AMY MOFFAT

Untitled drawing, ink on paper, 2011

What are you working on in your studio right now?

At the minute I'm working on a series of sculptures. Sculpture is pretty new to me so I'm trying to figure out how materials work, mainly reclaimed wood, netting and latex for now. I am also doing a lot of drawing; for sculptures and also just to get things out of my head. Drawing has become a huge part of my practice over the last 18 months and I couldn't live without it now. I think everyone should draw, it allows for a free fall of imagery, shapes and marks to come out on to a page. I love drawings that I don't understand as over time I begin to realize their relevance; almost in a psycho-analytical way. I learn a lot about myself through drawing.

Can you describe your working routine?

As I said drawing is a big part of my practice. I draw when I don't know what to make, or what to do or don't feel like painting. My paintings and now sculptures usually begin with a drawing. I tend to work in black ink with water but have recently started incorporating three colours in to the drawings too. I would then begin paintings loosely based on a drawing or sometimes specifically based on a drawing. However I find painting in this way unsuccessful as I don't want to make paintings that are illustrations of drawings. It's only recently that I have begun to see the drawings as complete works in themselves. I think this is why the painting side of my practice has taken a back seat in recent months and the sculptural work has begun to emerge. There's still a lot for me to do with sculpture, there's a lot to figure out and negotiate and the piece evolves more in the making than it has done with my paintings. This is perhaps because of my limited sculptural skills! But also because the sculptural materials I'm using can be more unpredictable than paint, at least in my own experience.

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

I completed a year long residency a few months back at Kingsgate Workshops where I had a great space to work but unfortunately once my residency finished I had to find a new space. My new studio is too small and there is no natural light...quite depressing really! I feel like I need to move out as soon as I can. My sculptures are growing out of my space, everything is on top of one another. Perhaps this is another reason painting has stopped. When painting I feel I need an organised area where I know where to reach for a cadmium red if I need it, I like to paint quickly. At the minute the paints are all crammed on top of one another. I've started working on hanging sculptures, perhaps as a result of the space I don't know? All I know is that I need a bigger, lighter studio!

 (top) Projection, oil on wood, 2010

(below) I change shapes to hide in this place,oil on wood, 2010

from the Diary Series

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

The 'Diary Series', which is my most recent body of painting work, was important to me in discovering what it was that I really wanted to make and also what I needed to make. I used to work a lot from found imagery which gave me a starting point to make paintings but the neither the imagery nor the paintings really told me anything about myself; they didn't go beyond the boundaries of the frame. This is when I began using my own imagery, I tried to allow myself not to think and just draw...which is very difficult in today's hectic lifestyle, we are programmed to think with logic and reason and our unconscious isn't allowed much time to breath. It took a lot of practice to be able to just draw.

Certain motifs would re-occur and I found myself incorporating them in to different scenarios and the work had small narratives within them. At the minute I want to move away from creating any kind of narrative as such and rather allow a more primitive, uncontrolled process to take over. My aim is to draw and make without analysing it at all during the making process. I want to leave this until afterwards to prevent any decisions that are too consciously focused. I want to access the unconscious more and allow marks and shapes to appear and then figure out what it all means and its relevance after. I guess this leads to a more process based practice as I will be focusing on the materials whilst making; how I can make the wood fit together or hang in a certain way, how the ink and water react, how to get a particular surface finish etc

What are you having the most trouble resolving?

Painting is cruel! Painting is really hard for me at the minute and I'm trying to resolve it by not doing it! Perhaps the drawings and sculptural work will inform the paintings or allow me to think about making paintings in different ways...or maybe painting will take a back seat in my practice and I'll consider myself more multi-disciplinary?

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

Well until the past few months I only really worked with oils, mainly on board. I was also doing the ink drawings which still continue and in fact have become a real focus of my practice; it's where the thinking happens, but like I said at the minute I'm working in sculpture so my main material at the minute is reclaimed wood.

What does the future hold for this work?

I have a solo show coming up in October at The China Shop gallery Oxford. I'm hoping to continue with the sculptural work to show in this exhibition but I also want to allow the drawings more focus. They have always been hidden in the studio for my eyes only but I would like to present them as finished pieces as they really are an integral part of my practice.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

Did I mention I like drawing? Draw more!

Untitled drawing, ink on paper, 2011

AMY FELDMAN

Irascible leftovers, 20 x 20", acrylic on canvas, 2011

What are you working on in your studio right now?

