Art Space Talk: Fawad Khan

Fawad Khan's art deals with personal narrative and his present reality. Fawad challenges himself with cultural and visual registers: Large paintings layered with shellac and oil glaze as well as intimate ink drawings rendered with rough yet delicate representational linework resonate with childhood memories, travel observations, and media imagery, culminating with his present experience of hybridity. Khan works and resides in New York City.

Karakoram Express (Collision Zone), 2007, ink and gouache on paper, 22 in x 30 in

Brian Sherwin: Fawad, I understand that you were born in Libya and raised in Karachi, Pakistan. I understand that you now live and work in New York. Can you describe how those cultures-- or the clash thereof-- have influenced you as an artist?

Fawad Khan: Funny story--- when I was eight in 1986, at the end of a school-day the principal asked me where I was born. I lied and said Pakistan. My brother, four years older, corrected me in front of the principal and said it was Libya. I fought my brother on it as we walked out to the bus. I still remember why I lied—I had heard my parents talk about Qadafi, and was afraid of what the principal would think of me being born there. Irony is--- look at Pakistan now…

Speaking now, I think to have had such an origin makes me that much better and rich an artist. And in a way as an adult, I am fascinated with my childhood background that I then tried to escape. Those memories of being around eastern, muslim-based cultures, being born on a military base in Tripoli, eating different foods, studying at Montessori one day and PAF (Pakistan Air Force Academy---for officer’s kids) the next, my parents speaking anything from urdu, punjabi to arabic and farsi: it all impacts my pieces now. You know when artists say they lose themselves in their work? --- I think I’m always self-aware when in the studio.

BS: I’ve interviewed dozens of artists born outside of the United States. The majority of them have mentioned that they felt a sense of isolation upon moving to the US and that said isolation is reflected within the context of their art. Have you experienced that sense of isolation? If so, is it an influence?

FK: After my family migrated to the US, I was constantly trying to fit in throughout my young life. It was not until art school and eventually the move to New York that I really fell into my true self. Of course moving to the city in 2001 definitely triggered in terms of isolation. I think most artists seek isolation when we retreat into the studio, so to speak… so I suppose it was good for me to go through all that—(?)
Adversary, 2008, Acrylic wall painting, 72 in x 72 in

BS: Fawad, you studied at the Maryland Institute College of Art and the School of Visual Arts. Can you discuss your academic background? For example, did you have any influential instructors? Also, do you have any advice for students interested in those two specific programs?

FK: I did my BFA at MICA and have to say their foundation program is really strong. And despite their location, they are pretty tapped into the contemporary art world. One of my favorite instructors, Ken Tisa, kept his artistic practice in NY and commuted down to teach us. Others really kicked my ass when it came to work-ethic, great painters like Cliff Wun, Karl Connelly, John Ferry and Barry Nemett (painting chair). Even at this point, the school keeps close communication with many young alums and tracks their careers. You really see MICA’s worth when you realize how many young artists (who studied around same time as I did there) went on to tremendous graduate programs--- and eventually into the art market--- artists like Kamrooz Aram, Rashawn Griffin, Ted Mineo, Matt Johnson, Amir Fallah (of Beautiful Decay)…the list goes on.

Right after undergrad, I wanted to get to NY as fast as possible. SVA was my entry ticket and proved to be a great experience. At this time, I met amazing instructors like Marshall Arisman and Carl Titolo who taught me more about ‘NY life as an artist’ than anyone else. They mentored me during 911, which occurred my first week in grad school, in my second month in NY. In my second year, I was allowed to work with an external thesis advisor and I sought out Shahzia Sikander. At the time, she was taking part in Drawing Now, a great show at MOMA QNS and it just fit well with where I was taking my work. Every crit with her was like going through couple rounds in the ring with Ali and well worth it. While at SVA, I also met Jeanette Ingberman and Papo Colo of Exit Art who put me in my first NY show: Terrorvision (2004).

Citroenasia Grand (with chillipeppers), 2007, Acrylic wall painting and fluorescent light, 21 ft x 18 ft

BS: In the past you utilized paper and canvas as your main surface. However, you now utilize entire rooms or cover exterior surfaces. Can you discuss this transition? Was it a sudden change in artistic direction, so to speak?

FK: I continue to work on paper and canvas—but I always had a fascination with wall drawings, street art and transforming spaces. Luckily enough, this year presented a couple shows that dared me to think about finally doing it.

Working directly onto a gallery wall demands a slight change in process and expectation. For example, I did a 21 ft x 18 ft wall painting earlier this year at Exit Art’s Love/War/Sex show, fully knowing that after two months the piece would be gone. It wrapped up the wall onto the ceiling and around corners. That piece forced me not to be precious but rather improvise. If I made a mistake, I had to keep painting and make it work for the piece.

Time is also a factor with wall painting; you’re doing it in the environment where it will be exhibited, and that solitude artists get in their studios is lost completely because the end-goal is to execute by a set deadline. You have to adapt your process and I like that challenge.

For my solo at 33 Bond, I painted directly onto a crown vic that I gutted up, restored and installed in the gallery. Painting on this auto, unlike the wall painting, wasn’t a formal decision based on ideas of impermanence, but rather part of the concept…the car sculpture shows the application of Pakistan's traditional truck-painting technique onto a New York City taxi, a hybrid depicting two cultures assimilating. It considers the question: if one begins new life in the west, how important is holding onto eastern tradition, art or culture? By imposing a definite identity onto a vehicle otherwise always uniformed in yellow?

BS: What about the symbolism behind your art? Do you utilize any personal symbols in order to express yourself within the context of your art?

FK: Almost always. Although the main subjects are extravagant explosions, vintage autos and renderings of fragmented camouflaged forms–I’ve recently introduced more personal elements like chili peppers and pomegranates into the compositions (symbols from my childhood). They serve as formal design elements depicting motion, and in some cases, hinting at calligraphic writing. Sometimes I drop in cryptic dates or initials in the pieces referencing a particularly important time or person to me. I really believe in exhausting the symbols when making a body of work, they give the pieces a personal touch yet also start to form mystery for the viewer. There are so many people that ask where the chilis come from…others right away assume they are bullet shells. I like that ambiguity.

BS: Tell us more about the motivation behind your art-- the themes that you deal with. For example, is there a degree of psychology or philosophy that you adhere to as far as your art is concerned?

FK: The paintings are all somewhat hinting at car bombings, media-hype of this war and my overall obsession with violence. During my solo this year, one collector wrote on his blog that I connect current politics with childhood fantasies of cars and toys. I loved his comment because it’s so true, I grew up on GI Joe, Transformers and Matchbox cars.
When you put it in terms of psychology, I don’t know—maybe its frustration on the page or my dissatisfaction with our current political climate. Having my background while being an artist in the western world, I think it’s fair to have a voice in the matter... and also, I just want to make really strong works to represent myself well.

BS: So is there a specific message that you hope to convey to viewers? Or do you strive to keep the dialogue open to interpretation, so to speak?

FK: My goal is to ensure that the political content is not too overt. Again, the ambiguity is an important part of my pieces. I like a bit of personal-narrative in there BUT if a piece answers all of a viewer’s questions, what kind of continued relationship can remain between that person and the artwork? I prefer to hear what the viewer's background or experience brings to the picture (as well as mine) in order to complete the conversation.

Go Postal (We Deliver For You), 2007, ink and gouache on paper, 22 in x 30 in

BS: I understand that your art was represented by 33 Bond Gallery at Scope. Can you tell us about that experience? Also, what is your opinion of art fairs in general? Do you enjoy exhibiting at art fairs or do you prefer a more traditional form of exhibiting?

FK: 33 Bond Gallery has been exceptionally supportive. They not only gave me a March/April solo but a concurrent solo project at their Scope NY booth. I was in the midst of wrapping up work for the solo in late December, when Mitchell Minskoff (Director, 33 Bond) called me and asked if I could pull off another car-sculpture for Scope. The next day I was touring five junkyards in southern PA and northern MD for something. I eventually found a ’72 AM General Dispatch Jeep that I began on immediately. This piece lent to a real-life manifestation (in a quiet yet lethal way) of my ‘Go Postal’ painting.

You asked about by opinion of the fairs…it’s funny, but I get kind of an odd feeling when I’m just visiting them let alone taking part in them. Mitch and Alix Frey (33 Bond) totally understood why I resisted the fairs and opening-preview parties this year; they really get me as a young artist and know that a loud splash is not my way of entering into the market. When I did attend the fairs, I felt like I arrived at a closed party where the only people invited were the collectors, dealers and secondary-market-whores, aka art fair denizens. I guess that’s just how I feel now but I think if I continue to exhibit, there will be a time where I may just become numb to it all…and like any emerging artist, you have to learn how to play the game, right?

AM General DJ-5, 2008, Installation view, steel, enamel, rustoleum, plastic, tires, jeep seat 60 x 72 x 132 in

BS: You have been involved with exhibits at Deitch Projects, 33 Bond Gallery, Exit Art, and several other galleries throughout the United States. Where can our readers observe your art in person at this time? Will you be involved with any upcoming exhibits?

