work is a constant investigation and questioning, especially of German identity. Trying to understand what happens is, I think, a fundamental instinct in us humans. Also, our relationship to the land and how we construct the meaning of a landscape and its importance in forming national identity. I want to share this inquiry with my audience.

BS: What are you working on at this time?

DM: I will be traveling to Italy and Croatia by the end of May where I will continue my landscape work. I also want to return to another chapter of my earlier work by going to places where German writer W.G. Sebald traveled. Later on in the year I also will travel to Texas and New Mexico to photograph former German POW camps, or what’s left of them. It will be interesting to compare and contrast these various landscapes.

Apfelobstgarten (apple orchard), Ayer, Massachusetts 2006. As the Germans marched East the entire urban population was to be exterminated by starvation, the fields and houses were burned.

BS: Do you have an emotional connection to your work? Or are you more connected to the process? Is the finished photograph nothing more than a reflection of the process that interested you... or is it the unification of that process and the emotion, methods, and techniques that you utilized?

DM: The connection to the work is all that combined. Process-wise you need to know what your choices are and be able to apply them to the work. Conceptually you need to be connected to what it is you are trying to discuss, that means knowing your subject. Your technique and method are always informed by the content and concept. The medium of photography lends itself so fittingly to the discussion of memory, history and identity.

A photograph it is a moment in time—a document of something that truly existed.
But that moment has passed as soon as you take the photograph. John Berger and Roland Barthes so brilliantly have written about this. It’s a little death. And in time that truth shifts, and we start to romanticize that reality. We feel nostalgic about the past. The image becomes an abstraction of something that existed.

The same is true with memory or history. With time, the experiences we remember become increasingly inaccessible. History in a way is an archive of loss. So when I photograph, I know that those experiences and meanings might already be lost, but to me the quest for understanding is why I photograph.

BS: Finally, is there anything else you would like to say about your art or the goals that you have?

DM: Thank you for inquiring about my work!

You can learn more about Dana Mueller by visiting her website-- www.danamueller.net. Dana is a member of the www.myartspace.com community. You can read more of my interviews by visiting the following page-- www.myartspace.com/interviews.

Take care, Stay true,

Brian Sherwin

Art Space Talk: Jeff Koegel

Jeff Koegel's paintings appear to mesh aspects of contemporary western architecture with the Japanese wabi-sabi aesthetic of impermanence and imperfection-- infused with a counter-culture edge. His landscapes have no boundaries in that they are mapped out by his own imagination. These worlds, a reflection of our own, are open to interpretation. Jeff has exhibited in the United States and Europe. His work has been displayed at Scope London and Scope LA.

Penthouse, acrylic on canvas, 48 x 72 in., 2007

Brian Sherwin: Jeff, can you recall your years as a student? I understand that you graduated from Cal State Fullerton's School of Visual Arts in 1985. What was the program like at that time? Did you have any influential instructors? What is your opinion about the academic study of art?

Jeff Koegel: I started as an architecture major at Cal Poly Pomona. I realized that I was most interested in two-dimensional work - drawing, symbols, information design - and I was lured by work being done in Europe by designers like Neville Brody and Peter Saville, so I moved into graphic design. My studies were an important part of growing up for me.

The work was more idea and message oriented than skills oriented, even though I did a great deal of drawing (there were no computers used in design at the time). Something of significance that I came away with was an awareness of how imagery has worked through history and continues, increasingly, to effect the way we interpret ourselves and the world.

Truce, acrylic on canvas, 48 x 70 in., 2006

BS: What about other influences? Are you influenced by any specific artists or art movements? Are you influenced by music? Tell us about your influences and why they have made an impact of your art...

JK: I've always responded strongly to music. As a teenager in the late seventies I felt alienated by the music that permeated everything - corporate rock and disco, both of which seemed to be products created for middle-aged people by middle-aged record and entertainment executives. When I discovered underground music (Clash, Pistols, Velvet Underground, Iggy) that a few college radio stations were playing, it was a powerful message to me - that there are people who use their imagination and refuse to be limited by convention, and they have something to say that is actually relevant to me.

Nobody that I knew was listening to this music, in fact it was scorned by almost everyone. Then came a wave of powerfully original bands playing in LA - Black Flag, Minutemen, Germs - and in my neighborhood a good scene cropped up with bands like Adolescents, Social Distortion, Agent Orange, to name a few - creating an island of like-minded kids which became my circle of friends. The music had nothing to do with the mainstream, except to question it, and It didn't exist for a market. It existed for the creators and their friends.

Some of the best visual art to come out the scene was done by Gee Vaucher, who created a whole visual identity around an anarchist band from England called Crass, but my favorite work came from LA's Raymond Pettibon, who created all the art for his brother's band, Black Flag, and continues today producing work appreciated on a world-class level, still clearly retaining a connection to his early roots.

While I'm inspired by music, and while music can also be very visual, I don't think it really influences the appearance of my work. The music that inspires me, be it punk, jazz, reggae, etc. is almost universally iconoclastic, and what I take from it is the importance of staying true to what is authentic in me, rather than conforming, as artists can feel pressured to do, to follow an expected path in their development, or to make work based on what they think the market wants.

It might seem like a contradiction, compared to the raw aesthetic in music that I described, that some of my favorite visual art is the highly controlled and calibrated work of Ellsworth Kelly, Kenneth Noland, and the early work of Frank Stella. But I see a connection, as what hits me about this work is its intensity and sensuality, and way it broke away from the status quo.

While my work isn't non-objective, the language of this work is embedded in the architecture of my images. The light and space installations of James Turrell interest me in many of the same ways, but with the added dimension of how he draws attention to the thing that you are perceiving is being assembled inside your head.

As a model for ongoing innovation and originality, Ed Ruscha has made a big impression on me. His presentation of the American landscape and it's intersection with language, along with experimentation with materials (gun powder, pepto-bismol, etc.) defies categorization and sets him apart.

Deadbeat Mandala, acrylic on canvas, 60 x 72 in., 2007

BS: Jeff, would you mind telling us about your art in general? For example, what are the social implications of your art? Is there a message that you strive to convey to the viewer? I've read that some viewers discover an environmental message within the context of your work... is that your intent? What are your intentions?

JK: A message may come through to the viewer, but I try to keep an open end to my images so that I'm not dictating what to see or think. We all project our own meaning into pictures, so I think it's important that I keep something about the image incomplete or contradictory for the viewer to act upon. It's this interaction between the viewer and unknown factor in the image that gives the work life and potential to change over time.

The imagery in my work centers around our relationship with the landscape. It's about us and our source. As art's oldest subject, this relationship continues to evolve, and is especially significant in this time of great change. So even though it is not my intent to make paintings expounding an ecological message, it naturally comes out. After all, I am exploring ideas about people, our curiosity, our shaping of nature, our being shaped by nature and the transformations that occur because of it all.

It's important to remember that an image of environmental decay is a metaphor for other things. As I began working with this subject in 2003, and with all the work up to this day, my motivation is always fueled by a sense of wonder, never by dread.

The Mouth of Heaven, acrylic on canvas, 48 x 36 in., 2007

BS: Jeff, tell us about your process. How do these paintings come into being? Is your work intuitive or is there structure to your practice-- preliminary drawings for example?

JK: I do a lot of drawing, from my imagination and from reference. I catalog my drawings as raw material along with digital files from my camera and my collection of images from the newspaper and the internet. I also keep a notebook of things that I overhear or mishear in public or on the radio. From this collection, I study relationships between images. The groupings I make form the structure for the beginnings of paintings. Making a painting is a process of building, layer over layer, adding imagery, making connections, etc. I think this is why my images are always architectural, regardless of what's being depicted.

As far as the sequencing of work, I used to work on one painting at a time, with a drawing or two continually in process, so that a linear evolution can be visible. In the body of work I'm currently making, I've been working in groups of 4 or 6, with the idea that as the paintings proceed, a conversation forms between them, and so they influence each other. The idea being that the paintings relate to each other like a family does, as opposed to a more separated, generational relationship.

BS: Tyler Stallings said the following about your work, "Koegel is interested in how the landscape changes, but he does not suggest a cycle of death and rebirth, but rather one of constant change, never able to return to a prior state. Nature’s rules in Koegel’s work are ones of adaptation, metamorphosis, and recombination. Koegel’s imagery suggests that if any story is being told it is that the landscape is part of an organism in a state of entropy." would you like to add to that statement?

JK: The idea that the universe is a singular organism, the body of God if you will, is one that I imagine has probably been contemplated since the beginning of human times. Contained in this idea is the premise that everything and everyone are related and interconnected, an infinite colony. I like this scenario for it's suggestion that the landscape extends into space indefinitely, and then reminds us how small we are in the totality of it all. And yet, because of our development in satellites, GPS, transportation systems and media technologies, we can have a strangely intimate relationship with our planet.

I imagine that it was about the same time that humans started to achieve a little control over their environment (by creating a shelter, damming a river...) that they also created the myth that we were separate from nature. From my perspective, these actions and ideas are merely measures to adapt to an entropic landscape, and are in themselves, nature.

The Shaman's Trash Heap, acrylic on canvas, 48 x 36 in., 2007

BS: Jeff, out of the images I have viewed I must say that I enjoyed 'The Shaman's Trash Heap' the most. Would you mind discussing this piece? Tell us about your thoughts behind it.

JK: A shaman is an intermediary between the natural and spiritual world. I think of this particular shaman as one with the power to alter and transform. I want to suggest that the discards from the shaman's labors - an amalgam of flora and fauna, body parts, internal organs, pattern and abstraction - have assembled themselves into a hybrid architectural organism. On one level, the organism may represent a seachange in the human condition on the horizon, or simply a chunk of neglected ecosystem downstream from the genetics lab. At this point, however, it's unclear if the result is friendly.

BS: What are your plans for 2008? Are you working on anything at this time? Will you be involved with any upcoming exhibits?

JK: I've been working on a new body of work since last November. This group of paintings, which will number about 20, will make their debut in the form of a book, which I expect to release this fall.

BS: Finally, is there anything else you would like to say about your art?

JK: Watch for the new work.

You can learn more about Jeff Koegel by visiting his website-- www.jeffkoegel.com. You can read more of my interviews by visiting the following page-- www.myartspace.com/interviews.

Take care, Stay true,

Brian Sherwin

Art Space Talk: Rebecca Greenberg

Rebecca Greenberg is the third place finalist of the Next Perspective photography competition. The Next Perspective competition was sponsored by myartspace and HotShoe International. The winners of the competition-- Laura Pannack, Dana Mueller, and Rebecca Greenberg --were selected by the contest jury which included Henry Horenstein from the Rhode Island School of Design, Dr. Juliet Hacking from Sotheby's Institute of Art in London and Clare Freestone from the National Portrait Gallery in London.

Rebecca Greenberg's collection of photographs was originally presented as her senior project, entitled "Self-Titled". It is a body of work that has come together over the process of four years. Rebecca has stated that the photographs are color images of female-born men and women who are challenging the gender role assigned to them in some way. There are people who identify as women, men, FTM, tranny, boi, butch, and gender queer amongst others. It is in this way that Rebecca's project is self-titled. It is made up of fifteen people who have labeled themselves or not labeled themselves however they feel most comfortable.

Dyke March. 2006

Brian Sherwin: Rebecca, you were born in Connecticut and received a BA in both painting and photography from Bard College. Can you discuss your upbringing as well as your academic years? Did you have any influential instructors?

Rebecca Greenberg: Growing up in suburban Connecticut was somewhat idyllic. It was the kind of place that a lot of people look back on fondly as a nice place to grow up, but have moved on to one extreme or the other: small town or big city. First I went to the small town and now I am sort of living in the big city, staking out space in Brooklyn. I chose Bard College specifically because it was a tiny school in a tiny town. The landscape was beautiful and it was the only school that upon visiting, I knew I would fit in without putting on any sort of performance. I grew up taking art classes and had even studied classical painting from age 12 on, but I still didn't know if I wanted to major in art or not. I now know that Bard was one of the only places I could have fished around in advanced classes to later turn to painting and even later to photography. I didn't take my first picture until I had to get a 35mm for an intro class the first semester of my sophomore year.

I think the community as a whole at Bard influenced my artistic process. Every one on my peers was extremely talented and I was very lucky to be one of the first students in a number of years to be welcomed into both the art and photo departments. To credit a few names Joe Santore taught me how to appreciate paint, color, and light, while Amy Sillman reminded me to look back to my impulses and asked what I drew when it wasn't for class. In the photography department I worked very independently, but found amazing instruction from Stephen Shore, Tim Davis, Larry Fink, and John Pilson.

Phoenix- 2006

BS: You currently reside in Brooklyn, New York. How has that experience influenced you?

RG: Living and working in Brooklyn has allowed me greater access to the community that I was able to find connection with in my photography. I see people all the time that I wish I could photograph. I need to get over my fear of approaching people I don't know.

BS: Rebecca, you have photographed what you describe as color images of female-born men and women who are challenging the gender role assigned to them in some way. The subjects of that series of work are people who identify as women, men, FTM, tranny, boi, butch, and genderqueer amongst others. Can you discuss this series of images and the thoughts behind them? Perhaps you could tell our readers about the process involved in this project?

RG: I started photographing my queer women friends while I was still in school. The pictures are quiet, shy and a little reserved…pretty indicative of my own queer identity at the time. The "Self-Titled" series came out of a real desire to further explore my relationship to the queer community and those people in it who I always felt myself drawn to. I wanted to leave the subject matter open, but found eventually that all the work really focused on the FTM transgender and genderqueer communities. Friends of friends let me work with them and I placed a few ads to look for subjects. I found the most meaningful images the ones of people who let me spend an extended period of time just hanging around their space. I always made sure that they chose the location and that it was important to them.

I was also very interested in my nervousness, their desire to give a certain look on film, and the reversing of these roles throughout the time I spent with each person. Often the best images came during the middle to end of a shoot where I had opened up and the subject had let down their guard. There are a lot of trust issues on both sides of the lens and I am very very fortunate to have been welcomed into so many lives.

Julia- 2006

BS: Do you have an emotional connection to your work? Or are you more connected to the process? Is the finished photograph nothing more than a reflection of the process that interested you... or is it the unification of that process and the emotion, methods, and techniques that you utilized?

RG: I have an extremely emotional connection to my work and to the process of creating images. I genuinely admire and respect each person I worked with. Most are still a part of my life in some way and the images do reflect for me the experience of meeting them, being a voyeur behind the camera, and my self-exploration via image-making. I think the images successfully reflect this process, my eyes watching this person, and the emotion they feel being photographed.

BS: When you are behind the camera do you view yourself as if you are on the outside looking in or in the inside looking out? I suppose this is a philosophical question... do you have a personal philosophy behind your work?

