Art Space Talk: Kara Petraglia

Kara Petraglia was born in Yonkers, NY and raised in Hollywood, FL. Kara has traveled all over the United States. She now resides in the city of her birth. Her paintings provide the space where unspoken stories are given form; the space where she turns her materials into a historical record. As she works and reworks the surfaces of her canvases, she records her struggles with formlessness, fragmentation and the groundlessness that results from being shaped by inherited traumas.

Constellation I: I Remember Remembering

Brian Sherwin: Kara, do you have any formal training in art? If so, where did you study and who were your mentors?

Kara Petraglia: This past May I graduated from the University of Florida with my BFA, concentrating in painting. I worked closely with professors Jerry Cutler, Ronald Janowich and Richard Heipp. These three professors have very different approaches to art making and viewing, and through a good amount of struggle and a fair amount of agreement, each helped me grow into my own. For printmaking, I studied with Professor Robert Mueller. He has enough dedication and passion for his craft to fill a whole room. And I would be hard pressed not to mention Jason Mitchum and Steve Panella—two graduate students who helped me to realize early on that I love to paint.

BS: Kara, you are interested in the ability to make a statement by creating your own visual narrative. You view this exploration as a form of inherent power that can be utilized to shape history. Thus, you address this power of communication by giving a voice to unspoken stories. Can you go into further detail about the motives behind your work and what you strive to convey to viewers?

KP: My main motivation is knowing that if you don’t tell your story, someone else will, or no one will. The latter two are options I’m not interested in allowing to happen. I hope to show viewers the process in which I construct an understanding of my life in a very material way. Process is an important idea for me in knowing one’s identity because life is nothing but multiple processes of constructing identity.

In the grand scheme of things, I feel that a history’s importance should lie with the teller of the tale; with people appreciating that all accounts are faulty to an extent.

BS: By exploring the collective trauma that women have endured are you establishing a feminist message within the context of your work? Are these works a message of strength and endurance or are they revealing the stereotypes that men have forced upon women throughout history? Perhaps they explore both?

KP: The main message I want to convey in my work is that, everyone can and should take responsibility for their life. I hesitate to identify this as a particularly feminist ideal although I do not deny the influence. My focus on the collective trauma of women comes from growing up knowing that there are threats against women that don’t seem to exist as clearly for men. Sexual violence is a truth in our culture and our world, with or without trying to eliminate the stereotypes placed solely on women. Although I recognize that sexual violence against men exists, I focus on "womanhood" because I am a woman and that is what I know. There is a lot of work to be done to know where the stereotypes end and the truth begins, so I would agree that my concept of "women’s collective trauma" explores both a generalized stereotyping and the truth of surviving trauma as I know it.

Yet another aspect of the trauma I explore is what I call inherited trauma. This differs from collective trauma in that it’s specifically related to the violence against women I know and empathize with. This seems to be much more dangerous in that the whole mindset of "if it happened to her, it could happen to me" is much more prevalent. I am a woman but do not necessarily identify with all women; I identify with those I know.

As for the Constellation series specifically, these paintings are meant to be markers for the point in my life that I began to understand, pin down and work through my anxiety and panic disorder. Instead of allowing the anxiety to become a destructive force, I concentrated my energy into channeling the force into a constructive arena of exploration and production. This aspect is where I can identify "strength and endurance" because for me, that is what they demonstrate.

Constellation II: Icarus

BS: Have you experienced any form sexism as an artist... in regards to exhibits and opportunities? When I spoke with Sylvia Sleigh she mentioned how the art world is still conflicted with a form of male dominance. Have you experienced anything like this?

KP: I think sexism exists today as much as racism and classism do. It seems most of these -isms exist in a more subtle way than before, so it’s harder to pinpoint where the prejudice is and when it’s just an honest disagreement. One thing that did strike me while attending school is that most of my peers were women, especially in my Art History classes. I always wondered where they all disappeared to if it’s still a "man’s world".

BS: Would you say that your work offers any sense of hope for the future? Or is it more about capturing the concerns and fears that you have in order to restrain them when these pieces are created? Do these works speak of the past or do they span time?

KP: I think the hope in my work lives in the act of capturing fear. By capturing and identifying even one trigger of fear, it’s possible to gain that much more control over your perceptions simply because you know one more thing about what causes that fear.

The works speak more of the past for me because I like to think of them as markers for past moments in my life and how I was framing these issues. The result of working on these ideas is I usually wind up reshaping how think about them.

BS: Your Constellation Series exists as three windows in a groundless world where thoughts and images are continuously moving and shifting perspective. Can you tell us more about this series and what it means to you? How does it define you as an individual-- how does it explore issues within a social context?

KP: The Constellation series is meant to exist as windows into part of my mind. It’s the realm that’s full of doubt, uncertainty and an honest questioning of why I am the way I am. It’s the serious, honest part of me that has to confront my anxiety and all that comes with that. Using Icarus to tell the story of panic episodes came about as a natural way to redirect the truth of the event. Making false diagrams and trying (and failing) to rewrite the original myth are exercises in attempting to author new stories about my history.

Inherited trauma is what brings me back to a social context. I came into this idea from being warned, mostly by older women, about things like going for a walk alone and to not walk too close to the hedges, or about going on a date and to be weary if my date has unannounced friends join us. No explanations were given, just warnings. These sorts of stories made my young mind wander and where it went never made the warnings concrete. It abstracted them. As an adult I’m now more aware of the violence against women every day but in rewriting my own childish understandings, I make those unfinished stories something to confront instead of what-ifs to tack on to my woman-hood.

BS: I understand that you have been working on a new body of work that you plan to reveal in fall of 2008. Can you give us any insight into these work? Will they further explore the themes that we have talked about?

KP: So far, this work is in its infancy. I’m experimenting with more materials than my last work—Yupo is the big one right now. Thematically, I feel this work pulling me in a slightly different place than before. I’m currently researching traditional silhouette making and Dada sound poetry. I’m excited about where this can take me.

Constellation III: My My My

BS: Kara, can you tell us about your process? Place us in your mind as you stand before a blank surface... what happens? What is released? What are the thoughts that consume you as you work? How do the materials that you use reflect the emotion and issues that you capture upon the surface?

KP: To begin, I take a few days to build up layers of gesso, acrylic paint and pigmented wax. I aim to transform the unstretched canvas into something resembling plasticized paper. I then apply my image tracings and being to carve. All of the contrasting lines are made by carving into the surface with an X-acto knife, printmaking tools or mechanical pencils. This process is long and tedious—I once spent 18 hours carving text into a piece that was 4"x 6". But the time it takes to carve out my images and text is where I have a place to really consider my next move. A great deal of planning goes into the preparation and execution of the work, but a lot of time also goes into reconsidering the piece. But every step, including the editing, is a part of the final piece. I cross out, circle and make notations about how things should be read or linked to other visual elements. Uncertainty, doubt and self-editing are a part of my life and I want to exploit the ability of the materials to make these limitations available for consideration. The history of the piece is accessible to the viewer in a way that mimics how I consider editing of the self to be accessible through time.

The act of carving intricate shapes and text into my surfaces sits on the cusp of obsessive and what needs to be done. The focus needed to get through that process is enough for me to redirect my anxiety. Making my uncertainty literal allows me to confront many thoughts and feelings at one time by showing how they compete for space and acknowledgment.

BS: Is there anything else you would like to say about your work?

KP: An undercurrent in my work that I have yet to pin down is a connection that I keep making between "text", "texture" and "architecture". Some relationships are tangible enough, especially for text and texture, however, in my mind I can't separate architecture from the mix. For the most part, working has been a great search to reconcile my thoughts about these words (sound, use, origin) with the other themes taking over more central roles.

Kara Petraglia is a member of the www.myartspace.com community, login ID--
makeyounosense. 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 Blum

Andrea Blum was born in New York City and received her education at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts/Tufts and the Art Institute of Chicago. Andrea has built permanent projects in California, Ohio, Minneapolis, Wisconsin, and Boston, as well as France, the Netherlands, and England. She has done many commission installations including installations for A.T.& T. and the Marina Bank in Chicago. Andrea is a Professor of Art / Combined Media at Hunter College CUNY. She has held academic positions at several others schools, including-- Cooper Union School of Art, Princeton University, and the Rhode Island School of Design.

