Bundles: roughly 1 ft cubed in volume (each bundle)
found sheer fabric layered with colored honeybee wax
Untitled Prints: 2x2" (each print)
intaglio and hand coloring
Current City: Lafayette, IN
Birthplace: Chicago, IL
Preferred Medium:
This question is too hard! But I like using found household objects to make installations out of them in bright colors. I also like multiples. I love prints very much.
Tell me about your work in one sentence:
My work immerses itself deeply in the idea of the family and all its constituents, exploring rich metaphor through the understanding of containers, knots, hanging things, bright colors, whispers, yelling, shrinking, expanding, politics, functions, dysfunctions, freeing, imprisoning, parties, piñatas, and the uterus.
My work immerses itself deeply in the idea of the family and all its constituents, exploring rich metaphor through the understanding of containers, knots, hanging things, bright colors, whispers, yelling, shrinking, expanding, politics, functions, dysfunctions, freeing, imprisoning, parties, piñatas, and the uterus.
Would you prefer to deal through gallery representation or directly with clients? Why?
I don’t even like that word—client. Am I providing a service? I feel like I’m just sharing things I do, know, and make. I want to have a reciprocal relationship with the person viewing my work—one involving dialogue, understanding, and confrontation. Sure, I’d like gallery representation. But I’d love to stabilize myself within communities of regular people more. Art is for people.
What is your favorite forum/method of sharing information about art?
Face to face? That’s how I like to share.
Your work is selected to show in a gallery or museum in the world, where would you choose?
You want to know the truth, Ester? The other day, a man saw some of my colorful little prints and told me that his two-year old daughter would say “Wow!” if she saw them. My heart FLUTTERED. This is on my list of Top 5 best compliments about my work. I’m most interested in expanding art audiences, not grouping, ranking, or even choosing them. If I could have constant installation exhibitions in random neighborhoods, like in alleys, for example, I’d love my life! I would love to see what happens if I install 1,000 rainbow colored bundles so that they were overflowing out of a dumpster onto the street. I’d love to pass out surprise prints to people getting off of the train on their way back home from work. There is nothing more exciting, necessary, or pertinent than inserting art into the public realm, especially in 2010.
Would you rather have your work well known in the art community or well understood in the general population?
Aw, can’t I have both? The tough thing is I need to survive. My artwork and working within communities feeds my soul but what will feed my tummy and pay my bills? I think this is a reality that cultural workers, if not all workers, are confronting in this recession: How can I reconcile my need to feed my soul with the need to pay the rent? But, seriously, Ester, if this were a perfect, magical world with rainbows, ponies, no war, stable economy, everyone is at peace, then my preference would be to have fans mostly in the general population!
Who are your artistic influences?
The following childhood activities have influenced my practice: playing in my basement with brightly colored metallic papers, building houses out of cardboard, writing parodies to songs, putting on plays, making videos, and drawing everyday. I never took a single extra curricular art class as a child but I made art everyday, almost! It was great and I highly recommend it. In terms of artists that have influenced me, I’m really engaged by the work of Swoon, Kiki Smith, Louise Bourgeois, Maria Alos, Bertram, Joseph Beuys, Le Grav, Robert Rauschenberg, Helio Oiticica and children who draw monsters.
Thanks for sharing the interview! Sometimes I have issues understanding art - it really helps to hear the artist's motivation. I really like the Print!
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