FK: I will be taking part in BRIC Rotunda’s September show, entitled ‘A Wrinkle in Time’. I became fascinated with the concept as soon as the curators approached me. It looks like a strong show with strong artists.

I’m also working with the Lower East Side Printshop as a Special Editions Resident. When finished, the suite will include a limited edition of four unique prints that both the Printshop and I are excited to unveil. I am still finalizing the works with their master printer, hoping to exhibit at least two by November.

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

FK: Well, when I got out of grad school, I was hungry but not desperate to show too early, especially when my work had not fully matured (many have a full body of work when completing thesis year, I on the other hand experimented until I arrived at a start--at the end). What I’m trying to say is in a market with saturated talent, any chance for visibility at the moment is good –but it’s costly. I think one can easily disappear, you go into that Chelsea world and you can blend in if not careful. The one thing I am trying to attain, which I consider a strong point in making a career out of art, is longevity. So I’m taking my time. For the last few years I’ve been editing which shows I’m going to take part in because I’m in no rush, I’m here to stay.

Artistically speaking, I can’t wait to start my next set of paintings. I have a studio visit in two weeks and nothing powerful enough to show—so time to work.

You can learn more about Fawad Khan by visiting his website-- www.fawadkhan.net. You can read more of my interviews by visiting the following page-- www.myartspace.com/interviews.

Take care, Stay true,

Brian Sherwin

Senior Editor

www.myartspace.com

Who Killed Barack Obama? Peter Fuss causes a Fuss

Who Killed Barack Obama? Peter Fuss causes a Fuss

If you are a Myartspace Blog regular you know that I sometimes write about controversial artists and their work. Thus, I could not let this one slide. Peter Fuss, an artist from Poland, has caused a stir with his large piece titled “Who Killed Barack Obama?”. The piece is currently on display as part of the Out of Sth project (www.outofsth.art.pl). Needless to say, many people are offended when viewing the piece and I’ve read that several bloggers have already lashed out at Fuss for having created it in the first place.

Peter Fuss has stated that “Who Killed Barack Obama?“ is not a visual attack against Obama. Fuss suggests that many people see Obama in the same way as Kennedy, Lincoln, M.L.King and Malcolm X were viewed before their tragic demise. Fuss added that the piece is about the “global thought of Obama's unavoidable death“. The piece is about the stereotype of impending doom that is cast over leaders who strive for radical change. So in a sense, the piece is a visual play on those fears regardless if they are warranted or not.

What do you think about “Who Killed Barack Obama?” and the intention behind the creation of the piece? Fuss has stated that the opinion expressed in “Who Killed Barack Obama?“ is no different than the views Hillary Clinton expressed over the same concern. What are your thoughts on this piece and the meshing of art and politics as a whole?

Take care, Stay true,

Brian Sherwin

www.myartspace.com

Art Space Opinions: Public Knowledge and the Orphan Works Bill

I recently contacted Alex Curtis about the Orphan Works bill. Alex is the Director of Policy and New Media for Public Knowledge. Public Knowledge is a Washington, D.C. based public interest group working to defend citizens’ rights in the emerging digital culture. The first priority of Public Knowledge is to promote innovation and the rights of consumers, while working to stop any bad legislation from passing that would slow technology innovation, shrink the public domain, or prevent fair use. My hope is that we can have a civil debate about the bill. Do you support it? Are you against it? What are your concerns? Feel free to comment.

Brian Sherwin: Alex, you are involved with www.publicknowledge.org and you support the Orphan Works bill. As you know, there has been much confusion about this bill. Can you briefly tell us about the bill as you understand it? Also, why do you support it?

Alex Curtis: First, thank you for the opportunity today to discuss this (unfortunately) controversial topic. I very much appreciate it and I hope we can start a dialogue. I hope not to offend any of your readers with my different point of view, but I'd like to state things as clearly as possible to make sure we're all talking about the same thing. So, orphan works. Let's start at the beginning.

To use someone else's copyrighted work, generally you must ask the owner's permission. Because the term of a copyright lasts so long today (generally 70 years after the owner has died, or 95 years from publication if the owner is a corporation), it's quite possible an old work you might find today is still under copyright, even though the owner is dead or has gone out of business. That leaves millions of works, many of historical significance, unusable because no one can find the owner to ask permission, and the law requires permission. Those works without owners have been called "orphan works." The target of orphan works policy is those kinds of works, for which no owners exist. We have and continue to work to make sure current artists are found, so their works are not used without permission, and I'll hopefully tell you how later.

The aim of orphan works policy is to allow someone to use a work, whose owner can no longer be found, under some narrow but necessary conditions:

1. The user has to know the owner cannot be found by conducting a "qualifying search" for the owner. What "qualifying" entails, I'll get to a bit later;

2. After a search, if an owner is found or emerges, the user must negotiate with the owner in good faith to determine reasonable compensation for the use;

3. If a search is conducted and no owner is found, the user may use the work and avoid any statutory damages or injunctions for his infringement. In the unlikely event that the owner returns even after a search, go back to #2;

4. If a user's search was a sham or wasn't diligent enough and the user used the work anyways, when the owner returns, the user can be held liable for plain ole' copyright infringement.

Public Knowledge supports orphan works policy because we believe it introduces some common sense back into copyright. If a creator is long dead and gone and there are no discernible heirs or transfers of the copyright, what is the justification for no one using the work? Entire generations may never see that work because it hasn't yet fallen into the public domain because of the length of copyright. Even worse, that work could deteriorate before it falls into the public domain, and thus lost forever.

Lastly, I've heard artists concerned that their work would be "dubbed an orphan" or "declared an orphan," but that's not how the legislation works. Yes, the legislation proposes that when someone uses an orphan work that they designate it with a special mark, but in effect that work is only considered an orphan for that specific use. Each and every person who would like to use a work must conduct a new of their own search for the owner. They cannot rely on someone else's previous search, because that search may be out of date or that person may not have had the tools available to find the owner at the time. Just because one person couldn't find the owner today, doesn't mean that she can't be found tomorrow by someone else.

BS: What about negative consequences of the Orphan Works bill? Do you have any concerns at all about the bill? For example, many artists and art advocates take the position that if the Orphan Works bill is passed it will give unfair rights to individuals and companies in that they can continue to use images even if the artist who created the image comes forward. Thus, if an artists work is being used for a cause he or she does not support his or her opinion will not matter even if it is damaging to the artists career and social standing. Artists are concerned that they will not be compensated or have the ability to halt the use of their art in this scenario. What say you?

AC: I understand that there are many artists, especially those who create visual art, who are very worried that orphan works policy will let anyone copy their works. I've talked with and written to many artists who make their livelihood from their creativity, and believe it or not, everyone that I know working on orphan works policy is fighting for your ability to create and succeed. I have taken to heart many artists' concerns since Congress first proposed a study of the problem back in 2005, and we've tried to work with artists to address these problems.

One problem that I don't believe the bill sufficiently addresses is the problem of copyright registration. I'm not talking about visual registries, as we will in one of the questions below. Instead I'm talking about the current system. Visual artists especially find the registration process expensive and tedious, and worse yet, those who use it still cannot be found, online or otherwise. We want to make sure owners that exist today are able to be found, so they can be paid for their work and no one can claim that their works are orphans.

The concern you raise above, where an owner's work could be used for something that she does not stand for, or in a way that she doesn't agree with, is one I understand that some artists are very worried about. I do not want to dismiss this concern out of hand, but there are some incorrect notions I want to dispel. First, nothing in orphan works policy gives the user of an orphan work copyright rights in that orphan work. The user of an orphan work is called an "infringer" under the law. Period. There is no transfer of rights, even if the user did a qualifying search. Second, I've read suggestions that artists would be in breach of their exclusive rights licenses because orphan works policy allowed someone else to use their work. It's just not true. Infringers are infringers, and their use would not legally interfere with an exclusive contract between the owner and a licensee. Just as you, as an owner, would have no control over whether someone infringed your work, likewise you have no control over whether someone used your work as an orphan--both are infringement.

Also to address your question, I've heard the "the toothpaste was already out of the tube" scenario: once someone uses your work as an orphan, that it's too late because the infringement has already happened. I understand the concern here, but please bear with me while I try to explain why this has nothing to do with orphan works. Today, once someone infringes on your copyright, it has already happened and the toothpaste is already out of the tube. That user would be an infringer. The infringement happened without you knowing and there's nothing you could have done to stop it. He used your work without even bothering to look for you to ask your permission--probably because he never thought you'd find out or because he was too lazy. But that's the case even without orphan works, and there's nothing, besides court awarded damages, that could address it.

At least under orphan works policy, that same user would be required to have searched for you and if he still didn't find you and he still used your work, you would be reasonably compensated for that use. If he doesn't do those things, you're in the same spot as with a regular infringer. Additionally, if the infringer claims he did a search for you, he's got to show it to you up front, which will make it easy for you to determine whether he's a fraud or good-faith user so you can begin negotiating compensation.

Next, if someone uses your work as an orphan work after a search, but just copies it and doesn't add any value or include it in anything with their own original expression, then you could restrain, or obtain an injunction for, their future use. And you would be reasonably compensated for the use.