RG: Once again I am going to have to say both. I am a voyeur watching from behind the camera, peeking into someone else's life. At the same time, because I feel such an affinity for the people I photograph and have a connection with them if not in their exact gender-identity, than in my support of their choices, I think I am in a way looking out of many of the pictures. I identify so much and in so many different ways with everyone I work with that I think it is hard not to say I am in each picture and that a different aspect of myself lies in each one.

torch, Marker, acrylic, watercolor, and collage on paper. 2008

BS: Rebecca, you are a painter as well. Based on what I've read about your painting it appears that with some of your work you are interested in the post-apocalyptic visions of humankind-- both the truth and illusion of those concerns. Can you discuss this body of work and the social implications that they convey?

RG: My paintings are constantly evolving in their representations of the actual and imaginary world. The majority of the abstraction comes from things I experience everyday, images I have seen and ideas that people believe will become reality. I think the paintings are a surreal and extreme version of the number of visions people have for the future. Some are even just a more focused look at what is right in front of our eyes.

I see grass growing on the roof of an abandoned concrete building every morning on my way to work. I flip through a National Geographic magazine and notice the concentric shapes made by three mountains in an old black and white photograph. I look on in disgust yet intrigue at the phosphorescent colors of spilled oil at the construction site near my building. Consciously and subconsciously we are constantly taking in so much visual information.

I think my paintings remind you it's there and project what it might be like if everything were chemically altered and only pieces of once elaborate structures were left…disgustingly attractive and forming a new system all together.

BS: What else you can tell our readers about your photographs and paintings?

RG: The only other thing I can say is that both my painting and photographic processes are separate yet equally powerful and necessary. Each feeds a different desire within me needing to be expressed and neither could really work as well without the other. I haven't found a way to combine the work and at this point, am not interested in doing so. It is the distinctness of each that keeps me very balanced.

BS: What about other influences? For example, are you influenced by any specific artists or art movements? Music perhaps?

RG: I feel that I am so influenced by everything around me that it is hard to pin down exact ideas, structures, and systems. I know that I am interested in so many current abstract landscape painters, the rhythm of the city at rush hour, the light just before dark, unnatural colors, historical buildings, isolation, attraction, and my relationship to other people and the world around me.

Dyke March- 2006.

BS: What are you working on at this time?

RG: I am constantly working on both new photographs and new paintings. They are in the same themes as my previous work. It has been a struggle to find the time for both while trying to make a living in New York City, but I think I have been pretty successful at pushing myself to keep going and getting new work out there.

BS: Finally, is there anything else you would like to say about your art or the goals that you have?

RG: It is very validating to receive such positive feedback on my work. Thanks so much.

You can learn more about Rebecca Greenberg by visiting her website--www.rebeccagreenberg.com. You can read more of my interviews by visiting the following page-- www.myartspace.com/interviews. Rebecca is also a member of the www.myartspace.com community.

Take care, Stay true,

Brian Sherwin

Art Space Talk: Matthew Arnold

Matthew Arnold graduated from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts in 1996 with a focus of photography, design and offset lithography. He has been working for the past eight years as an Art Director and Photographer for various well-known companies in Boston, New York City, and New Jersey. He has recently begun a new series of landscapes and refined his career to focus on his art and photography.

Brian Sherwin: Matthew, for the last eight years you have been the Art Director and Photographer for various companies in Boston, New York City, and New Jersey. You recently decided to begin a series of landscapes and it is my understanding that you refined your career so that you are able to focus on your personal art and photography. Why did you decide to make this career shift?

Matthew Arnold: My years working as an Art Director (AD) have been very rewarding in many ways, most especially monetarily. It is a very rewarding career. It is creative, interactive, thoughtful and requires a lot of problem solving skills. The main issue for me is that it tends to keep you indoors behind a desk most of the day and on top of that I am not totally fulfilled in being just an AD. I believe I was meant to be a photographer.

Photography is hard but it does come more naturally to me and more fulfilling creatively. I could stop working as an AD tomorrow and be fine with it but if I were to try to not pick up a camera ever again I am sure I would have some sort of mental disturbance. That said, I have not completely stopped doing work as an AD. I doubt I will ever totally stop—economically it is not feasible right now. A career in photography is not easy these days, what with the current photography market saturation and its degrading pay structure throughout the industry. My goal is to gradually move away from being an AD and pursue a career based solely around photography but right now it has to be a combination.

Slowly, though, the transition is happening. I am currently doing more work as a photographer where only last year it was the opposite. My goal as a photographer is two-fold—doing editorial and advertising photography as well as being able to focus my career as a fine art photographer. Right now my fine art work is the focal point of my website and I am using that as my style of working for commercial entities interested in hiring me. I would like to continue to work from that angle—being able to use my vision and style as a fine art photographer in campaigns and editorial work.

BS: You studied at West Surrey College of Art and Design and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Can you discuss those experiences? Did you have any influential instructors?

MA: The School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston was really the place where I grew up as a person and of course as an artist. I went to school with the idea of being a fine art landscape photographer. Once I arrived I thrived in the curriculum of self-determination and discovery. You were able to move through the school at your own pace and discover all sorts of mediums that you may not have had an opportunity previously to involve yourself. In fact, I came from a rural high school in North Carolina without any art program whatsoever so this school was both eye-opening and freeing. My focus was certainly photography but I was able to move into mediums that were related technically such as Graphic Design and Offset Lithography.

The school at that point was heavily weighted towards post-modernism and the photo department was very much the same. My work began to follow that line of thinking and eventually I stopped shooting landscapes and began creating photographs in the studio. The work was very personal but nonetheless left me unfulfilled as an artist. It felt very good to be able to "discuss" personal politics in a visual medium but looking back I believe I lost the ability to see beauty in the world around me. This really is what brought me to photography in the first place. I feel I was a bit lost at that point.

Part way through my studies at the Museum School my girlfriend at the time and I, with the help of Jim Dow, an instructor at the Museum School, organized an exchange program with West Surrey College of Art and Design, just south of London. The idea was that a pair of students would come here and stay with us for a while and then we would travel to Surrey to study there. This program worked out well as we were able to get to know the people we were doing the exchange with and this would allow the group of us to introduce each other to the schools.

Interestingly enough though the pairs just went off traveling. The brits took off on a road trip across the United States and my girlfriend and I jumped on and off the train from London to Athens, Greece photographing people and landscapes the whole journey. The school seemed great but I don't believe we were there long enough to truly get to know it. I do remember having a few critiques with Martin Parr as he was an instructor there at the time. The best part was living amongst the young brits in a good size house warming ourselves in front a coal-burning fireplace.

The only instructor that truly influenced me greatly was Carl Sesto at the Museum School. He taught traditional photography, digital imaging as well as offset lithography. Carl taught the traditional fine print class as well as a zone system course. I believe these were the first classes that I had with him. The black and white darkroom was an oasis for me and technical aspects of the zone system allowed me to hone my skills as a photographer. It also allowed me to get back outside to shoot.

Carl and I just clicked and I was soon working as his teacher's assistant in quite a few of his different classes including running the school's Heidelberg one-color offset press, printing photography books for students at the school. His focus on the traditional as well as not being afraid of new technologies is what defines me as a photographer today. He was also instrumental in varying my interests in different mediums and key to me doing both art direction and photography. We are still in touch today and he is a huge influence on me.

BS: You have stated that your work explores personal movement in "our smaller but more complicated world". You focus on the culture of the tourist and how tourism defines each of our home cultures and the longing for a personal space. Can you go into further detail about the thoughts behind your photography?

MA: I find it fascinating how easy it is to get from point A to point B today. That being said though there is always going to be an awkward and uncomfortable relationship in a new and unknown place. There are language barriers, odd foods, different ways of doing things in those new places. Different people respond to those experiences differently obviously but most people will hold onto their culture and to whatever makes them feel safe without actually experiencing the culture at hand thus building a glass wall of security.

The young traveling in their vibrant band of individuality find comfort in a partying lifestyle of people from other nations experiencing the same cultural divide. The older groups traveling in packs tend to seek the comforts of home in the faraway land. The work is not meant to be critical. I believe that most of us do this and that it may in fact be almost impossible to fully immerse oneself in another culture unless one has a limitless amount of time and money to do so. Unfortunately this mode of travel sometimes does not have the ability to enlighten the traveler if in fact that is what they are after. It could separate the person even more by going home without the feeling of getting outside that wall of glass that was kept in between the traveler and the culture at hand. This can in turn give the traveler a colonialist feeling or a feeling of superiority.

The interest in personal space is pressured from an unending din of chatter, hum of lights and mechanics that pollute our everyday. There are very few places left in the world free from man-made sound or visual distraction of some sort. Even in the jungles of the world one will hear the sounds of man, whether it be the buzz of a chainsaw, the hum of a passing plane overhead or maybe even the lights of an encroaching encampment. Finding solitude or peace in a future of exponential population growth will become the strongest longing in more and more people's lives. The creation of the images for this series is almost like taking the space within the image and sealing it in a can for safekeeping. It is finding an area of time and place and taping a square outline around it claiming it for your own. These images are my spaces. I may not have spent a significant amount of time in some of these physical places but they are now with me and are my own.

BS: What else can you tell us about the social implications of your work?

MA: I don't know that there are social implications to my work. I am just an observer. That is all I intend to be. Capturing people queuing to buy fruits and snacks from a rowboat that pulled up to the edge of a beach in Halong Bay, Vietnam. What makes them feel they have to queue up for that; when other cultures, in fact the culture where they are standing, would possibly just gather around the boat waiting their turn or possibly not. The queue itself on the beach is what fascinates me.

I am not so much interested in the politics of the queue or telling people what is right or wrong. I am interested in showing the queue. It is up to the viewer to decide how to engage the image.

BS: What about other influences? Are you influenced by any specific artists?

MA: You know when I was younger I was afraid to look at other photographer's work. I was concerned that I would unconsciously begin to adopt their style of work. Maybe that happens anyway but it does not bother me any longer. I guess one is drawn to a certain style of work. That style probably has a certain language or base to it and so it becomes your own base and you develop a style that is your own and hopefully differentiates yourself from the others that work in a similar vein.

The people that influence me the most are listed below.

Atget, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Sylvia Plachy, Guy Tillim, Wolfgang Tillmans, David Goldblatt

BS: What are you working on at this time? Can you give our readers some insight into the direction you will go next?

MA: Right now I am really trying to get more commercial work. I am very interested in getting my work into the hands of people that would allow me to take my style of personal work and use it for them in an editorial or advertising context.

I am also putting together a cohesive set of landscapes that look out over a specific line of site. Horizons with direction. It is something I am piecing together.

BS: Finally, is there anything else you would like to say about your art?

MA: It has made me so happy to create this current work. This is truly the first time that I have felt wholly confident about the work I am creating. Of course we all want to be recognized for the work that we do as well. We all want that gallery show, the online or printed recognition, the patron that wants to hang your art on their wall. I just want to say how difficult it is to be an artist in an environment with so many wonderful artists. The competition is strong. I have given in and stopped working a few times but in the end I can't stop because it makes me feel so good to create it. I just want to thank MyArtSpace for recognizing my work.

You can learn more about Matthew Arnold by visiting his website--www.matthewarnoldphotography.com. Matthew is a member of the www.myartspace.com community. You can read more of my interviews by visiting the following page-- www.myartspace.com/interviews.

Take care, Stay true,

Brian Sherwin

Art Space Talk: Laura Pannack

Laura Pannack is the first place finalist of the Next Perspective photography competition. The Next Perspective competition was sponsored by myartspace and HotShoe International. The winners of the competition-- Laura Pannack, Dana Mueller, and Rebecca Greenberg --were selected by the contest jury which included Henry Horenstein from the Rhode Island School of Design, Dr. Juliet Hacking from Sotheby's Institute of Art in London and Clare Freestone from the National Portrait Gallery in London.

Laura Pannack has been investigating the world of adolescence and it's complexities with her photography. She has worked with young offenders, pupil referral units, schools (including a special needs school) and many young couples. Exploring issues of identity, conformity, love, perception and confusion she strives to represent her subjects without judging them. Her aim is to raise issues of how we perceive young people and how little we understand about their identity and their world.


Brian Sherwin: Laura, you studied at the University of Brighton and Central Saint Martins. Can you tell us about your academic background? Did you have any influential instructors?

Laura Pannack: Central Saint Martins was where I first discovered photography. During my time on the foundation studies course there, we undertook a section dedicated basic photography. It was the first time I’d ever picked up a 35mm camera and I just instantly fell in love. At Brighton on the BA course, the tutors were great. They all have such a range of different photographic methods that there is no danger of simply conforming to one genre or style of photography. In particular, Paul Reas, Esther Tiechmann, Magalie and Mark Power have been helpful to me during crits but that’s not to say that the other tutors were not supportive.

My greatest influence and mentor has been the photographer, Simon Roberts. I’ve been assisting him for about 2 years. He motivates me, inspires me and supports me. His guidance is and has been invaluable.

BS: Laura, you have stated that photography has been your passion for the past 6 years. Can you discuss those early years? Why did you decide to pursue photography?

LP: Whilst attending Central Saint Martins, I purchased a 35mm Pentax camera from a pawn brokers and took a roll out with me every day in London. I commuted from home everyday, taking over 2 hours each way, so I’d often close my eyes on the tube and get off at random stops and spend a good few hours shooting street photography. I shot at least a roll a day, mostly black and white. I then processed them at university the following day. I’ve still got rolls of unprocessed film under my bed somewhere. It was great.

I could just wander freely on my own around places I’d never been. Sometimes I was drawn back to the same places. I guess I never really questioned if photography was what I wanted to do; it was just natural. The Pentax was just constantly dangling around my neck and there would always be at least two rolls of Ilford 100 in my bag. I also developed a passion for the dark room and processed a lot of my film at home.

Coincidentally, my father is a photographer so I was exposed to the world of photography from a very early age. However it didn’t really occur to me to take it up until studying at Central Saint Martins. I do however have very early memories of tipping trays in his dark room and being amazed how the image slowly revealed itself. I spent a lot of time with him in the darkroom at the bottom of his garden.

BS: You have went on to say that your subjects-- and the experiences you have with your subjects-- are imperative to your process. Can you go into further detail about your process and the need for those connections?

LP: The relationship I have with my subject is vital to the ideas behind my imagery. I aim to spend as much time as possible with my subjects really getting to know them. I was fortunate enough to gain the opportunity to attend a camp organised by people who help to rebuild the lives of young offenders and disaffected youths aged 13 – 18. This was what initially inspired my project. I spent a whole week, camping in the woods with the young people. It was so much fun and I was lucky enough to just hang out with them, document them and see the huge change in all of them as time progressed. I began to realise how misunderstood they were.

I often stay in touch with my subjects and continue to photograph them although this is not always possible but when it is I feel there is a bond between us that allows them to feel comfortable and understand the process of my work. I want my subjects to know I want to photograph them. They are essential in the production of the work and I hope they enjoy the experience. I don’t feel I can honestly portray a subject if there is a lack of trust. I want to get to know who my subjects are. As Rineke Dikstra says: “I can’t photograph anyone or anything that I don’t find interesting.”