I am in the middle of stretching a 96” x 80” wedge shaped painting. At its top, the width of the painting is 1” from the wall and at its bottom the painting is 5” from the wall. Eventually, it will be hung a few inches from the floor or may even lean against the wall. I just made a few shaped paintings, mostly circles and ovals, and I like seeing them hung on the wall, but it’s also exciting to have them hanging out around the studio conversing with the rectangles. I am also making some drawings.

Can you describe your working routine?

I don’t really have a set routine but I am in the studio almost every day. I don’t always make something, but I feel like it’s important to check-in and look around. Before I make work, I generally like to have a coffee and variety of snacks on hand.

studio views

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

My studio is in Gowanus, by the canal, and under the train trestle. I am on the 4^th floor of a building facing southwest and can see the top of the Lowe’s Building. It is painted in grayed white and emits a fuzzy light that makes you squint depending on the time of day and the weather conditions. I have high ceilings, large windows and have a view of the Brooklyn Queens Expressway. There is a lot of construction happening under the train and workers have wrapped the cement beams holding up the tracks in black mesh-like coverings. Every few feet there are silver-colored, steel circular grommets holding the black covering in place. It’s been like that for years and some of the black mesh is falling down.

The structures are massive (like 50 feet high) and between each two posts, there are supporting beams that ironically make the shape of three upside-down triangles. I love that the supports are rigid but the coverings make them look soft and unstable. It's very toxic and beautiful and bare-bones. A trumpeter often plays music by the canal, competing with the sound of cranes moving scrap metal from junkyard to barge. I think, the unfinished (or seemingly-unfinished) quality in my work feels like it is in a dialogue with the landscape; the forms are carefully articulated yet under-polished.

Photo credit Winnie Au.  

Courtesy Blackston, New York.

 

 

 

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

I always make drawings before I do paintings to get some idea about how I want to execute the paintings. Generally, the paintings stray far from my thumbnail sketches, but it’s really about the attitude of the drawings that I am interested in. I’m nonchalant about it and take many liberties, sometimes cutting into them and reassembling. Often my drawings are made on junky paper that I buy at the drug store. They are pretty quick and matter-of-fact. When I paint, I try to transfer a similar casualness to the paintings yet retain a specific poise.

After I make sketches, I often begin the paintings by “drawing” directly on the canvas with blue tape. Usually, I am working on multiple supports. The tape allows me to get a rough idea how the large forms will look. I always photograph the paintings with my phone before removing the tape so I can refer to the photos while I am making the painting. I then lay down a few layers of a colored ground and sometimes repeat the taping process, making changes. When I begin to use paint on the blank canvas, I have a loose vision about how I want the painting to look, but don’t hold myself to it and it often changes. I let the paint drip where it wants to go, but at the same time I am sensitive to the axis of the painting, its borders and how the forms are interacting. Sometimes the painting is left as is—take it or leave it. But other times, if I can’t articulate a particular awkward and seductive quality that I’m after, I will rework the painting. From time to time, I will mask out peephole-like areas at random that I work with later or I will just paint over the whole thing and start over.

Untitled drawing

What are you having the most trouble resolving?

I try not to get too worked up about resolving a painting and actually love the moment when the stakes feel high and the painting will either crash-and-burn or become something. It amazes me how a simple gesture can sometimes be so full of promise.

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

I’ve done a fair amount of experimentation with materials, and think that I really like just working in paint. I do use a spray gun to make the glowing grounds you often see in my paintings and I love how a spray gun or a can of spray paint is such an easy material to use and the result is always a beautiful cliché.

What does the future hold for this work?

I hope, a lot! But, it’s probably best not to think about the future since my work feels very much in the present tense. On a personal note, I believe that everything that I want from my work is already there, inside it somewhere. It satisfies its own desires and resists expectation.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

Yes, thank you so much for your interest in my work and for hosting this online studio visit. Meeting artists and having studio visits with artists from all over the globe is something I enjoy and has been an inspiring and challenging part of my practice for some time. I have been fortunate enough to have the opportunity to travel a little bit and attend a number of residencies. Over the last few years, I was an artist-in-residence at Virginia Commonwealth University, the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Yaddo, and The MacDowell Colony. In each place, my work has been greatly affected by those who have come to see it, and I have had some major breakthroughs in response to dialogue in the studio. At, Skowhegan, for example, I had studios visits that instigated the body of work I just described, and interrogated my vision for Painting.

Having a community of artists to exchange ideas is truly a gift and studio visits are the life-blood of my practice, as they can be uprooting or reaffirming in many ways. This fall, I will be subleasing my studio in Brooklyn to begin my first residency in Manhattan. I am excited and looking forward to the new possibilities.

