According to Proust

Louise Ingalls Sturges

proustcontemporain — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 19:43:19 +0000

1. How would you describe your art to someone who’s never seen it in five words?

Colorful, whimsical, melancholic yet hopeful, pop, abstractly personal

2.Process when working on a piece?

Painting: I begin with a blank canvas, a pile of photographs, assorted found materials, a vat of matte medium, colored pencils, sharpies, oil and acrylic paint and an emotion. I then build a landscape out of this-blending found imagery and photographs to create a horizon line… I’d say it’s analogous to putting a puzzle together-though one that has no defined pieces..perhaps that’s too abstract but that is the feeling I get. I am only done when harmony has been achieved and oftentimes I feel like it is a conversation that I have started with myself that never ends. I put all the fragments together and begin to elaborate or obscure the images, often this means I obscure to the point of elimination and either I have to unearth the image or replace it with another. It is a long process and can take anywhere from 6 months all the way up to 5 years for me to feel fully satisfied with a painting.

Photography: Shoot what inspires me, scan what I love, and build a sequence out of that. I am currently considering a move from taking pictures to making pictures. Up until this point I have very little to do with directing or sourcing my subjects, I have just always shot what is in front of me, be that a swing, a building or a best friend. But right now, I have a few ideas for shots that I feel would infuse my new project with a more specific focus and thus, this summer, I am considering that I may take friends to particular places with specific and quirky props and see what happens.

3.What would be the biggest difficulty in your job?

Making money doing what I love, i.e. painting in my studio, travelling and taking pictures.

4.Favourite part of your job?

Creating something new out of pre-existing materials. Heralding my friends and family as the beautiful people that they are. Lastly, I have had a few people say that they look more closely at the minutiae of the every day after seeing my work-that might be the most satisfying result-helping people appreciate what they see.

5.Favourite music while working?

Rock and roll, hip hop, reggae, and indie rock…it’s a wide cross section including-Led Zepplin, Beirut, B-52’s, Caribou, Biggie Smalls, Tupac, Here we go magic, Bob Marley, Francoise Hardy, Roy Orbison, and lately Broken Bells has been in heavy rotation as has this one song by Broken Social Scene.

6.What inspires you and where do your ideas come from?

I might have to be wide open here and say EVERYWHERE, from citylife-street art and style, Native American cave drawings and dreamcatchers, rainbows and moonlight, to e

William Eggleston and Robert Rauschenberg are two of my personal heroes.

Iconoclastic gals of their time I’ve read biographies about like Marilyn Monroe, Janis Joplin, Edie Sedgewick, Diane Arbus, Baroness Elsa, and Bjork.

I’m always inspired by Godard films and the movies Dazed and Confused and Ferris Buellers Day Off were early influences.

As a blogger I tend to cull quite a lot of inspiration from the web. I frequently look at both fashion and art based blogs. I look at photography sites like manymany.org, the humble arts online group show, and the 20×200 project by Jen Bekman; these sites are full of inspiring work. I’ve just started using tumblr as an online inspiration board and I love it-there is an unending wealth of inspiring images out there floating around the internet. (http://besosyfotos.tumblr.com/)

As per IRL, real life analogue inspiration, I have amassed quite a number of vintage LIFE magazines, old Playboy magazines, art and photography books as well as novels like On The Road, Watch for Me on the Mountain and Valley of the Dolls.

The 60’s and 70’s are the decades that I am drawn to the most-the free love, open road ideals, the flowers in her hair and the music are an unending source of inspiration. My friends, polaroids, feathers, prisms, rainbows, balloons, boobs, Americana kitch, Dexedrine, Native American and African textiles, and marijuana all hold a place in my creative process.

7.Which current artists’ work do you particularly like?

Off the top of my head… Rinko Kawauchi ,Alec Soth, Monica Canilao, Xabi Tudela, Jacqueline Dimilia, Jennifer Sanchez, Chrissie Abbott, Cassie Jones, Alec Soth, Damien Hearst, Tracy Emin, 70’s Stephen Shore, Mitch Epstein, Cass Bird, Jasper Johns, Joseph Cornell, Mark Rothko, Gustav Klimt, Ryan McGinley, Agathe Snow, Jennilee marigomen, Hannah Whitaker, Penelope Umbrico, Lisa Yuskavage, Mercedez Singleton, Andrea Galvani, Ixone Sabada, and Erica Browne

(also-here is a link to blog posts tagged with inspiration nation: http://besosyfotos.blogspot.com/search/label/inspiration%20nation )

8.Ideal plan for a day off work?