Birdcage 2007

Brian Sherwin: Andrea, you studied at Boston Museum School of Fine Arts/Tufts University and the Art Institute of Chicago. How did your experience at those schools influence you as an artist during those early years?

Andrea Blum: The museum school made me realize I could be an artist..for me it was fantastic...

BS: Andrea, you have taught at several schools-- Rhode Island School of Design, Princeton University, Cooper Union School of Art, and most recently at Hunter College CUNY. How did you find balance between instructing art and creating your own art? I've spoken with several artists who have said that it can be very difficult. Has it been a challenge?

AB: Interesting... sometimes fun... currently my teaching position is supportive of my career which makes it less of a burden... however it is non-stop work.

BS: Let us discuss your work. In many ways your work reveals a sense of voyeurism and vulnerability. For example, your furniture projects often involve strategically placed 'windows' that target specific locations of the body when seated. At first sight, many of these works appear to conceal the sitter, but in reality they are left vulnerable-- a false sense of security and comfort is established. Can you go into further detail about this?

AB: I have always been interested in how people display their neuroses, how embarrassment is something we all have in common, triggered by our own personal histories. At the same time my own nervousness keeps things at a distance-seemingly remote, often times couched in metaphor. An example of this is how I arrange space, orchestrate intimacy, and turn the public into unknown performers. There is admittedly a starkness to this approach, but I think of it as a perversion which accompanies my tendency towards voyeurism rather than malice.

Leg/Neck 1994

BS: Andrea, when did you first start this journey-- I suppose I can call it a journey --of giving new meaning to the environment around us by dismantling-- exposing-- the traditional qualities of functionality in public design that we come to expect?

AB: When I felt that the scale I wanted to work with had to responsibly address the context... which for me meant the public.

BS: You are interested in psychology. Can you discuss the psychological implications of your work? Are there any specific schools of psychological thought that you adhere to within the context of your work?

AB: Whatever the form, the work considers the relationship of the social/political world to the private psychological one. My approach is to combine humor and cynicism to zoom in and out of the conditions which organize us as a culture, thereby hoping to affect us as individuals. I take a non-specific approach to my work as far as specific schools of psychology are concerned.

Suspended Aviary 2006

BS: Is there a spiritual side to your art?

AB: Absolutely not.

BS: Andrea, can you tell us about some of your other influences?

AB: Architecture. My work falls somewhere between sculpture, architecture and design. The work takes various forms and scale; I design public spaces, libraries, small architectural structures, live /work spaces, and bedrooms. I make furniture, not as ‘good design’ but rather as a way to isolate the body in its social environment. I think about how furniture can be used as a camera to isolate body actions and behaviors, and I look for the moment when the way people live at home is displaced into public view.

Spiral Love Seat with Birds

BS: Can you tell us about one of your more recent projects? For example, Spiral Loveseat with Birds. What was the inspiration behind this project?

AB: I am currently building this one for my show in Paris in march... it is a tower of babel... with chattering birds(canaries)... the spiral is structured so as to bring the ‘partner’ into the fray with complicity... IE (s)he adds to and is part of the confusion of mis-communication.

BS: Would you say that you enjoy changing the conventional into the unconventional? If so, do you want viewers of your work to question their perception?

AB: Sure.

BS: What are you working on at this time? Do you have any exhibits planned for 2008?

AB: Insitu-Faibenne Leclerc, Paris March 2008, MUDAM museum Luxembourg -may 2008, Maison Rouge, Paris June 2008

ZIP 2006

BS: Andrea, you have had a lot of success with your work... do you have any advice for emerging artists?

AB: It is a lot of work but have fun with it... lots of highs lots & lots of lows.

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

AB: Thank you.

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

Take care, Stay true,

Brian Sherwin

myartspace and HotShoe International launch "Next Perspective", a juried photo competition.

myartspace and HotShoe International launch "Next Perspective", a juried photo competition.

myartspace, the premier online social network for the art world and HotShoe International, Europe's leading contemporary photographic magazine, have collaborated to sponsor a juried photography contest – "Next Perspective". The grand prize is US $2000 in cash and a featured article in HotShoe International. The second prize is a digital SLR camera. Third prize is a US $500 gift certificate to B&H Photo. Entry to the competition is online. To register, photographers must first become a member of www.myartspace.com, the free online community for the art world and create an online gallery of their work with up to 20 digital images. Music and video can be added to their gallery. The deadline for registration and submission is April 12, 2008. The winners will be announced on April 29, 2008. Cost for competition registration and submission is $20. Visit the following page for more information-- www.myartspace.com/hotshoe

Catherine McCormack-Skiba, Founder and Creative Director at myartspace noted "We wanted to highlight key trends in fine art photography. We felt a competition for the community was a great vehicle for this. myartspace, with its large base of artists, unlimited upload capacity and powerful ability to integrate video and music to photography could serve as an excellent platform for such a competition. We’ve found a great partner in HotShoe International to help us address that photography market".

Melissa De Witt, Editor of HotShoe International added, "It is very difficult for photographic artists to get their work seen by the people who can help launch their careers. Next Perspective is a fantastic opportunity for individuals to get their images in front of some of the top professionals on both sides of the Atlantic, and to have the chance to get international exposure through HotShoe’s readership and participation in fairs like Paris Photo, the largest gathering of international galleries exhibiting photography in the world. We are particularly excited to be working with myartspace and delighted that they are focusing on image-based work, giving artists working with photography the ability to get their work out there and seen by a large audience."

A jury, headed by Henry Horenstein, will select the top three winners. Horenstein has worked as a photographer, teacher, and author since the early 1970s, his career as a teacher started at Harvard in 1974. He is an author of over 30 books, including many monographs (HONKY TONK, HUMANS, CREATURES, AQUATICS, CANINE, RACING DAYS). His newest book, CLOSE RELATIONS, recently published by powerHouse Books, is a collection of photographs he made as a student studying under Harry Callahan and Aaron Siskind at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). His textbooks have been widely used by hundreds of thousands of photography students over the past 30 years. Horenstein lives in Boston where he continues to photograph, exhibit, publish, and teach at RISD, where he is professor of photography. He is known for being one of the most influential photography educators in the United States.

Joining Mr. Horenstein on the jury panel is Dr Juliet Hacking. Dr Hacking is the Programme Director of the MA in Photography (Contemporary and Historical) at Sotheby's Institute of Art in London. The MA is unique in that it allows students to study photography entirely as a branch of art history and visual culture, while also developing their skills of professional practice (as curators, gallerists etc). . Juliet joined the Institute in 2006 from Sotheby's auction house (London) where she was the Head of the Photographs Department (from 2003). Prior to joining the auction house as a cataloguer in 2000, she worked as a researcher at the National Portrait Gallery (London). She was the curator of the N.P.G. exhibition Princes of Victorian Bohemia: Photographs by David Wilkie Wynfield and wrote the accompanying book (NPG/Prestel 2000). She trained as an art historian at the Courtauld Institute (B.A., M.A., PhD) specialising in nineteenth-century British photography, and has taught as a Visiting Lecturer at the Universities of Derby and Reading and at the Courtauld Institute.

About myartspace:

myartspace, the premier online social network for the art world, is one of the fastest growing and diverse communities on the internet. Its members include 30,000 artists, collectors, galleries and other art world professionals from across the globe, and it currently hosts the work of nearly 10,000 artists. membership is free and artists can upload an unlimited amount of work including images, music and video. www.myartspace.com is created and run by CatMacArt Corporation-- www.catmacart.com.

About HotShoe International:

HotShoe is Europe's leading contemporary photographic magazine showcasing the best of established and up-and-coming photographic talent across a wide range of photographic genres. Its informative and incisive comment is complemented by extensive information on what is happening and what is new in the international world of contemporary photography. HotShoe has established itself as the magazine for top professionals from all fields – documentary, advertising and the arts – and is read by those who commission their work. It is also chosen by teachers and students, as well as anyone with a serious interest in photography.

HotShoe is owned by World Illustrated Limited in the United Kingdom. For more information about HotShoe, please refer to the website: www.hotshoeinternational.com. Visit the following site for more information about the competition: www.myartspace.com/hotshoe.