BS: Tell us more about the thoughts behind your work. For example, is there a specific message behind your images? Any social implications?

LP: I don’t want my work to give a negative impression in any way. I decided to call this series ‘The untitled’ as I don’t want to label or categorize any of the individuals. Today’s society, particularly the media, has a need to pigeonhole young people. Perhaps this is born out of fear or frustration, but either way I find it negative. I hope my audience can engage with my subjects and share the intimacy I aim to create by engaging in a relationship with them/ my subjects. This may hopefully inspire us to view young people as individuals.

BS: Laura, what can you tell us about your influences? Are you influenced by any specific artists?

LP: As earlier mentioned, Simon (Roberts) is a great influence, not just through his support but I also admire his working methods and enjoy his imagery. I have many influences and the more I learn the more influences I gain. A lot of them are photographers I see in journals and can’t remember off hand but in my early education people like Jeff Wall, Enrique Metindes, James Nachtey, Gregory Crewsdon and Phillip de Locia were a huge influence which you wouldn’t necessarily see from my work.

Richard Renaldi, Sarah Jones, and Hannah Starkey I would say are more recent influences but I am constantly inspired. I love looking at imagery and I am encouraged by even just small details within someone’s work. I would say that the imagery of my peers is also a great inspiration.

BS: What are you working on at this time? Will you be involved with any upcoming exhibits?

LP: I am participating in a few group exhibition in both London and Brighton. Myself and 8 other peers have collaborated and produced a journal for the past three years entitled ‘Bystander’. We hope to continue doing this and will be holding an exhibition for 10 days during the Brighton Photo Fringe in November/ October. We will also be selling the publication at the exhibition. The other exhibitions are in London with the Royal Photographic Society and the D&AD.

I am continuing with this project, especially ‘Young love’. I think we often have quite a pessimistic notion of young relationships and forget that sometimes the simplicity of love at a young age can form the strongest relationships. A relationship, free of worry, responsibility and future plans can ultimately mean one of fun and intimacy. The often perceived naievity can be viewed as a brave invincibility into a sharing of emotions and chance to truly reveal oneself to another individual. Perhaps young people rely on relationships to ease the burden of the frightening time of handling adolescence and all it’s uncertainties; finding support in someone who will not judge but share the experience.

I am also veering away from just working with young people as I don’t want to give the impression that young people are my only subjects. I have and I am enjoying this project but portraiture is my area and I will not limit myself with regards to a subject matter.

BS: Do you have an emotional connection to your work? Or are you more connected to the process? Is the finished photograph nothing more than a reflection of the process that interested you... or is it the unification of that process and the emotion, methods, and techniques that you utilized?

LP: Taking pictures removes me from reality. No matter how exhausted, hungry or distressed I am, as soon as I’m behind the lens and I have an interesting subject, I am happy. Photography is not only my passion but my form of escapism. Saying that, the reason I shoot is to produce imagery that pleases aesthetically and produces an emotional response. Whether it be humour, confusion, empathy or any other emotion I aim to intrigue and engage my audience. I need inspiration to motivate my passion and this is often gained throughout the process as the more I learn about my subjects; the more I find them interesting and desire to photograph them.

BS: When you are behind the camera do you view yourself as if you are on the outside looking in or in the inside looking out? I suppose this is a philosophical question... do you have a personal philosophy behind your work?

LP: It’s strange, as I explained I do enter a different world. Sometimes I do feel I am almost looking down on myself completing the process, removing a persona. But ironically, I feel more at one with myself and connected to the situation than I do with reality. My own physicality diminishes and I am solely consumed by the individual and their existence overrides my own.

I don’t really know if this is the closest I can feel to my subjects or if the very act of photographing and the physical barrier of the camera actually separates me from them and the subject. When I look through the view finder all that matters is what I am seeing and the subjects existence.

BS: Finally, is there anything else you would like to say about your art or the goals that you have?

LP: I can see myself doing nothing more than continuing my passion and look forward to learning more. I am still at a very early stage of my career and I am so grateful that I have such a strong level of support and influence. I will soon be moving back to London to further pursue my career as a photographer.

You can learn more about Laura Pannack by doing a search for her name on www.myartspace.com. You can read more of my interviews by visiting the following page-- www.myartspace.com/interviews.

Take care, Stay true,

Brian Sherwin

Art Space Talk: Graham Nicholls

Graham Nicholls is a London based video, installation and new media artist. He is known for his immersive psychological installations and videos. Graham was one of the first artists to explore the possibility of using the Internet for live video streaming and more recently at the forefront of artistic experiments with virtual reality. He is also known for his use of psychology and Neuro-linguistic programming in his interactive works, adding a new level to how installation art is experienced. His video art is a balance of concept and technique, drawing upon filmic photographic and an architectural awareness of space.

Epilui-1-web

Brian Sherwin: Graham, can you tell us about your academic background? Where did you study? Who were your mentors? Perhaps you could tell us about some of your early influences as well?

Graham Nicholls: I left school with no formal qualifications due to the social problems I was encountering and probably due to a lack of expectation academically at the time. My parents both left school at fifteen and most of my friends in my neighborhood had no ambition to go to university, it was seen as a world for the rich or upper class. It was my growing interest in areas such as mysticism, ritual, meditation and the more philosophical sides of religion that opened me up to academic ideas and learning. My awareness of universities and mainstream thought never really grew until after I’d already left school.

When I got to around twenty-one I decided that I would try to get into art school on the strength of my paintings, drawings and photography; as well as the knowledge I had gained through personal study. I spent months working into the early hours of the morning to put together a portfolio. I applied to Central St. Martins in London and was given a place on the foundation course. After that I studied at Middlesex University, also in London, which had a good mix of tutors from the very contemporary to the more traditional. Jon Thompson who had been Damian Hirst’s tutor and had been deeply involved in that generation of British artists also started working there, which pushed everyone to be more professional and conceptually stronger I think.

Apart from the art that was happening around me at the time, film was my major influence. I probably would have focused on film but for the fact that I wanted to draw people into a kind of multi-sensory experience that so far only installation art has touched upon.

As far as artists who have influenced me I think I’ve always been constantly looking and inquiring into new areas, so my influences are always shifting. But my early influences at art school were people like Bill Viola, Christian Boltanski, Ridley Scott, Cindy Sherman, James Turrell, Anish Kapoor and Louise Bourgeois. They would probably be the key ones, some for more stylistic reasons and others in terms of ideas.

Druncon

BS: Graham, in 1999 you had your first solo show in New York City. You have stated that the show helped to launch you into the international arena. Can you recall that experience?

GN: It was a very exciting time, I think British art was just starting to get attention in the US and the opportunity of showing in a major centre of art encouraged me to look beyond the UK based scene. I think that show resulted in me getting other shows in the US and internationally, as well as selling enough of the photography I’d been working on to allow me some freedom in how I worked. The gallery was also going to be showing the influential filmmaker Jonas Mekas, often referred to as ‘the godfather of avant-garde cinema’, the following month; so getting the opportunity to meet him during my time in NYC was quite inspirational.

BS: Since that time your work has become more and more experimental. Why did you decide to break into new territory with your art?

GN: Well it was the nature of what I was trying to achieve; I wanted people to have an ‘experience’ not just look at an image or be surrounded by sensory stimulus like in a more conventional installation. I wanted to make things more inward, like a meditation. Technology might not seem the obvious choice for this, but in a sense technology can be molded for whatever purpose we choose and that purpose can be a more intimate one if we want it to be. Plus by drawing upon my knowledge of meditation and trance states I felt I could create something unique in terms of an artistic experience.

People would be drawn to come into contact with their own unconscious, to genuinely interact with what I was creating. Epicene, LAM, and the Living Image all used technology and hypnotic techniques inspired by areas such as Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) or guided meditations to have a direct almost visceral impact on the person inside the installation.

BS: Graham, your installations and videos reveal a deep knowledge of psychology. I understand that you have studied psychology extensively. What aspects of the study of psychology do you enjoy most? Do you focus on any specific schools of thought?

GN: Well as a layman the areas that interest me most are the practical tools within ‘psychology’ in its broadest sense. I suppose by psychology I mean exploring the faculties of the mind or consciousness through a range of methods and tools, not strictly the academic field of study. So I have drawn ideas from a range of areas including Milton Eriksson’s work with hypnosis, Transpersonal Psychology and also Richard Bandler and John Grinder’s NLP processes already mentioned. I have also practiced and studied different forms of meditation and visualization techniques.

Another area that has influenced my work would probably be Robert A. Monroe’s Hemi-Sync technology, which uses sound frequencies to cause a change in brain state. Monroe originally devised this system to aid in inducing Out-of-Body Experiences (OBEs), which as I have experienced hundreds of similar occurrences in my life, was what initially caught my attention. Hemi-Sync is now being used for much broader applications such as improving memory and learning.

Virtual Reality similar to the type I used in collaboration with Roma Patel and Trudi Entwistle in the Living Image project has also been used to help patients overcome phobias by allowing a safe environment in which to confront a fear. The Living Image also had elements of this kind of approach as it allowed the participants to go to places that would be too fearful or threatening in normal everyday life.

I am also generally interested in Parapsychology and the work of people like Dean Radin who are interested in psychic or ‘psi’ abilities. I enjoy reading both sides of the proponent and skeptic divide in this area. But so far purely psychological explanations for psi such as conformation bias or magical thinking do not convince me that my own experiences, or those of others have no objective reality. So overall my interests in psychology are focused on the exceptional faculties that we all possess, and how to understand and develop them.

BlueJay

BS: Have you always had a deep interest in the human condition?

GN: Yes, all my work has an underlying focus on some aspect of the human condition, as well as how our lives impact the environment and non-human animals as well. Ethics and morality form a big part of my art and life. I am interested in how we understand and formulate right and wrong, true and false. I suppose my working class background and my personal experiences, both socially and academically, have lead me to question what makes us who we are. The relationship between the individual and the wider world I suppose. That includes our subjective experience, our morality and our politics etc. This way of looking at things lead me to become vegan and try to take much more personal responsibility for my actions.

BS: Can you tell us more about the thoughts behind your art-- what is the message that you strive to convey to viewers? Do you see viewers-- their reactions --as a part of the work?

GN: Oh I most definitely see the viewers reaction as part of the work, it’s a communication for me. I think most artists develop their view of a work as they gain feedback and live with the work for a while. We don’t live in a vacuum, we are constantly influenced, and I think that is part of the message. Many new theories of consciousness are telling us we have no free will, whether that is true or not it is interesting if you take that a step further and consider that we don’t really have individuality either. That idea can be quite scary for people if you take it as a hopeless mechanistic view of life, but it can also be seen in the mystical sense as a dissolution of the sense of self. I suppose I’m trying to convey a sense of turning inward and exploring the self and its boundaries, if they really exist.

design-di-web-- drawing of the installation The Presence

BS: Perhaps you could choose one of your installations and tell us about it?

GN: I’d like to talk about a future project if I may. It continues my work with psychological immersion. Its working title is ‘The Presence’. The main difference with this project to previous projects is that I want to explore the group dynamic. In previous projects I have focused on single participant work, but with The Presence I’m planning it will be a four person experience and will include smell and atmospheric effects, something that wasn’t present in previous work.

Based on my own research I think this will have a powerful psychological impact.

The project will use hypnotic suggestion and subliminal cues as with previous works like Epicene to guide the participants through an experience. The structure of the project will be black glass, because it is both reflective, so people will see their own image when inside it, and it also gives a sense of depth or space. The shape from above is an equal sided cross, this is so each person will be aware of someone else at the other end of the structure. This I have found creates a desire to interact or ‘perform’ in on some level, even if only unconsciously; and increases the likelihood that the person will experience something. I also want to extend the time that people can be in the installation.

In The Living Image for example each individual was limited to around 15 mins; with this project I want to extend that as much as is practical. Overall I hope the result will be an intimate and unique experience. Many people have described my previous projects as deeply emotional or even cathartic; I hope this new project will continue in that vain.

The Living Image

BS: Graham, I understand that you have been writing a book. Can you give our readers some insight into that project?

GN: The book is to do with my personal experiences and the spiritual philosophy they have inspired. It’s a kind of personal journey of discovery beginning in my early childhood and coming right through to the present. However, it’s not simply an autobiography it is also a philosophical perspective, it’s just I have chosen to illustrate why I think the way I do with examples from my own life. I think that gives it a depth that would not be present if I’d just tried to use hard logic. I also want it to reach people emotionally and that is something that is best achieved through an openness and honesty I believe.

BS: Aside from what you have mentioned already... have you been working on anything else?

GN: As well as the new immersive project just mentioned, I’m also working on a documentary that explores contemporary forms of spirituality. I want to look at lesser talked about aspects of religion and spirituality, for example, the people that work to better society through aid or humanitarian work as a result of their religion or ethical position. I think this is an important element of spiritual traditions that is often overlooked.

I have been extremely critical of religion for most of my life, but I believe that position became more balanced as a result of personally becoming more involved in humanitarian organisations. The assumptions that are often repeated about religion, like it causes all the wars etc., seems such a limited view. We’ve all heard that claim at some point, but for me that kind of reasoning is far too simplistic and bordering on prejudice.

I think we can be critical of the actions of some religious groups and seek to rationally examine their beliefs, but I don’t feel it’s helpful to try and blame one particular ideology or culture for the ills of society, we all know where that leads. Even the recent efforts of Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens etc., seems to have contributed to Islamophobia in the UK at least. The film I envision will try and show a more contemporary view of spirituality that deals with the subject as the complex and diverse issue it is.

Drepi-3

BS: Where can our readers view your work in person? Will you be involved with any upcoming exhibits?

GN: Sadly at present my time is taken up by working on my book and the new work I’m developing. But I am going to be giving a lecture in London on June 20th. It will be more related to my spiritual/psychical ideas than my art, but for anyone interested in this side of what I do that would be a good why of finding out more.

See: www.londoncollegeofspirituality.co.uk/Lecture%20Graham1.html

BS: Finally, is there anything else you would like to say about your art?

GN: I think we have covered the important areas; if anyone wants to ask any questions they can contact me via my website: www.grahamnicholls.com

You can learn more about Graham Nicholls by visiting his website-- www.grahamnicholls.com. You can read more of my interviews by visiting the following page-- www.myartspace.com/interviews.

Take care, Stay true,

Brian Sherwin

Art Space Talk: Aimee Lee

Aimee Lee is an interdisciplinary artist working across performance, installation, and book arts media. Aimee is interested in personal storytelling. Her work has covered topics of human intimacy, internal defenses, and the isolating properties of language. Because her work thrives in moments of vulnerability, its manifestations occur subtly and often go unnoticed: a survival kit buried in the ground, a sound recording of whistles tied to a football goalpost, a book whose prints darken and fade to mimic the life cycle of a bruise. She has stated that she relates to what falls between the cracks, and that she searches for quiet sanctuaries to process the outside world and how humans participate in it.