My ideal day off work would have to be a beach excursion with buddies, beers and books. Preferably this would take place in Barcelona but in the real world where I live in Brooklyn, I’ll take Fort Tilden or Coney Island (with a ride on the cyclone).

9.What is your greatest ambition?

To make a living off of making art.. So, in other words, I’m looking for a long lost Medici or some such patron who wants to support me and my commitment to making art. I would also really like to curate an all womans art show some time in the near future, as there is still quite a discrepancy in the amount of men vs. woman being shown in Chelsea and in galleries in general. I think that should change. For now, I try to promote other women painters, sculptors, and photographers by putting their work on my blog but I think it would be great to do a group show and highlight these talented ladies. In the short term, my greatest ambition is getting into the graduate school of my dreams (the Bard MFA summer program upstate) next year. Oh and also to get an intern.

10.What do you fear the most?

In no specific order: dark water, my iphone falling on the subway tracks, a fire burning all my negatives from the last 15 years, Alzeheimers disease, my parents and my cat dying. Some of these fears are avoidable, some not.

11.Grateful for…

I am grateful for: lot of love from my family and friends and mi amor, getting the opportunity to travel as often as I do, being born a woman in a first world country in the 2o^st century, the invention of Polaroid (thank you Edwin), the internet, sunshine, color film, a great shoe collection, my cat sharice, good legs, blush, my photocopier/printer all in one,

12.What other talent would you like to have?

I wish I was good at surfing, skateboarding and playing drums. I also wish I was better at drawing things as I see them and that I was as good at photoshop as I was at color darkroom printing.

13. If not yourself, who would you be?

That’s a tough one…an eagle or a falcon I guess. My Native American spirit animal is the coyote-that could be fun…I suppose Mary Kate Olsen seems to have a pretty good time with her life. My favorite historical figures mostly died in some tragic fashion-Diane Arbus, Janis Joplin, Edie Sedgewick, Baroness Elsa, so I would have to pick and choose time periods of their lives-the suicide and overdose thing is not my style. I dunno, I suppose that I feel pretty lucky to be who I am and where I have been so perhaps I can’t wish too hard for a switcheroo. It is a fact that we all have our luck and our hardships and my art and life are about trying to focus on the brighter side of these things, while remaining conscious that all is inevitably fleeting, final—the fatalistic beauty..

14. Your state of mind

I am a Libra though and through, so, I strive for balance in all that I do but rarely have everything aligned to do so. I’m terribly optimistic at times yet I can easily swing to the negative..I am best at mediating other peoples lives and my paintings and photographs are also a mediation of sorts-all about checking in with the present in congruence with the past-whether that is a moment or an emotion.

15. Shout out loud – free to say whatever you’d like

CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE!!!!

-or alternately –

BESOSYFOTOS POR VIDA!!

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Filed under: Painting, Photography Tagged: Contemporary Art, Louise Ingalls Sturges, Photography

Aaron Ruell

proustcontemporain — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 18:04:39 +0000

1. How would you describe your art to someone who’s never seen it in five words?

- Quiet portraits and still life.

2. Process when working on a piece?

- On the portrait side of my work , I think about it. Plan it. Then shoot it.

But in my other work there’s typically no planning. I go out in search of something that looks right to me.

3. What would be the biggest difficulty in your job?

-Making everybody happy. Including myself.

4. Favourite part of your job?

-Seeing a finished piece.

5. Favourite music while working?

- Changes with each image I make, although Belle and Sebastian and Beach House are typically in the playlist.

6. What inspires you and where do your ideas come from?

- I get some ideas from music that I listen to. Some ideas from spacing out. But most of my ideas are sparked from people or scenarios that I see taking place around me.

7. Which current artists’ work do you particularly like?

- I’m not sure about current artists. I’m not really schooled in that arena. But David Hockney influenced me early on.

8. Ideal plan for a day off work?

- I’d rather not have days off.

9. What is your greatest ambition?

- I just want to continue to be able to make pieces that are seen by others.

10. What do you fear the most?

- Slothfulness.

11. Grateful for…

- Family.

12. What other talent would you like to have?

- I wish I could draw or paint like a champ.

13. If not yourself, who would you be?

- James Bond.

14. Your state of mind

- California.

15. Shout out loud – free to say whatever you’d like

- I’m a mellow person. Not much shouting from me.