Art Space Talk: Ross Barber

Ross Barber is an installation artist from Australia. He is also the Executive Director of Access Arts Inc. A curator statement nicely describes the work of Ross Barber: "Bodies looking at art, become bodies negotiating architectural space. Rather than expect particular bodies, he, Ross Barber politicizes such an expectation. Rather than ordering bodies, he creates disorder for them to negotiate. Rather than provide solid ground, he leads us to question who makes the ground on which we situate ourselves on, why and for whom."

Quartet four love songs, vinyl wall text, spoken word sound installation with accompanying Braille books. Image from Angela Robarts-Bird Gallery installation, 2006.

Brian Sherwin: Ross, you studied at the University of Western Sydney and Queensland University of Technology. Can you tell us about your academic experiences? How did they influence your later work? Also, who were your instructors during those years?

Ross Barber: I had a great deal of freedom to experiment while at UWS Nepean and while I only jumped ship from the painting strand of the course in my 3rd year and moved to sculpture it felt very natural. I had been a house builder and supervisor on large industrial sites prior to my accident in 1987 so I had a lot of fine and technical skills that had just built up over the years. I found I understood the built environment very well as a location of social/ architectural histories and their politics.

Also the university-- even for undergraduates --fostered independent research and thinking. As long as you were working and processing you got quality time with lecturers which was not pedagogic in nature, but collegiate and of course you find a ready group of collaborators in the student body who are ready to push each other and test ideas and outcomes. Probably the best person I worked with at UWS was Nick Dorrer not a lecturer, but the head technician. Lecturers I had a great deal of time for were Michael Goldberg, Anne Graham, Dr Sue Best and Dr Phillip Kent.

At Queensland University of Technology I was extremely lucky to have the Head of Visual Arts JM John Armstrong as my primary Master of Fine Arts supervisor and Dr Brad Hasman as my theory supervisor. Again they allowed me to follow what was natural my eclectic practice and encouraged my tendency for theoretical bricolage to flourish. John Armstrong was instrumental in my receiving my first major grant to travel and take up a residency in Cooperations Luxemburg. My time at Cooperations turned the world upside down for me. It was there that I learned the true meaning of collaboration and the proper role of an artist in a major social project.

I returned to finish my Master of Fine Arts and while doing that taught drawing to post graduate architectural students and acted as a non-assessing lecturer in the first year undergraduate program where my brief was to incite students to try things they would never tell there formal lecturers about. It was a great joy to see those students hit the ground running in second year.

Matrixs Nature Morte, 1999 - 2006, size variable, multiple configurations. Modules under construction, collected sticks copper wire, cell phones, birdcall ring tones, sparrow screen saver images.

BS: Ross, you are the Executive Director of Access Arts Inc. For those who don't know... can you tell us about Access Arts Inc.?

RB: Access Arts is the Arts/Disability peak body in Queensland. We operate on three levels of activity:

1. Entry level arts workshops and programs

2. Identifying and nurturing emerging artists experiencing disability and disadvantage

3. Employing Professional artists, administrators, and cultural workers experiencing disabilities and disadvantage

I have to say I am an artist who purports to be a manager. I took on the job as Executive Director in mid 2004 and the circumstances around that time were not pretty. While the organisation had had an illustrious history it had lost its vision and I found myself on the first day staring at a previously hidden $40000 deficit. The organisation only had sixty five members left and was threatened by the real possibility of the loss of all financial backing. I told the board of directors that I needed a free-hand otherwise they would be winding up the organisation within a year.

My appointment by the board was not taken too well by the then staff and I felt like I was in the Australian equivalent of Fort Apache. So after a frustrating time fruitlessly trying to get the staff behind revitalizing the organasation, not to put to fine a point on it, I finished their contracts and started recruiting artists and cultural workers experiencing disabilities who had never got the jobs when they had applied to the organisation before. Three years on we now have ten staff who are all artists and about fifteen extra artists working on a range of social and professional Creative Industries projects and we have a membership of 18,050 people.

We have survived a Commonwealth and state government arts sector wide program of budget cuts where fourteen arts organisations lost their funding and a further fourteen were put onto reduced annual funding only. We actually improved our position and will have a recurrent base funding income from government and philanthropic sources of just over one million dollars in 2008. In 2007 we generated about $400,000 into the community economy in wages and in kind through strategic partnerships.

Access Arts proactively recruits and employs skilled administrators, arts workers and volunteers experiencing a range of disabilities. Developing local, regional, national and international reciprocal partnerships and the provision of appropriate training and skill development opportunities are essential elements of our philosophy for staff, volunteers and members. Membership Services staff provide creative support, encouragement and programs for members of the organisation experiencing a disability or disadvantage, which is enhanced by first-hand knowledge of living with a disability. Here is the Access Arts Web address www.accessarts.org.au

Still from- She is always walking away....... 1948 - 2006

BS: Ross, one of your most well-known projects is titled 'She is Always Walking Away". Can you discuss this project? What are the thoughts behind it?

RB: I'm not sure how to explain she is always walking away as it is in reality a work in progress and shall always remain so. It is probably best for anyone interested to read about it on my site www.rossbarber.com/she_is_always_walking_away.html

There are layers that keep being exposed-- sometimes with a sense of delight and other times like raw nerves that hurt like hell. And of course this is about identity and memory where I have some concerns of being locked in a representational impasse and shall never escape it. I began to explore the work after a conversation with Michael Goldberg in 1993. He was encouraging me to begin writing. I had disclosed the experiences of being in a coma for 11 weeks after my accident which even to this day are so much more 'real' than everyday life in terms of clarity.

One experience in particular is where I returned to the Chinosorie garden of my childhood to find the ceramic doll I had found at about four years old and named Rosa. This doll that I had abandoned at about five years old had grown old in the garden and was clearly not happy that I had abandoned her. Rosa had been my secret companion and of course representative of my unformed femininity. I now understand that her name is derivative of my first signature attempts that I wrote in special books in my grand parents library at the time, RosA Barber.

There are a number of other parts of work that I have derived from that period in the coma state, as examples-- I'd kill for a cup of tea lagoons and Quartet four love songs which I believe is the shortest version of the Odyssey written.

Concept image- Lagoons Installation

BS: In your opinion, what are some of challenges that disabled artists face in the art world?

RB: I can only speak about the situation in Australia which is very concerning. There is a systematic devaluing of people experiencing disabilities across the socio/economic system in Australia. You can see it in the ongoing losses of basic services and support. This has led to great difficulties for artists experiencing disabilities to get into the vocational training that they need in the equivalent of your art colleges or in universities. Only .03% of people experiencing disabilities are succeeding in vocational training because the lack of either the will or awareness by colleges and universities to meet the access needs that people experiencing disabilities require.

Unlike Access Arts, the commonwealth and state disability arts sector organisations who are supposed to advocate for and develop emerging professional artists, do not employ artists, cultural workers or administrators experiencing disabilities except in very tokenistic ways. As I said in my Something is rotten in the arts and cultural state of OZ. There is a dearth of ‘disability’ arts and cultural policies at a national and state level, which underpins the lack of opportunity.

BS: Ross, tell us more about your art. Is there a personal philosophy behind your work?

RB: I value all that has come before and the work of contemporaries, but I reserve the right to challenge them-- some times respectfully, sometime playfully, and sometimes with a touch of irreverence. Similarly, I like to challenge the very ground that we situate ourselves on culturally and politically. There are things that have to be said about our contemporary world and I hope I will always be honest enough to say them at the least through my art.

Two bored workers wishing aprons, each made with 7 sheets of A4 paper covered with text, one in 16th century korean characters roughly translated means, “I would rather be eating soybean curd than planting soybeans in the field“ and one in english saying : “Some other body someplace else", 2003.

BS: What is the message you strive to convey to viewers of your work?

RB: I guess in the milieu of reception theory there can be an enormous difference in what I am trying to convey and what the viewer reads in it. All I can try to do in terms of the installation work is to try and create an immersive environment that will engage and challenge the viewer. Somehow I feel that I would like the the viewer to become a co-producer.

Recently, at a Pecha Kutcha Presentation, a young performance artist responded to a work of mine titled In the winter of 68 -- a text based work that was being displayed on the screen. She just got up and performed it moving through the audience reading off the screen with a empathy and cadence that I could never have anticipated. People were stunned and not sure what to do when she finished... all I could do was applaud, it was very moving. I am hoping she will interpret some of my other prose works.