Aimee earned an MFA in Interdisciplinary Book and Paper Arts from Columbia College (Chicago) in 2006. Since that time her work has been exhibited at the Lux Arts Center, Museum of Contemporary Art (Chicago), Museum of Contemporary Photography (Chicago) and several other venues. Her work was displayed at the Bridge Art Fair in Chicago (2007).

Hunk, & Dora (2006). Handmade paper brick tower: upwards of two thousand handmade paper bricks made from premium abaca, pigmented abaca, unbleached abaca, cotton, and linen; wood, monofilament, tyvek, buttons, sand. 14-foot tower, 6-foot doorway.

Brian Sherwin: Aimee, you studied at Oberlin College and Columbia College. Can you tell our readers about your academic years? Did you have any influential instructors? Do you have any advice for students interested in those programs?

Aimee Lee: I've always been the kind of geek that adored school and being a student. That said, my undergraduate experience at Oberlin and my graduate experience at Columbia were universes apart. My time at Oberlin was an incredibly challenging, fulfilling, and high-growth period where I started to map the borders and territory of my own self. I explored the varied subjects and media that interested me, and had a major that let me combine music (I was a violinist), dance and choreography, philosophy, creative writing, art history, and studio art. My teachers inspired and nurtured me in a myriad of ways: advisor and art historian Pat Mathews, dance and bodywork instructors Karen Allgire and Deborah Vogel, violin and chamber music coach Andrew Jennings, visiting poetry instructor Myung Mi Kim, and painting professor Sarah Schuster are some of the many.

The most transformative in my final year were Nanette Yannuzzi-Macias and Johnny Coleman. Johnny was my drawing teacher, and showed me not only HOW to draw, but THAT I had the innate ability, as does everyone. He was devoted to music and the combination of media - he had synethesia and talked about hearing light - and class requirements included things like seeing Pauline Oliveros and the Deep Listening Band perform. Nanette was my sculpture teacher, and the first installation artist I had ever met. I developed my intensive sketchbook process. She taught an artists' books class that rocked my world, and started me on my path in book arts almost ten years ago. Nanette also gave me a short list of graduate schools a few years later when I was ready to return to school for graduate work. Based on the interdisciplinary nature of the program, Columbia College was my first choice.

My transition to Chicago after working in New York was difficult, but the Chicago arts community was unwavering in its generosity, which buoyed me during my three years in the Book & Paper MFA program. Though there were departmental classes in many disciplines, I was disappointed to find that my peers were uninterested in that aspect of the program. But through opportunities at Columbia, I met people like Julie Laffin, a performance artist and curator, and Greg Allen, the founding director of the acclaimed theatre company, The Neo-Futurists, who supported my work and gave me venues to show and perform.

I found intellectual rigor with art historians Debra Parr and Mary Kennedy, and spiritual rigor with performance instructor Joan Dickinson. Andrea Peterson introduced me to papermaking, which rocked my graduate world, and my advisor Melissa Jay Craig was the best teacher I had and the top reason that I stayed in the program even when I wanted to drop out.

For prospective students of Oberlin, I would advise an open, wholehearted approach to an education that will be rigorous, well-rounded, and exhilarating. It offers extraordinary teachers and resources - take advantage of everything you possibly can because it holds a richness and humanity that is hard to find elsewhere. For Columbia, I would advise networking as much as possible, because the teachers are active, well-connected artists who have a real sense of the art world. They are also incredibly generous and open to artistic collaborations with students. As a large art school, it has resources that might not be immediately apparent. I have found allies in the galleries, the marketing team, and the portfolio center. For both, remember to follow your instincts and fight for what you need as a student, and stay close to your teachers, especially once you leave.

PAPER (2007). Sample books of handmade paper from plants found in North Central Wyoming: sagebrush and cattail. 6.5 x 5 x 1" closed, 60" opened.

BS: Aimee, you are an interdisciplinary artist working across performance, installation, and books arts media. Your work tends to focus on topics like human intimacy. Can you go into further detail about your art and the thoughts behind it?

AL: My art has always been rooted in a long history of introspection and interpretation of personal experience. Because of my own personal ethics, I have been reluctant to appropriate other people's experiences and prefer to focus on my own, since I have full authority to allow that. I believe that getting down to specific details creates a universal context for other people, that the tiny pieces of my life have resonance with strangers, because the human experience is so similar in the small ways. In terms of subject matter, I am endlessly fascinated with the ways that people survive their lives and the nature of being human in this particular world. My incessant tunneling into my own mind must be a way to satisfy my curiosity about what is going on in other people's minds.

Five years ago, I decided to focus on human intimacy, which came out of my experience with a close childhood friend who was dying from cancer. During my studies in anatomy, bodywork, and spirituality, I had been moved by the power of human touch in the healing process. I asked my friend a month before she died about how often she was hugged during the day, since I knew that people were cautious around her because her bones were so fragile from her medication.

At the same time, I was in a residency with British performance artist Aaron Williamson, where we did a lot of spontaneous improvisation. I did one where I covered seated people's heads with fabric, and then removed the fabric, held their heads in my hands, and kissed the crown of their heads. It only lasted a few minutes but still resonates with me today. From that improvisation, I created an interactive performance in two parts.

Part One asked participants to fill out a survey that asked about the quality and quantity of human touch they received in a given week. Part Two asked them to apply lotion to a performer (myself) playing "How Insensitive" on the violin in a bikini. In retrospect, it wasn't a terribly elegant piece, but my way of mapping the idea of human contact in both safe (filling out a survey) and unsafe ways (touching a half-naked stranger).

Regarding the physical manifestation of my artwork, I have consistently preferred beautiful and inviting surfaces. I love beauty, and you can interpret that however you like. Since I often handle difficult and sensitive subject matter, like abuse and violence against women, I create non-threatening surfaces to draw people in. I use a tactile approach where I make objects, installations, and performances that make people want reach out and touch. Eventually, through handling my work, the content reveals itself.

Listen to what you've been carrying for a long time (2006). Spun, knit, and dyed handmade paper, thread, typewritten sestina; 6 x 67" opened.

BS: What are the social implications of your work? Is there a specific message that you strive to convey to viewers within the context of your art?

AL: I used to be committed to political work that was hot, very angry. But through my life experiences, I've come to see that such an approach doesn't fit my personality. People see me and don't expect a firebrand, so I've learned to play into that assumption, and shift the hot parts of my work below cooler layers. I think that the implications of my work are aligned with the old adage that tells us not to judge books by their covers.

I'm not looking to convey a specific message - I want my work to trigger motion inside of people, whether it be mental activity, a visceral response, or an emotional one. Outside motion like dialogue with others is great, too, but I want to create objects and spaces that enable people to go inside. I would love for my work to create a larger awareness of the similarity of the human experience and a way for people to relate to each other to reduce violence and intolerance, but that is something that acts more like a constant backdrop in my consciousness, not what I focus on as a goal.

BS: Aimee, you utilize a variety of mediums. Can you discuss why it is important for you to branch out in so many directions? Do you prefer one medium over the others? Or would you say that they are all of equal importance?

AL: I used to believe in a heavily conceptual practice, which came from a need to lay a strong intellectual foundation for myself as well as a fear of craft. But as I strengthened my ideas, I needed more tools to articulate them. And as I learned how to use each of them, new ideas arose. Like language, being open to constantly expanding my vocabulary is crucial to the vitality and utility of my work. I've always feared the "dilettante" and "dabbler" labels, but have embraced the idea of being resourceful, of being a bricoleur - creating something by gleaning from whatever happens to be around me in the moment. If I have __(fill in the blank)__ inclinations and talents, why not use them when appropriate?

As for why I branch out in so many directions, it's just in my nature to do so. I've always been a "why, why, why?" kind of questioner, and that kind of grasping leads me down lots of paths. Also, living in a world where the ceiling on choices and information retrieval have exploded makes it impossible to ignore everything but one medium. Besides, they're all connected.

I also think that learning new ways of articulating my work helps me meet and understand more people. For example, growing up as an aspiring musician, I surrounded myself with musicians. Within that set, I knew the most about violinists since I was one myself. Expanding outward, string players and pianists. Then, the rest of the orchestra. After a while, jazz and rock musicians. Composers. Conductors. Musicians on the fringes of the mainstream. And so it goes, in an ever-widening circle. I do the same in my visual work, most recently accepting a scholarship from a printshop to learn intaglio techniques.

I had never been around printmakers beyond the letterpress shop at grad school, so I wanted to get familiar with the mentality of a printmaker. Not necessarily because I consider myself one, but because printmaking is so intimately connected to papermaking and book arts, which are two media that I use consistently. Next month, I will travel to Maine on a scholarship to take a fibers class at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, so that I can apply these techniques to my papermaking practice, and meet artists in a whole new genre.

Depending on when you ask, I will always have a preferred medium - whatever best communicates my thoughts and feelings in a given moment. But it always changes, depending on my studio situation, the content of my work, and the resources I have at hand. I would never say that there is one dominant medium - I don't see it as a competition, and I don't see them as separate things when I'm working. The reason I talk about them as different media is because I function in an art world and a culture that needs those kinds of delineations. I'm good at categorizing and filing, so I'll do it, but I'd prefer not to spend all of my time doing it.

Treehouse (2008). Intaglio on knit bamboo paper yarn, 5.5 x 4.25".

BS: You have described your art as a "living document". Can you go into further detail about that?

AL: Books are documents, as are most of the objects that I make. They mark a certain time and thought process in my life, and are usually pieces that need to be activated and used. I like the idea of a static object having an active life. My bookbinding teacher, Melissa Jay Craig, taught us that books are "living, breathing things."

I have a photographer friend who reminds me often that the same idea applies to all of my artwork whenever I get carried away with trying to control my work and make it do exactly what I think it's supposed to do. It's important for me to respect the life and boundaries of the things that I make, so that they can have a life on their own and continue without me by their side. I feel like I'm a parent talking about a child, but I think that the same kind of respect and freedom needs to be given to a piece or it just becomes an unwieldy prop for an artist.

BS: Aimee, you have had exhibited widely in the United States and you have been involved with exhibits in Spain and Japan. Do these travels influence the direction of your work? In other words, would you say that the experiences add to your visual language?

AL: Though I have exhibited widely, I don't get to go to all of the openings! That said, I have traveled a good deal in the past two years on artist residency programs and personal trips, which definitely influence my work. Because so much of my work is about my interior landscape and experience, it shifts as I shift. And there is no way to avoid change when traveling, living in new settings, and meeting new people.

Throwing myself into foreign settings helps me re-evaluate my ideas and the way I communicate them, and reminds me that the world is both much bigger and much smaller than I think. Traveling gives me chances to make my work accessible to more people, as I see different responses in different locations. Also, it re-invigorates my own practice when I see that I can successfully communicate across geographical and cultural differences with my work.

My travels definitely add to my visual memory and internal landscape. There are more places to dream about! And that also adds to my visual language that I use externally with others.

Abundance (2006). Letterpressed poem on handmade paper, lining a handmade box covered in handmade cotton/kozo paper.

BS: Can you tell our readers about other influences? Are you influenced by any specific artists?

AL: After life itself, reading is probably my number one influence. The bulk of my positive childhood memories lay beside me on the living room sofa, buried in books. Reading and writing have been a constant in my life. As I've matured as an artist, I've learned to read more. It's like photosynthesis, except that reading is my sunlight and artwork is my oxygen.

I used to be a total non-fiction junkie, and still love it, reading Bell Hooks, Ken Wilber, Alberto Manguel, Robert Coles, Michael Pollan, and Barbara Kingsolver. Through meeting contemporary writers, I've overcome my childhood aversion to new fiction, and have been delighted to read Junot Diaz, Don Lee, Susan Choi, Sandra Cisneros, Sherman Alexie, and Julia Alvarez. I also adore good poetry, and have been taken by work by Cathy Park Hong, Li-Young Lee, A. Van Jordan, Ravi Shankar, and Theresa Hak Kyung Cha.

When I was asked to list artists that I admired during an interview for an art class in college, I broke down into tears because I couldn't come up with any! I'm not sure why I have this block, since it's important to me that I honor my influences, but it's likely because artists and their work affect me subtly, so it's hard for me to come up with names on the spot. I remember the feeling of experiencing art more than I remember names, but here is a random sampling: Eva Hesse, Bill Viola, Agnes Martin, Ana Mendieta, Lee Bontecou, Adrian Piper, Mona Hatoum, Albert Chong, David Hammons, Ida Applebroog, Ann Hamilton, Thomas Nozkowski, Patty Chang, Thomas Struth, Binh Danh, Linda Montano, Arvo PŠrt, and Fred Sandback.

I'm also lucky to have a job directly related to my graduate studies, which is pretty unusual. I work for Robbin Ami Silverberg, an established book artist and expert papermaker. I met her two and a half years ago as her intern. Since then, she has transformed her ground floor papermill and studio to a two-story mill and bindery, alongside her husband Andrös Bšršcz's wood shop and studio.

I worked in the old space, in their home during construction, and now in the new studios. I've been editioning her artists' books, which include everything from papermaking to binding to everything in between: fighting with antique typewriter ribbons, finishing book details on her dining room table, hanging felts to dry in the garden, and installing a professional printer for her digital prints. It's impossible to have such an intimate relationship to someone else's work without being influenced by it: she makes gorgeous paper that carries vibrant colors across the entire spectrum and is famous for its lush translucency.

We share similar beliefs about the holistic nature of making work, and aligning the content and materials thoughtfully. We're both perfectionists and workaholics, making for intense work days, but it has been a real inspiration to work alongside an artist who makes a living from her work and has found a way to live and work in a custom-built space.

BS: What are you working on at this time?

AL: I have just finished printing a series called Private Performance: Treehouse, which are prints on knitted paper that I made on a scholarship from Manhattan Graphics Center in New York City. I had started a series of knitted handmade paper books in 2006 at Art Farm, a residency program in Nebraska, and continued it as I traveled to different residencies.

It has been an ongoing process of tweaking the different forms that I can create out of a very basic idea, but I had been criticized about not having text and content directly on the knitted page. So, instead of sewing on pieces of paper with content, I used the scholarship to experiment with printing images directly onto the page.

Obviously, it has to be a certain kind of image, since half of it is lost in the holes between stitches. I have been using an image from a performance I created in 2007 at Ragdale during an artist residency, and hope to rework the pieces that I have already printed with additional text that I have yet to write.

The other major project I am working on is La InvasiÑn de las hojas, an outdoor installation that will be presented in Mexico this fall. I have been invited to be a long-distance artist for identidades.04, a residency that brings art to public spaces for audiences that are usually not exposed to international contemporary artists. This year's theme is memory as it relates to identity. While traveling to make paper from local plants, I learned about invasive species and considered that botanical concept as it relates to how immigrants are viewed in their adopted countries.

