Tuesday, March 27, 2012

DANIEL GALAS

 Basketball Hoop, Soft pastel and graphite
 on Rives BFK, 22" x 30", 2010





What are you working on in your studio right now?




1. I'm finishing up a painting that I started before the New Year.

2. I'm starting a 38" x 46" oil painting of the George Washington Bridge that I will be auctioning off at my wife's private elementary school.

3. I'm continuing to work on a linocut series of Buffalo, NY architecture. By 2013 I hope to have completed the series of 10 architectural structures that best represent Buffalo for better or worse.

4. I'm continuing to work on my 5 1/2" x 8" pencil drawings documenting my commute to and from Washington Heights in Manhattan. The architecture in that neighborhood I find especially interesting.







 Can you describe your working routine?

               

I draw and paint primarily as a means of meditation and way of contemplating my immediate surroundings. I typically feel the need to draw everyday, I paint when I can (about once a week), and I work on other projects like printmaking in intense stretches of two week periods or so.








Painting the George Washington Bridge




Can you describe your studio space and how, if at all, that affects your work?



My studio is outdoors… I'm really a "en plain air" painter. That means that I bring my work and materials with me wherever I go, whenever I want to draw/paint. I can be on the bus commuting to work, hiking through a State Park, or sitting in the front yard of my apartment (I live in Nyack… a beautiful village 30 minutes north of Manhattan on the Hudson River). All those places are equally my studio. However I do have a room in my apartment where I keep all my art materials and finished pieces. But I rarely do any creating in there and it gets pretty messy.






Tell me about your process, where things begin, how they evolve etc.
               


Things always start with me having the desire to go for a walk and clear my head. Then after walking a bit I'll find a cozy spot somewhere to set up and draw or paint. Sometimes I choose my location according to a subject that I find interesting like a mailbox, a house, or a car. Sometimes I choose my location because its comfortable… I'll typically set up on a side street, in the shade, or in an area close to home. From there I begin to draw what I see. The goal when I am creating art is to immerse myself in the here and now. But in order to be in the moment and be spontaneous I have to be inspired and that means that I have to get creative in my interpretation of what I'm drawing. If I draw solely with my eyes I'll be bored, if I draw solely with my emotions I'll be thrust back into myself, but if I use my emotions and imagination to creatively interpret what I see then I working within a healthy and happy balance between the two. From that point on I'm like a Jazz musician improvising within the parameters of my subject matter. Sometimes I push those boundaries to an almost unrecognizable interpretation, but most often I work to enhance the visual qualities inherent in my subject. Almost always I finish the drawing/painting in a single session and the piece ends up taking its final shape without over thinking it.





 UPS Truck, Paper mache over styrofoam, 22' x 15' x 8',  2010





What are you having the most trouble resolving?



I suppose there is a few a things. I've always been turned on by "naive" looking art… whether it was done by Dubuffet (an art world insider) or Sam Doyle (an art world outsider) it doesn't really matter. I love simplified forms, crooked lines, and disproportionate forms and shapes. But I don't like kitschy cute stuff, or art that too closely resembles children's art. So I sometimes struggle with creating work that looks simple but not too childlike.

I also love to work large. I created a 22' x 15' x 8' paper mache UPS truck while I was in my Masters program at CUNY Lehman. But other than that experiment I'm limited on how large my work can be because I paint/draw outside on location. Ten years ago in Undergrad at SUNY Fredonia I created many paintings that were 7' x 5'. I like that size but it doesn't easily accommodate walking around outside and setting up to paint on the sidewalk.

Also, I don't feel as though I'm completely comfortable with any one medium and/or material. I used to be an oil painter. But now I do a little of everything… oil paint, acrylic paint, pencil, ink brush, oil and soft pastel, mixed medium with watercolor, print making… etc. Each medium I love has its downside.







Do you experiment with different materials a lot or do you prefer to work within certain parameters?
               


Like I said above… I love many mediums and materials. But don't misunderstand me, I'm not innovative with materials like Eva Hesse was. About 4 years ago or so I became very interested in learning and understanding traditional drawing and painting mediums. I find it curious that to work with something as basic as charcoal on paper can be so complicated. Start with charcoal… there is willow, vine, char-kole sticks, charcoal dust, compressed charcoal, charcoal pencils… and more. Each has its own personality and techniques that work especially well with it. But then there is paper… smooth, toothed, rough, thin, thick, watercolor, dry media, pastel, printmaking, cotton-based, wood pulp, mulberry, machine made, hand made, archival, non-archival… and believe me this list can go on forever! (By the way New York Central in Manhattan has an incredible selection of papers).