BS: Can you tell us about your process of creation?

RB: A fair description of my practice would be eclectic installation and multi-arts in form, to say the least. I liken the maintenance of my practice to the use of the analogy of the plumber’s bathroom, all the taps leak. Even in this very demanding job of executive director at Access Arts, and because of the job in which I am surrounded by very creative people, I manage to continue my work and write lots of crap prose to describe my arts practice/work relationship .

There is a story about French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan who was out fishing with fishermen from the village he was born in and he spotted a shining object floating on the sea ( it turned out to be a jettisoned sardine can). One of the fisherman noticed him staring at it and said to him, "Ah you see the shining object the object sees you, I see only what it is". Sometimes a work comes into mind and is just there, 'a thing in itself'. Others will take many years to come to a reasonable state of being and then each one starts working back to me... a process of reviewing, refining, and shifting layers of meaning that cause new works or forms of the work to emerge.

Consuming Cambells Soup after Warhol, 2006

BS: Do you have any exhibits planned for 2008?

RB: I just keep making work-- the shows come and go. They are of little consequence. This year seem to be shaping up for me. I'm engaged to do a number of presentations of my practice, mainly at universities and for state arts bodies. I have applied to undertake a PHD and if accepted I will start mid-year.

BS: Do you have any advice for emerging artists?

RB: Keep investigating that myriad of shining and not so shiny objects. A close friend of mine, who is now very well known, complained to me that she no longer had the time to really look at what she was doing. She was torn between supplying the market with what she had got a name for, instead of what she loved playfully experimenting with. She felt she was always running, but stuck in one place. "Of course it is up to you", I said. "but you have to make up your mind on what it is you can live with and be happy."

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

RB: I am very grateful to have had a life where I have been able to have the basic means to make art and to meet others on a similar journey. It is a gift.

You can learn more about Ross Barber by visiting his website-- www.rossbarber.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: Jack Chipman

Jack Chipman is a graduate of the Chouinard Art Institute (now Cal-Arts) in Los Angeles and has exhibited his abstract paintings, collages and witty assemblages throughout California and abroad. His rippings series began in San Francisco in the 1970s soon after graduation from art school. At that time artist friend Lynn Hershman, writing for Artweek, dubbed him "Jack the Ripper." Knute Stiles, in an Art in America review, wrote: "The rhythms and accidents, like the grain of wood (or the surge of the sea), are perhaps the magic factors—the intuitive aspects that give these pieces their commanding presence." At one point Jack seemed to have vanished from the scene, but one can only stay away from his or her work for so long...


ADHARMA 2, 118" by 108", Acrylic & Dye on Canvas/Wood, 1969

Brian Sherwin: Jack, you studied at the California Institute of the Arts and the San Francisco Art Institute. Can you recall your academic years? Who were your instructors? What kind of student were you?

Jack Chipman: My time spent at the California Institute of the Arts was during the bumpy period of transition from the original Chouinard Art Institute. I recall that many of the students were quite reluctant to see the old school in Los Angeles be closed in favor of Walt Disney’s new model of interdisciplinary studies which he built in remote and undeveloped (at least then) Valencia.

I studied with many of the old-timers who had taught at Chouinard for years but my favorite was Emerson Woelffer. He was an inspiration to me because he was a real painter with an established reputation as an Abstract Expressionist at the time. He was one of the major West Coast practitioners but I think his reputation suffered at the time because he lived and worked in LA instead of NY.

BS: Can you tell us about some of your other early influences?

JC: I liked many of the prominent AE painters in NY like Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning, but I was also aware of Californians like Richard Diebenkorn and Sam Francis. However, I was totally unaware of developments at the Ferus Gallery in LA then—something that I now regret.

ADHARMA 29, 104" by 120", Acrylic & Dye on Canvas/Wood, 1972

BS: You've mentioned that it was hard for you to shake the influence that Emerson Woelffer had on you in order to develop your personal direction. At what point did you find that direction? Was it a sudden burst of inspiration?

JC: I found my direction after relocating to San Francisco . I enrolled in Transcendental Meditation (because of the Beatles) and during an early session the concept of the "rippings" just came to me. I’m a believer in what is sometimes referred to as the "muse"—the universal creative force or energy that can be called upon to support ones endeavors (if you’re willing to accept it.) So, I guess you could call it a sudden burst of inspiration.

BS: Jack, at that time you were experiencing growing success-- collectors were starting to notice your work. However, by the 1980s you had-- for the most part --stopped exhibiting. Did you create any art during those years? Do you mind talking about those years?

JC: It all began innocently enough with my first visit to a flea market. I noticed some brightly colored pottery dishes that some of the dealers were selling and decided to buy a few. This unfortunately led to a pottery collecting obsession that consumed my energies for about 6 or 7 years. I also began to research the California companies that had produced the ware, which led to the writing of a succession of reference books on the subject. Meanwhile, I had moved back to LA where I met a fellow collector and artist who hounded me no end to get back to work. I finally caved in and rented a studio in an artists’ retreat located in San Pedro and set about to paint again. But it was difficult getting back in gear after an extended absence from my work. It was a real struggle!

RIPPING AFTERLIFE, 1, 32" by 42", Acrylic on Canvas on Metallic Bubble Pack, 2007

BS: How did you re-discover your artistic direction? Was it difficult leaving the research room for the studio, so to speak? Also, can you tell us about your series called "Loss Angeles". It was the first series you did after returning to your artistic practice, correct?

JC: At the San Pedro facility I produced one significant series called "Loss Angeles" which was about the many landmarks and attractions of the region that have disappeared over the years. As an LA native I had witnessed some of this demise—an unfortunate attribute of a "progressive" city. The series was especially important to me because it married my two competing passions—painting and pottery. I used an example of California Pottery as a signifier for each of the landmarks that I memorialized, including the famous Brown Derby restaurant and my old alma mater Chouinard.

BS: Did you ever feel like giving up during that time? What kept you focused on your creativity?

JC: No, I haven’t ever felt like giving up, even though it’s been tough trying to re-establish myself in the larger and more competitive LA art world. When you’re an artist, you just do your work even if the hoped-for rewards never come your way.

BS: At what point did you start to revisit the 'rippings' of your 1970s work? Why did you decide to return to aspects of that method?

JC: I moved from San Pedro to Long Beach and spent a productive year there in a large live-work space along with other artists. I just decided to revisit the concept that had distinguished my early work in San Francisco when Process Art emerged as a post-minimal development. But I did things differently by ripping (deconstructing) and reassembling completed paintings. Before, the process itself had been the key element of the work.

PORTAL, 23" by 28 1/4", Acrylic & Cardboard on Wood, 2007

BS: Jack, your newest work merges hard-edge elements with fluid abstract color-field paint handling. Can you tell us more about your recent practice? Do you still 'rip'?

JC: I’ve been trying to retire Jack the ripper but he keeps rearing his awful head. So far, my latest series of paintings are pure—no ripping has occurred.

BS: Philosophically speaking, how are the works that you create today different than the works you created in your youth-- do they reflect a change in time? In thought?

JC: Time changes everything. You can’t stay in the past with your work. It must progress and keep pace with what’s happening today in order to be taken seriously. I hope my current work, although not revolutionary, will be seen as a continuation of a painting tradition with roots in the NY and LA schools of the not-so-distant past.

BS: With these works do you return to your roots as far as your artistic influences are concerned? Or do you strive to focus on your own direction and set the influences aside?

JC: You follow the muse wherever it leads you and try not to look back.

FAMILY SCRAPBOOK REDUX #1, 36" by 36", Acrylic & Collage on Panel, 2007

BS: What do you hope viewers obtain from observing your work? Is there a message behind your work?

JC: I’m a believer in art for its own sake; not for the sake of critiquing society or changing the world. If there’s an underlying theme to my recent work it’s that we all have a better life to look forward to someday…but not in this world of turmoil and puzzlement.

BS: Jack, do you have any advice to emerging artists?

JC: Don’t get sidetracked. Keep at it no matter what. The reward is in the work itself.

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

JC: I’m not opposed to selling. We do live in a commercial world.