As for continued use of a work, if the orphan works user used the work in such a way that "recasts, transforms, adapts, or integrates the infringed work with a significant amount of the infringer's original expression..." the user can keep using the work but must pay the owner for that use, and give attribution to the owner if the owner so desires. I've heard concern that somehow large corporations are going to claim orphan works as a way to somehow get a "discounted" license fee. I don't see how this is possible. If the user is some big corporation, reasonable compensation is going to have to reflect that. Compensation would also have to take into account how the work was used for it to be reasonable--including the context of the use, to take care of the potential controversial cause or damage to the artists' reputation. I would think that every corporation would want to find the owner and license the work up front, because if they spend the money to conduct the search and still come up empty handed, there's still the possibility that they will have to compensate an owner if she emerges. Every orphan works owner has every incentive to find the owner, because they know they will have to pay for their use when an owner returns.

Sorry that was a long answer, but there were a number of overlapping issues and I wanted to try to keep them all separate.

BS: My understanding is that if the Orphan Works bill is passed artists will have to pay to be placed on online registries affiliated with the government in order to make sure that their copyrights are protected. Right now works of art have basic protections upon creation with no cost involved. Thus, many artists feel that if the bill becomes law they will have to pay for protections that are free at this time-- they will have to pay in order to own the rights to their own art. What are your thoughts on this?

AC: No, no, no. There are a lot of misconceptions about this, so let us first forget about orphan works and talk about the law today.

Today, you write down your original creative thought and it's copyrighted. That's it. No registration is needed for it to be copyrighted. Let's say that your creation is important to you and if someone were to infringe it, that you'd want to sue them to the greatest extent possible. If that's the case, the law allows for what's called "statutory damages" and those can amount up to $150,000 per infringement. To make statutory damages available to you, you have to register your work with the Copyright Office within three months of publication. If you don't, you cannot claim statutory damages.

It should also be said that, today, if you want to enforce your copyright in a court, you must register your copyright with the Copyright Office before you do it. This does not apply to foreign copyright holders, however (that's a topic for another time). In this scenario, statutory damages are not available to you, only "actual damages," which is essentially the economic harm that is sustained by the infringement. In many cases, "actual damages" is what you might have agreed to had you negotiated before the infringement. This is why I always tell artists that to the extent feasible, register your copyright so you have access to the higher statutory damages. That's what the big guys do, but they have deep pockets.

Under orphan works, nothing with regards to registration changes. Period. You don't have to lift a finger for your work to be copyrighted, in the same way you don't today.

The talk about "visual registries" or "online databases" that you might have heard with orphan works, are all efforts to try to make it easier for artists to be found. When I said above that we've been listening to artists, we have. Artist, especially visual artist, have complained that a big reason why they cannot be found is because the Copyright Registry isn't very useful to them. They don't register their works because it's very expensive and time consuming. It even costs a lot to register a change of address. Additionally, the Registry's online search only returns text results. So, if you're a visual artist, if someone searches the online registry for your work but doesn't know your name or textual information about the image, they have no way to compare that image they have in hand to any record in the registry--not a single record in the online registry displays a picture. To see a picture, the potential user would have to physically come to Washington, DC to search the records by hand, or pay someone to do it for them.

The registration of groups of images compounds the problem. Finding the image your looking for is hard enough, but with group registrations, even if you knew the artist, you'd have to sift through contact sheets of many small photos that can be submitted as a way to save on filing fees. This makes it even more difficult for a user to find the image that they're looking for, even if they have physical access to the registry.

So, hearing these problems, we suggested to the Copyright Office that their system needed an overhaul. It needed to allow for online registration, for online searches that produced images, and visual recognition technology to allow an orphan to be matched against images in the registry. The Copyright Office said it had neither the money or expertise for these updates.

If government was going to fail us, maybe the market would help to fill the gap. We suggested to policy makers that we should send up a flare to the online market that these services should exists to help owners and users. The Copyright Office could certify them, to make sure they met minimum quality standards.

Despite what you may have about orphan works, the use of these services would be entirely optional for copyright owners. Using these services as search tools for finding orphans would be required for users, though. We proposed these services as a way to improve the status quo--to help visual artists be found. If visual artists choose not to use the tools, it may be harder to find them--but the search must still be conducted, whether or not a "Google Search" returns the photo they're looking for.

As a point of clarification, it should be noted that using these services would not allow an artist to claim statutory damages in a court of law. We are suggesting that the Copyright Office allow more online services to access the Copyright Registry, to make it easier and cheaper for owners to "officially" submit their works. But we're not there yet.

BS: I've also read that some artists are concerned that they will not be able to afford to protect their works or that they will have to be selective as to which images are protected based on their financial difficulties. As you know, the majority of artists are not exactly wealthy. I've met hundreds of artists who have to work two jobs in order to support themselves as well as their creative aspirations. There is a growing concern that some artists will no longer post images online if the bill is passed due to those fees and the inability to pay in order to secure their art. What are your thoughts on this?

AC: As I said above, nothing in orphan works requires any artists to spend any additional money to register their works--whether that be at the Copyright Registry or with some online service. That said, we would like to see solutions arise in the market to make it easier for owners to be found, and maybe even register their works more cheaply. Digital technology should make things cheaper and more useful.

When I talk about these services, I think about sites like Flickr.com that allow anyone to upload as many images as they want for free. You get some added features as well as unlimited uploads for $25 a year, as compared to the cost of registering one of your works at the Copyright Registry: $35 per work. That's a huge cost difference, all because it's online and digital. Other services, like TinEye.com, search and index sites like Flickr and let you compare one image against the entire index. They do this for free. Some of these services may charge a minimum fee for an account like Flickr's "pro account", or require payment for using the search function, or no charge for any of it. They may provide additional services, like ways to help owners license their works, or print their works, etc, to offset the costs of their "registries."

Artists, established or struggling, would not be required to use any of these services under orphan works. Period. Nothing is required, and just because you don't upload your works does not mean a user's qualifying search ends when he can't find your image on Flickr.com. Would it help the rest of us find you by uploading what you can to one of these services that already exist? Sure. It might even have the added benefit of giving you exposure and even get paid for your creativity. But nothing is required.

BS: In your opinion, why do artists need the Orphan Works bill to pass? What are the benefits that you feel people are overlooking?

AC: I believe that orphan works policy promotes very sound copyright practices, and to that extent I believe all artists benefit. It requires users to search for owners to ask their permission to use a work. It requires users to negotiate in good faith and compensate an owner for the use of a work. Additionally, it encourages, without requiring, owners to make themselves more accessible and findable. It signals to the market that the needs of many artists are not being met, and encourages innovators to fill the gap. It encourages art societies to help their members develop best practices and help their constituents be found. And importantly, it goes out of its way to discourage outright infringement.

Some artists more heavily rely on the use of others' works in their own creative works. Just a few examples are: independent and documentary filmmakers, book authors, collage artists, parody and satirists, and DJs. The works of these artists are no more or less creative than the works they include or build from. Even though everyone has their own tastes, I don't think it's right to claim one kind or genre of art is more valuable than another--even if one follows from another. If you want to ensure your freedom of creativity to include another's work in your own, and are willing to search for the owner and compensate them for your use, orphan works policy should help you.

Lastly, many artists' work are not appreciated until after they have passed, maybe society wasn't ready for their creative expression. What if someone discovered your work but could not share it because there was no one to ask permission? Not to get too existential here, but if you have a sense of legacy or even pride in your work, how might you feel if you passed away and no one ever saw your life's work and creativity? I think orphan works addresses this problem.

BS: Finally, are you alarmed by the number of artist groups, collectives, and art world professionals that have spoke out against the bill?

AC: Yes. I don't know if I've changed any minds with my responses today. But at least there is this dialogue. Unfortunately, with many of the groups eluded to in your question, there is no dialogue. Many of these groups have had a knee-jerk reaction from the beginning and have polarized their membership with fear. They've created straw men for their memberships to rally against, when the truth is that those companies have had very little stake in this legislation (I wish they were more involved, but they're not). I believe the amount of effort put into building and rallying these groups' membership could have been refocused to actually help their membership, instead of scaring them into writing letters of opposition to Congress. It's really unfortunate, and may have even harmed those groups' credibility with members of Congress and their staff.

My group, Public Knowledge, has reached out to a number of artist organizations like photographers, graphic artists, comic illustrators, textile manufacturers, etc. in an effort to try to address their concerns. I've personally corresponded and talked to a number of concerned artists. Back in 2005, part of the problem for artists was the lack of visual searches at the Copyright Registration. We proposed remedies and actually got them included into 2008's legislation. To a certain extent, we believe that some groups have used that good will against us. But still we continue to try--and plan to push forward an effort to make the Copyright Registry more open and accessible to make it easier and cheaper for artists to protect their works and be found (if they so choose).

Thank you for reading what I've had to say. I'm sure some of my responses will spur other ones, and I'm glad to reply to more. Thank you for the opportunity to be heard, I really appreciate it.

You can learn more about Public Knowledge by visiting their official website-- www.publicknowledge.org . You can read more of my interview by visiting the following page-- www.myartspace.com/interviews.