As an American-born woman of Korean heritage, I have strong memories of growing up as the other, and am developing text about these experiences. I will transfer these stories to handmade paper leaves that will be affixed to eucalyptus plants (a major invasive species in Mexico) in the city of Morelia, which is the site of identidades.04. They will hang alongside real leaves and be available for the public to read, take, or move to other plants or sites, setting the leaves and stories on another migration.

Treehouse (2008). Intaglio on knit linen paper yarn, 53 x 9.5".

BS: Will you be involved with any upcoming exhibits?

AL: I am in an exhibit currently at the Lux Center for the Arts in Lincoln, Nebraska, and will have a scaled-down version of a large installation in a traveling exhibit called "Pulp Function" at the Nicolaysen Art Museum & Discovery Center in Casper, Wyoming this summer. This June, I'll have some mail art in a show at Roteiro De Creacion Contemporanea in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. One of my treehouse prints will be part of the Treewhispers project in Naperville, Illinois, for the Chicago International Calligraphy Conference.

Next year, I will have work in two traveling exhibits, both in the US and abroad, and three solo shows. For the solo shows, I hope to show work that I make in Korea on a Fulbright grant, which begins this summer. This is the most exciting upcoming opportunity for me, as I will be able to spend a year in Korea learning the history, techniques, and contemporary applications of hanji, which is traditional Korean paper.

BS: Finally, is there anything else you would like to say about your art?

AL: There's nothing that I'd rather be doing with my life. I have found that the times that I feel most at ease, and have positive productive thoughts, are when I am engaged in neutral, repetitive, physical labor. For me, that means making art or exercising. So I think I'll leave it at that and hit the treadmill. Thanks for asking!

You can learn more about Aimee Lee by visiting her website-- www.aimeelee.net. You can read more of my interviews by visiting the following page-- www.myartspace.com/interviews.

Take care, Stay true,

Brian Sherwin

Art Space Talk: Andrea Chung

I was introduced to the art of Andrea Chung while visiting the New Insight exhibit at Art Chicago. Andrea's current artwork explores the relationships between exported goods of the New World, such as sugarcane, rum, allspice and bananas, and the imported laborers and the stories and ideas that these relationships carried. Andrea is currently finishing her studies at the Maryland Institute College of Art.

Agatha Barton I, 85 x 45 ¾ inches, Acrylic on paper, 2006

Brian Sherwin: Andrea, I learned of your work while attending the preview at Art Chicago. Your work was in the New Insight special event exhibit. For those who don't know, New Insight is an exhibition of artwork by promising young contemporary artists curated by Susanne Ghez, Director of the Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago, and coordinated by Sarah Krepp, Artist and Professor at UIUC. How has that experience been for you? What did you think of the New Insight exhibit as a whole?

Andrea Chung: It was a very surreal experience. It’s strange coming from an academic community and then being placed in the most extreme art world situation. I was completely overwhelmed by the scale of the fair, but it was great seeing that much work in such a short amount of time.

I think it was great that Art Chicago is interested in exhibiting MFA students from programs all over the country. It gives you a sense of what other graduate students are working on and the strengths of each program. We tend to be in this bubble when you’re in school and it’s refreshing to get a glimpse of what else is happening in the art world.

Agatha Barton II, 85 x 45 ¾ inches, Acrylic on paper, 2006

BS: Andrea, I understand that you have studied at Parsons School of Design and at the Lorenzo de' Medici Institute of art in Florence. You are currently an MFA candidate of the Mount Royal School of the Arts graduate program at Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore. Can you tell us about those programs and the experience you have had there? Perhaps you could discuss an instructor who has been influential in your development...

AC: My experience at Parsons was a bit frustrating. I was an illustration major by default. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to major in but I did know that I loved my concepts class and the fine arts department didn’t have one. And then the illustration curriculum was extremely strict and didn’t allow for cross department electives. I guess that’s why I love my MFA program at MICA.

Graduate students are allowed to sit in any class, studio or liberal arts. Not only that, but the director of Mt. Royal, Frances Barth, has encouraged us to work as a community. She encourages that we teach one another, share information and build genuine relationships. She’s also instilled the importance of our practice. I would say that she has been the most influential in my development. She has challenged me more than anyone. She demands so much from her students because she sees the potential in all of us. I believe she has taught me not only how to be a better artist, but also a better person.

Agatha Barton III (with detail shots), 71 ½ x 30 inches, Brown sugar on sheetrock wall, 2007

BS: What about your peers? Have you collaborated on any projects? If not, is that something that you would be interested in doing?

AC: As far as my peers, I would say two artists that have been instrumental for me have been Rachel Schmidt (MICA MFA 08) and Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum (MICA MFA 08). Pamela was actually in the New Insight Exhibition last year. I started my MFA program as a painter and Rachel is an amazing fibers sculptor. She taught me how to make casts and molds which was completely out of my element. I think Pamela unknowingly taught me that being a successful artist was a real possibility.

I was inspired by her success during her 2nd year in Mt. Royal and her continued success since. Her acceptance to various shows and residencies made me think that these were real possibilities for me as well. She encouraged me to apply for a residency in Panama (Taller Portobelo Norte) which had a huge impact on my work. She also included my work in a fantastic show she curated called PepperPot, which is currently on display at UNC Chapel Hill. Pamela and I have toyed with the idea of collaborating but haven’t had the opportunity to do so yet.

BS: Andrea, your father was born in Jamaica and your mother was born in Trinidad... it is my understanding that your work explores that heritage-- thus I assume that your parents have been a major influence to you. Could you go into further detail about that connection and the ways in which you explore it? How is that influence reflected in your process?

AC: My work explores cultural geography and cultural exchange as a result of economic trade and labor in the Caribbean. While my parents’ heritage is a result of these things, they aren’t really my primary focus but they are my audience. When I’m making work I always keep in mind whether or not I’m successfully communicating in a way that is accessible to my parents and people like my parents.

"Pops" (Henry Chung), Dimen, Installation: Brown sugar on wall, 2007

BS: Andrea, can you discuss some more of your influences and the thoughts behind your art? Do you find inspiration in artists from the past?

AC: I’m interested in how trade has shaped the Caribbean. How the desire and craving for foodstuffs like sugar, rum and allspice resulted in the importation of Africans, Chinese, Portuguese, Indians, mangoes and breadfruit into the Caribbean. I became really interested in the idea of food having their own social, cultural and historical narrative and what recipes, meals, and ingredients can tell me about their origins and contemporary uses and what those things can, in turn, tell us about the history and diversity of the Caribbean as well as its place in the modern world.

As far as artists that inspire me, at the moment I’m absolutely in love with Martin Puryear’s work. I saw his retrospective at MoMA and most recently attended his lecture at the National Gallery. I think what inspires me most is his thorough knowledge of his material. I was completely blown away listening to him talk about they type of wood he used throughout his work, what tree it came from, where those trees are located geographically, the grain of the wood and so forth. Not only is he brilliant he’s in love with his material and that’s something that I both admire and understand (I love to eat!). He’s really taken his material and tried every imaginable process one can think of and has developed a phenomenal body of work.

BS: What is the message that you want people to leave with after viewing your work? Do strive to change the way that people view the world-- or at least give them a different perspective?

AC: I don’t have a "message" per say. I more or less see myself as documenting Caribbean stories and histories through my work. Part of the reason I began with the earlier portraits of my grandparents was due to the lack of: the lack of images and information, the lack of birth records, unknown birthdates, "it nuh pickney business," and the untold stories of the Caribbean experience. I believe that most people have a monolithic idea of what and who the Caribbean is and I hope that my work can open up a dialogue about the complex culture, people and history of the Caribbean.

All fruits ripe, Photo cut out, 15 ½ x 11 ½ inches, 2008

BS: Andrea, where else can our readers view your work in person? Will you be included in any other exhibits in 2008? Also, are you openly seeking gallery representation?

AC: I have a few things lined up after graduation. All the graduating Mt. Royal students will be in an exhibition called Archimage at Gallery Four in the H&H Building in Baltimore May 17th – June 25th . I’ve also been invited to be a part of a show that Hank Willis Thomas is putting together at RUSH Art in Chelsea in September and then my first solo exhibition will open in October at the Arlington Art Center in Arlington, VA.

As far as gallery representation, I’ve been so consumed with school that I haven’t really begun to think about that yet. My practice comes first so I’ve been focusing more on continuing the work after graduation. I don’t want to lose the momentum in the studio so I’ve focused more on residencies upon graduation. I will be attending Skowhegan this summer, which makes the transition a bit easier.

BS: Finally, is there anything else you would like to say about your art or your future plans?

AC: I received a Fulbright Scholarship so my future plans include moving abroad in February. I’ll be in Port Louis, Mauritius working with a chef and studying their cuisine, which will result in a new body of work based on my research. After my husband and I return we’ll be relocating to California.

You can learn more about Andrea Chung by visiting her website-- www.suite17d.com. You can read more of my interviews by visiting the following page-- www.myartspace.com/interviews.

Take care, Stay true,

Brian Sherwin

Art Space Talk: Michelle Fried

I was introduced to the art of Michelle Fried while visiting the New Insight exhibit at Art Chicago. New Insight is an exhibition featuring graduate work from the top art schools. Michelle showed some of her recent video work during the exhibit. Michelle has stated that her most recent works start from the confabulation of memory and autobiography. I contacted Michelle and she agreed to discuss her work with me. Michelle is currently finishing her studies at Carnegie Mellon University.

Stomach Trouble-- Video Still, 2008

Brian Sherwin: Michelle, I observed your work at the New Insight exhibit at Art Chicago this year. For those who don't know, New Insight is an exhibition of artwork by promising young contemporary artists. The exhibit was curated by Susanne Ghez, Director of the Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago and coordinated by Sarah Krepp, artist and professor at UIUC. Can you tell us about your experience at New Insight?

Michelle Fried: It was my first time feeling A-listed so I had some mixed feelings: alienated about the commercial hustle, astounded at the type of money that goes into such events, and awkward about having slipped through a crack and into an Art Fair. Of course, it was a tremendous honor, so I got shy about it too.

The other graduate students made impressive work; not to mention, I think it's a fabulous idea to get 24 graduate students from the top schools in the country into one show. It gives the opportunity to survey the mystique of MFA programs. But overall, I was very excited about some of the artwork I saw in the larger show, NEXT.

Thousands of works of art were arranged in a football field-sized room and most of it was fun to look at; it seemed very young and fresh. I think I spent 2 days perusing the sights of NEXT. And when I say "sights," it was a great people-watching venue as well.

Stomach Trouble-- Video Still, 2008

BS: Michelle, you are currently finishing your studies at Carnegie Mellon University. Can you tell our readers about your experience at Carnegie Mellon? Have you had any influential instructors? What is the program like? Do you have any advice for students who are considering the school?

MF: CMU's MFA program is interdisciplinary and loosely regimented so you can basically make whatever you want. I came in with single channel video, made sculpture and performance somewhere in the middle, and ended up back into single channel video. This kind of experimentation was challenging, expanded my practice and allowed me to grow in impossible ways.

Also, there are only 18 MFA students at any given time at the School of Art, so you can solicit endless amounts of attention from the 20 or so faculty members and visiting artists. Additionally, CMU is a university and not an art school. It's renowned for its computer science and engineering programs, so you have an environment that is filled with a diverse demographic with varying interests. The School of Art is constantly bridging relationships to other departments and it's pleasant to be part of a school that is constantly checking itself with its larger, non-art context.

Finally, I got lucky and got a huge private studio space; it even has a utility sink! As for advice, for incoming students: First of all, work your ass off. With that said, if you really want to do something, do it. You're allowed to fail and if you don't figure it out your first year, you have another year and a half. Just don't drop the ball on your thesis project; you'll stick out like a sore thumb because there are only 5 other people with you in a huge gallery.

Stomach Trouble-- Video Still, 2008

BS: Michelle, tell us about your work. Perhaps you could discuss your process? Give us some insight into the thoughts behind your work...

MF: My most recent works start from the confabulation of memory and autobiography. These stories are simple, but I fracture and twist them to create farcical mise-en-scenes of child-like adult characters finding their way through a world that rejects them. Creating characters is major impetus for teasing out a narrative piece. They are built with faults – naive, id-driven, charlatanistic, vulnerable, ugly, and generally unresolved.

Usually, a character is challenged with a problem and, because of their limited mental resources, they end up in chaotic situations with little resolution. However, the protagonists usually possess a superhuman capability – i.e, willfully splitting her personality, conversing with inanimate objects, or being able to crawl into her own body. Additionally, creating sets, costumes, props; writing scripts, learning special effects make-up; directing actors and editing video are all involved in the immense production of creating a narrative video. I've never sourced out specialists in any field, so my process involves a lot of self-taught technique. It's more fun this way though.

Stomach Trouble-- Video Still, 2008

BS: Would you like to select one of your pieces and tell us about it?

MF: Sure, I can talk about my most recent production, "Stomach Trouble." It's about a character named Michelle who is suffering from a severe stomachache and ends up getting gastric bypass surgery.

Story Line (quick and crude): Michelle wakes up in the middle of the night with a stomachache. She calls her doctors, but he cannot see her for another week. Michelle is convinced she will be dead by then. As a desperate measure, she riffles through her phone book and finds Dr. Derk Wolmuth who performs "stomach detachment and rerouting surgery." Her stomach urges her that this is a bad idea: "I think that means taking most of me out," he says; however, Michelle persuaded by Dr. Wolmuth.

The next day, Michelle and Dr. Wolmuth are in his office watching a crude instructional video on the radical procedure. She passes out from the pain, falls from her chair and lands on the ground. Dr. Wolmuth exits the scene and a cockroach runs up to her face and pleads that she run away. As the cockroach exits the scene, Michelle slips into a semi-conscious dream state and her stomach is sitting at a dining room table. She is serving him cake that resembles a cockroach.

When her stomach asks, "Is this the end?" Michelle consoles him: "Don't worry Stomach. It's for the best. For both of us." She feeds him a spoonful of cake.

The viewer travels with the cake down the stomach's esophagus and inside the stomach's stomach, a band plays a song called "Run for Joy." Meanwhile, Michelle is on the operation table. Dr. Wolmuth is cutting open her abdomen. As the flesh is pulled away from the incision, we see the stomach's face and he pleads with Dr. Wolmuth. Michelle wakes up, looks down, screams and passes out. "Michelle! Help me!" the stomach says.

Michelle slips into another dream where she is traveling through her esophagus and into her own stomach. After wandering in the wet, wrinkly lumen of the stomach, she comes across a giant pustule that spits out bloody puss. "I think I found something! Stomach I think I found the problem," Michelle yells to the stomach as she is sprayed with a load of puss. She digs into the pustule. She pulls out a tiny television set, similar to the one in Dr. Wolmuth's office and turns on the dial.