You can learn more about Jack Chipman by visiting his website-- www.jackchipman.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: Javier Albar

Javier Albar is an artist from Madrid, Spain. Javier produces abstract pieces with a restrained and subtle palette. Circles, jagged lines and solid masses of black create compelling designs of powerful presence. Javier combines printing (woodcut, xylography, lithography and plastic) and painting on canvas with mix spray and acrylic colors. He explores the essence of his being by meshing organic and geometric shapes together.

Munsterland, 2007, woodcut and lithography, 70 x 50 cm.

Brian Sherwin: Javier, can you tell us about your early years? Can you recall any experiences from your youth that impacted your decision to pursue art as an adult?

Javier Albar: I've been drawing for as long as I can remember, and always wanted to work on something creative. I was not very content during the time that I worked as an interior architect even though it was creative work... I always felt a desire to express creativity more freely. I was 28 when I made the big decision to change my direction. Since then my life has changed completely.

BS: Javier, tell us about your academic background. Where did you study? Who were your instructors? How did your work mature during those years under that guidance?

JA: I started studying interior design at age 20. For 8 years I worked as an interior architect while struggling with the need for having more freedom with my creativity. While working on interior design, I was recommended to go to Brita Prinz Gallery workshop. It was there that I discovered the joy of xylography and met Eloisa Gil Pena. She showed me a new world. Three years later, I studied fine art at the University of Aranjuez, Madrid under very influential instructors.

While attending the university, I worked independently, parallel with the school work, to develop my unique style and to reach my artistic maturity. The University of Fine Arts has given me more practical resources and theoretical training, but the real essence of my art is self taught.

Huella Efimera, 2006, lithography and woodcut, 76 x 50 cm.

BS: You are from Madrid , Spain ... does your cultural background play a part in your work?

JA: My work has a universal cultural background, and I do not identify with typical Spanish culture. I am inspired by-- and identify with --the essence of works from other artists, my own life experiences, the culture of cities and countries where I have traveled, and the marks left by the people with whom I have related... the magic of life.

BS: Javier, you are interested in organic and geometric abstraction. In these works you deal with themes of architectural deconstruction and you utilize circular shapes as a form of transition between the organic and the geometric. Can you go into further detail about these these works-- the thoughts behind them?

JA: My abstractions stemmed from a book of drawings of dinosaurs bones. From it I invented my own drawing of bones and created compositions with them. I then drew lines on the transparent papers as if they were architectural plans, and transferred them onto wooden planks. My work combines the influence of interior architecture and the shapes of vegetation and organic materials.

A professor of art history once said to me that the organic and geometric were not compatible-- I thought a lot about this and came up with a solution that using circles would be the best transition between the two. I started experimenting by deconstructing forms and creating the connections in poetics forms, emotional and intuitive.

With it appeared in my work, what seem to be maps of invented cities, aerial views of cities lit at night, man made mechanisms, and textures controlled and uncontrolled. I call these textures skins of memories of thoughts.

Organicirculo del Deseo, 2006, woodcut, 78 x 54 cm.

BS: In your use of geometry you do not wish to follow a mathematical calculation. Instead, you adhere to an intuitive and emotional use of geometric forms. Can you go into further detail about this? In your opinion, why do these forms 'speak'?

JA: I drew circles intuitively to create compositions. I discovered that the circle I drew intuitively were connecting randomly at one point. I call this the 'hidden connections'. The precision in their connections were incredible. Then I realized that my art was a reflection of my life. A circle represented me and the other circles represented people in my life whom I have interacted with and the way the circles connected was the connection I had with others. I felt pure magic.

BS: As you have mentioned, you discovered xylography at the Brita Prinz Gallery workshops... and that the knowledge of this technique influenced you greatly. For those who don't know, can you tell us about xylography? Also, why did learning about xylography change your artistic direction?

JA: Since I had discovered xylography while I was working in interior architecture, drawing many compositions of architectural plans, my xylography work is heavily influenced by architecture. This makes my work very different from the work of others. I felt very fortunate being able to incorporate what I was already doing into a new form of art and to become more expressive... free.

Organicirculo Marino, 2006, woodcut, 70 x 70 cm.

BS: Javier, can you tell us more about the process of xylography-- how you use it?

JA: I've discovered my own method in working with wood based in the need of satisfying my desire to express myself. I first do line drawings on 4mm Okumen wood. I then cut the pieces with a cutter. This requires experienced precision. Using the pieces, I superimpose the shapes using a stamping method. Transparent inks are used to create different values and sometimes colors.

BS: Javier, you are open to experimentation in your work. You now incorporate new techniques combined with xylography, such as lithography and more recently the matrix of a type of plastic called Arraglás, playing with new resources such as sanded circles, and the atmospheric scratched backgrounds. Why is experimentation important to you as an artist?

JA: For awhile, I have been incorporating a less perfect and uncontrolled style with the more controlled work done previously in an attempt to link the idea of understanding what can and cannot be controlled in our lives. I am also experimenting with stamping on fabrics with hair like fibers, such as corduroy, velvet, ...etc. This method of stamping black ink on black fabric or tone on tone, played with the way the light is reflected. The direction the hair is laid invites the viewer to reconstruct the images with his movements and imagination. The work appears minimal, but it seduces the viewer to discover what's hidden within. Some are very atmospherically trapping. This series was inspired by my dreams at night... the traces and tales of people who stay within my thoughts and dreams without physical presence in my life.

Organicirculo Omunculo, 2006, woodcut, 106 x 75 cm.

BS: Javier, aside from the use of the circle... is there any other form of symbolism in your work? Do certain colors mean different things to you? If so, tell us about the symbolism of your work.

JA: The organic forms are very personal. A section of an earlier design is often used to create an evolutionary continuity. This is done with the concept of earlier design being the seed to sprout a new design that grows and branches out to different directions. This forces some of the elements and shapes of my art to reappear-- though I try not to repeat images. I am very critical of my works and always wish to be surprised by them.

BS: What else has influenced your work? Do you find inspiration in the work of other artists?

JA: At first I looked for inspiration in other artists by reviewing their work in great depth. Some of those artists are-- Chillida, Saura, Tapies, Goya, Kupka, Pollock, Rothko, Egon Schiele and many others. I also looked for inspirations in form by architects like Zaha Hadid, Calatraba, Frank Gehry. All these artists have left a essence in me, which I incorporate into my work. But now I am also finding my inspirations in nature, fractals and everything else that I find surprising in life.

BS: Javier, I understand that you are an educator as well. Where have you taught? Can you tell us about that experience and how it influences your personal work?

JA: I have some teaching experience. I have been one of the instructors of master art prints at the CIEC Foundation (www.fundacionciec.com) in the city of La Coruna in Spain, where I've taught my technique in wood engraving. I have also taught classes at the University of Fine Arts in Madrid. I am currently doing research with a grant from the Ministry of Education and Science of Spain to make a doctoral thesis. However, teaching is not my primary intention. I wish to work in a field that leaves me time to create. Life puts the thought in our sight.

BS: What advice do you have for art students?

JA: The first and foremost important thing I want to say to them is to work hard towards achieving a goal. One should broaden his knowledge and mature in art by traveling and seeing and experiencing with his own skin, while staying open minded to different ways and cultures. An art student needs to come to the realization of all things within himself-- in his own time and own place.

Organicirculo Conexion Oculta, 2006, woodcut, 100 x 70 cm.

BS: Do you have any exhibits planned for 2008?

JA: This January I am exhibiting in the city of Móstotes near Madrid after having exhibited in Münster, Germany and London in recent months. In May and June I will exhibit with other Spanish graphic artists in the gallery Arthaus66 (www.arthaus66.com) in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA, and again in Münster Germany

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

JA: My goal is to live an exciting and incredible life full of surprises. I feel fortunate to do art. Through art, my life has become very exciting and I've met many wonderful people. Art has made my life magical and brought me many surprises.

Javier Albar is a member of the www.myartspace.com community, login ID-- aranjuez. 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: Guy Sherwin

Guy Sherwin studied painting at Chelsea School of Art, London in the 1960s. His subsequent film works, often including serial forms and live, are characterized by an enduring concern with time and light as the fundamentals of cinema. Recent works include multi-screen projection and gallery installations. Guy has taught at Middlesex University, London, the University of Wolverhampton and at the San Francisco Art Institute.