Graphite on archival paper, 5 1/2" x 8", 2012





What does the future hold for your work?



Ten years ago when I was twenty I created art in a blaze. I was never short for ideas and every piece I created I pushed my creativity to its max. I was forever anxious to start my next project and hoped to awe my audience (faculty and classmates) every time. I was also very unhappy during this period in my life and emotionally unstable. Ten years on, at the age of thirty, I create art in a slow burn. I've found an approach to art making that satisfies me. I no longer care about impressing my audience… in fact I find myself content with creating work that challenges my audience… in other words, I enjoy creating work that the audience might not find attractive. I also don't have anxiety anymore about creating work… I have nothing to prove to myself artistically. I'm totally content at the moment just drawing and painting the world around around me.

In the future, say ten years on, I see myself having created a huge body of consistent work. I can see myself fluctuating back and forth between abstract interpretation of my subjects and realistic interpretation. Also, I hope to do a few more installation art projects, paper mache and wooden sculptures, and have a few comprehensive solo shows. I foresee my career as an artist gaining momentum and hope to have a long lasting relationship with a gallery that I trust.







Driveway, Soft pastel, watercolor, gauche, graphite
on Aquabee Super Deleuxe paper, 11" x 14", 2010




Is there anything else you would like to add?



I'd like to share with your readers a few of my core beliefs about art…
Never concern yourself with being original; originality just happens.
Just because a work of art is hanging in a museum doesn’t mean that you have to like it.
The greatest art never tries to be great.
All artists have only one option: to become the artist that they are.
Great artists know how to use their weaknesses for their strengths.
Authenticity is the greatest quality a work of art can possess.
The greater the material limitations an artist has, the greater the opportunity the artist has for transcending them.
Do not take from nature, make from nature.
Honor diversity in art. The more styles and aesthetics there are, the richer their distinctions become.To be involved in a community of artists is the only way for career success.
Never pay anyone to exhibit your work.
If you aren’t being denied fifteen times a year from submitting your work for shows you aren’t applying enough

Friday, March 23, 2012

WILMA VISSERS

Oil stick on 2 pieces of wood, 2010, approx. 20 x 10 cm






What are you working on in your studio right now?


Because of the huge high walls off my studio it's a great place to try anything that comes into my mind. I can pin different art works together on the wall and try different combinations. Currently I am preparing for an exhibition in the month of June in Friesland, that is very near where I live. The title of the exhibition is 'Far Worlds, Ireland'. The Lithographs that I made last summer in Ireland while I was artist an residence fit in with other older art works. Every new combination of art works accentuates certain aspects that I see on my wall and everything changes constantly





Can you describe your working routine?


I enter my studio and the first thing that I do is to take my everyday Moleskin drawing book and a pencil and I start to draw. I don't have a plan. The only thing is it should be a horizontal drawing or a vertical one. The themes of the drawings change from day to day and I can go from a very black mood drawing to a light dreamy kind of theme the next day. It is like a drawing diary. The mood that I am in and things that have happened to me, can be read directly from the drawing of the day. I always find it very inspiring just to sit down and draw and look at my other artworks as well.










Can you describe your studio space and how, if at all, that affects your work?



My studio is in an old school building which I share with 16 other artists. The walls of the room are 4 meters high and it is very light because of the big windows on the south. The big walls give me the opportunity to play along with different kind of art works and techniques together on the wall. My studio is in Groningen which is a medium sized city in the north of the Netherlands with a University.





Oil stick on Irish bog oak, 2008, approx. 12 x 2 cm







Tell me about your process, where things begin, how they evolve etc.



This is a quote of a colleague of mine concerning my artworks: “I defy painting in every possible way there is”. I want to find out where the limit is for me. Often my art works have a lighthearted, humorous attitude in which I try, for myself, to be relative the history of painting. I often wonder what an art work is and what can be a medium to create it on. In the past I made a painting on a spatula, strips of wood and I had a preference for long thin and divergent canvasses. While creating these artworks I questioned myself, what can be a medium to create a painting on? And how do these artworks relate to each other and the space of the wall around them? The next phase in this process was to make my paintings more like objects. I used French oakwood or Irish bog oak to create a painting on and I left parts of the surface unrefined.