In the television, is a scene back in to operation room with Dr. Wolmuth. The stomach is on the table being cut in two by an electrical turkey knife. Dr. Wolmuth looks at Michelle through the television set and says, "It's too late. I've solved your problem. Now you can go on with your life… Oh, and I was wondering… Maybe you'd like to have dinner sometime?" Michelle wakes up in her bed, where she started. Sweaty and pale, she lifts up her shirt to find two incisions.

Stomach Trouble-- Video Still, 2008

BS: Can you go into detail about your influences? Are you influenced by any specific artists?

MF: It's difficult for me to pin down my major influences, as I have been taking inspiration from so many different realms of life and popular culture for so long. The range varies from animals to cults, Judy Blume novels to low budget independent films and performance based musical groups; countless movies and people I meet; bodily functions and teenagers. As for artists, I have much appreciation for Jesper Just, Franz West, Paul McCartney, John Bock, Pipilotti Rist, Orlan, Tony Oursler, and Bjorn Melhus.

BS: What are you working on at this time?

MF: I just finished "Stomach Trouble" in March, so usually I spend some time closing loose ends on projects, editing and finding venues. Simultaneously, I start brainstorming on new projects. I love this phase of the art-making process because this is the time I take to draw, think and write about ideas. It's where the process is truly creative and not burdened by busy work, keeping schedules, and fighting with technology.

Stomach Trouble-- Video Still, 2008

BS: Finally, is there anything else you would like to say about your art?

MF: Yeah, it's lots of fun. Thanks for reading ya'll!

You can learn more about Michelle Fried by visiting her website-- www.michellefried.com. You can read more of my interviews by visiting the following page-- www.myartspace.com/interviews.

Take care, Stay true,

Brian Sherwin

Art Space Talk: Peter Gerakaris

Peter Gerakaris earned a BFA from Cornell University’s College of Architecture, Art and Planning in 2003. Peter studied painting and architecture in Rome under the auspices of Cornell University, and subsequently established a New York City studio. He is currently an MFA painting candidate at the City University of New York’s Hunter College in Manhattan.

Gerakaris’ work has appeared in Beijing at Chinese Contemporary Gallery, The Bronx Museum of the Arts (NYC), Scope Art London (UK), and Rocketart Gallery (Australia)-- and several other venues. Gerakaris’ work also appears in various collections in the USA, Europe, China and Mexico.

paradiso. 30"x22". ink, gouache, gold and pen on paper. 2007

Brian Sherwin: Peter, you are currently a candidate in the City University of New York's Hunter College MFA Program. Can you tell us about your experience in the program? Have you had any influential instructors that you would like to mention? Have you collaborated with any fellow students while there?

Peter Gerakaris: The program’s very interdisciplinary, perfect for self-starters and the best deal around. Our studio facility is in a great location on West 41st Street, by Times Square and just 10 blocks North of Chelsea. We’re often described as a "gritty", "do-it-yourself" kind of place and I like how you’re not rushed through in two years like most MFA programs (three is average for most "Hunters").

Working with Prof. Sanford Wurmfeld specifically augmented my approach to color. Also, the intellectual curiosity and analytic rigor of Robert Morris and Robert Swain really raises the bar for students. Exposure to this helps one crystallize his/her own values and develop critical thinking. My artist-peers are wonderfully eclectic and yes, I’m working on a collaborative book right now. While the MFA program is the initial incubator, I’m positive these relationships will develop long after we’re out of school.

BS: As you know, I observed your art at the NEW INSIGHT exhibit at Art Chicago this year. The exhibit was curated by Suzanne Ghez. Did you enjoy the experience? What can you tell us about the selection process? Also, you mentioned that a gallery is interested in your work after observing your work at NEW INSIGHT-- do you have any further details about that?

PG: Susanne Ghez, the Director of the Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago selected 23 graduate artists from the country’s 12 "most influential Master of Fine Arts programs". Seven students at Hunter were initially nominated by the faculty—then Susanne Ghez chose two of us to represent each program. I was happily surprised about this opportunity.

And yes, I’ve been able to carry the momentum from NEW INSIGHT—Chip Tom, a curator working with the Hammer Museum, Asia Pacific Museum and Rohrer Fine Arts in Laguna Beach is curating my work in a forthcoming gallery show called "New York School" at Rohrer. We will exhibit the large "Cosmos" piece from Chicago and it’s complement, "Royal Reception" as a pair (a large painting from the Cosmic series) alongside my other new work.

cosmos. 77"x77". oil on canvas. 2008

BS: Peter, at NEW INSIGHT you exhibited 'Cosmos'. Can you tell us about this piece? Perhaps you can describe your process using 'Cosmos' as an example? Tell us about the technical side of your art.

PG: I was interested in conflating macro vs. micro by putting cosmic rings around an organic body. The celestial form is actually derived from a Monarch chrysalis. I also want the viewer to be able to lose himself/herself in the experience of scanning detail. It is my hope that this somehow reinforces the contradictions inherent in the work (macro and micro, nature vs culture, etc).

Technically and conceptually, I admire many types of painting, but personally gravitate toward making crisp pictures with a seductive surface. I realized a while ago that I have a steady hand and a detail-oriented sensibility, so I allow myself to get swept away in the process. My aesthetic relies on the human touch, so everything’s done by hand from the linear minutia to the "sprayed" effects. I like how oil paint is infinitely malleable and can also quote other paint-based media. Ultimately, I strive to make artwork that has intensity.

cosmos DETAIL. 77"x77". oil on canvas. 2008

BS: Nature, in general, seems to be a subject that you enjoy within the context of your art. I've noticed in your recent work that you often mesh aspects of outer-space with that of the nature of Earth. For example, flowers become planets... insects stare into the void of space. Can you discuss the thoughts behind your work and the symbolism behind these choices?

PG: I’d be happy if my work somehow inspires a viewer to contemplate his/her, or even culture’s, relationship with Nature. Arguably, many "developed" societies are increasingly detached from the natural world. I grew up in rural New Hampshire, but now feel incredibly removed from Nature having lived in Beijing and New York. Contemporary life, no matter where you are, provides certain luxuries at the expense of Nature. I think being in a city amplifies this sacrifice: while enjoying the perks of culture, we cannot experience the Perseid Meteor Showers or even pristine air, for example.

My art has become an outlet in which I can meditate upon such issues, which I feel are universal. The corollary obviously is that Nature is indifferent—along with its beauty, it has an undiscriminating, sublime power. My previous body of work, which referenced the seductive forms of toxic plants, tried to get at this duality.

weeping helianthus. 18"x11.5". ink, gouache and pen on paper. 2007

BS: I'm going to take a wild guess and say that it appears you are influenced by Japanese woodblock prints--am I correct in my assumption? Some of your work, like 'weeping helianthus', reminds me of the same type of energy that is captured in those pieces. Can you tell us about some of your influences? Any specific artists or art movements?

PG: Since my parents are both artists, I grew up as a sort of visual sponge. They gardened a lot, took me to places like Giverny (Monet’s former studio and home), and exposed me to culture and travel. I like to think of art-making as a sincere reflection of what the artist sees, thinks, feels and experiences within his/her context. As much as any one aesthetic or movement, I find inspiration in Nature, music, film and literature. Travel has also played a critical role in how it awakens the senses. Studying art and architecture with Cornell University in Rome informed my work, every bit as much as having lived in Beijing during a residency through Red Gate Gallery, or even recent trips I’ve made to the jungles of the Yucatan.

And every bit as much as I’m interested in contemporary aesthetics, I’m interested in how it’s all linked to a greater continuum of the human condition. It’s hard to articulate, but I think I’m drawn (no pun intended) to the harmonious and holistic quality of Chinese and other Asian art forms (whether it’s painting, printmaking, craft, landscaping or architecture). Since contemporary life can be overly complicated, I’m attracted to the centered, harmonious sensibility in Asian artwork—one might even call it spiritual. I think it’s quite sophisticated.

the stranger. 15"x15". gouache and pen on paper. 2007

BS: Peter, it is my understanding that you enjoy playing the guitar. How does music influence your visual art and how does your visual art influence your direction as a musician? Is there a connection?

PG: Yes, I have a jazz guitar background, but have also played in Afrobeat, funk, experimental and electronic groups. There’s nothing quite like performing music live—it’s a direct connection and participation with your audience that’s less common in visual art. Contrary to all the signifiers each decision carries in painting, notes just represent themselves in music. As an improviser, I also like the notion of improvising in and out of a structure and developing themes.

The pattern-based, "energy-field" areas of my work are improvised within the context of an artwork, so I’d like to think there’s some relation. Other moves in my work are improvisational as well, although I feel that’s often not apparent to the viewer. Analogous to jazz, it’s fascinating how the best players and artists can turn a mistake into something that seems intentional. I certainly aspire to that.

I’m also intrigued by the overlap of sound and color, or synaethesthsia. I recently tried exploring it further by developing a computerized color-sound system based upon Newton’s color wheel and inspired by Louis Castel’s "light organ". I’ve had to put it on the backburner for now.

BS: What are you working on at this time? Also, where can our readers view your work in person? Are you open to studio visits if their are any interested parties?

PG: I’m finishing a project of unique etchings for a show called "UNFRAMED" at Charles Cowles Gallery in NYC, that opens May 19th, curated by Beth Rudin DeWoody—it’s a benefit to raise money for AIDs research. The "New York School" exhibition at Rohrer Fine Art in Laguna Beach opens mid-summer and I’m cranking on new paintings for that. I’m simultaneously finishing a triptych commission for a NYC-based collector, while experimenting with some new mixed-media works-on-paper that I hope to turn into a wall installation.

Seeing my work online at www.petergerakaris.com is obviously meant as a precursor to seeing it in the flesh. Some of these new projects will be on view at the above shows. And yes, I enjoy studio visits.

New Ring of Dahlia, gouache, ink and graphite on paper, 15 x 15 in.

BS: Finally, as I know you are most likely rushed for time... is there anything else you would like to say about your art or your future goals?

PG: As I continue to push my work personally, I’d like to continue exhibiting and to broaden my audience. Professionally, I’m interested in developing more gallery relationships as well as having the opportunity to connect with larger audiences through both the public sphere and institutions like museums. Artistically, I think it could be rewarding to undertake the challenge of a large-scale, site-specific project.

For instance, "Spectrumorphosis", a one-person site-specific installation I made last year at Wave Hill’s Glyndor Gallery and Botanic Gardens in NYC whetted my appetite. The variables of site-specific art, such as a new audience or the architecture of a site, can create a call-and-response that allows the work to become greater than the sum of its parts. And I never want to stop traveling, as I find it immensely transformative.

You can learn more about Peter Gerakaris by visiting his website-- www.petergerakaris.com. You can read more of my interviews by visiting the following page-- www.myartspace.com/interviews.

Take care, Stay true,

Brian Sherwin

Art Space Talk: Seth Lower

I was introduced to the art of Seth Lower at the New Insight exhibit at Art Chicago. Seth has had solo exhibitions at the Diego Rivera Gallery and the Stilllights Gallery in San Francisco. In 2007, Seth was an Honorable Mention in the Hey, Hot Shot! exhibition at Jen Bekman Gallery in New York. He has been a teaching assistant under the instruction of Harrell Fletcher, Alice Shaw, Henry Wessel and other influential instructors. Seth earned a BFA in Photography at The University of Michigan and is currently finishing his MFA studies at the San Francisco Art Institute.

Image from Night Swimming -- Seth Lower

Brian Sherwin: Seth, I observed your work at the New Insight exhibit at Art Chicago this year. For those who don't know, New Insight is an exhibition of artwork by promising young contemporary artists. The exhibit was curated by Susanne Ghez, Director of the Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago and coordinated by Sarah Krepp, artist and professor at UIUC. Can you tell us about your experience at New Insight?

Seth Lower: I'm honored to have been part of the show; the other students' work was really great and Susanne and Sarah did a wonderful job in putting it together. The larger context, Art Chicago, was a bit chaotic: three huge floors of commercially driven art venues, buyers, sellers, etc. It was pretty overwhelming. For me, the student section had the best work--which was refreshing and encouraging, but also a bit troubling as an emerging artist.

Image from Night Swimming -- Seth Lower

BS: Seth, you are currently finishing your studies at the San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI). Can you tell our readers about your experience at SFAI? Have you had any influential instructors? What is the program like? Do you have any advice for students who are considering SFAI?

SL: SFAI's great because of its ideological diversity, which is a golden opportunity for students to find their own direction. They can slip out of their majors to work interdepartmentally, should they choose to do so. I started in the photography department and wound up working mostly with New Genres faculty. Some great teachers: Trisha Donnelly, Allan deSouza, Alice Shaw, JD Beltran, Hank Wessel, Doug Hall, Tony Labat, Paul Kos, John Roloff, Charles Boone, John Priola, Harrell Fletcher, etc etc. My advice for students heading to SFAI is this: be a train wreck, preferably during your first year, and make mistakes.

Image from Night Swimming -- Seth Lower

BS: Seth, tell us about your work. Perhaps you could discuss your process as a photographer? Give us some insight into the thoughts behind your work...

SL: I think honesty is important. I don't know what that means. I like working from the personal into the broader public and communicating something to an audience. I'm interested in the document and the definition and translation of meaning. Being a photographer is a scary thing--you can easily shift into zombies if you're not careful. It's a good medium for people who like pretending to be invisible, like me. It's also a good way of getting ideas, sketching, engaging in a kind of personal practice that's half-way between selfish and generous.

BS: Can you go into detail about your influences? Are you influenced by any specific artists?

SL: Alice Shaw, Francis Alys, Tacita Dean, Will Rogan, Sophie Calle, Fischli & Weiss, Douglas Huebler, Werner Herzog, Eddie Vedder... all very genuine people interested in simultaneously telling me something and showing me something.

Image from Night Swimming -- Seth Lower

BS: Seth, I read that you will take part in the The Exquisite Corpse Project (2009) at Meat Market Gallery in Washington D.C.. Can you tell us about that exhibit? Also, will you be involved with any other upcoming exhibits?

SL: Yeah, the people putting it on emailed me one day with this collaboration idea--a photographic version of the exquisite corpse concept. They sent me a photo that another artist took and I had to respond to it in some way so that my picture formed the next link in the chain. It's going to be interesting because, in a way, everything makes sense. It's really hard to not make sense with photographs. I took a picture of my friend's cake.

BS: Finally, is there anything else you would like to say about your art?

SL: Just thanks for listening. And Thanks Brian!

You can learn more about Seth Lower by visiting his website-- www.sethlower.com. You can read more of my interviews by visiting the following page-- www.myartspace.com/interviews.

Take care, Stay true,

Brian Sherwin

Art Space Talk: Nall

Fred Nall Hollis, known internationally simply as "Nall," was born April 21, 1948 in Troy, Alabama. Nall was born into old wealth-- a Southern family that originally drew its wealth from a cotton plantation and later, from the oil industry and finance. In many ways, the roots of his artistic exploration are intertwined with the roots of his State of birth-- a message that Nall has taken with him throughout his travels.