Guy taught printing and processing at the London Filmmaker's Co-op (now LUX) during the mid-70s. His films have been exhibited internationally and have been included in several important exhibits concerning film-- 'Film as Film' Hayward Gallery 1979, 'Live in Your Head' Whitechapel Gallery 2000, 'Shoot Shoot Shoot' Tate Modern 2002, 'A Century of Artists' Film & Video' Tate Britain 2003/4.

Stills from The Train Films

Brian Sherwin: Guy, you studied painting at Chelsea School of Art in the 1960s. Care to reflect on your past? Who were your mentors at the time?

Guy Sherwin: Film was only beginning to happen at Chelsea when I was there, and this was largely through the enthusiasm of tutor Anne Rees-Mogg who was starting to make her own films. However some tutors didn't accept that film could be a fine art as it used 'time' (i.e. to them 'Fine Art' was about objects, and film wasn't an object). Other influences on my work were the formalist and material-based paintings that I was surrounded by, also the book 'Art & Visual Perception' by Rudolf Arnheim which demonstrates that you cannot trust what you see.

BS: Your film works often include live elements and serial forms. They are characterized by an enduring concern with light and time as the fundamentals of cinema. How did you make the jump from painting to film?

GS: I made a series of abstract relief paintings in which the colours on the forward surfaces were the same as the colours in the shadows, which made an ambiguous space. The viewers' movement, plus the quality of light, affected what you saw. This was one step towards working with time, and hence film.

Stills from Animal Studies

BS: Guy, you are featured in A History of Experimental Film and Video by A.L. Rees. In the book your SHORT FILM SERIES, which you undertook between 1976 and 1980, is explained in detail. Rees mentions that you returned to the series after almost twenty years, with studies of animals and insects. He goes on to mention that there is a link between your work and the surrealists. Care to go into further detail about this? What other influences have you had?

GS: I very much respect A.L.Rees' opinion but I'm not sure about this comment linking my work to surrealism. Admittedly there is a quirky humour in the Animal Studies but that's not the same thing. My main influence has been the work of the London Film-Makers' Co-op with which I have been closely involved, particularly the physical, material approach to film practice by artists such as Malcolm LeGrice, Annabel Nicolson, William Raban, Steve Farrer.

BS: Are you still working on the series? How many films are included in the series at this time?

GS: There's about 15 which I'm very happy to show and another 15 which I'm less happy to show. The Short Film Series is in principle an ongoing project, but in practice I made most of them in the late 70s and another batch in the late 90s. Part of me would like to be the kind of artist that just sticks to one thing and keeps producing one-shot films like this on a regular basis, but another part of me got in the way and wanted to try other things.

Man with Mirror. 1976/2006. Performance for super 8 film and hand-held screen.

BS: Your work seems to bend time in that you enhance work from the past with present day technology. You combine the old with the new. In that sense, you control time... you manipulate it... shape it into what you want it to be. With that said, why has the idea of 'time' had such a lasting impact on your progression as an artist? An example of this focus can be found in your piece Man With Mirror in which you interact with your former self.

GS: As I mentioned earlier 'time' was the first thing that intrigued me about film. Images that move in time. It may not be so obvious with video, but when you're working with cine-film there's something magical about winding a little strip of images backwards and forwards through a viewer, making some insignificant action, captured from the world of movement, move forwards or backwards or stand still.Aren't we all obsessed by time?

In Man with Mirror I interact with a film of myself that I made 30 years ago. In the film I'm holding a mirror painted white on the reverse side, and my movements with the mirror are echoed by my movements with an actual mirror in front of the audience. To get the feeling of it I had it recorded on video. I can see that it's full of strange illusions and time shocks. There's a version of it on Youtube. (www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXD7UMlAixg)

BS: Your Recent work often involves multi-screen projection and gallery installations. Are you working on any projects at this time?

GS: I've been finishing a book accompanied by a DVD. Its called 'Optical Sound Films' and is published by LUX - the main artists' film agency in this country (www.lux.org.uk). The title comes from the way sound is normally carried in 16mm film, as a thin band of fluctuating light. There are about 20 titles in all. The films were made either in the 70s or more recently. Each film included in the DVD is also illustrated in the book, along with a simple description of how it was made.

Mobius Loops. 2007. Performance for 3x or 5x 16mm projectors. Optical sound.

BS: Guy, you have maintained your research practice for over 30 years. What do you hope observers gain from the span of your work?

GS: Difficult question. I can answer in general terms. The materialist project that was very strong in the 70s but became marginalised in the 80s and 90s has come back but with a different emphasis. In the 70s 'materialist' film meant opposition to the illusory codes of mainstream cinema, but nowadays a materialist approach to film (by which I mean working with the physical substance of cine-film, not disguising its material essence, as most films do) has a particular impact as distinct from the easy illusionism of video which is now commonplace in the gallery.

BS: Guy, you have instructed classes at Middlesex University, the University of Wolverhampton and periodically at the San Francisco Art Institute. Many instructors have mentioned to me that the classroom can drain an artist of his or her creative energy. How do you balance the role of being a teacher and the work that you do as an artist?

GS: Students can be inspiring too! I consider myself lucky to be working in a field that relates directly to my own film practice.

BS: I understand that you taught printing and processing at the London Filmmaker's Co-op (now LUX) during the mid-70s. Can you share some of your experiences of the Co-op? What was it like working with experimental film in the 70s?

GS: Video hadn't arrived in the early 70s when I started to make films, so film was the important medium and I think we were all aware of its power - to make powerful material images screened to a captive, but aware, audience. Television was dull, Hollywood was duplicitous, the galleries were compromised (has anything changed?). It seemed a time when anything might happen and when the future of art was film. That idealism was not borne out by events.

BS: Have you worked with other experimental film cooperatives? For example, The Film-Makers' Cooperative in New York City or Canyon Cinema in San Francisco?

GS: My films are distributed by both these organisations and I keep in touch, but I'm not directly involved.

Stills from Railings

BS: I find it interesting that for the longest time experimental film has been considered an 'underground' movement... yet the influence it has had on the commercial media is obvious. In other words, the influence is all around us yet many of the groundbreaking creators of experimental film are not as known compared to artists who work in other forms of art.One can observe how experimental film has shaped cinematography, visual effects and editing. Also, the genre of music video can be seen as a commercialization of many techniques of experimental film. Do you think the public is starting to acknowledge the founding creators of this form of art?

GS: Yes, I think that as video and film now have a strong showing in the galleries it's impossible for young curators and gallery owners to ignore the history of artists' films, which didn't start in the 90s as some still think (even the timeline in Tate Modern suggests that it started with Bill Viola and Gary Hill!) but has a long and illustrious history going back to the origin of film a century ago. I still find it extraordinary that that big white tome 'Art in Theory, 1900 to 1990' by Harrison and Wood barely mentions film. I can see that older art historians haven't time to catch up with films' huge history and it's easier not to mention it, but as I said the younger generation can no longer turn a blind eye.

BS: Finally, is there anything else you would like to say about your practice or experimental film in general.

GS: Another word about my practice. In the last few years my films have been shown mostly as performances, sometimes using several projectors at once. In some of these I work with my partner Lynn Loo and we adjust the projection and sound in a partly improvised way which brings film projection a little closer to improvised music. On occasions we've also worked with musicians. There's more information on these and my other works on www.luxonline.org.uk/artists.

You can learn more about Guy Sherwin by visiting the following site-- www.luxonline.org.uk. 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: Janet Biggs

Janet Biggs is among a substantial group of artists who turned to video and video installation in the early 1990s. Trained in painting and sculpture she has exhibited since 1987. Biggs is known for a body of work centering on the image of the horse. In her earlier video installations, Biggs has examined the way society constructs gender, often using the image of the horse as an emblem of female sexual sublimation and masculine power.

More recently Biggs has focused on themes ranging from the representation of desire and pleasure to issues of spectatorship and aging. She has broadened this inquiry into questions of power and control by drawing connections between social and pharmacological prescriptions on behavior. Her multiple-channel installations, condensed yet epic, have garnered her a strong critical reputation and numerous museum exhibitions, as well as a position that places her work in the lineage of post-feminist discourse. Janet Biggs is represented by Claire Oliver Gallery in New York City and Solomon Projects, Atlanta, Georgia.