Oil stick on newspaper, 2011, approx. 100 x 90 cm



I have experimented a lot with material because I want find new ways of painting and drawing. One of my experiments is to use big sheets of sanding paper. I cut it into a shape, then paint it with gesso and some color and burn it with a very hot soldering iron. This very brutal way of drawing creates special lines and surfaces. After this I made a few art works which you could literally see through. For example a painted fringe made out of wood. When looking at it more closely you will experience that the middle is empty. Is this also a part of the art work? Can this “emptiness” in the middle of the art work be seen as full or empty? Because of this the art work seems to be part of the wall and because of this double vision it is hard to know what you are seeing. Utensils also fit in this process of the painting as an object. I used a matchstick or other large sticks to apply oil sticks or paint on them. Then they become more than ordinary daily utensils and they get double meaning because you can still see the function but can’t use it anymore.


I always find it important that my art works are spatial and flat objects on the wall. They make you aware of the space around them….The art work doesn’t stop at its border but should be thought through the space of the walls that surround it. That why I place them next, above and under each other. In this way the white off the wall is important to and they act like they are one big artwork.





22-2-2012, drawing in moleskine





What are you having the most trouble resolving?


The question what should I do next or what will be the next move.




Do you experiment with different materials a lot or do you prefer to work within certain parameters?


I use wood, paper, newspapers, sanding paper, carton and lino. I use these materials as a basis for oil sticks. I also create Lithographs if I go to Ireland to stay and work as an artist in residence, which I did twice already.



What does the future hold for this work?


Who knows?







Gouache on 3 spoons, 2009, approx. 5 x 5 cm






Friday, March 16, 2012

JOHN PHILLIP ABBOTT

Folk Festival, 9”x12”, oil, charcoal,
 acrylic gesso on canvas over panel, 2012





What are you working on in your studio right now?


Right now I am in the process of preparing small and large canvases. I take a lot of time prepping the canvases to arrive at a smooth surface, assuming ownership, if you will, of the white ground that is often visible in the finished paintings. And I continue to draw.





Can you describe your working routine?


Working in the early morning and late evening are my favorite times to be in the studio. The quietness seems to yield the most awareness. Come to think of it, there is a really quiet time in the early afternoon here in New Mexico, too. Basically, when my schedule allows it, I try to be in the studio. My wife is a painter as well so we encourage each other to get in the studio. I’m in the studio every day. Sometimes I just look, or put things away, or read.  It is important that when I am painting that I feel what I am doing otherwise it is better to prep canvases or draw.













Can you describe your studio space and how, if at all, that affects your work?


My studio is located in a small, prefabricated building located behind the house we rent in Albuquerque, New Mexico. My work is diaristic in nature and pulls from memory, so working at the house provides an infinite amount of source material.





Tell me about your process, where things begin, how they evolve etc.


My work begins with writing what I am thinking about or feeling at the time. It could be something I read or heard. This quick action breaks up the picture plane and leaves something behind that can lead to further dialogue. I then may layer an image on top of the text that, ideally, relates conceptually and structurally to the formal characteristics of the text and its meaning. Hopefully these different modes of perception will all relate to produce an image that feels my own.















What are you having the most trouble resolving?


At times, I will get stuck with a painting and it will just have to sit there, facing the wall. Often times, if I am patient and open, the next move for the work will present itself.





Do you experiment with different materials a lot or do you prefer to work within certain parameters?


Experimenting with different materials at times begins to feel like the focus of my research. If I want to make something, and have the resources, I will. As far as I’m concerned any work in the studio is positive but eventually I will stumble upon something that demands my attention for longer.







Goodnight Gary Carter, 9”x12”, oil, charcoal,
acrylic gesso on canvas over panel, 2012





What does the future hold for this work?


I’m really excited about this work and look forward to seeing where it goes from here. Some of this work will be included in upcoming shows in Pittsburgh and New York with shows slated later in the summer for Madison and Chicago.





Is there anything else you would like to add?


Thank you Valerie for this opportunity to discuss my studio and process. I am grateful for this platform of sharing and to you for making it possible.





Friday, March 9, 2012

LOUISA WABER

Watercolour, gouache & pastel on paper, 8 x 9", 2011





What are you working on in your studio right now?



For the past three years I've mostly been working on paper using watercolor, gouache, and ink. Recently I've also gone back to painting with oil on wood panels. The work on paper is small and intimate in scale. I like the freedom and immediacy of working on paper, somehow because it's not as precious as canvas I'm able to be more loose with it, same is true of watercolor and gouache. If something isn't working I can just toss it for the time being and get back to it later. I have lots of work in various stages of completion.