Take care, Stay true,

Brian Sherwin

Art Space Talk: Dahlia Elsayed

Dahlia Elsayed’s paintings combine text and imagery to create illustrated documents about her environment, resulting in journalistic paintings as records of internal and external geographies. Handwritten text on the painted paper plays an important role in creating narratives between the panels. The work draws on her surroundings, informed by autobiography and landscape to create contemporary cartographies of memory and emotional locations.

Her paintings, prints and artist books have been shown at galleries and art institutions throughout the United States and internationally, including exhibitions at Clementine Gallery and the Jersey City Museum. Her work is in the public collections of the US Department of State, Johnson & Johnson Corporation, The Jersey City Museum, Zimmerli Art Museum, Hunterdon Museum of Art, Noyes Museum of Art, Montclair Art Museum, Newark Public Library, New Jersey State Museum, and Morris Museum. A large number of her works were commissioned for the permanent collection of the Ritz Carlton Hotel in New York.

Dahlia has received awards from the Edward Albee Foundation, Visual Studies Workshop, The Newark Museum, ArtsLink, The Dodge Foundation, Women’s Studio Workshop, Headlands Center for the Arts and most recently a fellowship from The NJ State Council on the Arts.

Achy Desire by Dahlia Elsayed

Brian Sherwin: Dahlia, your paintings combine text and imagery in order to create illustrated documents about your environment. Can you discuss your approach to art and your interest in meshing imagery with text?

Dahlia Elsayed: Text and image are very closely related for me. (Since I was a kid, I loved comic books and graphic novels.) Part of my process of working is writing – on a typewriter – first thing I do when I get to the studio. Those writings are then edited and edited more and become the text for the paintings. The image part comes next but usually I’m already thinking of how they go together during the editing time. I probably work more like a writer than a painter maybe.

And Goosebumps? by Dahlia Elsayed

BS: You have stated that you explore emotional landmarks with your work. Can you tell us more about the imaginative geographies that are born from your art, so to speak. For example, do you explore a form of personal psychology or philosophy within the context of your art? I must say that a few of the ‘maps’ I observed had a haunting quality about them…

DE: The map paintings use the visual language of cartography, which reads as official or scientific, but I am using that language to express something totally unscientific and immeasurable, like a memory, or a smell, or an experience of a place. I am really interested in documenting the parts of the landscape that are ephemeral- how do you keep the record of that? How do you tell the story of a place in flux? Also, so much of topographic and geographic language can be read as metaphor for personal narratives, it’s full of double meanings. Mountain pass. Flood Zone. Swamp. Peaks and Valleys.

Mid-March by Dahlia Elsayed

BS: Would you say that there is a spiritual side to your art?

DE: I think the work comes from seeing and the seeing comes from staying very connected and conscious, so I guess yes. Also some parts of my work are hours and hours of repetitive mark/line making so it gets to be a meditative action. Sometimes it feels like penance though!

BS: You studied English and Fiction at Barnard College and Columbia University, correct? Can you discuss your academic years and how they allowed you to establish a foundation for your art?

DE: They were both institutions that encouraged a high-level of critical thinking and expression, and I had great teachers there. I studied Literature and Writing, which just deepened my love of narrative. By the end of my time there I was pretty clear that I wouldn’t be writing in a traditional way, but that a kind of “story-telling” was always going to be the driving force behind any of my creative work.

And Then it Started by Dahlia Elsayed

BS: Am I correct in saying that your first love was writing? At what point did you decide to utilize visual art in order to explore writing and narratives further? Can you recall when those ideas first entered your mind?

DE: It definitely was. My mother was a librarian, so books were always revered in our home. I was always drawing with my writing, making comics, illustrating stories, but it wasn’t until college when I started doing book art and printmaking that the visual form started to play more than just a supporting role. I had to write my MFA thesis (150 pages of fiction) and I planned the whole story out using a flowchart and pictograms. By the time that was done, I was sort of uninterested in writing it. I felt like it was done.

Lucky Intersections by Dahlia Elsayed

BS: Dahlia, can you discuss other influences? For examples are you influenced by any specific artist or event? If so, how are those influences reflected in the themes that you explore within the context of your art?

DE: Everything influences me: signage, illuminated manuscripts, overheard conversations, obituaries, tattoos...anything that has a story. I think the two biggest art influences for me have been comic books and conceptual artists, the former because the story is so literally presented and the latter because the ideas are so purely suggested. They are very different, but in a way they are alike too because both have blank spaces where you have to fill in. I am thinking about those blank spaces in my work too.

Heartlands by Dahlia Elsayed

BS: You have participated in exhibits at Clementine Gallery (NY), Hunter College Times Sq. Gallery (NY), Black Maria Gallery (CA), Moti Hasson Gallery (NY) and several other exhibits throughout the United States. Where can our readers view your work in person? Will you be involved with any upcoming exhibits?

DE: I will have some work in a few shows overseas this fall (Korea, Sweden, Belgium) and some in the NY/NJ area. All the info is listed on my website under current events. (www.dahliaelsayed.com) Also, I have work in the collections of a few museums (Jersey City Museum, The Newark Museum)

The Depths of Things by Dahlia Elsayed

BS: What are you working on at this time? Can you give our readers some insight into your current work?

DE: In addition to painting, I have been doing a few public installations over the past two years, that are based on memory and landscape. I have really loved doing these projects because it gets conversations started. I did a project in a beach town based on interviews with local day laborers about their memories of summer. It was a big sculpture in a park made purely of text. This summer I did another public project on a fence in Asbury Park, NJ, that was part performance, part sculpture. It’s nice to expand on the idea that I think about in painting in different mediums.

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

DE: No, I'm good.

You can learn more about Dahlia Elsayed by visiting her website-- www.dahliaelsayed.com. You can read more of my interviews by visiting the following page-- www.myartspace.com/interviews.

Take care, Stay true,

Brian Sherwin

My Art Advice: Should I invest in my career?

My Art Advice: Should I invest in my career?

Q. I’ve been working two jobs saving money so that I can buy a larger house. Lately I’ve been thinking that I should invest some of that money into my art career as well. I’ve known other people who have done this and the outcome was good. One friend opened a gallery and has been very successful with it. She has a studio in the back room and displays her art in the other room. What advice do you have?

A. You have to remember that investing in anything is a gamble. I’ve not seen your work so I can’t tell you if your career investment is a viable solution for successful expansion, so to speak. I also don’t know how much money you are talking about. With that said, there are a few things you should consider before deciding what to do with your hard earned money. First, there are ways to gain exposure without investing money-- though you will need to invest time. Second, you need to have some honest feedback about your work before you make a leap like that-- family and friends will always say that they “love’ your art, but that does not mean it will be marketable elsewhere. Most importantly, what worked for your friends may not work for you.

There are many ways to gain exposure online for your art without investing a dime-- aside from Internet fees-- and I assume you already have a computer and access to the Internet. Do you have an online presence? Do you interact with online art communities? Even if you are a novice with a computer you can still do many things online that will help establish or strengthen the market for your art. Years ago art professionals scoffed at the idea of selling art online. Some have yet to get over the stigma of past online failures as far as the art market is concerned. However, times have changed and there are thousands of artists earning a decent profit by selling art online or selling with the help of connections they have made online. Needless to say, I’d invest time before money if I were you.

Create free accounts on sites like www.myartspace.com, www.facebook.com, and www.myspace.com so that you can network with artists, curators, and potential buyers. Posting videos of your process on www.youtube.com can also be a very good way to gain exposure-- just try not to be tacky about it! You will be surprised how many curators and collectors can be found on the Internet. Just make sure that you focus on building good rapport-- you don’t want to be annoying nor do you want to appear desperate. “Hi, I’m an artist. Will you represent me” or “Hi. Would you like to buy some of my art.“ is NOT a good first impression offline OR online. Again, I don’t know every aspect of your situation-- maybe you already have a market for your art? If you have already established an online presence I suppose there are a few ways you could invest in your career. However, regardless of what you do you will still need to network with other artists and curators-- and doing that online is the most time effective option.

You might consider opening your own exhibit space like your friend. However, there can be unwanted consequences from doing that. The simple truth is that artists who run galleries almost always end up being just an art dealer-- and more often than not they become shoddy art dealers. Running a gallery-- even if it is just for your art-- is very time consuming. Even with assistants it can eat away at your day. How much time does your friend actually spend in her studio? How does she define success-- financial wealth or simply the joy of doing what she wants to do? Are you prepared to socialize instead of working on your art? Are you prepared to cancel plans due to the need to have regular business hours? Can you handle creating art, running your space, and working a day job as well-- in your case two jobs? Again, I don’t know the specifics of your scenario, but these are issues to consider.

If you do open a gallery you may also want to consider the geographic location of your gallery. You will want to open a space in a community that is known for supporting art. For example, having a gallery in a small town is not a financially sound choice in the majority of cases. You will also want to consider the expense of running a gallery-- utilities, shipping, fine wine for all… and so on. In the end you will be investing more into your exhibit space than your initial investment. Running a co-op in which you share the burden of monthly expenses with fellow members might be a solution for that. However, if you take that path you must come to terms with the fact that your art will not be the main focus of the space-- which may defeat the purpose of your original intention. Running a co-op gallery can be a MAJOR hassle… especially when half the members decide they can’t pay dues all at once.