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Filed under: Photography Tagged: Aaron Ruell, Contemporary Art, Photography

Erin Nicole Johnson

proustcontemporain — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 16:09:01 +0000

1. How would you describe your art to someone who’s never seen it in five words?

- Quiet, strange, colourful, musing photographs

2. Process when working on a piece?

- Reading, researching, sketching, planning (sort of), and shooting. Then editing and sequencing. About 50% of my work is heavily planned, and the other 50% is just spur-of-the-moment luck. The sequencing takes the longest—I need each photograph to represent a very specific aspect in the story I’m trying to get across, and blending the sketched-out photographs with the more “snap-shot” photographs is challenging.

If I get stuck, the trick that I have learned is to look at all the photographs as a day unfolding (morning, mid-day, and night) from a third-person/character perspective, and then they can easily begin to be shuffled into “Act I,” “Act II,” and “Act III”. I’ll go back and forth from the original source material—the reading and research—and compare it to the photographs.

3. What would be the biggest difficulty in your job?

- Getting the lighting just right. I’m very particular and keep going back to look at my older work thinking, “oh, no, no, this is all wrong.” I’ve moved to using natural light two-thirds of the time, so there is a lot of waiting and watching, and I still don’t always get it right, or I miss a really great opportunity. Watching out for gaps in sequencing can also be another hang-up, and I’ll have to start over if something isn’t working.

4. Favorite part of your job?

- Traveling. Even if it’s just driving or riding my bike around my little town, I always seem to find something new and curious.

5. Favorite music while working?

- When I’m editing the photos and sequencing them for a publication or exhibition, I tend to listen to Four Tet or Air. I think it’s important for the work to have a “soundtrack” as the photographs begin to progress in to telling a story. Listening to music during the sketching phase can be helpful as well for photos to take on a “mood”. Surprisingly, I rarely have music on during the actual shoots—I tend to just do a lot of talking!

6. What inspires you and where do your ideas come from?

- Literature, cinema, and memories. I have a collection of my own journals from high school, and my mother’s when she was the same age. I’ll use that as the raw material for inspiration, and then I find that literature and films will help “polish” what I want the photographs to look like.

7. Which current artists’ work do you particularly like?

- The contemporary artists whose work I (currently) love the most is Ryan McGinely, Robert Gober, Sophie Calle, William Eggleston, and Martin Krajc. All have been incredibly inspiring, visually, to my work, but there are (always) so many more. I’ve also found an incredible amount of inspiration from writers, such as Roland Barthes and Martin Heidegger.

8. Ideal plan for a day off work?

- Coffee while reading and catching up on the news, a bike ride to the library, then biking around after the library visit.

9. What is your greatest ambition?

- To start an arts education center. I want it to focus less on the technical aspect of creating art work, and more on the philosophical side of it—the most enriching part of an arts education for me was how differently I began to see the world, and I want others to have that experience as well, even if they aren’t interested in attending an arts school to become a professional artist.

10. What do you fear the most?

- I fear a life not fully lived. I don’t know where I’d be if I didn’t have a bunch of interesting stories from my life to tell and reminisce as I grow older.

11. Grateful for…

- … everyone that I’ve met, and the people who have stayed with me.

12. What other talent would you like to have?

- There are many that I would like, but the first I can think of is that I wish that I was better at tennis, rather than just foolishly running around trying to slap the ball.

13. If not yourself, who would you be?

- A famous actress, for a day at least. I’ve always wondered what it’s like to have someone follow me around with a camera (though I suppose I could also be Sophie Calle).

14. Your state of mind

- A little nervous.

15. Shout out loud—free to say whatever you’d like

- Thank you for the interview! It was a pleasure.

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Filed under: Photography Tagged: Contemporary Art, Erin Nicole Johnson, Photography

Sage Vaughn

proustcontemporain — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 13:23:05 +0000

1. How would you describe your art to someone who’s never seen it in five words?

- The animal stirs inside us

2. Process when working on a piece?

- I try to focus on the sentiment. I begin with a feeling that I find difficult to express in words and then see if I can clarify it with an image or images. When I start working on a piece I feel confident and certain, but during the process the idea becomes something new and I feel like the limits are expanding on the way it can be interpreted. Those are all the psychological aspects of the work, in terms of the technical side of things: I make dried paint

3. What would be the biggest difficulty in your job?

- Avoiding the emergence of stereotypical artist characteristics

4. Favourite part of your job?

- I used to work in construction in hot Southern Californian summers for a racist, undereducated, mean-spirited dude. Every day I unlock the door at my studio and turn on the lights is my favorite part.