Square flaker, 42 x 48", oval, acrylic on canvas, 2011

MARILYN KIRSCH

The ochre sea, oil on canvas, 60 x 56", 2011

What are you working on in your studio right now?

After working on large paintings over the last three years, recently I decided to work on a set of relatively smaller canvases. The new series is 36 inches x 54 inches. Since I've become very interested in photography over the last couple of years, I chose this size because it is similar to the proportions of many of my photographs. I thought it would be interesting to see what the format would lead to in a painting.

Can you describe your working routine?

Basically I don't have one! If a painting is at its early stages, I work on my photographs in the morning and paint in the afternoon. As the painting begins to take shape, I work on it earlier in the day. When a work is very close to completion but not quite finished, I usually finish it in the morning after being away from it for a day or two.

studio

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

I'm very fortunate to have a wonderful studio just one floor below where I live. Obviously, this makes it very convenient. It's quiet and has a lovely feeling of solitude. It's set back from the street, so even though it's in a very busy part of Manhattan, it's isolated and private.

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

I slowly add thin layers of color, usually alternating between dark and light. I build up dozens of layers before the surface becomes interesting to me. Also, the colors are constantly changing because each layer mixes with the previous one, usually in unexpected ways. The composition shifts as I work because I make decisions between my preconceived ideas and the random happenings of each layer's color and surface. Somehow through this process the work starts to paint itself. Then I know that I'm getting close to a finished work.

Reflection in gold, photograph

The sun hat, photograph

What are you having the most trouble resolving?

I find non-figurative painting compelling and I have no desire to paint recognizable things, but I love photography and working with “real” images in that way. Communicating the essence of the visual ideas I'm working with in my photographs in a non-figurative painting is an exciting exploration but a difficult one to resolve.

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

My paintings tend to be oil paint on canvas without too much deviation. I experiment more with how I apply the paint than with the paint itself. When I try new materials it's usually with collages and other work on paper. Recently I've been using the computer to “draw” on my photographs, bringing them somewhere between a drawing and a photograph.

The artist at work

What does the future hold for this work?

I don't know if the conversation will remain between my paintings and my photographs or if I'll mix the materials in some way in the future. Right now I love painting and I love working with photography.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

Only to thank you for your interest in my work.

Salt of the earth, oil on canvas, 60 x 112", diptych, 2011

SUSAN CARR

In another country, clouds are gentle, monsters are sweet

 2011, oil on canvas, 12 x 13"

What are you working on in your studio right now?

Right now I am not working on anything significant in my studio. I have been painting hard for quite some time so, right now I am thinking and looking. I feel as artists we all need to get refreshment now and again. I get that from looking at art, walking in nature and reading. I guess you could say, I am in the gestation phase of my work again, waiting for another burst of creativity.

watercolours

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

My studio space is quite literally all around my house. I paint in my basement and draw in a spare bedroom and when doing collage work in the kitchen. This does affect my work as it tends to remain smallish in size but not in sculptural form.

studio table

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

My work always begins with one mark and the piece is built up from there. I never know what the piece will be. I let the paint speak to me. I have to get out of the way! Because the work is built in paint, history is involved and memory. Memory of the last time I was working on the piece and how it felt. I write poetry so you could say, my paintings are poems without words. Poems dripping in color.

Collage, 2011, oil, pastel & paper pallets on paper, 9 x 12"

What are you having the most trouble resolving?

I would like to paint larger but I don't want to lose the intimacy of my small work. I know it is a give and take and I am willing to explore some new horizons. I guess we will just see.

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

In my collage I have begun to experiment with different materials all at once but not with my paintings. I love oil paint and I feel that I am very old fashioned in that regard.

studio

What does the future hold for this work?

The future holds shows and new homes for this work.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

I am grateful for your interest, thank you.

The motive, 2011, oil on wood, 11 x 10"

JASON KAROLAK

Untitled (P-1017), 2010, oil on linen, 12 X 14"

What are you working on in your studio right now?

I just shipped out a bunch of paintings for an exhibition in Kansas City, but I am still working on this same body of work. The work has continued in the same vein for the past 5-6 years, evolving and changing slowly along the way. I work mainly in two sizes--large around 75 x 85 inches, and small around 13 x 15 inches. I am really focused on the larger works right now. In the more recent works, the forms are floating and disconnected from the four sides of the canvas. I want this sort of abstract-image to be lightweight and off of the ground, and I am experimenting a bit with how these things get layered and built. I want the form to be both graphic and three-dimensional--to open and close

studio wall, drawings

Can you describe your working routine?