There certainly are some things you should definitely avoid as far as investing in your art career is concerned. For example, don’t allow yourself to be seduced by vanity publications. True, those publications might end up in the hands of potential buyers, but your art will also end up in the same pages as artists you may not want to associate with. In most cases anyone can be published in a vanity art publication simply by paying the fee. Those publishers often do not care about the quality of the art submitted as long as their own wealth is increased. The outcome can be very embarrassing-- do a few searches online about vanity publications and I bet you will find hundreds of horror stories. Vanity art publications will not validate you as an ‘artist’. They are more apt to become an obstacle later down the road as far as success is concerned.

What about your studio space? Do you have enough room? If you buy a larger home, as you mentioned, you will hopefully purchase one that allows you room to create in comfort. Buying a larger home might give you the opportunity to create the studio space that you have always wanted. If you are working in a space that you enjoy you will most likely be more productive. A larger living space will also allow you to invite more guests if you decide to host an open studio visit or something along those lines. In that sense, a larger home might be the best investment you can make for your art career and for your lifestyle-- though one could say creating and selling art is a lifestyle, correct? Just remember to set aside a specific area for your studio.

Another thought… if you honestly want to invest some of the money you have saved into your art career why not use it so that you have more free time? Perhaps you could drop one of your day jobs or simply work less hours? Having some money in the bank will no doubt take away from some of the stress of economic woes. Instead of being worried about bills you can focus on your art. In the end you will have to rely on great art in order to be successful. Again, I don’t know your situation and maybe that is not an issue for you, but it is something to consider. The extra money could also be used to explore new materials or to buy extra supplies for your creative purpose.

To sum this up… it is your dime, your time, and your decision in the end.

Take care, Stay true,

Brian Sherwin

Art Space Talk: Kako Ueda

Kako Ueda creates incredibly intricate and beautiful artworks from cut paper. She is interested in organic beings-- insects, animals, and human bodies. Her work reveals how these natural beings are constantly influenced and modified by culture.

PJS (portrait series 1), hand cut ph neutral paper with acrylic, h: 29 in., w: 18 in. 2006

Brian Sherwin: Kako, you studied at Tufts University and the Pratt Institute. Can you tell us about your academic background? For example, did you have any influential instructors?

Kako Ueda: I studied photography at the School of Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, where I took studio courses while taking academic courses at Tufts. Initially I wanted to enroll into the Painting Department, but it was over crowded and seemed to me many of the professors had an overbearing personalities so I decided to study a new medium.

I met two memorable professors: Jim Dow and Elein O'Neil. Not only I learned the basics of photography from them but also they took care of me and other students like a family would. One of the fondest memories from my undergraduate years is the trips Jim and a bunch of us students made to Chicago and New York . We drove, went to visit galleries and museums, and heard talks by curators and photographers.
Tree of Life--detail, cut paper with acrylic, h: 49 in., w: 22 in., 2005, private collection

BS: In your work you are interested in organic beings… animals, insects, and human bodies. You explore how beings born from nature are influenced and modified by culture. Can you explain your interest in this clash between nature and culture?

KU: When I was growing up, there was some nature still left in Tokyo. The neighbor across from the street had a big house with substantial land, who moved out when I was 5-6. The space was left vacant for a while and soon enough all the weeds started growing and there were big trees there too--it looked (in my memory) like a small jungle. All the kids in the neighborhood played there. We climbed up the trees, ate some wild berries and fruits from the trees, heard different bird calls, and found insects, etc. It was wonderful to have that while it lasted---after a couple years or so, the development moved in.
Tree of Life, hand cut paper with acrylic, h: 49 in., w: 22 in., 2005, private collection

Eventually the developers chopped down the trees and started building small houses in the lot. I remember my friends and I protested (by hanging signs saying 'do not chop the trees!' and barricaded the trees with whatever we could find) but that didn't stop the development. This might have been one of the earliest experiences that I had observing the clash between nature and culture.
Tree of Life--detail, cut paper with acrylic, h: 49 in., w: 22 in., 2005, private collection

BS: Kako, paper has been your primary medium of choice for over a decade. Is there any specific meaning behind that choice as far as your personal philosophy is concerned? Would you say that paper is an example of this mixing between nature and culture-- since paper comes from nature and has long been utilized to document and shape the cultures of the world? What do you enjoy about the medium?

KU: Sometimes you don't necessary choose the material but the material chooses you. I didn't realize myself that I had been using paper all along until 5 years ago when I started cutting paper. I guess it was natural for me to pick up paper as the material since I was born in Japan, where the culture utilizes and respects this material both in everyday and ceremonial life.

I like the fact that it is easy to manipulate. It could have different faces depending on what one does with it. It is up to one's imagination and skill to make this material come alive---though a simple piece of paper itself is beautiful too. It is also a contradictory material in the sense that it is fragile (can be easily torn, cut, crushed), but at the same time under the right condition, it lasts for centuries---think about Egyptian papyrus!

I love the feel and the smell of paper. One of the joys of reading a book to me is to hold a bunch of paper and feel and smell the pages as I go deep into the content. You are right about paper being the mixture of nature and culture. It is a superb blend of the two for sure.
Bitura, hand cut black paper, h: 23 in., w: 24.5 in., 2005 -private collection

BS: Speaking of culture… it is my understanding that you were born and raised in Tokyo, Japan. You now live in Brooklyn, NY. One could say that you have experienced two major cultures in two very large cities. Has that experience influenced you as an artist?

KU: It is an important part of me having experienced two cultures. To have the feeling of not being completely at home in either cultures isn't necessarily a bad thing. This tension has helped me to strive to make work and to relate to people as much as I could. Having experienced two cultures enriched my life and art and made me a more tolerant person and artist.

Living in New York is great since you have a chance to interact with people from all over the world, with different cultures, languages and religions. It constantly reminds me that we are in this world together and I am not isolated. Tokyo, though it is a big city isn't as international as New York. I can safely say that I am a New Yorker now, not a Tokyoite so much.

I absolutely love and appreciate some parts of both cultures/societies and am critical of some parts of both of the cultures/societies. The positive aspect of being a "hybrid" is that you notice the sameness, differences and subtleties in things/people simultaneously. And it also gave me an insight that what seems is not always what is.

BS: What about other influences? Are you influenced by any specific artist or art movement from the past?

KU: Sadly, one of my favorite artists passed away very recently---Mr. Bruce Connor. I first encountered his films like A Movie and Cosmic Ray in my early 20s. Then I learned about his assemblages that mesmerized me. To me they are violent, quiet, sinister, beautiful, tactile...in fact they elicit all sorts of contradicting feelings in me that I cannot quite pinpoint what I am feeling all together. His inkblot drawings and collages are also a gem.

What is great about Mr. Connor is precisely that he didn't stick to one medium, but explored and experimented with a bunch of different mediums. That tells me how free and fearless he was as an artist. Although he used different mediums there seems to be a kind of a theme or thread that is universal in his artworks- a feeling of mystery and the interconnectedness of the parts to the whole.

Dreaming of Foetus, hand cut Washi (Japanese) paper, h: 35 in., w: 26 in., 2007

BS: Can you tell us more about your process? For example, do you do any preliminary drawings before starting a piece or do you rely on intuition? Perhaps you could discuss some of your methods?

KU: For example, Dreaming of Foetus came to me when I was looking at the wall patterns in some magazines. The image literally just appeared in my head-- I saw the whole image in my mind's eye. Later I sketched out what I saw and started cutting. I could say that I come up with the images rather intuitively and I normally sketch out these images on the paper to be cut. Of course some minor adjustment/changes always happen in the process of cutting.

BS: I read that you have been working on two installation pieces this year. Can you discuss those pieces?

KU: Eros & Thanatos (Life & Death) used to be called Memento Mori (Remember Death). I first started making the part that represented death, but I knew the final piece would end up containing both life and death elements. One endlessly fascinating fact with organisms is that they are born into this life, go through growth/metamorphosis, then decay (sometimes sickness) sets in, and in the end death comes to end this particular life. It is an ingenious design since an individual ego/life has to end with the body but LIFE goes on.

I started working on Totem, which is also the title of my solo show opening in September (at George Adams Gallery in New York City) , around the same time I started Eros & Thanatos in 2006. I wanted to make a totem of my family--a somewhat (not totally) autobiographical piece. As I understand totem-- it is an emblem of a family, tribe or clan. It is not an object of worship. It is more like a visual object to show what your family represents by using symbolic images such as the images of ancestor animals. Some of the important incidents happened in the family history could also be incorporated visually.
Eros & Thanatos--detail", hand cut black paper , site specific, 75X 68 in.

BS: Kako, I understand that you are wanting to branch out in that you desire to exhibit outside of NYC. It is your desire to expose your work to a wider audience. What steps have you taken toward that path? Will you be involved with any exhibits outside of NYC in the near future?

KU: Actually my desire to branch outside of NY state is already happening this year: I will be in two group shows--one in Lincoln, Massachusetts and the other in Easton, Pennsylvania. Both will be opening around the beginning of Sept. The first one is a group show of labor intensive drawings at DeCordova Museum and the latter is at the Grossman Gallery on Lafayette College campus. And after my solo show in NYC, I will take those two installation works to Helsinki, Finland to participate in the group show at the contemporary art museum Kiasma.