Brian Sherwin: Janet, you studied at Rhode Island School of Design and Moore College of art. I'm always curious to know who instructed people I interview. Who were your instructors at RISD and Moore College? Have you stayed connected with those schools?

Janet Biggs: I've stayed connected with RISD and Moore through exhibitions at both schools and by participating as a visiting artist. Both schools helped shape my thought process and practice through access to inspiring professors and by fighting against professors who were limited and limiting. Some of my inspirations at Moore were Harry Anderson, Frieda Fehrenbacher, Jack Thompson, and Jerry Crimmins. At RISD, Bruce Chao inspired by giving practical information about how to survive as a professional artist while never allowing for creative complacency. I was lucky that both schools have active and aggressive visiting artist/critic programs and exhibition schedules. I was exposed to and influenced by a lot of artists/critics who were aggressively pushing their work and their careers such as Valie Export, Jody Pinto, Richard Artschwager, and Lucy Lippard.

BS: Janet, you were one of the artists who turned to video and video installation in the early 1990s. However, you originally focused on painting and sculpture. Can you tell us why you decided to focus on video and video installation? Perhaps you have a story or two about those early years?

JB: I've always been interested in the immersive experience. Even when I was producing paintings and sculpture, I would combine objects and/or images to make installations. At the time, my studio was small so I would make "commuter installation art"...lots of small elements making up a large-scale installation. Video seemed like a great economy of means. I could create something phenomenological out of projected light. The immersive nature of video installation has been satisfying enough to keep me working in the medium for the last ten years, but I didn't count on the amount of equipment (and it's rapid obsolescence) needed to present the work. My studio is now full of projectors, laser disk players, video tapes, DVD players, projections screens, and sound systems...and I'm thinking of going hi-def soon.

BS: How did your experience as a painter and sculptor enhance your video work?

JB: I wanted my work to engage the viewer through time and multiple perspectives, allowing the viewer an active role in the completion of the piece. The static, linear read of one meaning, one intent felt too limiting. I wanted to challenge ideas about authenticity and authorship, allowing the viewer an increased role.

Recently, I have been directing performances that combine multiple elements, environments, and disciplines such as video projections with live synchronized swimmers, musicians, and equestrians. Video installation and performance seem more akin to how we experience life.

My experience as a painter and sculptor did not prepare me for the intense experiences that can be had through the moving image and sound. The sensory envelopment of sound is now a key part of my work. When I first started making videos I concentrated on the visuals using only the inherent sound from the images. As my worked developed I discovered the incredible possibilities and power of sound. I still feel like I’m only scratching the surface of the possibilities of sound, but am excited by the exploration. I've created and recorded sounds, sampled sounds and music from others, collaborated with composers like Blake Fleming who played with the Mars Volta band and Steve White of the Blue Man Group.

In my performances, I've been able to mix live sounds on site. I've combined sounds of live actions such as a horse's hooves pounding the ground in front of the audience with the pounding percussive piano of Jose Luis Hernandez Estrada.

BS: Janet, you are known for a body of work centering on the image of the horse. You use the the horse as a symbol of female sublimation and masculine power. Can you go into further detail about the symbology behind this use? Perhaps you could share your motivation behind that choice?

JB: Originally, using the image of the horse was a way to access my own experiences with power, pleasure, and control. As a child most decisions were made for me by others, but I could get on the back of a 1200-lbs. animal and have it go wherever I wanted. Using the image of the horse was also a way for me to explore male and female roles and societies rigid choreography of those roles. As the work progressed I became more interested in subverting stereotypical images of the horse, and by extension stereotypical ideas about gender. I've been able to take multiple roles in both the production and reception of images due to my interest in theorist Judith Butler's ides about gender's relationship to masquerade. Video has so readily been linked to the objectification of women that it's interesting to subvert it into a new kind of seduction.

BS: More recently you have focused on themes ranging from the representation of desire and pleasure to issues of spectatorship and aging. Tell us why you have decided to explore these themes.

JB: As my experiences broadened I became interested in looking at identity within a larger realm, both through levels of societal participation and ideas of free will. I was the guardian for a relative of mine who was severely autistic and obsessive compulsive. She could not live independently, was non-verbal, and self-injurious without medication. In my past work I had been active in the deconstruction of stereotypes. With the responsibilities of guardianship I was confronted with questions of functionality. I was forced to look at structures of societal participation. My work became more about construction than deconstruction. I needed to imagine the experiences of others and tried to recreate some of these mental states in my installations. These installations were named after the drugs that are used to treat different psychoses. I combined seemingly unrelated actions, environments, and events to create a solipsistic visual landscape often using images of athletes as examples of isolation, obsession and compulsion.

BS: Can you tell us more about the philosophy behind your work? What is the message your strive to convey to viewers of your work?

JB: I seek to continually challenge myself and my audience.

BS: Are you influenced by world events? Have any specific events struck a cord in you, so to speak?

JB: There are certain films where I can completely loose myself…totally buy into the Hollywood dream machine. Blade Runner is one of those films. I have always been a fan of cyperpunk and science fiction. Philip K. Dick and Ridley Scott hit on themes that interest me…what makes us human such as empathy, relationships to animals, constructed memories, as well as hybridization, globalization, our role in climate change and genetic engineered, drug enhanced identity.





BS: Janet, can you tell us about some of your recent work? For example, Enemy of the Good and Airs Above the Ground... can you tell us about the process that goes into them? Do you 'map' the videos out in your head? Do you sketch out preliminary ideas?

JB: While some pieces are mapped in detail (especially the synchronized, multiple-channel installations) others come together more as a collage. Last year I traveled to the Citadel in South Carolina and filmed the cadets for a week, concentrating on the Summerall Guard's rifle drill team. This footage became part of a single-channel video titled "Performance of Desire'. The cadets relinquished their individuality to become part of the choreography of war, performing a silent drill that demanded precision and exact synchronization. I paired the Citadel footage with images of inverted, synchronized swimmers suspended in slow motion to explore the strenuous effort and dedication behind the appearance of youthful ease. The hyper-stylized gestures and affected costumes of the athletes belied the power, agility, and strength required to make every action graceful.

Unlike my video installations where I can control all elements, in my performances I lay down a loose framework to work within. If I’ve done my job well and brought the right people together in the right environment then the piece takes on a life of its own. One of the exciting things about performance is that my original thoughts will be interpreted by the performers setting up new moments of discovery for all of us.

My most recent performance took its title, "Enemy of the Good," from the Voltaire quote, "the perfect is the enemy of the good". It examined the driving desire to transcend constraints and the impossible search for perfection. With nods to Busby Berkeley’s lavish musicals, the photographs of Muybridge, and referencing Santaigo Calatrava’s soaring architecture and symbolic Olympic flame, the piece explored the isolation and obsession required to make something difficult appear effortless and transcendent.

The piece opened with William Martina’s live haunting cello solo against a background of large-scale, synchronized video projections of a spinning horse, tethered hawks, and harnessed sled dogs. The video images changed to ethereal, weightless swimmers as Venezuelan national rider, Andres Rodriguez walked into the foreground and picked up a trot on his grand prix champion horse. Concert pianist, Jose Luis Hernandez-Estrada bowed to the audience and took his place at the grand piano. The horse galloped around the piano and headed for a jump behind the cellist. The pianist dove into an intense piece that made playing the piano look like an extreme sport while the horse and rider jumped the fences blocking their path. The piece built to a crescendo as the soloist flew up and down the keys and the horse and rider soared over one of the video projection screens.

BS: What are you working on at this time?

JB: I recently came back from filming the motorcycle land speed trials on Utah's salt flats. I worked with Valerie Thompson who set two land speed records. I am now cutting the footage to become part of a performance that will combine the salt flats video footage with live speed skaters and bagpipers performing on ice.

BS: Janet, your work has been reviewed by ARTnews, Art in America, and several other publications... how do you handle exposure like that? Does it inspire you to go deeper with your work? Some of the artists I've interviewed have mentioned that they try to 'block out' this kind of success so that they can focus on their work instead of what is being said about them... what is your opinion?

JB: I don't avoid or "block out" responses to my work. The work isn't complete until it is out in the world. That kind of communication with an audience (including critics) allows for their active participation in the reception of the work and often presents challenges. Some interpretations I dismiss as not constructive to my studio practice, but others encourage an inventory of choices.