Can you describe your working routine?



Since I'm not able to go to my studio every day, due to family responsibilities and having to work for money (or look for work, which is usually the case) when I am in my studio, I'm very focused and work almost nonstop. My routine also involves drinking a lot of coffee, and listening to music or talk programs on NPR. (I like Car Talk, This American Life and Fresh Air especially) I seem to need another part of my brain to be focused on something else other than the work I am doing, maybe it frees my unconscious or something like that. When I first get to the studio in the morning I spend some time trying to straighten up and organize stuff – paint tubes, brushes, stacks of paper that are strewn everywhere – I'm a very messy painter. On the days I don't go to my studio I work at home at night or early in the morning, at our living room table. Same routine, lots of coffee and music/talk radio.














Can you describe your studio space and how, if at all, that affects your work?



My studio is in an old, industrial building in East Williamsburg, Brookyln. There are a lot of artists studios on the floor, and a framing business owned by good friends of mine. I know most of the people who are walking around in the hallway so there's a nice friendly atmosphere. I like this in contrast to the privacy of the studio which I also love. The studio is about 500 sq. ft, long and narrow, with one big window with bars on it facing east, and overlooking sides of buildings and rooftops. Some, but not a lot of natural light, A heater in the winter that's a bit noisy. High ceilings and really grungy floors. Some studios look happy, I think mine does.






Tell me about your process, where things begin, how they evolve etc.



I approach a painting by making a line, a shape, an area of color, then another and another. A straightforward and intuitive process. Each mark is a response to what came before. At some point I am no longer calling all the shots, the painting has something to say, there's a dialogue, and I respond to what it is saying. Whether the painting is finished or not is sometimes unclear – other times it shouts “done.” Frequently I go back into a painting after a pause of weeks or months, often seeing possibilities I hadn't before. I can't repeat a painting. How it came to be is mysterious. I don't usually remember or know how I did a painting. I do know that every stroke or mark can exist only in the moment it was done. Five minutes later it would be a different mark or stroke and a different painting.






Watercolour, gouache & ink on paper, 8 x 9", 2011




What are you having the most trouble resolving?



In general in my life, I'm having the most trouble finding a job that is fairly tolerable and takes up the least amount of my time, with the maximum pay. Is that too much to ask? I would be on cloud nine if I could spend every day in my studio, or at least 5 days a week. On a more technical note, I'm having trouble making larger drawings and paintings. I've been working on a small scale for several years, and I do want to make the work bigger but it's been a difficult so far. Many years ago I did large paintings (6', 7') and at that time I had trouble making small work. I'd like to be able to easily go back and forth and that's been challenging.







Do you experiment with different materials a lot or do you prefer to work within certain parameters​​?




I love materials, all kinds of materials. I love wandering up and down aisles in hardware store, considering all the possibilites. I'm fascinated by glazes and varnishes, wax mediums, dry pigmants, all that stuff. I used to work in an art supply store, a long time ago, and it always made a strong impression on me when somebody came in and asked for something exoctic that I´d never used - "damar crystals" for example - even the name is fascinating. Over the years I´ve tried a lot of different materials and probably always will. One thing I´ve wanted to do for a long time is learn how to make paper. I watched a video on YouTube of a guy demonstrating to elementary scholl kids how to make paper and it doesnt look too hard. You need a blender and a screen, I´m going to try it. I am not a purist about materials.







Notebooks 2012






What does the future hold for this work?



What I hope for is abundant time, so I can keep doing the work I love doing. I hope the future holds a wider audience, more shows, and more sales.





Is there anything else you would like to add?






 

It's amazing how much inspiring work I've discovered on Facebook and various artists' blogs, I feel a connection and kinship with so much of this work, and this is not a feeling I necessarily get when I'm walking around in Chelsea. I've seen a lot of really deeply felt and beautiful work and I feel like there's a conversation going on, and a sense I have that I can be part of this conversation, that what I am doing in my work speaks to what some other artists are doing and vice versa. Of course I'd love to see this work in real life - I don't really like to spend a lot of time on the internet actually.

Thank you Valerie for your wonderful blog and for providing to me the opportunity to share some thoughts and show my work. You are doing a great service to lots of artists, and you're also doing some awesome paintings.






Watercolour, gouache & ink on paper, 8 x 9", 2011