I actually get invited to shows through my website a lot so there's no denying the power of internet. I hope that the invitations from different places will keep coming so I get to travel and meet & talk to people in places I've never been to before.

BS: Speaking of the internet, how have you utilized the internet in order to reach a wider audience? Do you frequent any art sites?

KU: Besides having my own website, my pieces are in the Drawing Center's online registry, as well as at the Artists Space online site, and Neoimages. I don't visit any particular site normally, but when I see any artwork which catches my attention, I try to find out if he/she has his/her own website.

Allure, hand cut black paper, h: 50 in., w: 28 in., 2004/05 ---contact George Adams Gallery

BS: You works have been exhibited at Art Chicago, and Art Miami. What did you enjoy about those experiences? Do you enjoy the atmosphere of art fairs in general, so to speak?

KU: I actually never visited Art Chicago or Miami myself though I have visited art fairs in New York. It is fun to see varieties of work all at once at the fairs, but at the same time it is very tiring and overwhelming after awhile. It is not an ideal environment to appreciate an individual artwork since so many different types of works are displayed next to each other in a confined space. In the end, it is about commerce and what is on the market.

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

KU: Please come to my opening if you are free on the night of Thurs. 9/18 from 6-8 PM, George Adams Gallery, 525 W. 26th St., NYC. My show's title is "TOTEM" and it opens from 9/4-10/18/08. Or tell anyone who lives in the area!

You can learn more about Kako Ueda by visiting her website-- www.kakoueda.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: Alison Brady

Born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, Alison Brady is an emerging artist that lives and works in New York City. Brady is currently represented by Massimo Audiello Gallery, in New York. Alison holds an MFA in Photography, Video, and Related Media from The School of Visual Arts (NYC). She has stated that her work is a series of color photographs that work to stimulate unconscious emotions, desires, and sexual compulsions, all unified within a dynamic that vacillates between the real and the fantasized. She explore issues related to madness and alienation as they exist in contemporary culture, concentrating on expressions of neurosis, on feelings of anxiety, displacement, and loss of identity.

Brian Sherwin: Alison, you hold an MFA in Photography, Video, and Related Media from The School of Visual Arts (NYC). Can you briefly discuss your years as a student? Did you have any influential instructors at that time?

Alison Brady: No, unfortunately not, never really connected with any of the professors at SVA. SVA is known for a more documentary style of photography - more straightforward. Most of my classmates shoot “the everyday” nothing manipulated. I often had conflicting views on art and the art world in general.

In hindsight this was extremely beneficial in developing the way I speak about my work, and how I articulate my ideas. Everyone can’t love your work, but I feel you are successful if you are able to incite some sort of powerful response, regardless if its love or hate.



BS: Your images are a psychological feast. In them one can observe aspects of sexuality meshed with murder and raw emotions. The people in your images often appear lifeless… yet the thoughts that they stir in the mind of the viewer is full of life and its complexities. Can you tell us about the themes that you explore within the context of your work? Tell us about some of thought behind your art…

AB: My work depicts moments outside the realm of time therefore beyond life and death. Much is unknown and unanswered, the image is static no before or after. Not necessarily to be assumed the subject is lifeless.

I imagine my work as stand-alone interior realities, as individual traumas, anxieties, or erotic compulsions whose objective reality has been reprocessed by a shaken-up mind incapable of facing them head-on, only to re-emerge as an impenetrable hieroglyphics of gesture and texture.

I’m looking to scrape images from the stickier, most neglected corners of the unconscious, photographs which take whatever power they have from the friction between sensuality and disgust, the expected and the uncanny. The use of simple props such as fishing wire, bed sheets, salami serving to illustrate the inner workings of the unconscious. The meeting of two random elements coming together to create a whole new relevance.



BS: What about psychology in general… do you adhere to any specific theories? When I view your work I think of Freud and Jung…

AB: I am very interested in psychology, in no way am I an expert, but I am drawn to certain theories. Freud’s “Uncanny” for one- the unnerved feeling one gets when the familiar turns alien and frightening. The potentially foreboding sensation within the familiar is something that I try to project through my work. What I find most disturbing is the subtle distortion of something I can relate to, or something that is closest to me.

I am also interested in the “death drive”: is the bodily instinct to return to the state of “quiescence”- why humans are drawn to repeat painful or traumatic events; through the compulsion to relive and reenact, the human subject attempts to "bind" the trauma. I believe my work touches on this strange repetitiveness, the return of something repressed.


BS: Considering the times in which we live… how do you define normality? For example, today there are issues that are widely accepted that would have been banned just a few decades ago. Today we make heroes out of the deranged… for example, our cultural fascination with serial killers as depicted in movies. In your opinion, at what point does someone break that threshold, so to speak? At what point does someone go beyond the norm in a time when the very idea-- the foundation-- of normality and what is acceptable is often in question by popular culture?

AB: This question is so packed I don’t even know where to begin. First and foremost I am not able to define normality. I don’t believe normality exists in an absolute state. I don’t believe that we make heroes out of the deranged.


BS: Do you do any kind of research as far as planning out an image is concerned? If so, can you explain that process?

AB: All shoots are the end result of meticulous conceptualization, set-dressing, grocery-purchasing, and costuming. Sometimes ideas have to be revisited a couple times and other ideas may not translate the way I intend it to.

BS: Alison, you often use friends as models for the environments that you create. However, you sometimes find strangers online who are willing to take part in your work. I’m curious, has anyone ever backed out? Has anyone found your ideas disturbing to the point of deciding not to take part?

AB: Strangely enough no one has ever backed out. I do my best to prepare the subject as mush as possible about what they are getting into.


BS: Can you tell us about some of your other influences? For example, are you influenced by any specific artist or event?

AB: Contemporary artists that I am in dialogue with are artists that explore ideas of the unknown: Photographer Simen Johan’s explorations into children’s relationships with the mysterious. German sculptor Rebecca Horn’s investigations into the human body’s relationship with the machine. Both artists manipulate reality and investigate notions of the fantastic.


BS: Finally, I understand that you are currently represented by Massimo Audiello Gallery in New York. Will you be involved with any upcoming exhibits?

AB: Yes, I am having another solo show in January. Please visit my site: www.alisonbrady.com as it gets closer to the date I will have more details.

You can learn more about Alison Brady by visiting her website-- www.alisonbrady.com. Alison is currently represented by Massimo Audiello Gallery-- www.massimoaudiello.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: Oliver Fauser

Oliver Fauser

Oliver Fauser was born in July 1965 in Lörrach (Baden) near the Black Forest. Between 1987 and 1997 he lived in New York, Los Angeles, London, San Francisco, Milan and Hamburg, and toured Europe with various New Yorker Musical-Productions and German plays. After an intermezzo in the film industry in Cologne, he decided to return to the Black Forest one year later. He explores textue by utilizing various material, such as sand, plastic, gravel, filler, wood, leaves, emulsion paint, oil paint, acrylics etc..

Gray Circles by Oliver Fauser

Brian Sherwin: Oliver, you were born and raised in Lorrach (Baden) near the Black Forest. Eventually you traveled to New York, Los Angeles, London, San Francisco, Milan and Hamburg. You lived in these locations as well. How have your travels influenced you as an artist?

Oliver Fauser: Coming from a small town in the southwest of Germany I was eager to get to know the real world. My first stop on that journey was the City of New York, and I stayed for a year. So naturally, New York always remained a special place to me. It¹s a shame I haven¹t been there for 15 years.

The city really opened my eyes for musicianhood, for art, literature and life in general. And all of these many new impressions and experiences traveled with me to every new city, and grew. Living in all these places also made me understand the folks and the system of my hometown much better and I really enjoyed coming home from time to time.

Gray Circles Revisited by Oliver Fauser

BS: May I ask why you decided to return to the Black Forest? Philosophically speaking, would you say that you draw creative energy from your home?

OF: After my kids (two sons, now 15 and sixteen) were born, we still moved a lot, so when the firstborn was old enough to go to school we simply had to settle down, it was as simple as that. And at that time in our lives it seemed to us (my 2nd ex-wife and I), that the Black Forest would be an idyll for the boys. Also with Basel just 25 minutes away from where we live, it made it easier to move.

When we lived in Cologne we wrote a lot of songs together and after the move to the Black Forest we set up a studio and recorded it all. I also started painting again, I painted a little during the early nineties, but I was too busy making music and touring and being a single father. You can see a few painting examples of that time on my website, if you're interested, go the gallery and click on "Last Century Crimes" (smiles). There are worlds between now and then.

So, to sum it up, the last ten years have been the most creative and most satisfying years in my life. I have never been so pleased with my artistic outcome. I think that the safety of home probably plays a little part in this, yes. I know how to get around here with closed eyes. Nonetheless, I am not planning on staying here forever.

Mauve by Oliver Fauser

BS: Oliver, you appear to be very interested in the physicality of your work. Texture obviously plays an important role in your practice. Can you discuss the attraction you have to utilizing textures and perhaps discuss some of your methods in general?