5. Favourite music while working?

- I listen to so much stuff: science lectures, books on tape, Depeche mode, Swamp Dogg, Woods, lots of old R&B, Mikki and the Mauses, No Age, my friend Charlie just turned me on to Minimal Techno, The Natinal, The Misfits, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Joan Baez, Grace Jones, Brian Eno, The Rolling Stones, Neil Young, Venom, Gang Starr, N.A.S.A., Yeti Beats, Jay-Z, Animal Collective, The Plastics, and a bunch of other stuff…

6. What inspires you and where do your ideas come from?

- I love seeing things break down and become something new. like when grass grows through a crack in the sidewalk. I watch a lot of David Attenborough documentaries. I like exploring the ideas that exist in this area between what we can control and what we can’t control.

7. Which current artists’ work do you particularly like?

- Jason Dill

8. Ideal plan for a day off work?

- Surf at dawn, build a fort, and have dinner with my wife

9. What is your greatest ambition?

- Quit smoking…if no that, quit lying

10. What do you fear the most?

- Going crazy

11. Grateful for…

- Coffee and my wife

12. What other talent would you like to have?

- I wish I could fly or be an excellent survivalist

13. If not yourself, who would you be?

- I would be a killer whale or Anthony Anzalone in his 40s looking back at his beautiful life

14. Your state of mind

- Not as busy as I think

15. Shout out loud – free to say whatever you’d like

- Swim in the ocean
Summer is for Cummers

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Filed under: Painting Tagged: Contemporary Art, Painting, Sage Vaughn

Eric White

proustcontemporain — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 16:58:58 +0000

1. How would you describe your art to someone who’s never seen it in five words?

- Unsettling psychedelic metaphysical figurative painting.

2. Process when working on a piece?

- It usually starts one of two ways, either an idea or an image will come to mind, or i will look through books or on the internet until I’m inspired by something. I almost always work from photographs, either found or my own or a combination. I often use the computer, and with Photoshop I manipulate, combine, overlay, collage, and deconstruct the images until I get something interesting. Then I make an ink jet printout and work from that, usually using the grid method or graphite transfer. Oil on canvas.

3. What would be the biggest difficulty in your job?

- Disciplining myself and staying organized and managing day-to-day tasks.

4. Favourite part of your job?

- Painting!

5. Favourite music while working?

- 13th Floor Elevators, A Tribe Called Quest, Abbey Lincoln, Acetone, Aesop Rock, Alexander ‘Skip’ Spence, Alice Coltrane, Amon Tobin, Animal Collective, Aphex Twin, Arcade Fire, Archer Prewitt, Aretha Franklin, Art Ensemble of Chicago, B.D.P. , Bach, Bad Brains, Band of Horses, Bartok, Battles, The Beach Boys, The Beastie Boys, The Beatles, Beck, Beethoven, Bert Jansch, Bessie Smith, Big Star, Billie Holiday, Biz Markie , Black Merda, Black Moth Super Rainbow, Black Sabbath, Blind Willie McTell, Blur, Boards Of Canada, Bob Dylan, Bob Marley, Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, Booker Little, Brainiac, The Breeders, Brian Eno, Broken Bells, Buddy Guy, Built to Spill, Butthole Surfers, Cab Calloway, Can, Captain Beefheart, Captain Fatass, Carole King, The Carter Family, Cat Power, Cecil Taylor, Charles Mingus, Charlie Parker, Chet Baker, The Clash, Cody Chesnutt, Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Cure, Curtis Mayfield, Danielson, David Bowie, David Grisman, De La Soul, Deerhoof, Desmond Dekker, Devendra Banhart, Devo, Django Reinhardt, Donny Hathaway, Duke Ellington, Echo & The Bunnymen, Ed’s Redeeming Qualities, Eddie Kendricks, Ella Fitzgerald, Elliot Smith, Eric Dolphy, Erkin Koray, The Fall, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, Fiona Apple, The Fiery Furnaces, Fishbone, The Flaming Lips, Fly Ashtray, Frank Sinatra, Frank Zappa, Fugazi, Gang Of Four, Gang Starr, Gary Higgins, Gary Numan, George Gershwin, George Harrison, The Glands, Glenn Gould, Grandaddy, Grizzly Bear, Guided By Voices, Hank Williams, Happy Mondays, Harry Nilsson, Herbie Hancock, Husker Du, Iggy Pop, Iron & Wine, Iron Maiden, J Dilla, Jack DeJohnette, Jaco Pastorious, James Brown, Jeff Buckley, Jimmie Rodgers, Joanna Newsom, John Coltrane, John Lee Hooker, Johnny ‘Guitar’ Watson, Johnny Cash, Joni Mitchell, José González, Joy Division, Karen Dalton, Keith Jarrett, Kings Of Leon, The Kinks, The Knife, Konono Nº1, Kool Keith, The La’s, Leadbelly, Led Zeppelin, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Lightning Bolt, Little My, Loudon Wainright III, Louis Armstrong, Louis Jordan, The Louvin Brothers, Magic Sam, The Magnetic Fields, The Mahavishnu Orchestra, Malk De Koijn, Mark Kozelek, Marvin Gaye, Massive Attack, MC5, McCoy Tyner, Meat Puppets, Mercury Rev, Method Man, MF Doom, Michael Jackson, Miles Davis, The Mills Brothers, Mink Lungs, Minor Threat, Minutemen, The Modern Lovers, Modest Mouse, Mozart, Muddy Waters, My Bloody Valentine, My Morning Jacket, Nas, Nat King Cole, Negativland, Neil Young, Neutral Milk Hotel, The New Pornographers, Nick Drake, Nina Simone, Nirvana, Of Montreal, Ol’ Dirty Bastard, Ornette Coleman, Outkast, P.J. Harvey, Parliament/Funkadelic, Paul Simon, Pavement, The Pharcyde, Pierre Boulez, Pinback, Pink Floyd, Pixies, The Police, Polvo, Prince, Prokofiev, Public Enemy, Public Image Ltd., R.E.M., Radiohead, Randy Newman, Ray Charles, Robert Johnson, Robert Wyatt & Soft Machine, Ron Carter, Roy Ayers, Rufus Wainwright, Run-DMC, Sam Cooke, The Sea and Cake, Serge Gainsbourg, Shelby Bryant, The Shins, Six Organs Of Admittance, Slint, Sly & The Family Stone, The Smiths, Smog, Songs: Ohia, Sonic Youth, Souled American, Sparklehorse, The Specials, Stereolab, Stevie Wonder, Stravinsky, Sun Ra, Syd Barrett, T Rex, Talking Heads, Television, The The, The Who, Thelonious Monk, Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 , Fats Waller, Tom Lehrer, TV on the Radio, U Srinivas, U.S. Maple, Ui, Urinals, Vic Chesnutt, Virgil Shaw, Warm Wires, Wayne Shorter, White Magic, Willie Dixon, Willie Nelson, Wire, Woody Guthrie, Wu-Tang Clan, X, XTC, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Yeasayer, Yes.