BS: You are represented by Clair Oliver Gallery in New York City and Solomon Projects in Atlanta. What exhibits will you be involved with in 2008?

JB: I will have a solo show at Solomon Projects, Atlanta in the spring and am working on a performance that will premiere next winter. A great video show that includes one of my installations and was curated by Andrea Inselmann at the Johnson Museum, Cornell University will travel to the Haggerty Museum at Marquette University in the fall.

BS: Janet, the Internet has allowed video artists to gain a lot of exposure with just a few clicks of the mouse. This is due in large to art networking sites like Perpetual Art Machine and Myartspace and social networking sites like Myspace that allow video artists to upload their videos with ease. One could say that this is a great time to be a video artist, what say you?

JB: Sites like Myartspace, PAM, and Lumen Eclipse are amazing resources for artists, curators, critics, and traditional gallerists. If not actual gate keepers, these sites maintain a level of criticality in the work they show and in their programming that keeps them vital. Few museums, even those with deep pockets and a commitment to collecting video, can rival the breath of some of these sites. That being said, I'm not a fan of more is better. Unlike most web 2.0 sites like YouTube and MySpace, where quantity doesn't always equal quality, the above mentioned sites maintain a focus. I don't believe that the medium is always the message and that just because it's a video and uploaded somewhere it's worth watching.

BS: Speaking of critics, exhibits, and the opportunity that the internet has created for artists... do you have any concerns? In many ways the advent of the Internet has shifted the foundation of the traditional art world... is this a good thing?

JB: While I am really excited by the broadening of possibilities that have opened up for artists (as well as for musicians) through the internet, we are all still thinking within the box...this one just happens to be a flatscreen with broader access. The relationship of the arts and the internet is still in its infancy.

One concern of mine as I find more and more of my work uploaded by others is scale. Many of my pieces are intended to be presented at a certain scale. If an installation is meant to dwarf the viewer as they physically find a path through the images it will not be effective in small scale or as sequential images on a computer screen. Artist's intent needs to be respected.

Another is financial survival if all work becomes public domain.

BS: Janet, do you have any advice for emerging artists who are exploring video and video installation?

JB: Try painting so you won't be a threat to me in the future.

BS: Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions Janet.

JB: Thanks Brian.

You can learn more about Janet Biggs by visiting her website-- www.jbiggs.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: Diana Baumbach

Diana grew up outside of Chicago with her muralist mother, businessman father, and sister Sarah. For many years, she studied ballet. She performed with Ballet Chicago and with the Bolshoi Ballet at the Vail International Dance Festival. Later, Diana decided to go to college and study fine art. She received her BFA in Printmaking and Drawing from Washington University in St. Louis. After taking some time off, she decided to pursue her MFA at Southern Illinois University. She recently finished her MFA in Printmaking and Drawing. Diana currently teaches studio foundations and digital media at the University of Wyoming. She also teaches printmaking at Laramie County Community College.

Brian Sherwin: Diana, your mother was a muralist-- do you credit her with your early interest in art? What else can you tell us about your early years as far as art is concerned?

Diana Baumbach: My mother and I actually have very different approaches and goals when it comes to artistic production. She never pushed me towards art as a child and for many years, fine art was just a hobby for me. Living with an artist as a child did, however, introduce me to the idea that the creative impulse could emerge in domestic spaces. That idea has been central to my recent work.

BS: Diana, you studied printmaking and drawing at Washington University and you continued your studies at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Can you tell us about your experience at these schools? Who were your mentors during those academic years?

DB: The printmaking program at Washington University was very conceptual and I used that time for creative experimentation. Most of what I made then bears little resemblance to what I do today. The graduate program at Southern Illinois University offered a unique experience to teach undergraduate students while also taking classes myself. There was a strong graduate community and I really enjoyed working with instructors Leslie Mutchler, Jason Urban and Chris Wildrick while there. While at Southern Illinois University, I made friendships and contacts that I value greatly.

BS: Diana, you also have experience as an educator. You have instructed art at Laramie County Community College and the University of Wyoming. What do you teach? Also, how do you balance your role as a teacher with your need to create your personal art? Is there ever a conflict?

DB: Primarily, I teach foundations level courses. At the University of Wyoming, I teach 2D design, color theory, and digital media. I'm very interested in working with younger students and guiding them through their own exploration of the elements and principles of design. Much of my work deals with formal elements, so I actually see an overlap between foundations studies and my own work. I am fortunate enough to be provided with a wonderful studio and a relatively light course load, which allows me the time and space necessary to make my own work.

BS: Allow me to ask some questions about your art. Your art deals with the intersection between fine art, design, and everyday life. Can you go into further detail about your art and your artistic process?

DB: Sure! I am inspired by the everyday objects around me just as much as I am by fine artists. I really value the thought that goes into the design of a cup or a chair. Much of my work references functional objects…blankets, paper towels, toilet paper, a doll house…but I make everything by hand using slow, repetitive techniques. The time that I invest belies our attitude towards our surroundings and the idea that we live in a disposable culture.

BS: Tell us more about how you mesh household patterns with printmaking techniques...

DB: To be honest, I do not use printmaking all that much in my work at this point. I am more interested in the concept of the multiple. In the past, it has been useful to use serigraphy to rapidly recreate patterns and allow for variations in color.

BS: Is there a philosophical reason for your use of patterns from household items such as printed fabrics, paper towels, napkins, and furniture? Is there a message that you desire to convey with this choice? For example, are you making a statement about consumerism?

DB: I am interested in using these objects as a point of entry and investigating them for their formal qualities. Most of my work can be appreciated simply on a formal level. I'm not trying to make any sweeping statements about our culture, but rather, to make people look a bit more closely at their surroundings…and hopefully help the viewer recognize that they are making aesthetic decisions about the world around them on a daily basis.

BS: Diana, can you tell us more about your artistic influences? Have you been inspired by a specific artist or art movement?

DB: Sure, I am inspired by the artists Andrea Zittel, Anu Tuominen, Thomas Demand and the architects Rocio Romero and Frank Lloyd Wright. I think there are some very interesting collaborations happening between designers and large companies like TARGET and Alessi. I also really love Scandinavian design, especially Marimekko fabrics.

BS: What are you working on at this time?

DB: I just finished up a few pieces for the faculty show here. They are a bit different…colorful! I'm also working on a grant for a new project called Shared Space. It's an alternative gallery that aims to bring challenging contemporary art and design to rural Wyoming.

BS: Diana, I understand that you established an alternative gallery space called Gallery Thirteen13. Can you tell us more about that project? What are your goals for Gallery Thirteen13?

DB: Gallery Thirteen13 was a project that took place in my home in Southern Illinois. It was essentially a reaction to living in a rural area where there were no art galleries. I decided to create my own exhibition space using an extra bedroom in my apartment. The project ended when I moved, but will hopefully be reincarnated as a new project, Shared Space. I have some very exciting exhibitions in the works which will involve new media, site specific installations, and a permanent collection, but funding is still pending.

BS: Tell us more about your opinion on alternative galleries. Several artists in St. Louis are starting to exhibit from their own homes instead of relying on a traditional gallery setting-- I remember reading about that several months ago --it seems to be a trend. What do you like about this direction that some artists are making in regards to taking exhibiting into their own hands?

DB: I am very excited about the possibilities of alternative art display. The more I read, the more I realize that there are tons of similar projects popping up throughout the US. I feel there is a lot of energy in D.I.Y. projects that makes the traditional gallery system less and less of a necessity. Perhaps this impulse comes from the possibilities on the Internet. There are so many ways to get your work out there nowadays.

BS: Do you have any advice for artists who are interested in learning more about printmaking?

DB: I would encourage young printmakers to attend the print conferences (Southern Graphics Council and Mid-America Print Conference). It is an excellent was to get excited about printmaking and to meet like-minded people. Printmaking is so community oriented that it's important to connect with the larger print community. Also, I would encourage printmakers to participate in and/or organize print exchanges. It's a great way to connect with other printmakers and start a collection.

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

DB: Thank you for the opportunity to display my work on www.myartspace.com and for taking the time to interview me!

You can find Diana Baumbach on www.myartspace.com-- login ID, dbaumbac. You can read more of my interviews by visiting the following page-- www.myartspace.com/interviews.

Take care, Stay true,

Brian Sherwin