OF: Textures are fascinating to me. I think everybody knows the situation, where you sit somewhere, like on a toilet, staring at the texture of a wallpaper, and the longer you look you'll start seeing faces, shapes etc., and next time you sit on the very same spot, you try to see the exact same things again, and sometimes it works. And then you see even more things, and that's great. Well, at least for me. (smiles). But that is basically how I get started. I see something on the pavement, in the woods, in a glass of wine, on a kitchen role, or I make up something in my mind, I draw a sketch of it and I try to put it into filler and styrodur. A lot of times it develops into something totally different, but only if I like it that way.

I hardly ever use anything else but styrodur as my painting base. Sometimes canvas or cardbox, but that's it. I am actually more of a styrodur designer than a painter, I shape and cut and brush filler and paint, be it acrylics, regular wallpaint or oilpaint. My early works are frameless, the later ones have a self-made woodframe the styrodur is attached to. Let me tell you, these woodframes are very unique and raw. (laughs) But in my work I always look for harmony or balance, why try and be provocative when it's not in your art?

I love first take impressions, but at the same time, there are pieces I have been working on over the years and they still haven't seen the light of day. Most of the time I work on a few pieces at once, sometimes ten to fifteen, within a time frame of 8 weeks, in which I only concentrate on that. It starts with filler shaping the textures and it always ends with black paint and many layers of lighter paint brushed onto it until it looks the way I want it to.

Other ingredients are sand and gravel, plastic and wood, and whatever else suits me at that moment. Lately, for examples my nudes, I have been cutting and ripping little pieces of styrodur in different shapes and sizes, and put it together like a mosaic. People think it¹s little stones.

Girl in the Twilight by Oliver Fauser

BS: As mentioned, you are a musician as well. How has that experienced influenced your visual art? Does one inspire the other, so to speak?

OF: Quite honestly, not really. It's two different things to me, both I love dearly, but I never thought about bringing them together. I know guys who did release CDs, and for every song there was an adequate painting inside the booklet, representing the feel of the music. It worked for them, it doesn't for me. At least not in this time and place.

BS: Can you discuss some of your other influences? For example, are you influenced by any specific artist or art movements from the past?

OF: Aside wallpaper (laughs), other artists inspired me to the extend that I started to think about art and wanting to do it myself. But in my own work I wouldn't call their styles an influence to me, though I am always looking for people whose works are similar looking to mine.

I love Klimt. At home I have a room full of prints of his work. It takes hours to see everything there is to see in just one painting of his. When I saw my first original Klimt at the Art Basel years ago, I could not believe my eyes, I must have stood there for hours just staring at it. I also like Gerhard Richter and I think Oda Jaune's work is amazing. Also Jackson Pollock, Robert Rauschenberg and Claude Monet. Just to mention a few of course.

Inside Out by Oliver Fauser

BS: I’m very interested in Rockville and Inside Out. Can you discuss these two pieces?

OF: These two pieces actually belong to a series of three. It started out with Rockville, whose textures were very soft, and the paint was brushed on it also very lightly. At the same time I was working on Stonedesert and I worked out its textures very “sharp” and brushed the paint very hard, very edgy, there's a strong contrast in it, and a strong contrast to Inside Out, to me Stonedesert got something dark and touching, something ominous about it. Whereas Rockville has a very deserted, lonely feel about it.. With Inside Out I tried to make it all look very very soft, very soothing, very poetic if you will, and when you look at it, it's kinda blurry.

The material used in all three pieces are the same, styrodur, filler, sand, gravel and a lot of other things. The brushing makes the most difference aside from the textures of the filler.
Rockville by Oliver Fauser

BS: What about your work in general? Can you give us more detail about the thoughts behind your work? For example, is there a specific message that you strive to convey to viewers? What are the social implications o f your work?

OF: There is no message. My only message would be that "life is beautiful". But I wouldn’t call it the message behind my work. Naturally, I am more of an introverted person, so I don't use my art as a vehicle to transport any messages, but there's something in me that has to get out as soon as it enters my mind. I want to show people my little world, and I want them to enjoy It and feel comfortable while they're in it.
Stonedesert by Oliver Fauser

BS: What are you working on at this time?

OF: I am working on a project with a good friend of mine, working title "be part of the art", where people can actually participate in the process of creating a painting of mine. They can basically remote control me, in a sense. But that's all I want to say about it now, cause we are still brainstorming about the ways to go.

In the meantime I am staring at wallpapers and tiles, drawing sketches, and am constantly thinking about new motives and techniques to enhance my work. Right now, I am actually working on my first three dimensional human figure: a woman in "stoned" styrodur.

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

OF: No. Okay, maybe that I have come a long way, I have developed my own style, and I have a lot of ideas for future projects. A friend of mine once said, that my work is sort of modern Pop Art. I leave it at that, but I wish he had said Rock 'n Roll Art. And maybe, to answer your earlier question, that's where my art and my music come together (laughs).

You can learn more about Oliver Fauser and his art by visiting his website-- www.fauserpaints.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: Troy Gua

Troy Gua states that his art is fueled by an innate introspection, and influenced by pop-culture and a working-class upbringing. He is an artist that is intent on self-expression and self-discovery. Troy is impassioned by the bold simplicity of fundamental shapes, sharp lines, solid colors, purity and precision, and he strives to create work that reflects that. His work is intended as a visual, meditative antidote to our society’s sometimes excessive, over-stimulated and chaotic tendencies.

Brian Sherwin: Troy, I understand that you are self-taught. At what point did you decide to pursue art?

Troy Gua: Well, I think I've always been in pursuit of art - I've been in constant hot pursuit since I was a young boy. I’d like to think that everyone has something that they're good at or are complimented on as a child, whether it be sports or singing or whatever, and I think that any kind of positive reinforcement really boosts you up as a kid. Mine was drawing. I was a pretty quiet, shy kid and I just loved to get inside myself and draw as much as I could. My parents and teachers really encouraged me. College didn't work out for me for various reasons and I feel I'm the better for it - free-er in my methods.


BS: Troy, it seems that you enjoy working in series. What intrigues you about that practice? Would you say that you like to push an idea as far as you can? Are they ongoing? Do you ever go back into a series?

TG: What intrigues me about working in a series? Umm...I guess it comes from my mild case of o.c.d. Ok, maybe it's not so mild. I just like order, need order. And I like things that can be viewed as a cohesive work. I envision these grand exhibits of my work lining the walls of a big city gallery and I see these grouped pieces working together and working off of each other.

I also love collections. I've had many different collections over the years, and I just love to set them all up together and look at them, admire them as individual pieces making up a larger whole. As far as pushing ideas, I suppose that’s exactly what I'm doing, although I never really thought of it that way. I think I just do it until I feel I've either perfected the look or concept I'm trying to achieve, or it just starts to bore me. Sometimes that happens simultaneously.

Some series I do intend to continue, but I find it difficult to do that when I'm deep into a new one. Some series I really don't care for any longer and have absolutely no interest in once I'm finished.


BS: ‘Your Face Here’ and ‘Labels’, part one and two, are interesting due to the social implications that one can ponder as to the meaning behind them. Can you discuss these works and the themes and issues that you explore within the context of your work in general?

TG: Sure. ‘Your Face Here’ simply deals with America’s – and my- obsession with fame. I don’t care who you are, I think everyone wants to be noticed and acknowledged to some extent. People fight to get in front of the camera at a football game, they humiliate themselves to be on TV, they actually take the lives of others to get into the news. This obsession has become obscene, especially in this country.

‘Labels’ is a study on the old clichés “we’re all flesh and blood” and “don’t judge a book by it’s cover”. It’s true we’re all the same underneath, but we are also unique. We are all entirely individual, but at the same time we are systematically set into categories of humanity: “labeled”– black, white, rich, poor, fat, thin, etc. These are scary concepts that are universal and actually quite personal. I want to be different than everyone, and I want to be loved for it – I want to belong, but I tell myself I shouldn’t care what others think. I want to be famous, but I scoff at American Idol. And then I have to ask myself why. Why do I have this need to be seen and my work to be known? So many contradictions!


BS: Troy, some of your work conveys a meditative quality as if spiritual… perhaps not in the religious sense… but a reflection of spiritual energies in general. Is that something you strive to convey within the context of your work? Are you interested in the spiritual, so speak?

TG: That’s a great question. I am very interested in the quality of the feeling that art can give you by looking at it, thinking about it, creating it. Whether that can be called spiritual is another good question. I can’t really give you a definition of spiritual, but I can tell you that while painting, my mind races, yet the act somehow calms me; or how finishing a piece somehow makes me feel as though I’ve answered a riddle.

I know that I enjoy work that is aesthetically clean, so to speak, and that it has the power to make me feel clean. I think we all want to feel pure, or whole, inside, and I think art can assist in that for sure. I try my best to administer that assistance with my work, for me as well as for the viewer. Does that make sense?


BS: You draw inspiration from several sources… including ancient Asian military banners. Can you discuss some of these influences? What attracts you to them?

TG: Hmm…another goodie. Ok, the Asian influence comes from the simplicity of the aesthetics. Less is definitely more to me. The Zen concept of everything in it’s place, nothing unnecessary, is a very influential concept to me. There’s something very serene and peaceful about traditional Asian art, even in the banners used for warfare, oddly enough. It’s a visual influence that translates into a – back to the last question – “spiritual” influence.