Nall's travels to Mexico, Germany, India, France and other countries have helped to cultivate the message that can be discovered within the context of his art. His work often observes the injustice of the past alongside the beauty and harmony that can be found in life-- this bittersweet message is conveyed in his art --one that every individual, origin aside, can relate to on some level.
Brian Sherwin: Nall, you have stated that you inherited your artistic talent from your father. Can you tell us about the influence he had on you? What about other early influences? I assume you explored art early on...

Nall: Unfortunately, my Father did not like the fact that I had inherited artistic talent from him. He was continuously discouraging me from drawing. He insisted that I play football, baseball, basketball, etc., things he did not do. Sports were a bigger draw than art in the south and he had played in the band. In fact, he was an accomplished musician.

He once gave me and my cousin an art test and gave the best mark to my cousin-- who did not have the passion for art that I did. We were all of 14 years old at the time. I was hopelessly discouraged, but determined to do better to improve my talent and skill. Thus, it fueled my work ethic.
BS: I understand that you have long been interested in exploring symbolism within the context of your work-- and art in general. While living in Paris you studied the works of Dali, Durer, Bellmer, and J. Seraphim. Did you find direction from other sources as well-- psychology perhaps? For example, there is a book by Carl Jung titled Man and His Symbols-- has the study of psychology been an influence?

N: I studied psychology at the University of Alabama. In fact, I earned a minor in the subject of Abnormal Psychology. I was especially fond of Jung and Freud. While working at Bryce’s Mental institution as a student, I was fascinated by all of the conditions that can plague an individual. I was subconsciously looking for that 'something' that was inside of me-- that 'something' that no one knew or had the answer to. Perhaps I had simply inherited the art gene...

Yes, I was influenced by Gustave Moreau in the early 1970’s in Paris, and later on by Gustave Mossa in Nice, both symbolists from the end of the 19th or early 20th century.

BS: Nall, you studied under Salvador Dali-- he was one of your mentors. I read that Dali convinced you to live solely from your art, and told you: "Draw from life, do not be afraid, draw and go on drawing.". Can you tell us about your experiences with Dali and how he made an impact on your life?

N: It was in fact Juliane Seraphim who encouraged me to live from my art, as she was my companion. Dali was a mentor who guided me and made an impact on me, from example, to be less intimidated. Dali encouraged me to express what was in my mind and not to edit my work. He encouraged me to improve my knowledge of the classical techniques of drawing. He advised me to draw from the model. He warned me not to do forced surrealism... and made it clear that if I was to be a metaphysical artist it would be obvious.

BS: How have your travels played a part in your artistic journey? As mentioned, you have lived in Paris-- but you have also lived in several coastal areas and have spent time in the jungles of Mexico. How have those travels influenced you directly? Would your work be where it is today without having been introduced to those various cultures and traditions?

N: As a teen, I traveled to Mexico with my sister, and with my parents on banking conventions. The bug for traveling hit when I received my driving license-- I kept the road hot. It fascinated me to observe other peoples, places, and environments. Upon deciding to become an artist-- and live from my work --I wanted a classical education and to see Europe as well. First going to Germany, where my sister was living for a year, then moving on to Pairs where I enrolled in the Beaux Arts. It was there that I felt comfortable with my surroundings for the first time in my life.

Paris was the city of artists that would help rocket me out of a complex southern society that did not respect the male as an artist. Living in Paris allowed me to mingle with some of the greats in the field of art. While in Paris I learned how to draw from nature, studied portraiture, and learned line engraving techniques. It was a competitive experience-- I am thankful to have weathered the storm. Being surrounded by galleries, the Louvre, and so many other artists was good soil to plant a young artist.

The Mexican experience began when I was 16. Later on a few visits enamored me to return to work there in the 1980s. In fact, the longest period of my stay in the jungle coast town of Yelapa, near Puerto Vallarta, was a nine month stretch. I began doing eggshell mosaics, burning wood with a magnifying glass, carving, and sculpting. My sense of color became more vivid. There is a sense of aliveness that one gets from the jungle that was not present in Paris... a natural awareness that permeated my work.

India brought another dimension to my life and work-- one rooted in the spiritual. I was captivated by the sounds, colors, vibrations and energy of India. My experiences there helped me to understand the western world’s lack of spirituality. India’s enormous faith humbled me. The mirror reflections came into full focus there, in the room of the mistress of the Maharajah of Jaipur... in the Amber Palace.
BS: Nall, I read that you bought a studio space that was once owned by Jean Dubuffet. In that space you installed printing presses and began giving your own workshops. Can you tell us about that experience? Did you feel some form of connection with Dubuffet while working in his old haunt, so to speak?

N: No. I have never felt an affinity with Dubuffet, except that he was influenced by "art brut", and I collect and admire "outsider art". On the contrary, his studio was fabulous, with skylights over half of the ceilings. The glass walls facing the French Alps gave perfect light.

In my opinion, Dubuffet's best work was this studio-- 400 square meters of light, white walls, and marble floors --four levels permitted me to alter the space for myself. I had printing presses in one area, painting in another, my special framing and mosaics in another, winter living with sauna in one floor, and on another a summer bedroom and bath opening onto the garden. I had chickens and a rooster to wake me at 5am…

Having the printing presses was very convenient, as it allowed me to experiment more with etchings. I was able to do large etchings there-- I produced the largest and most successful etchings of my career in that space. I also did editions of Theo Tobias and Sylvia Braverman... when I had time for the printer to do others etching editions. I felt like I was going places, but then I tired of the business end of it. I quit doing etchings altogether when I sold the house.
BS: You eventually founded the N.A.L.L. Art Association (Nature Art & Life League) in Vence. Can you tell our readers about N.A.L.L. and why you decided to found it?

N: I had been rehabbing young artists from drug and alcohol abuse, and my new wife advised that I set up a foundation, as this sort of work should be recognized officially. This passion of helping other artists grew from having had little outside help in my career and sobering those who were going through the same thing I had. My wife wanted to move from the studio as it was primarily an artist’s workshop.

The new property of the N.A.L.L. has 11 bungalows, and as my secretary-companion lived with me, this would afford him his own house. The students could have their own houses and we would have a house of our own. In "The Cocoon", the Dubuffet house-- which was under one roof-- it became a bit crowded during that first year of marriage.

BS: Based on what I've read it seems that you observe artists as journeymen-- do you feel that every artist takes us on a journey of their experiences? That each artist creates a physical reminder-- or visual memoir --of their life and the joy and pain associated with it? Tell us about your philosophy pertaining to this...

N: I cannot speak for other artists. However, I can speak of my own path. My work is very autobiographical. It is an obvious journey of a young man growing up, and the trials that I have gone through. Each one fuels my art, and each experience is documented as if written in a scrapbook of my life. Working primarily from the model, each painting and drawing is a reminder of my life-- its highs and lows --peopled with the faces that I have personally known.
BS: Nall, one thing that I find fascinating about you is the fact that no matter how much wealth and fame that you obtain you have never forgotten your roots. For example, you were born in Alabama and as an adult you have sponsored Alabama art college students and have curated exhibits of art for other emerging artists from Alabama. Why is this connection to your past-- to your roots --important to you?

N: Ones roots , especially roots as deep and varied as mine, come from a land that has been riddled with injustice. The south has taken the brunt of America’s racism on its shoulders. In an attempt to heal our wounds it is first necessary to acknowledge ones sickness-- the social malady that plagues America, especially Alabama.

The close emotional kinship of our black, red and white brothers should be healed. The isolation that we have experienced in an area that was rurally based on the economic importance of slaves-- and the capture of land --has played out. Our karma is being paid, but not yet finished. I feel, having mixed blood, that not only am I paying back but also receiving the justice that is deserved.

As for the emerging artists in Alabama... I get a lot of satisfaction from helping other artists. On the other hand, if the artists do not continue in their path as artists they have at least gained a deeper appreciation for the craft.
BS: Allow me to ask some specific questions about your art. You have indicated that you build your drawing, four and five layers of graphite upon an etched surface, a process that you refer to as "pencil painting", and integrate these into a composition of painting with watercolor. Can you tell us more about your process and describe how it has matured through the years?

N: I wanted to be as good a draftsman as my father. This took time, as my art education in Alabama was self-taught until I reached college. At the University of Alabama I learned that I did not want to do commercial art, but wanted to create my own works. Moving on to study in Paris, Dali told me to begin at the bottom, with pencil, and to learn to draw. This took ten years.

I learned etchings, watercolor, (self-taught again) and in Mexico began with eggshell and bottle cap mosaics-- continuing toward a Byzantine sophistication. Mastering these techniques, I started mixing them together, each one isolated onto the same support or surface. Like an opera set, the natural inclusion of the frame wove itself into the composition. I tried different variations of each "mixing" and the works grew with each new technique learned.

A very strong work ethic, combined with the help of apprentices, helped me continuously develop the combinations sought. It reminds me of a chef creating a new taste or dish by trying various herbs and produce from around the world. This amalgamation of all the mixed mediums learned in different countries defines my work today.
BS: It would seem that you enjoy taking chances and pushing mediums beyond what many would view as their standard capacity. You are trained and skilled in traditional methods of artistic creation, but you make those traditions and techniques your own-- you create with an edge, so to speak. In that sense, how does your techniques and methods reflect your personality as an individual? Do you view each mark that is made as an exploration of yourself?

N: For sure, but it is also an exploration of the love for things old... using them in a new way. To create with the object, having been first created by someone or nature itself, mixes textures. A 24K gold mosaic tile placed next to a worm riddled piece of driftwood carries its own statement. The two together force an intellectual contrast. This is a language that every one can read. Each is symbolic of life, nature, and man’s state. Each is aesthetic. Each is beautiful in its own way.

I try to create beauty and harmony by mixing the materials as if they are races-- having no positive limitations. This is in contrast to the negative expression that seems to be in vogue today. There is too much lethargic painting, angry, seemingly drug induced art today. The sober, hard to master, direct, spontaneous, creative strain of art can better educate the youth in making earth a better place to live.

I am interested in the sensitive education that we receive from taste, sight, hearing and touch-- an education that emotionally equips us for the journey. I am seeking harmony, beauty, and peace. Thus, I must sometimes exorcise into my work the anger, ugliness and discontent that I find in myself.

BS: Having observed much of the world and the joy and strife that can be discovered... what are the social implications of your work? Do you seek to create a form of visual documentation about the world as you view it as well as about yourself?

N: I'm not concerned with making a biased comment. I seek to express what goes through my mind. If I feel something, I paint it-- whether a flower or a war. My own hieroglyphs define my perspective, or add that dimension to the work. This may touch the viewer in his or her gut. I may have several opinions about the subject and they may all be included.

BS: It has been said that through your travels a spiritual dimension has been captured within the context of your work. You mentioned this aspect in regards to your travels in India. What do you think about the spiritual as far as your art is concerned? Do you seek a spiritual connection?

N: Travel has taught me that all countries have their designated inherited religions. They are all valid and all speak of positive energy. Often times politics can overpower religion, making it less forceful, and ultimately, less useful. My art is spiritual... even in its negative connotations. It may speak of the positive or the negative, but both arise from the spirit.

I do seek a spiritual connection each time that I pray, look at a flower, or pet a dog. I feel the power of positive energy as I do that of negative energy. I react to each with either a smile or angst.
BS: What are you working on at this time? Can you give our readers some insight into your current work?

N: I am working on two beautiful Irises, a poppy, two pansies, an eye that is inside of a triangle inside of a circle, a large mosaic flower, a portrait of a Jewish boy with a yellow star on his pocket-- depicting the holocaust; a frame for a flat screen TV, and a project for the Orthodontist Society of America, which includes a portrait of a young girl. I'm also working on sketches for a mosaic that will go into a niche replacing a Chimabue at the St Francis of Assisi monastery in Italy, and a set of porcelain camellias... the Alabama state flower.

I will move to Italy this next week to complete a 7 foot high bronze sculpture of a Japanese Magnolia. I'm trying to paint it with realistic colors rather than burning on a patina. Also, rehearsals will begin soon for the new production by the Nice Opera to produce La Rondine by Puccini, of which I have done the costumes and sets. I hope to be working on the lighting as this is a new production in an indoor proscenium, as opposed to the first production by the Puccini Festival in Torre del Lago, Italy, which was an amphi-theater.

There are so many projects to finish and no time-- it seems --to complete even one of them! Each subject and project is in itself absorbing in its content-- like a playground for a child, or a candy store full of delights. I am working with several apprentices, teaching them techniques, and about to have a show of Violata Pax, at the Museum of the Citadel in Villefranche sur Mer, on the cote d’Azur, French Riviera.

BS: Where will your journey take you next?

N: Physically to Italy, to work on the sculpture of the Japanese Magnoiia-- as I have mentioned. I will also travel to Tunisia to work on a set of dinnerware with the Tunisian Porcelain Company. Then back to Alabama to finish a project for a public fountain.

In my works and subject matter I have no fixed idea. I would like to work more in the spiritual sphere and concern myself with this other world which is so distant from the material. I'm passionate to grow in a spiritual vein, but still hungry for sunsets, beautiful faces, landscapes with their changing colors, colorful ethnic cultures that are an experience and joy to see... there are so many choices to explore! However, at age 60, less time remains to travel and paint.

I would like to hermit myself in my studio so that I can work out the constructions and finishing of so many projects. I hope to finish what I have set out to do and to begin new works with the same passion and force that has been a gift to enjoy so far.
BS: As you know, the journey can be one of both pleasure and pain-- one could say that about life in general. Do you have any advice for emerging artists as they prepare for their artistic journey?

N: Yes... as Dali suggested to me, emerging artists need to throw themselves into their passions and paint what they feel-- they should not edit themselves! Emerging artists should listen to all the advice that is offered to them and surround themselves with muses. At that point they can live the greatest gift they have been given in life... a work that is all consuming.

BS: Finally, when all is said and done... what is the message that you want to leave with your art? What do you hope viewers obtain from observing your collective body of work? Do you strive to leave behind a legacy-- or would you say that is up to viewers to decide?

N: Having no children... my legacy is my art and the seeds that I have planted in the minds of apprentices over the last 30 years. The artwork reveals the message... a strong work ethic, a concentration on the trials of humanity, of its beauty in every living thing. A temperate philosophy that encompasses everyone and everything, the complete cycle of life and death, and back again. The artist has been treated to the prism of life and is lucky to have this moral obligation to work in a wonderful craft.

You can learn more about Nall by visiting the following website-- www.nall.org. You can read more of my interviews by visiting the following page-- www.myartspace.com/interviews.

Take care, Stay true,

Brian Sherwin

Senior Editor

www.myartspace.com

Art Space Talk: Andrea Loefke-- HomeBase III

Home Sweet Home (detail), Andrea Loefke installation-- HomeBase III. Photo by Douglas Romines.