6. What inspires you and where do your ideas come from?

- I am inspired by dreams, film, music, artists, friends, artist-friends, the Seth books by Jane Roberts, random internet imagery, and from the wellspring of bizarre ideas that float around in the ether that I’m lucky enough to tap into occasionally.

7. Which current artists’ work do you particularly like?

- Daniel Davidson, Nicola Verlato, Kristen Schiele, Joe Sorren, Kelli Williams, Eric Yahnker, Allison Schulnik, Sebastian Gögel, Taylor McKimens, Alexander Ross, Misaki Kawai, Anna Conway, Chris Johanson, Peter Blake, Richard Hamilton, Ed Ruscha, Mark Tansey, Kerry James Marshall, Ellen Gallagher, Mike Kelley, Peter Doig, James Esber, Paul Pfeiffer, Glenn Brown, Peter Saul, Léopold Rabus, Neo Rauch, John Baldessari, John Currin, Inka Essenhigh, David Salle, Tom Friedman, Matthew Barney, Raymond Pettibon, Jockum Nordstrom, David Altmejd, Justin Craun, Jim Shaw, Paul Pfeiffer, Bruce Bickford, JR, Tom Sachs, Daniel Richter, Tom Sanford, Lisa Yuskavage, Luc Tuymans, Ashley Bickerton, Tony Oursler, Julie Heffernan, David Humphrey, Ruth Marten, and more that I’m forgetting…

8. Ideal plan for a day off work?

- Sleep in, wake up, breakfast in bed, walk in the woods, watch a movie, eat lunch, take a nap, get a coffee, pet my cats, read a book, ignore the computer, see live music, eat dinner, get drunk, have sex, go to sleep.

9. What is your greatest ambition?

- To make the best work I possibly can. And to achieve enough success to help out my mom and niece if need be, and to have a house upstate. And to maybe live in Paris someday…

10. What do you fear the most?

- Forgetting that all of this is just an illusion…

11. Grateful for…

- My family, my friends, the ability to make art for a living, my health, my height, my cats, chocolate.

12. What other talent would you like to have?

- I would love to be able to write a novel on the level of Nabokov or Steinbeck or DeLillo.

13. If not yourself, who would you be?

- John Cassavetes

14. Your state of mind

- Becoming less anxious and more peaceful all the time…

15. Shout out loud – free to say whatever you’d like

- Forgive.

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Filed under: Painting Tagged: Contemporary Art, Eric White, Painting