I do not have an overly rigid studio schedule. I generally get to the studio in the late morning and try to work through the day and night when I can. I was an athlete growing up, so I think of going into the studio like I am going to practice or a game--I have to be rested, hydrated, fed, and in a good state of mental and physical being. In the studio my time is spent looking, drawing and writing in my sketchbook, and making moves on one or two paintings at a time.

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

I have been in this studio for about a year and half and am really pleased with it, would like to stay here for some time. The studio is in the northwest corner of Brooklyn, in Greenpoint, so there is sky space and light around the building and the windows, one can see some distance away. There is also a shipping company that has a parking lot under and near one of my windows where trucks move in and out these colored shipping containers all day. They position them in tightly and then take them out the next day. I don't directly reference observed elements in my paintings, but my experience of space, color, and light makes its way into the work implicitly.

Untitled (P-1015), 2010, oil on panel, 12 X 14"

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

I build forms over time. Visual ideas start in my sketchbook, get played with and varied. I make quick ink drawings on paper, some get saved and many tossed. Then I work into the oil paintings--large or small depending on the form and idea. I aim to find an image within abstraction. Geometry is the starting point, but I try to let all of these other things bleed into it. The small paintings get built up over time. These are thick, dense, and have shallow spaces. There is a packing in of information and energy. The large paintings move in a very different way. In these I get more into the physical and gestural activity of making a painting, into my body. These become more tweaked and open, and hopefully more lightweight. The energy is moving outward instead of in. In both sizes I am left with a form or thing, a sort of projection, something internal made visible

work in progess

What are you having the most trouble resolving?

Painting is always difficult. I might succeed with a painting, but I often fail and destroy or reground works. Large paintings are especially difficult because everything shows. This is important to the process.

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

I keep my materials pretty consistent--oil paint on canvas and linen. My tools vary a bit and the handling of them changes slowly here and there. I am not interested in repeating myself, but I am trying to build a language over time. Because of this, much of what I do needs to remain the same so that I can see what I am doing and saying.

Untitled (P-1105), 2010, oil on canvas, 75 X 85"

What does the future hold for this work?

I have a few projects coming up where these works will be shown, including an exhibition at Dolphin Gallery in Kansas City in June 2011 and an exhibition at the Gahlberg Gallery in Chicago in May 2012

Is there anything else you would like to add?

Thanks for asking about my work and process

BEN CAVERS

Priest-Sheperd, 35 x 30 x 2cm, 2010

What are you working on in your studio right now?

I have currently not been working in the studio. Apart from the odd frame being made. the studio has become a cavern of items that I own. Boxes and seats and tools and tins of food. I have been in transit from a house to a flat. My current painting life has been on hold. I have been thinking mostly. This is absolutely the important part. Also I have been drawing. If I did not have that I might not know where my practice is going.

Can you describe your working routine?

I have to remember what my routine was. The practice is similar to me in personality. I would concentrate for 1hr then get annoyed, despondent and angry and go and get some crisps from the garage as an escape. I like snacks, these are my downfall. It is not always like this. If I have a piece which has a dead line I work through the pain and hate.

Studio

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

My studio is pretty humble at 250sq foot. It is a shared unit with a very specific feel. It has wonderful tongue and grove walls and wooden floors which was recently painted. We have a lovely toilet that is a wonderful mind bending green. I like this room mostly as the butler sink is an artist’s best friend. We have cold water though which is not an artist’s best friend. But this makes me feel like a real artist in a garret. I forget how it affects my work.

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

It is a process which i am still learning from. I have problems with context. So recently i have been interested in lovers. This sets a story and context and shapes. This is the starting point, from here it is an organic process. I sometimes draw in ink or sometimes run straight to the blank canvas. From this point in, it’s me learning pushing and pulling paint. At the moment I am crude, but I want to become refined.

Unfinished vase, 2011

What are you having the most trouble resolving?

Context and meaning and time and death and love and reason.

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

I have had a varied past, at collage I was in love with Thomas Hirchhorn and might have ripped him off a bit. I was a dab hand at brown tape and cardboard. These are things that pop up now and again as I have learnt about their nature as materials and how they perform. I do believe you can be a master of any medium. Paint is my now chosen medium. As I learn this medium, I hope to gain more parameters.

Become a fail, ink on paper, 2010

What does the future hold for this work?

I have grandiose ideas, but I think I am also a pessimist, I think the work will probably be itself. Small and lame.

 Is there anything else you would like to add?

Thanks to my mum and dad ,Philippa and Ailsa and Shona, without loved ones you really have nothing.