Interview for SPACE Gallery
Here is a copy of my interview about the Invisible Man with Anne Buckwalter at SPACE Gallery:
Give us some background on your artistic career. How did you get to be a maker of things?
I have always been a maker, but not always towards the pursuit of making art. I made art when I was in grade school, but in high school, I drifted towards the more "practical" of academics such as math and science. In the school system that I was educated (Virginia public schools), art was not valued because it isn't clear how one would make ends meet. However, I was always tinkering and modifying things around me. I enjoyed the science fair because I could present something that was research based but also demanded some creative engineering. Examples of things I made for the science fair were didactic pulley displays, a home-made hurricane, and a device to test the difference in elasticity between wooden and metal baseball bats. They weren't great science projects per se, but they had a DIY charm. Later, I attended college in Boston to study math; I dropped out after one year and worked at various record stores until I rediscovered my interest in making though art. I began my formal art education at 25 (undergrad at the School of the Museum of fine Arts in Boston) thinking I would make film/video. I quickly realized how much I enjoyed working with physical materials, and I began to study sculpture. My education at the SMFA was great because they allowed me the space to decide my own direction and interests. They fostered experimentation and balanced concept with craft at every level of their curriculum. I thrived there. In addition to my college education, I've had various jobs in skilled labor ranging from cabinet making to toy making to boat building to interior design. I've learned a great deal from my day jobs. It has expanded my skill-set and allowed me to be dynamic in my practice.
You have an extensive history with fresco painting. Can you talk about your interest in fresco as a medium, and where it's taken you creatively and geographically?
When I was accepted to Skowhegan in 2003, I took a monitor job in the fresco shop. I had never made a fresco before. Daniel Bozhkov was the instructor there at that time. He's an incredible artist who makes work that is generous and profoundly humble. Daniel Bozhkov is the best listener that I have ever met. He's a great teacher. I requested the fresco monitor job so that I could work with him specifically. However, as I spent time in the fresco shop, I became fascinated with the medium. It is a very labor intensive material that, as everyone knows, is extremely time sensitive. So much time goes into preparing a wall. The lime itself (the main ingredient in the plaster) is recommended to be aged at least two years. Each wall takes days, sometimes weeks to prepare. When the wall is finally ready, the clock quickly accelerates and the painter has a window of roughly 4 hours to execute the image. This is a rough estimate because the drying time of the material is affected by a number of factors. These factors include the moisture in the air, the temperature, and how thick and hydrated the underlaying strata is. Perhaps the most important factor is the painter's approach to the wall. Because the wall is drying, every stroke of the brush rehydrates the part of the surface it touches (there is no binder in fresco, just water and pigment). The colors tend to be more luminous because of the natural brightness of the lime surface. If the painter focuses for too long on one section of the wall, the rest of the wall will dry more quickly. This results in an inconsistent and potentially unstable color within the painting. A good fresco is painted with consideration to drying AND the rendering of the image. As the wall dries, the painter can pick up the pace because the wall will begin to pull the paint of the brush. The wall changes and the painter responds. It is all about chemistry, but the painter really does develop a special relationship with the wall because of these changes.
There are different cultures that have their own version of fresco painting. These cultures had little or no contact with each other while they are developing fresco. There are Indian, Persian, Greek, Chinese, Mayan, Tibetan, and Aztec frescoes. Fresco has been made by many cultures on so many sites and depicting so many subjects. Because of this, I think of my frescoes as platforms or chunks that reflect historical arcs. My frescoes are attached to objects or materials such as foam. They are constructed in a way that reveals the underlying layers. This would be otherwise impossible to see on a frescoed wall. I am fascinated with fresco because it is a medium that has relatively been unchanged for several millennia, then alongs the 20th century where specialized industrial materials enables it to be freestanding and comparatively light weight. Also, the range of synthetic colors that are available are unique to this era of fresco and makes traditionally difficult-to-attain colors such as ultramarine blue to be quite reasonable acquire.
Your installation at SPACE, The Invisible Man, sparks a conversation about modern hygiene, and how it is now being mediated by robotic technology. Can you talk about your relationship to cleanliness and domesticity, and how this became a subject you wanted to explore creatively?
I have always been interested in dust. We can see ourselves in our dust. It reflects our activities, our environments, and even our DNA. Via swept piles or dirty mop buckets, cleaning reveals the concentration of dust and other debris in an area. This dust, as it is thinly dispersed on a variety of surfaces, would be otherwise invisible to the eye, the act of cleaning only puts it into focus. I am interested in knowing more about how the re-distribution of this labor affects our ability to connect with things that are undesirable. Some of the producers of this domestic technology also produce autonomous machines for combat. What does it mean for a company to produce hygienic robots and combat robots at the same time? Does one pursuit affect the other?
Your career has covered an impressive and extensive variety of mediums. What is your favorite material to work with and why?
I truly enjoy problem solving and about the labor behind other practices. I do love fresco, but I equally love the idea that the work/project/curiosity can dictate the medium.
Do you consider teaching to be a tangential part of your studio practice?
Teaching comes back into my studio practice only somewhat. My philosophy as a teacher is to provide students as much agency in problem solving as possible. I also emphasize how research can be very useful when developing work in the studio. However, as a professor, it's important to me to encourage students to develop work on what is in their own terms. I have to teach from what I know, which in a way makes it tangential to my studio practice, but the students ultimately decide what to take and leave behind. This struggle, in an odd way, is how I approach my audience. I make things that I am interested in. I try to make it accessible to the viewer, but I accept that the viewer may not be interested in all the nuances that I invest in the work.
What's influencing you right now (films, music, books, food, places, people)?
I have a 19 month old daughter. I'm fascinated in watching her discover new things and the rate that she is absorbing the world. I can't wait for her to be old enough to hold a hammer!
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