BS: What about other influences… such artists or art movements from the past-- or present?

TG: Boy, everything influences me, whether I want it to or not, but I choose certain influences though, for sure. Art, music, literature – I get obsessed by artists and their work until I exhaust their catalogs. I am a huge fan of Salvador Dali as well as Andy Warhol – complete opposites stylistically speaking. I’m very influenced by pop culture and pop art as well as surrealism and minimalism. I really enjoy Donald Judd, Ed Ruscha, Frank Stella, Richard Serra.

As far as music goes, I’m a total Prince freak and I love David Bowie – both for their music as well as their visual aesthetics. I’ve recently been devouring Tom Robbins novels and am now completely immersed in Ayn Rand’s ideology. I’m a Star Wars geek. I could go on. And on.

BS: It seems that in the past your work was more figurative in nature. Some of the earlier works I viewed were more representational than abstract. Can you explain that shift in interest? Was there a shift?

TG: That’s true. I wanted to be a surrealist, really. I practiced with representational and figurative work. I wanted to be something I felt I should be, rather than allowing my true artistic nature to come across. But it was a process that was necessary to my development. And you are right, there was a pretty sudden shift in style. My art, of course, reflected my life at the time – I was married too young to the wrong person and I became an addict – I was stifling my true self in every way imaginable. That life finally ended and I was unproductive for a couple of years.

Then a little over three years ago I met the woman who has become my beautiful wife and best friend, Catherine. She changed me in so profound a way that I can’t really convey it through words except to say that she has encouraged and inspired my true self. I have become so focused and productive since I’ve known her it’s unbelievable. I feel very fortunate in many ways. Too much information?

BS: What are you working on at this time? Can you give our readers some insight into your current work?

TG: Well, I’m knee-deep in a series tentatively titled The Face Series that deals with pop iconography, irony and satire. The pieces portray famous and infamous cultural icons and public figures inter-layered with one another. They’re meant to challenge the viewer to visually decipher the image while making the connections within them.

For instance, I’ve got ‘The Boy King of Pop’, which is King Tut and Michael Jackson – both young boys forced into fame and both ending up in masks. There’s ‘The Ronald McReagan’, Ronald McDonald and Ronald Reagan – smiling icons and representatives of a society bloated by its own ego and consumptive indulgence. There’s many more. It’s good fun.

BS: Will you be involved with any upcoming exhibits?

TG: Not enough! Yes, I’ve got some local shows, competitions and exhibitions coming up, but I am so ready to explode! I need to be discovered and exploited – now!

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

TG: Boy, that’s a broad question for a yapper like me, Brian. I’ll try to be brief - umm, no, I think I’ve said a lot already and I don’t want to take up any more of your reader’s time when they could be checking out my art. Thanks Brian, great questions.

You can learn more about Troy Gua by visiting his website-- www.troygua.com. You can read more of my interviews by visiting the following page-- www.myartspace.com/interviews.

Take care, Stay true,

Brian Sherwin

The Myths of Gallery/Artist Relationships: Biting the Hand that Feeds / Feeding the Mouth that Bites

The Myths of Gallery/Artist Relationships: Biting the Hand that Feeds / Feeding the Mouth that Bites

It is safe to say that most of us have heard an artist complain about a gallery owner or a gallery owner complain about an artist at some point during our art careers (even if you don‘t view it as a career). Others have no doubt read horror stories online-- specifically on forums and blogs devoted to art-- involving a disgruntled artist who is unhappy with his or her gallery. The same dialogue-- reversed-- can be found on the other side of the aisle-- with gallery owners and staff ranting about experiences they loathed involving artists they once represented. Both parties tend to post their frustrations anonymously. The remarks fueled by said frustration can enforce negative opinions about the artists and gallery owners involved in these rants. They can also strengthen the mythical image of the gallery/artist relationship in popular culture as well as the stereotypes of ‘the artist’ and the “gallery owner” as dictated by popular culture. These myths have teeth and both artists and gallery owners are sometimes more than willing to bite-- more than willing to spill their share of the bad blood.

We all know the mythos of the gallery/artist relationship-- that it must be filled with some form of hellish drama and that the ‘artist’ is almost always on the receiving end of the emotional and financial beating stick. The majority of novels, films, and other forms of media that depict this relationship do so in a negative manner such as this. The ‘artist’ is seen as a rebellious hero or heroine caught in a position that threatens his or her passion-- his or her drive to exist. The gallery owners are depicted as heartless, passionless vampires who strive to suck the creative blood of their victims in order to obtain financial and material success. Needless to say, popular culture dictates that the stability that should arise from gallery representation eventually causes instability for these societal underdogs. Sadly, people tend to associate with this manner of thinking when debating the gallery/artist relationship and when dealing with the reality of their own situation regarding galleries in general.

One outcome of this media enhanced myth is that the image of ‘the artist’ and the ‘gallery owner’ and their failed or complicated ‘relationship’ tends to sway the opinion that people have concerning galleries and artists in general. The consensus online (which is why I’m writing about this topic) seems to be that gallery owners are the natural enemy of artists. I’ve witnessed this manner of thinking on art blogs and forums on several occasions. It even played out in the comments at Ed Winkleman’s blog not long ago after he released an artist from his stable. Again, the majority of the negative comments were made anonymously.

Based on my experience it seems that a countless number of artists, most of whom have never experienced gallery representation to begin with, habitually rant about the exploitive nature of gallery owners as if they were booted by a mainstream gallery just the day before. They fall victim to the myth. They get angry by the myth. They show their teeth over the myth. There is no doubt in my mind that this apparent hatred stems from the myths that have been created and shaped by movies and other aspects of popular culture that I’ve mentioned.

The negative myths of the gallery/artist relationship can be dangerous for artists and gallery owners-- as well as for how the public views both. These myths can enforce an attitude that leads to a lack of opportunities and total cynicism-- specifically in the minds of emerging artists-- because said myths fail to reveal the one truth that artists and gallery owners tend to share in that they both want stability and success. I would go as far as to say that the negative myths concerning this professional relationship has caused many to unknowingly accept a defeatist approach to career advancement in the professional art world-- which is no advancement at all! In other words, if we can’t respect both the positive and negative aspects of our work… why should anyone else?

Popular culture teaches us that galleries are to be feared and that the motives of gallery owners should be questioned. Instead, we should be learning how galleries work. We should learn how they function and remain open. We should take note of how they remain successful and respected. We should remember how they benefit their artists… and most importantly, how they benefit each other within the context of the gallery/artist relationship. On that same note, gallery owners who have experienced difficult artists should remember that not every artist shares those same traits. True, there are petty artists and petty gallery owners. However, those same conditions can be found in any profession. Biting at each other with harsh words is not exactly the way to go about understanding our shared desires.

I think part of the battle that I’ve observed-- both offline and online-- is due to how closely related one is to the other. No, I’m not talking about the obvious need that one has for the other. I’m referring to how close our paths are as far as our work is concerned. Your average gallery owner has many things in common with the average artist. Both work long hours for something they believe in. Both do something that the majority of the population would never consider doing. Both are faced with financial burden based on the career choices they have made. Both rely on a degree of networking and positive exposure in order to position themselves for career success. Few have assistants. Few have great wealth. Both desire-- for the most part --to be published and reviewed. Both must endure criticism. Both must make some form of investment--be it time, money, or both-- in order to gain ground. Both fight to keep a roof over their heads. Both hope to still be doing what they are doing five years down the road. Both can be drained physically and emotionally by their work. Both have bouts of doubts-- though they may not acknowledge it to others. In other words, one could say that the majority of artists and gallery owners live very similar lives.

Perhaps that is why so many artists and gallery owners seem to snap back and forth about this issue? Perhaps that is why we choose sides? Could it be that artists and gallery owners are so close to being the same in ideology-- in work ethic and ambition-- that they will always endure some form of professional or personal conflict-- a conflict enforced by aspects of popular culture and the myths that stem from that source? The myths of old revealed the flaws of humankind--- the burden of professions and passions. Perhaps that is what we fear and why we react as we do? Perhaps that is why so many rant without adding anything new to the dialogue and with no willingness to understand the position of the other. Perhaps this is why both sides sometimes ban together like a pack of wolves to the slaughter. Is this clash over the gallery/artist relationship as troubled as I assume? Or have I fell victim to the myth in my own way?

Don't get me wrong. I realize that both artists and gallery owners can have good reason for their opinions and concerns. I understand that some artists are poorly represented based on gender, age, and other factors that should not matter as far as the message their art conveys and the respect that it should have-- just as I understand that some gallery owners try hard to endure professional relationships with artists who are reckless, to say the least. However, it does seem that these concerns have been beat into our minds to the point that we come to expect those specific outcomes no matter who we associate with. The evidence of that fear can be discovered in the conversations we have, the rants that we read, and the opinions we overhear.

Consider this an open debate about gallery/artist relationships. Feel free to offer your experiences as far as this issue is concerned. Anonymous posting is an option if you wish to prevent yourself from being identified.

Take care, Stay true,

Brian Sherwin
Senior Editor
www.myartspace.com