Andrea Loefke is an accomplished German installation artist, who has shown extensively in NY and Germany, and is a Smack Melon resident. Andrea offered her time in order to discuss her installation, Home Sweet Home, which is on display at HomeBase III. Andrea has created a whole room based on the concept of food and cooking in a humoristic atmosphere that reminds one of a picnic scene. Andrea actually cooks at the project every Wednesday at 8 pm and throughout the weekends, simple homey foods – like oatmeal. While Andrea prepares food, visitors are allowed to explore the world that she has created in her space at HomeBase III-- as long as their shoes are off! You can learn more about Andrea by visiting her website-- www.andrealoefke.com.

The HomeBase Project, founded and directed by Anat Litwin, is a unique annual public art project devoted to the exploration of Home. The HomeBase Project is currently celebrating its third year (April 27 - May 18). HomeBase III has landed in a historical landmark townhouse in Sugar Hill, Harlem. This years project includes a group of international artists from Lebanon, USA, Germany, Israel, Switzerland, Iran, as well as local Harlem Artists who have inhabited the space to explore and create in it site-specific projects addressing the notion of Home. Visit www.homebaseproject.com for further information about the HomeBase Project.

Home Sweet Home (detail), Andrea Loefke installation-- HomeBase III. Photo by Adi Shniderman.

Brian Sherwin: Andrea, you are one of the artists involved with the HomeBase Project... HomeBase III to be exact. Can you tell us about your space at HomeBase III and the experience you have had with the project so far? Also, why did you decided to be involved with the project?

Andrea Loefke: I have a smaller size room on the second floor located towards the back... the garden. It is a quite room with a beautiful old fireplace. A little oddly shaped with a diagonal wall, making my space even more friendly since it is zoned off from the entrance door and creates privacy.

My piece at HomeBase III is entirely in red and white and I utilized the floor for the creation of the space. The area has an airspace of about 20" above ground, not more. The complete floor is covered with carpet padding and a red/white check patterned picnic tablecloth, the one we all recognize immediately. It is the fabric we all know from our mothers or grandmothers kitchen table or picnics we have had when we were children. It is rich in these associations and suggests a nostalgic, homelike, and guarded atmosphere. It builds comfort and generates personal memories. A cliche with intensity, excessive and meticulous.

I created a kind of playground. No shoes allowed! The world inside invites us to tinker, to make, to eat, to socialize and to relax. At certain times I am cooking on my two hot plates on the floor. Everything is in red and white. During the opening day I made oatmeal with milk and strawberries topped with a few drops of raspberry syrup and flakes of coconut. The room was crowded with visitors, enjoying the food, making drawings, shaping plasticine or watering the plants and flowers.

Home Sweet Home (detail), Andrea Loefke installation-- HomeBase III. Photo by Adi Shniderman.

My strawberries and tomatoes are growing in window boxes behind a little tea station. The fireplace has paper flames and cotton smoke clouds. Marshmallows on red sticks are positioned by the wall-- appearing as if they are ready to be roasted. There are bowls of candy and flowers in red pots floating just above ground. Scribblings and pined up drawings can be discovered on the wall. It is a creative place. A place that appears cozy, yet expresses some insinuations of discomfort... as if things are slightly out of control!?

For example, there is a tinkered white foam-core house that has no roof. The view inside reveals an aggressive red and glossy surface that nearly spills out over its walls. The paper flames and puffy clouds are escaping into the room. All details are without exception within the color scheme and even the red and white checker pattern has been meticulously cut out and made to wooden blocks stacked and collected in containers. Everything is unreasonable and overly excessive, doesn't our home often exhibit the true sides of oneself?

HomeBase has been a very challenging and new experience for me. When Anat Litwin approached me I was intrigued by the concept of working on site and with the clear intent to interact as a group and with the place. I usually work by myself and rarely have discourse with others during this process. Things happen quietly in my studio. At Homebase I was inspired by the group, the talks, the meetings, the place, the neighborhood. It was a wonderful opportunity to explore a new working practice.

In addition we had an immense time constriction. Three weeks went by and there was still construction going on in the building. One had to act quickly and smartly. As a matter of fact, my idea to cook and set up these "tinkering stations" came through the fear of not being able to create a complete and finished piece! I decided that I would need to have a continuous process... a piece that will grow over time, even over the course of the exhibition. From there I went and the idea formed toward my "Home Sweet Home" Installation.

Home Sweet Home (detail), Andrea Loefke installation-- HomeBase III. Photo by Douglas Romines.

BS: What do you like about the community aspect of the HomeBase Project?

AL: The community aspect of HomeBase goes beyond the community of artists in the space. For me it was very interesting to work in a different neighborhood-- Harlem is a place I hadn't‚t been able to truly visit before. The next door neighbors, the kids on the street, the Jazz Club across the street... there were clashes and concurrences-- experiences all around. We were all clearly challenged in the role as both visitor and intruder. We had wonderful moments of connection and other moments of misunderstanding.

BS: You were born in Germany... did the transition between living in Germany and moving to the United States impact your work and process? Artists that I've interviewed before have mentioned that they felt a sense of isolation reflected in their work due to the clash of culture that they had experienced... did you experience that as well? Is that reflected in the work that you have created for HomeBase III?

AL: No, I have not experienced isolation and it doesn't‚t reflect in my work. I have always felt very welcome in the United States. I embrace the difference in culture, especially the difference in material culture. When I came to America I was fascinated by the 99 cent stores, the cheapness, the kitsch, the artificial colors, the slick and tacky surfaces. My work has changed vehemently since I arrived and day-by-day I am joyfully diving into the tactility of America's mass-produced knick-knack.

My piece at HomeBase might have a little sentiment... the red and white, like my parents kitchen, the strawberries, the cooking, the smell of food. My mother and I both love strawberries and at home we always had an enormous bowl of strawberries with whip cream. I also associate home very much with my mothers cooking. I love to sit in the kitchen at home and have mother prepare a nice dinner for the whole family. Yes, this is my personal felicitousness.

Home Sweet Home (detail), Andrea Loefke installation-- HomeBase III. Photo by Douglas Romines.

BS: Your installations occupy a space between familiarity and fantasy. In your work... you are interested in the journey of discovery and offering pathways for viewers to explore their own reflections and interpretations upon viewing your installations. Can you go into detail about the thoughts behind your work and how you have carried those thoughts into your space at HomeBase III?

AL: In HomeBase III the pathways are even more open than ever. I provided a place full of possibilities, a framework that allows personal experience, a personal narrative-- the viewer and visitor can be creative in his or her own terms quite literally. I am interested in creating a place that has the capacity to crack open a well of associations and allow the viewer to feel, to dream, to fantasize, be irrational, subjective and intuitive.

During the process of viewing, specific or vague personal memories are awakened. The participant is asked to weave his or her own story and sensations, to believe and to wonder. Certain materials, objects, colors and smells (of food and cooking) might trigger these reactions. The actual doing and creating in Home Sweet Home might heighten the experience. After-all, the installation fuses the real and the imagined. It is my hope that it generates an atmosphere of creativity.

Home Sweet Home (detail), Andrea Loefke installation-- HomeBase III. Photo by Adi Shniderman.

BS: Finally, as I know you are rushed for time, is there anything else you would like to say about you work at HomeBase III or about the HomeBase Project in general?

AL: I wish I could take part in the HomeBase Project again but with more time to fully apprehend the potentials of such a project-- the idea of completely experiencing a place and space and its people.

As for the cooking and my "play area": I feel that the work and its visitors have been a gift to me. I have never experienced such true participation. Last Sunday was an unforgettable, and indeed extraordinary, day for me. Home Sweet Home had a magical atmosphere-- a candid and yet "artless" involvement. Thanks to everyone who visited.

You can learn more about Andrea Loefke by visiting her website-- www.andrealoefke.com. You can learn more about the HomeBase Project and HomeBase III by visiting the following site-- www.homebaseproject.com. You can read more of my interviews by visiting the following page-- www.myartspace.com/interviews.

Take care, Stay true,

Brian Sherwin

Art Space Talk: Adi Ezroni-- HomeBase III

764 St. Nicholas Ave @148th st.-- HomeBase III

The HomeBase Project, founded and directed by Anat Litwin, is a unique annual public art project devoted to the exploration of Home. The HomeBase Project is currently celebrating its third year (April 27 - May 18). HomeBase III has landed in a historical landmark townhouse in Sugar Hill, Harlem. This years project includes a group of international artists from Lebanon, USA, Germany, Israel, Switzerland, Iran, as well as local Harlem Artists who have inhabited the space to explore and create in it site-specific projects addressing the notion of Home. Visit www.homebaseproject.com for further information about the HomeBase Project.

Adi Ezroni offered her time to answer some questions about HomeBase III. Adi, co-producer of the HomeBase Project, is one of the leading actresses and television hosts in Israel . She is also an acclaimed film producer working in the US. One of her films “Holly” is currently out in the theaters.

(credit goes to the photographers-- Oded Hirsch and Adi Shniderman.)

Anat Litwin installation, HOMEBASE III 2008

Brian Sherwin: Adi, you are the co-producer of the HomeBase Project-- a unique annual public art project devoted to the exploration of Home. This is the third year for The HomeBase Project. HomeBase III opened on April 27th. Can you give our readers a brief history about the founding of the HomeBase Project?

Adi Ezroni: Anat Litwin, the founder of HomeBase, was the director of the makor gallery and artist in residence at the 92y. Two years ago she founded the homebase project based on the idea that artists can be architects of meaning. What could be more basic and universal than the concept of home? It is the most fertile ground for artistic exploration, one which fosters understanding and dialogue. SO – HomeBase I was in Greenpoint in 2006 and HomeBase II was in SOHO in 2007. This year we have transformed a 5 floor historical townhouse into HomeBase III!

BS: Adi, can you discuss your position as co-producer of the HomeBase Project? Why did you decide to be involved?

AE: I am an actress and a film producer. I love the arts, and have been involved in socially minded projects for many years (see www.priorityfilms.com for examples). Exploring the notion of home artistically when it is such a charged subject in an international setting in gentrifying neighborhoods is truly exciting for me. Anat Litwin is a magnetizing presence! She is so professional, creative, and passionate. She is an extraordinary artist in her own right. I wanted to help make it happen and get the word out.

BS: How are artists selected for involvement in the HomeBase Project? Can artists submit their work for consideration or are they personally selected by the coordinators of the project? Are there other ways that people can support the project?

AE: Up till now, the artists have been selected by the coordinators of the project and mainly by Anat who has many years of experience in curating public art projects. The artists needed to be open minded about working in a site specific setting for a month, being part of a communal setting not just an exhibit and from various cultural backgrounds. We hope to open it up to submissions in the next couple of years.

Ken Launder Guest installation, HOMEBASE III 2008

BS: Adi, what can you tell our readers about the study component of the project? It is my understanding that the artists participate in group study sessions during the first month... can you go into detail about that?

AE: Yes, that’s true – HomeBase is about creating a meaningful community of artists, not just another gallery exhibit. In the first phase of the project, the artists meet twice a week for study sessions together. For example, this year, writer, Ruby Namdar joined us for textual exploration of home in ancient texts and Michael Henry Adams joined us for historic background of the neighborhood and the architecture as well as others-- including the artists themselves. In this time, the artists create as well – and the study component elicits additional ideas for their creations.

BS: The project utilizes the Internet... for example, artists post Letters Home via the HomeBase website and the project is documented on the HomeBase website blog. What do you find interesting about this utilization of technology alongside the physical aspects of the project?

AE: The project is more than the physical. It combines the letters home aspect which is the textual representation of the project as well as the video blogs, and color catalogue. By utilizing the internet we are enabling those who have been to the project and want to respond as well as those who have not and want to be part of it – to participate. It is the public engagement aspect that goes beyond just the location. Today many people feel that they find their respective home in niches online…so I guess that’s a part of it too.

Andrea Loefke installation, HOMEBASE III 2008

BS: Adi, can you tell our readers more about HomeBase III? I understand that 17 international artists working in different mediums are involved with the project this year. Perhaps you can give us some information about a few of these artists?

AE: Anat Litwin – Israel - the founder and director of the project is also an artist - she has taken up the living room on the third floor and created an object theater with her personal objects from home that reflect a place of ceremony and relationship. She has added a vocabulary in the form of cut outs and text that assists in opening up the riddle/puzzle of objects. For example – the ceremony of cleaning with the ordinary yellow gloves is given the higher meaning as a spiritual healing.

Andrea Leofke – Germany – is an accomplished German installation artist, who has shown extensively in NY and Germany , and is a Smack Melon resident. Andrea has created a whole room based on the concept food/cooking in a humoristic atmosphere that takes from a picnic scene. As we were speaking of home, many artists including Andrea spoke of food/homecooking as a major feature in what they felt home means to them. Andrea actually cooks at the project every Wednesday at 8 pm and throughout the weekends, simple homey foods – like oatmeal.

Sylvie Degiez and Wayne Lopes – Swiss/USA – created a sound installation in the penthouse which incorporates various soundtracks using 3 universal chords. Though the tracks are extremely different from each other, they work in harmony and won’t repeat in 365 days.

Annabelle Daou – Lebanon - has shown extensively in the US and is also a director and curator of numerous art projects. She has created a room with the view of the horizon, yet the view is made by building blocks that actually block the real view.

Alex Schweder – US – is an architect and artist who has exhibited extensively In the US including the SF MOMA and others. He has taken the living room on the fourth floor and "swept it under the carpet" thus creating a new terrain and challenging our conception of a "living" room.

YelleB ensemble performing “rooms” every Saturday/Sunday at 1:30 and 5 pm

BS: You share a space in HomeBase III as well, correct? Can you tell our readers about the site specific art that you have created in that space?

AE: Yes, I have decided to forfeit my "room" and take up the nook under the stairs. That’s where I feel comfortable/safe. I have created a video projection of a white masked figure. To me, feeling displaced/in transition/on the threshold of, is like being faceless, and in a way I am the ghost in the attic…a figure that is between up and down, kind of in the middle.

BS: Each year there is great interest in how the artists will reflect their ideas of 'home'. Adi, in your opinion... why has the HomeBase Project been so successful? Why does this exploration of 'home' capture the attention of viewers?

AE: I believe it is a seemingly simple concept (though very complex in its outcome) and very universal – it is welcoming and enigmatic at the same time.

Xaveira Simmons, Installation, HOMEBASE III 2008

BS: In what way do you hope to see the HomeBase Project expand? Are there any plans to take the project global?

AE: We are looking forward to expanding the project to communities in the US and internationally. We hope to be in Berlin next year.

BS: Is there anything else you would like to tell our readers about HomeBase III or the HomeBase Project in general?

AE: Please check our website for upcoming events – it is continuously changing. We welcome everyone! Thank you so much for this thoughtful interview.

You can learn more about the HomeBase Project by visiting the following website-- www.homebaseproject.com. You can read more of my interviews by visiting the following page-- www.myartspace.com/blog.

Take care, Stay true,

Brian Sherwin